The Organized Bride (Billionaire Marriage Brokers Book 2) Read online

  “How’d you get away from naked guy?” asked David.

  MaKayla threw up her hands. “He dropped me when campus police showed up.” They all laughed, and even she cracked a smile. “They didn’t want to tackle a naked guy, so they chased him off campus property. He hid in the cemetery until I sent his roommates after him with some clothes. Idiot freshman.”

  “The ugly truth about event planning.” David shook his head and turned to Brooke. “Your turn. Weirdest case you’ve studied.”

  For the next hour they traded horror stories and ate pizza. Gabe enjoyed the lighthearted teasing. David and Brooke seemed to hit it off and more than once, Gabe and MaKayla exchanged knowing looks over their obvious flirting.

  When the food was gone, David suggested they play pool, and they went to the billiard room.

  “I must say, you have some nice digs, Gabe.” Brooke walked around the table, pulling balls out of the holes and sending them rolling down to David.

  David’s eyebrows came together. “You haven’t been here before? As close as you and MaKayla are, I thought she would have invited you over.”

  “When would she have done that?” Brooke asked and then looked up at MaKayla in horror. Gabe could see their silent conversation as MaKayla told Brooke to zip it and Brooke apologized for slipping. It was awesome and enviable, since Gabe didn’t have anyone he was that close to in this world.

  “I don’t know, anytime.” David racked the balls while MaKayla and Brooke mouthed an argument silently behind his back. The whole thing was rather comical.

  The code of conduct outlined who they could tell about their marriage and who they couldn’t. Brooke was on the to-tell list because she qualified as legal counsel. David was not on the list, because he qualified as employee/friend. Gabe decided to just make it easier for all of them.

  “With the wedding in the middle of the week, we hadn’t had a chance to move MaKayla’s things over. They just got here this morning and Brooke came to help us unpack.”

  David waved his hand between MaKayla and Gabe. “You mean you weren’t living together before?”

  MaKayla folded her arms. “That’s none of your business.”

  “Yeesh.” He turned to Gabe. “No wonder you were so touchy about the pillow talk thing. It’s all starting to make sense.” He tapped his finger to his temple.

  “Whatever.” MaKayla waved him off. “I’m about to kick your trash, so move over.” She lined up her shot and broke, sending three balls into three different pockets.

  “What the …?” David looked at Brooke, who smiled.

  MaKayla rubbed the chalk on her cue. “Setting up slip ‘n’ slides wasn’t the only thing I did in college.” She lined up another shot and sank her ball into the corner pocket.

  “Did you know she could do that?” David asked Brooke.

  Brooke wiggled her eyebrows. “Wait until it’s my turn.”

  MaKayla made her way around the table, checking different angles and looking for her next shot. Gabe cursed under his breath in appreciation as she passed, and she trailed her hand across his shoulders, saying, “You have no idea.”

  As MaKayla leaned over the table, Gabe forced himself to look away. He pulled his T-shirt away from his chest and let it snap back. Feeling like he’d stepped out of an air-conditioned car into the middle of the desert, he went to check the thermostat, but it was normal. MaKayla finished the round, and David had to rack the balls so he could take a turn.

  David had a good break, but couldn’t make his second shot. Brooke finished out the round.

  “Now, I’m just embarrassed.” David ran his hand down his cheek.

  “Don’t be,” said Brooke. “It’s not like we bet money.”

  David did an exaggerated swipe across his forehead.

  Gabe was first to break, and he sank half his shots before MaKayla got another turn.

  As she finished up, David asked Brooke, “Do you want a tour of the house?”

  “Don’t you want to play again?” asked Brooke.

  “And lose? No thanks, I’d rather throw you in the pool.”

  Brooke laughed. “I’d like to see you try.”

  “Challenge accepted.” David grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the hall.

  Gabe leaned against the table and shook his head. “He’ll do it, you know.”

  MaKayla laughed. “He can try. Brooke has taken tae kwon do since she was five. Ten bucks says he comes in soaking wet.”

  Gabe leaned his head back and laughed. “I’d pay ten bucks to see that.” He considered MaKayla for a moment. “Who would win if I tried to throw you in?”

  She returned her cue to the holder. “I’m afraid that would be you. I didn’t get tae kwan do lessons. But you’re looking at the star of the Nutcracker three years running.”

  Ballet training explained the grace in her movements and the way she carried herself as if she didn’t know how to slouch.

  A faint masculine yell sounded from downstairs. Gabe and MaKayla looked at each other and laughed.

  “Should we get him some towels?” asked MaKayla.

  “There’s a bunch by the pool.” Things were going well between them, and now that Gabe had her alone, he wasn’t ready to give her up. “I should probably give you a tour, though.”

  He walked her through the main level, which contained their rooms as well as the kitchen, the formal dining room, the formal hall, the parlor, the bookkeeper’s office with a vault, the private office, a storeroom, a washroom, a mud room, several bathrooms, and a receiving room. Each room was as elegant as the last, and she noticed the details that Gabe loved.

  The second floor extended over half the main floor and part of the garage. There was a home theater room, a nursery, a man cave complete with bar, and a library that stopped MaKayla in her tracks. It was the only room that made her stop and stare. Gabe smiled as he watched her run her hands over the books and pause under the stained glass window.

  “If you ever lose me, look here first.”

  “I won’t lose you, because this is where I go to disappear.” He moved to stand beside her in the multicolored light coming through the window. “What do you like to read?”

  She took in a deep breath and tipped her face up to the light. “Everything,” she breathed. Gabe watched her as the tension from the last few days seeped away. Her shoulders lost their rigidity and she sighed happily. When she opened her eyes, they sparkled as she placed her palm against his cheek. “This is a magical room.”

  If Gabe could have spoken, he would have agreed with her. Here, in the warm patch of rainbow-colored sunlight, there was magic. Magic that had him completely suspended in time and place. Magic that tied him to MaKayla and blocked out all his reasons for keeping away. Magic that drew them together and told him to never let her go.

  Catching her hand and holding her gaze, Gabe pressed his lips to her palm. Light danced around them as he placed his hand on her waist and pulled her close. She slid her arms around his neck and tipped up her chin, her lips parting slightly. As her eyes closed, Gabe leaned down and brushed her lips with his. It was like striking a match: there was a spark, and then he was consumed as she pulled on his neck, begging him closer.

  Their lips collided, and all the feelings he’d been holding back he put into the kiss. He kissed her for every time she’d touched his arm or placed her hand on his chest and he couldn’t do anything about it. MaKayla returned his ardor. Moving his hands to her neck, he tipped her head back and kissed her throat, her jaw, and then found her mouth again as she moaned against him.

  She dug her fingers into his hair, sending a thrill through his body. He whispered her name and she stilled in his arms. Gabe paused, waiting for her to decide which way this was going to go. He moved to kiss her again, but this time, she pulled away placing her finger over his lips.

  “Is this what you want?” she asked.

  Gabe struggled against the desire coursing through his blood and the common sense, barely a whisper com
paratively, which hovered somewhere where they weren’t encircled with dancing sunlight. He must have hesitated too long, because she dropped her hands and stepped back.

  He let her go, giving him enough space to catch his breath, and asked, “What do you want?”

  MaKayla sat in the window seat, and Gabe sat next to her, shoulder to shoulder. The energy they’d shared was still there, just under the surface; it wouldn’t take much for it to consume them once again. Gabe was surprised at the lack of pressure and tension in the room. Being with MaKayla was that easy. He got the impression that they would be able to weather many a storm together. This wasn’t a storm, but if they could talk about it, they’d come to an agreement they’d both be happy with. Were all marriages like this? Or was it part of the magic in this room?

  MaKayla threaded her ponytail through her fingers. “I came into this with a goal and you came into this with a goal. I’m afraid that if we allowed this—” She gestured between them. “—to cloud our judgment, neither one of us will end up with what we really want.”

  Gabe nodded. “I’ve had the same concern. We need to keep the end goal in sight.” Gabe had done all in his power to make the Center succeed. He’d chosen it over Natasha and he’d choose it over MaKayla too.

  MaKayla bumped him with her shoulder. “I’m, I’m not sure where the line is, or if there is one, or what. It’s a bit uneven.”

  Gabe appreciated her honesty. “We’re going to be together a lot. I think touching, like this …” Gabe tucked a loose piece of hair behind her ear, and her cheeks colored. “… is fine. But anything more and we’re pushing our limits.”

  MaKayla ducked her head. “We have to act natural in front of people. But when we’re here, it might be better to keep our distance.”

  “Agreed. Deal?” He held out his hand for her to shake.

  She didn’t hesitate to take it. “Deal.” She jumped up. “We should probably rescue David.”

  The distance she’d placed between them suddenly felt like a gulf. The way she squared her shoulders had him thinking that he’d see a lot more of business MaKayla and a lot less of the woman he’d glimpsed today. The thought made his heart feel heavy in his chest. There was no going back now. They’d made a deal and he would stick to it.

  They found David and Brooke in the pool playing a game of volleyball.

  “Your sister is a total cheat,” David said.

  “I know. Stay away from Monopoly,” laughed MaKayla.

  Brooke missed an easy shot because she was scrutinizing Gabe and MaKayla.

  “Game point.” David raised his hands above his head.

  Brooke splashed him with a face full of water and made a mad dash for the edge of the pool where she pulled herself out just as David reached for her foot. Laughing, she scooted out of his reach.

  “Looks like things are going well here.” MaKayla whispered.

  Gabe gave her hand a squeeze but didn’t say anything. He knew David’s track record, and he hoped Brooke would go easy on him or at least take him seriously. Setting them up had seemed like a good idea at first, but he liked both of them, would have both of them in his life at least for the next year, and he didn’t want things to become awkward and ruin the feelings that had infused his home this afternoon.

  Brooke came over squeezing the water out of her hair. David went to grab a couple of towels. “Can I borrow something to drive home in?” she asked him.

  “Are you going?”

  “Yeah. It’s been fun, but I need to get some study time in tonight.”

  David handed her a towel. “Can I help?”

  Brooke crossed her arms. “It’s not really fun stuff.”

  David tucked a towel around her shoulders. “I’ll make the flash cards.”

  She smiled up at him, and Gabe knew David had passed a test.

  “Come on; you can borrow the camo PJs to get home.” MaKayla went to go inside and Gabe resisted the urge to call her back. Each time she put more physical distance between them, he felt a loss in the connection they’d shared. How could one kiss have made such an impact?

  David stood next to him, rubbing a towel over his head.

  “Did she throw you in?” asked Gabe.

  David nodded. “That girl scares the crap out of me.”

  Gabe slapped David on the back. “Looks like I owe MaKayla ten bucks.”

  “Yeah, but Brooke owes me.”

  “Why?”

  “I bet her you were in there seducing your wife, and she said no way.” He wiggled his eyebrows. “MaKayla looked totally kissed, and you were lookin’ pretty satisfied yourself. Boom! I just won dinner.”

  Gabe shook his head. He couldn’t blame David for thinking that way when he didn’t understand the whole situation, but he didn’t try to correct him, either. He had kissed MaKayla and he would have kissed her a lot more if she hadn’t stopped things. As disappointed as he was that they’d placed some parameters, he was just as grateful that they were on the same page. He could put her goals ahead of his desires. Obviously, his goals hadn’t been enough to stop him from giving in to his desire the moment they were alone together. But he could do this for her.

  “You need clothes?” he asked David as they walked back to the house.

  “I have a gym bag in my car. I’ll change downstairs.”

  “See ya in a few.”

  Chapter 15

  MaKayla hugged Stuffy Bear to her chest as Brooke changed into the ugliest pair of pajamas on the whole planet. She couldn’t remember who had gotten them as a white elephant gift years ago, but they hung on to them and traded them back and forth as needed.

  “What is going on with you two?” Brooke asked through the bathroom door.

  MaKayla’s face flushed as she remembered the way Gabe’s lips felt against her own. There was no hiding things from Brooke, not when she was determined to get to the bottom of a situation. It was what made her a great lawyer, and an incurable snoop. Brooke’s courtroom tendencies aside, MaKayla needed to talk. “We’re … we … kind of kissed.”

  “What?” Brooke shrieked as she yanked open the door. “This morning you’re all it’s all business and now you’re kissing him?”

  MaKayla flopped back on the bed. “I couldn’t help myself. We were in the library, there was this hush in the air, and sparkles. It just happened.” She picked her head up. “And then it really happened. I think my center of gravity shifted.” She dropped her head again.

  “Are you guys a thing now?”

  “No.” MaKayla pulled a pillow over her face and let out a scream.

  Brooke yanked it away. “No?”

  Sitting up, MaKayla took a deep breath and straightened her spine one vertebra at a time, realigning herself. “No.” This time she said it with determination. “This job. My company. Then guy. In that order. That’s the way it has to be.”

  “What about kissing?”

  “I think it’s off the table.”

  “You think?”

  MaKayla nodded. “It’s off the table. Although now that we’ve kissed once, it will be hard not to do it again.”

  “Um, yeah it will.” Brooke glanced at the door. “You’d better put a lock on that thing.”

  “You’re not funny.”

  “What? You said yourself he was gorgeous.” Brooke sat down next to her.

  MaKayla laid her head on Brooke’s shoulder and sighed. “This would be so much easier if we weren’t married.”

  Brooke snorted. “Yeah, that’s the problem.”

  “It is,” MaKayla insisted.

  “Nope, the problem is you like him.”

  MaKayla sat up. “I’ve known him less than a week.”

  “Correction: you’ve been married less than a week.”

  MaKayla groaned. “I’m an idiot.”

  Brooke patted MaKayla’s arm. “Why don’t you give it some time? If you fall out of like with him, then you’re no worse for wear.”

  Having the attraction diminish like a dying fire w
asn’t MaKayla’s biggest fear. She hardly dared voice it, so the words came out in a whisper. “What if I fall in love with him?”

  “Don’t think that far ahead. Just stay in the moment.”

  MaKayla sniffed. She wasn’t the type of person to live in the moment. She was a planner by nature. However, given the situation, it wasn’t practical to envision a real wedding with Gabe; therefore she could make the huge effort to refrain from mapping out the year they had together. As soon as Brooke left, MaKayla would pull out her old business plan and start revisions. That ought to keep her mind busy enough to distract it from Gabe. If that didn’t work … she’d throw herself in the pool.

  Chapter 16

  MaKayla didn’t see Gabe all day Sunday, but got a text around ten that said he’d been called out on an emergency. Gabe didn’t elaborate and MaKayla didn’t dig for information. She and Brooke went to brunch and tried the steam room. It was heaven, exactly what she needed to clear whatever gunk remained in her system from the cold and gear up to face Gabe Monday morning.

  Trish had lined up a personal trainer to take her through a workout once a week and familiarize her with the equipment in Gabe’s home gym, but he wasn’t coming until Thursday, so Monday morning, MaKayla hit the ground running.

  She started off with some time on the treadmill. Her cold was gone and her lungs felt clear. She had a week’s worth of exercise to catch up on and a desire to keep her mind occupied, so she picked an intense interval program and was sweating in the first four minutes.

  Gabe came in just as she was leaving, and they smiled and said a quick hello. She managed to make it through their brief encounter without stumbling over her words or her feet. A grand accomplishment, considering that the moment their eyes met, her heart beat triple time and her brain scrambled to keep up.

  By the time she was ready for work, Gabe was dressed and pressed and looking extremely yummy in his suit. MaKayla hid behind her game face, asking about the first work-related subject that came to mind. They rode into the office together, quickly reviewing their schedules and determining that they wouldn’t see each other until their dinner date that night. They separated outside their office doors, and she breathed a sigh of relief.