It Must Be Love

'About Ray.'

'He'll move on.' He looked into her eyes, and his fingers stroked the small of her back. 'If I kiss you, are you going to take it personal?'

'Yes. Won't you?'

'No.' He shook his head, and his lips brushed across hers. 'It's part of my job.'

She held herself still to keep from melting into the warm, solid wall of his chest. 'Kissing me is your job?'

'Yes.'

'Like strip searches?'

'Uh-huh.'

'Won't that draw Ray's attention to you?'

'Depends,' he said against her mouth. 'Are you going to moan?'

'No.' His heart beat heavy against her breasts, and she placed her hands on his shoulders and felt the hard muscles beneath her palms. Her spiritual balance teetered in favor of falling headfirst into the desire robbing her of self-control and making her weak. 'Are you going to moan?'

'I just might.' He softly kissed her mouth, then said, 'You taste good, Gabrielle Breedlove.'

She had to remind herself that the man holding her within his strong embrace was as enlightened as a pet rock. He wasn't her soul's mate. He wasn't even close. But he tasted good.

His mouth opened over hers, and he slipped his tongue inside. She didn't moan, but she wanted to. Her fingers curled into T-shirt and flesh, and she held on to him. He tilted his head to one side and delved deeper into her mouth. His palm slid to her side, and he stroked her bare ribs and sunk his thumb into her navel. And just as she was about to sink into the kiss and stay there awhile, he pulled back and dropped his hands to his sides.

'Ah shit,' he whispered next to her left ear.

'Joey, is that you?'

'What are you doing, Joey?' a female voice asked from somewhere behind Gabrielle.

'Looks like he's making out with a girl.'

'Who?'

'I didn't know he had a girlfriend. Did you, Ma?'

'No. He never said anything to me.'

Joe whispered next to Gabrielle's ear. 'Just go along with whatever I say, and maybe we'll survive without them picking out china and making our wedding plans.'

Gabrielle turned and looked into five pairs of brown eyes staring back at her with obvious interest. The women were surrounded by a group of smiling, giggling children, and she didn't know whether to laugh or hide.

'Who's your girlfriend, Joey?'

She glanced across her shoulder at the man by her side. Joey? Deep grooves bracketed his mouth, while a sort of weird deja vu feeling raised the hair on the back of her arms. Only this time he wasn't meeting her family. She was meeting his. If Gabrielle believed in fate, she might have thought her mother was right, that this was just too big to be cosmic coincidence. No, she didn't believe in fate, but she couldn't think of any other explanation for the freaky turns in her life since she'd met Joe.

After several prolonged seconds, Joe took a long-suffering breath and made the introductions. 'Gabrielle,' he began, 'this is my mother, Joyce.' He pointed to an older woman wearing a T-shirt with Betty Boop's head stuck on Rambo's body. Across Betty's headband were written the words Rambo Boop. 'These are my sisters, Penny, Tammy, Tanya, and Debby.'

'I'm here too, Uncle Joey.'

'Me, too.'

'And these are most of my nieces and nephews,' he said, checking them off with his index finger. 'Eric, Tiffany, Sara, Jeremy, Little Pete, and Christy. There are four more someplace.'

'They're either at the mall or playing basketball at the church,' one of the sisters explained.

Gabrielle looked at Joe, then back at his family. There were more? The group before her was overwhelming enough. 'How many are there of you all?'

'I have five children,' Joyce answered. 'And ten grandchildren. Of course that will change when Joey marries and gives me a few more.' She took a small step back and looked at the table filled with small bottles. 'What are these?'

'Gabrielle makes some sort of oils,' he answered.

'I make essential oils and aromatherapies,' she corrected. 'I sell them in my shop.'

'Where's your shop?'

'You wouldn't be able to find it,' Joe answered before she could open her mouth, as if he feared what she might say.

One of the sisters picked up a bottle of ginger and cedarwood. 'Are these aphrodisiacs?'

Gabrielle smiled. It was time she helped Detective Shanahan's karma pay him a visit. 'A few of my massage oils have the chemical characteristics of aphrodisiacs. The one you have in your hand drives Joe wild.' She wrapped her arm around his waist and snuggled close. She was definitely going to enjoy watching him squirm for a change. 'Isn't that right… sweet cheeks?'

His gaze narrowed, and her smile brightened.

The sister set the bottle back down and winked at Joe. 'How long have you two known each other?'

'A few days,' he said, giving the back of her hair a slight tug, which she supposed was meant to remind her to let him do the talking.

The sisters glanced at each other. 'It looked like more than a few days to me. That was a serious kiss. Did it look like a serious kiss to you?'

All the sisters nodded to each other. 'It looked like he was trying to eat her whole. I'd say that was a kiss a man gives after three weeks. Definitely more than a few days.'

Gabrielle laid her head against Joe's and confided, 'Well, we may have known each other in a previous life.'

The women in his family just stared.

'She's kidding you,' he assured them.

'Oh.'

'When you were over at the house the other day,' his mother began, 'you didn't mention a girlfriend. You never said anything.'

'Gabrielle is just a friend,' Joe informed his family. He gave her hair another slight tug. 'Isn't that right?'

She leaned back, purposely gave him a blank look, then said, 'Oh! Oh, yeah. That's right.'

His brows lowered, and he warned the women in front of him, 'Don't get ideas.'

'Ideas about what?' one of the sisters asked, her eyes wide and innocent.

'About me getting married anytime soon.'

'You're thirty-five.'

'At least he likes girls. We used to worry that he was going to turn out gay.'

'He used to put on Mom's red heels and pretend he was Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz.'

'Remember when he skipped into the wall and had to have stitches in his forehead.'

'That was hysterical.'

'Jesus, I was five,' he gritted through his teeth. 'And you girls made me dress up like Dorothy.'

'He loved it.'

'Girls, you're embarrassing your brother,' Joyce admonished.

Gabrielle removed her arm from around Joe's waist and hung her wrist over his shoulder. Beneath his tan skin, his cheeks were suspiciously red, and she tried not to laugh. 'And now that you're no longer a cross-dresser in red heels, you're a good catch?'

'And now that he isn't getting shot at anymore,' a sister added.

'He's a great guy.'

'Loves children.'

'And pets.'

'He's really good to his bird.'