Gabi smiled at Jerry’s insight. “See, that’s why I love you. You saw what I saw.”
“The man might be an arrogant jerk, but he can still cause trouble,” Wade cautioned them both.
“Which is why I will see Louise,” Gabi stressed again. “Now, enough!”
“Okay, on to happier things,” Cora Jane said with determined cheer. “Your sister called. Samantha was hoping to talk to you.”
Gabi frowned. “Is everything okay?”
“I said happier things, didn’t I? It seems those little items you managed to plant in a couple of gossip columns started some buzz in the right places. She has three auditions this week. One of them is for a recurring character on a prime-time show being shot in New York.”
“That’s fantastic,” Gabi said, jumping up and getting her phone. “I need to call her back. I want to hear every detail.”
Wade touched her arm. “After you’ve eaten,” he said quietly. “You were starving when we headed over here and, thanks to Paul’s impromptu visit, that was a couple of hours ago.”
Her initial reaction was to chafe at being told what to do, but the real concern in his eyes kept her silent. She sat back down and took another bite of the perfectly cooked cheeseburger before meeting his gaze.
“You do know that if this weren’t so delicious, I’d have ignored you,” she told him.
He laughed. “Absolutely, but I had to try. Sometimes you forget you’re not the only one you need to think about.”
Cora Jane smiled as she listened to him. “You’re going to be a wonderful husband and father, Wade.”
Gabi nearly choked on her food. After clearing her throat, she started to say something, but her grandmother silenced her with a look.
“I’m just saying what I think about Wade,” Cora Jane said firmly. “I didn’t say a thing about you.”
Wade chuckled. “That’s right. Who knows how many women might recognize these extraordinary skills of mine and vie for the chance to march me straight to the altar?”
Though he was joking, his words gave Gabi a pang. She didn’t want some other woman being the beneficiary of his tenderness and caring. And yet that was exactly what she was risking by dragging her heels and not jumping into the relationship he so clearly wanted with her.
She dared to touch his cheek, even knowing it was an open declaration in front of Cora Jane and Jerry. “All those women,” she said solemnly, “they’ll have to fight me off first.”
Cora Jane gave an immediate whoop at her comment, but it was the stunned expression in Wade’s eyes that really got to her.
“You okay with that?” she asked, even as she wondered if she’d gone too far, too fast—not for his peace of mind, but for hers. Sure, she’d had an epiphany just now when she’d stacked Wade’s attributes up against Paul’s less than stellar character, but she hadn’t envisioned leaping into a full-blown relationship just yet.
Wade’s smile spread slowly. “More than okay, darlin’. More than okay.”
Then, she thought as relief spread through her, she was more than okay, too.
* * *
Wade all but dragged Gabi out of the house after dinner and headed straight for the pier at the edge of the yard, either looking for privacy or with the intent of shoving her into the chilly water.
“If you suddenly intend to have your way with me, I have to tell you this is not the best place,” Gabi told him, amused by his eagerness to get her alone. “This old, weathered wood has splinters and the bench isn’t much better.”
He gestured for her to sit, then began to pace. When he continued to say nothing, she grew concerned. Had she gone too far earlier? Had she inadvertently turned a game into something too serious?
“Something on your mind, Wade?”
He slowed then and looked directly into her eyes. “What was going on in there earlier?”
“Going on?” she asked, though she knew perfectly well what he meant. She needed to buy time, scrambling to protect these fragile new emotions she’d only tonight recognized for what they were—a prelude to solid, enduring love, the kind she’d never allowed herself to imagine finding.
“Have you suddenly decided you’re ready for a relationship?” he asked, as if he couldn’t quite believe it was a real possibility.
“Yes,” she said at once, then tempered her response in the interest of complete candor. “More or less.”
“Now that’s reassuring,” he said dryly. “Exactly what every man dreams of hearing. So, was this sudden decision because of Paul’s unexpected visit? Are you starting to think if you and I get serious, we can present a united front to a judge or something?”
Gabi stared at him in dismay. “Are you crazy? That never crossed my mind. Paul has nothing to do with this. Well, other than the fact that he made me see what an incredible man you are. I believe Jerry’s right. He came over here, postured for a bit, and will never be seen or heard from again.”
“Then that leaves what? You can’t tell me you had a sudden epiphany over burgers and decided you were madly in love with me.”
Gabi knew she shouldn’t, because he was so obviously worked up over this, but she smiled. “Maybe I did,” she said softly. “Not because you made a great burger, though.”
His gaze narrowed. “Why, then?”
Since it was her fault they’d ventured into previously forbidden emotional territory, she owed him honesty. It was hard to admit, though, that she’d been half-crazy with jealousy there for a minute.
“Was it because I mentioned all those other women?” he asked, looking bemused by the possibility that an innocent remark had accomplished what all his other efforts had failed to do. “Did I make you jealous, Gabriella?”
Gabi sighed. There it was. “A little, yes,” she said, then added hurriedly, “but it was Paul who clinched it. You probably owe him.”
Wade didn’t look especially pleased by that. “How so?” he asked,
