LITMIR.BIZ

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assured her. If anything, knowing how much her family cared about her made him that much more certain that she was a woman worth getting to know.

      * * *

      “Oh, come on,” Gabi protested as she and Wade were seated at a table by the window at Boone’s Harbor, the flagship restaurant of Boone’s small chain of upscale seafood establishments. “Are you seriously telling me you believed anything about that movie was realistic? It was a glorified cartoon with live action.”

      “Okay, so maybe you needed to suspend disbelief just a little,” Wade agreed. “But it was fast-moving and exciting.”

      “And that’s all it takes for you to like a movie? Blow up a few things, drive at a breakneck pace through city streets, dangle from a ledge?”

      Wade scowled at her. “You agreed to an action movie,” he reminded her.

      “I was being polite.”

      “Was that it, or were you looking for a choice that we’d wind up fighting about the way we are right now? You get to complain that I have no taste, that I’m insensitive, just a dumb guy, what?”

      Gabi laughed. Those were all things she’d intended to throw in his face before she was done. “I may have to take it back. You might be just the teeniest bit sensitive if you picked up on all that.”

      “I’ll have you know I was perfectly willing to go to a chick flick tonight,” he said, his expression stoic.

      “Oh, really?”

      He pulled a wad of tissues from his pocket. “See. I was totally prepared for the tears.”

      Gabi regarded him with astonishment. “You’re actually serious.”

      “Of course I am. I did not foist this movie on you, Gabriella. You picked it.”

      “Then I will take all the blame for selecting something mindless and unbelievable. You can hold it over my head, if you like.”

      “How about this? Next time, I’ll choose the movie. I bet I can come closer to picking something you’ll like than you did making a choice for me.”

      Just then the waitress came over to take their orders. “Hey, Wade,” she said, giving him a friendly wink. “Are you having dinner or just drinks?”

      He glanced at Gabi. “Feel like a meal or just coffee and dessert?”

      “It’s probably sacrilegious or something in a seafood restaurant, but I could actually eat a burger,” she admitted. “I’m starved again.”

      “Two burgers, then,” Wade told the waitress. “What to drink, Gabi?”

      “Just water.”

      “And I’ll have a beer,” he said.

      “Sure thing.”

      “Is Boone around?” Gabi asked.

      “Actually, he left about a half hour ago with his fiancée.”

      Gabi grinned. “That would be my sister.”

      The woman’s expression brightened at once. “You’re one of the Castles.” She frowned slightly. “Gabriella, I bet. I’ve seen Samantha on TV a couple times, and her coloring is different.”

      “Good eye,” Gabi told her.

      “This is Francesca Daniels, better known as Frankie,” Wade said. “She was in the class ahead of me in school.”

      “Since we didn’t go to school over here, I didn’t know that many of the locals, even though I was around every summer,” Gabi said. She glanced from the woman to Wade and back. “Were the two of you close?”

      Frankie laughed. “No way. Wade only had eyes for one girl back then.” Suddenly at a warning look from Wade, her expression turned solemn. “I’d better get your order in before the kitchen closes,” she said hurriedly.

      After she’d gone, Gabi studied Wade. “She certainly took off fast. What was it she almost said that obviously bothered you? Was it about whoever you were interested in back then?”

      “It doesn’t matter,” he said.

      She could tell from his expression, though, that it did. “Secrets already, Wade? Come on. You know mine. Fill me in on yours. Was the relationship back then serious?”

      “Probably not so serious in high school,” he admitted with obvious reluctance. “But we stayed together.”

      “For how long?”

      “Until a couple of years ago,” he said, then lifted his gaze to meet hers. “When she died.”

      Gabi felt her heart plummet. “Oh, my God, I had no idea. I’m so sorry.”

      “We’d been married, though briefly. Kayla was pregnant. Right before the baby was due, there was an accident. Neither of them made it.”

      He made the recitation in a calm, matter-of-fact tone, but she could see the turmoil in his eyes. “Oh, Wade,” she whispered, and reached for his hand, twining her fingers through his. He pulled away.

      “I don’t talk about it,” he said flatly.

      She frowned at that. “That can’t be good. Not that I think you should pour out your soul to everyone you meet on the street, but this was a huge deal, Wade. It had to be devastating.”

      “It was,” he said simply.

      When she would have said more, he held up a hand. “We put the baby and your job off-limits for tonight. Let’s add this to that list.”

      “But it’s obviously part of who you are. How are we supposed to get to know each other if all the important stuff is off the table?”

      “For tonight,” he said emphatically. “Tonight the goal is to distract you from your problems, not to saddle you with mine.”

      Gabi heard not only the warning note in his voice, but the plea behind it. Obviously his emotions were still raw. While she’d never been through anything as terrible as what he’d faced, she understood all about it being too soon to discuss some topics.

      “Fine. I’ll drop it for tonight,” she agreed.

      But something told her that until they could talk about it, there would be a huge part of Wade Johnson she couldn’t possibly understand. The fact that she was suddenly a little more intrigued than she’d expected to be was definitely disconcerting.

      * * *

      Relieved to have killed the subject of his marriage for the moment, Wade hurried Gabi through their meal, claiming he needed to get her home so she could get some rest. In truth, he needed some time to settle down, remember this was about distracting Gabi from her problems, not letting her get inside his head. It most definitely wasn’t supposed to be about seducing her, which seemed to be all he could think about at the moment.

      Good grief, the woman was having another man’s baby, and his mind was on sex. It had been on sex since he’d first laid eyes on her months ago. He needed to make a few adjustments for the current and very unexpected circumstances.

      When they walked outside, she looked up at the sky full of stars, her expression enchanted. “The sky never looks like this in Raleigh,” she said. “Too many city lights.”

      “I’ve never known anything else,” Wade said. “Lived here all my life, and not much interest in trying anyplace else.”

      “You didn’t go away to college?”

      He shook his head. “I knew early on that I wanted to work with wood. My dad taught me custom cabinetry. He’d made a good living at it and claimed I had a knack for it, too. I just eased into the business, then took it over from him when he retired.”

      “Boone says you’re the best around,” Gabi told him.

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