Rock Hard by Nalini Singh
"Hey." Molly's voice was warm, loving. "Don't stress yourself out. You're about to go to a game with a gorgeous hunk who wants to do delicious, bad things to you. Have fun."
"I don't know if I can let him do any of those things." It was a hard confession to make. "I don't know if I have the courage."
"I know you do, Charlie. I know." A passionate vow. "Just consider where you are now and compare it to where you were three months ago."
Put that way, Charlotte couldn't argue. "God, I have Anya's job and I'm really good at it. And I argue with Gabriel on a regular basis."
Molly laughed. "Exactly. One step at a time, babe."
"Right." Charlotte straightened her shoulders. "One step at a time." Then she gave in to a huge grin. "I did take a pretty big step last night." She fanned her face at the memory of the things Gabriel had said. He could talk dirty to her anytime.
"Are you going to tell me the details?"
"When you tell me what you did with Fox the night you went home with him after the party."
Molly fell back in her chair and sighed, her face dreamy. "Maybe when we're old and gray."
Charlotte grinned, understanding. Some things were so special you had to hug them to your heart. "Ditto."
"It's a date."
Gabriel brought his SUV to a stop in front of Charlotte's town house to see her stepping out the door. Getting out of the car, he waited for her to finish locking up before walking over to cup her face gently in his hands. He was ready to break contact if she displayed any discomfort, but though she blushed, she didn't pull away.
"I want to eat you up," he said, rubbing his thumbs over her cheekbones, and when she still didn't pull away, he leaned in and took his first taste of the delicious Ms. Baird.
She shivered, her hands coming up against his chest. Fighting the urge to shove his fingers into her hair, unravel her ponytail, and thrust his tongue into her mouth like a damn marauding barbarian, he suckled at her upper lip because he couldn't resist one more taste, then broke contact. "We better get in the car before I back you right into your house and give in to my ungentlemanly side."
Though her cheeks were red, her breath shallow, Charlotte said, "You have a gentlemanly side?"
"Cute, Ms. Baird." Opening the passenger door for her, the fleeting taste of her only ratcheting up his desire, he gave in to the urge to run his hand over her denim-clad ass as she climbed in.
She inhaled sharply and turned to narrow her eyes at him over her shoulder. "Gabriel, that was--"
"--inappropriate." He smiled slowly, utterly delighted by everything about her. "You do know by now that I intend to be highly inappropriate with you?"
Charlotte fiddled with the belt tie of her black coat, but her eyes were bright when they met his. "Aren't you getting ahead of yourself?"
"Always, Ms. Baird." Closing her door, he went around to get into the driver's seat. "You want some music?"
Charlotte's toes curled at the simple intimacy of the question. Reaching out, she switched on the radio and found a station that played rock. As the throaty sound of one of Schoolboy Choir's first hits filled the car, she settled back and just wallowed in the happiness bubbling through her veins. Gabriel had kissed her, and not only had the taste of him blown her circuits, she hadn't freaked out.
In fact, she wanted to do it again. And again.
"Do you always watch your brothers play?" she asked as they turned out of the drive.
"When the game's up here, yes," he answered. "I can't make as many of the away games as I'd like, but in New Zealand one of us is always in the crowd. International matches we tend to gather together in one place to watch." He shifted gears, the car's engine a smooth hum. "Jake had a small car accident that ended his season prematurely, but when they're both playing, it's a finely tuned operation in terms of support schedules."
Charlotte heard the pride, the affection. "It must be tough for Jake to miss the entire second half of the season," she said, knowing Jacob Esera had suffered a broken arm in the accident.
Gabriel nodded. "He's healed well and the physiotherapist sees no problems ahead. The fact Danny managed to injure himself at the same time gave him some company at least."
"He has incredible footwork on the field," Charlotte said. "Daniel too. I can't believe he got the ball over the line his last game." Tackled by a huge opposition player, Daniel Esera had stretched out his arm even as he went down under a bone-bruising tackle; he'd slammed the rugby ball to the earth an inch over the try line.
"You've just proven you're my perfect woman." Gabriel's grin lit up everything inside her. "You like the game."
"I used to watch with my dad." The memories were wonderful ones. "He turned the spare bedroom into his den, and the two of us would sit on this old, comfy couch, yelling at the television until my mom poked her head inside and told us to remember we were humans, not gorillas. Then she'd bring us more chips, a beer for my dad."
Old pain had her rubbing a fisted hand over her heart. "I couldn't watch for a long time after he died." It had been too quiet without his ongoing commentary about the players' moves, too sad without her mom's affectionate head-shaking. "But then it became a way to remember him, remember them both."
Gabriel took her hand, placed it on his thigh. "Was it an accident? With your dad?"
Feeling him so strong and warm under her touch somehow made it easier to talk about it. "No, he died in his sleep." Peacefully and with a smile on his face, a smile Charlotte hadn't seen since her mom passed away. "My mom and dad were so in love, like newlyweds their whole life together." Charlotte had dreamed of the same kind of love before everything went wrong. "I knew my dad wouldn't last long after my mom, but I didn't expect to lose him four days after her."
Gabriel put his hand over hers. "Ah, baby, I'm sorry."
"It's okay." Turning her hand so she could lace her fingers with his, she found she could tell him the rest. "We came home from my mom's funeral and he said he had to lie down. I hugged him and told him I loved him, and he said the same. That was the last time I saw him alive." She blinked rapidly. "I've always been grateful for that--that I got to tell both of them how much I loved them before they were gone."
"They would've known anyway, Charlotte." He brushed his thumb over the back of her hand. "My brothers and I are firmly convinced parents know everything and have eyes in the back of their head. Sailor and Jake swear their back-of-the-head eyes started growing the instant they became dads."
She laughed wetly. "When we were about sixteen, Molly and I decided to read an erotic romance we'd found in the library. When we left the room to grab snacks, my mom sat us down and said, 'Girls, if you're going to read erotic, don't read that trash. Read this.'" Charlotte laughed at the memory of their mortification. "We were still gaping at her when she gave us three more books!"
Gabriel grinned. "I bet you were horrified."
"You have no idea." The two of them had scuttled back into the bedroom, red as beets. "Molly was still pretty bruised up inside with everything that had happened over the previous twelve months"--the details of which were now public knowledge--"but that day, we started giggling once we were in my room and couldn't stop."
It had been worth the mortification to see her friend laugh after the hell that had been Molly's fifteenth year of life. "What about your mom and dad?" When he moved his hand to shift gears as they hit an incline, she turned hers palm-down again. "Any good stories?"
"A suitcase full of them." His thigh flexed under her touch; Charlotte didn't remove her hand because, blush or not, she liked touching him, liked feeling all that power so close.
"Staying on the erotic theme," he said, "one time, Sailor and I decided to sneak out of bed after our parents and younger brothers were asleep so we could watch porn. We'd figured out the password to get past the child lock on the TV, and we were teenagers by then anyway."
Charlotte turned in her seat to face him. "What happened?"
19
The Unfor
"So the two of us are staring goggle-eyed at the screen when we hear 'Boys, real women do not look like plastic' from behind us." He shuddered. "As the oldest, I stood up, ready to take responsibility, but instead of telling us off, my mother came over and kissed me on the cheek. She told me to make sure we went to bed after the movie was over and to remember what she'd said."
Charlotte gasped. "Your mom let you watch porn?"
"I think she knew it was pretty tame stuff," Gabriel said. "But it was the smartest thing she could've done with two hormone-ridden teenage boys. As soon as we had permission, we didn't really want to do it that much. Watching lots of grunting and 'oh baby, oh baby' while balloon-sized tits stand out stiffly into space gets old after a while."
Charlotte clapped her free hand over her mouth, knowing her skin was going red again.
Shifting her hand higher up his thigh with a grin that told her he was about to say something scandalous, Gabriel said, "I have a feeling you've never watched a dirty movie."
Charlotte shook her head, her fingers spreading possessively over the primal heat of him.
"Hmm, I think I have a suggestion for our next date." A wicked, wicked look. "I'll do some research, find one that has a tiny, hot blonde with a big guy. Might give us some ideas."
She didn't think he needed any help in the sexual ideas department.
Thankfully, they'd arrived at their destination so she didn't have to respond to his teasing. Getting out of the SUV after Gabriel squeezed it into the already bursting-at-the-seams drive and yard that fronted a lovely wooden villa, she joined him as he walked up to the porch where everyone seemed to be gathering.
When he took her hand, she didn't protest. There were, she thought, a lot of people in the Bishop-Esera clan. Including two tiny ones who made a beeline for Gabriel, yelling, "Uncle Gabe!"
Releasing her hand, Gabriel leaned down to catch the two little girls, then rose to his feet with them in his arms as if they weighed nothing. Clearly used to this, the girls wiggled up to perch on one forearm each.
"Who's this, Uncle Gabe?" asked the little girl on his left arm, a skinny sprite with a shock of black hair and vivid blue eyes against creamy skin. She was dressed in a pink tutu over black tights. A long-sleeved black rugby jersey completed the look.
"This," Gabriel said, turning so both girls could face Charlotte, "is Charlotte."
"You can call me Charlie." She was happy to meet these small family members first, before she had to tackle the larger ones.
"Hi, Charlie!" cried the girl on his right arm, her jean-clad legs kicking to show off multicolored sneakers, her top the same as the other girl's and her skin a golden brown. "You have glasses like me!" She pushed up the bridge of her pretty blue frames, her black hair in braids on either side of her head.
"I do," Charlotte said, charmed.
"My mommy had glasses," the little girl told her. "She's in heaven now."
"Oh," Charlotte said softly. "Mine is too. Maybe she'll meet yours."
That got her a beaming smile, just as the girl wearing the tutu said, "Are you Uncle Gabe's girlfriend?"
Gabriel squeezed both girls, to their giggles. "Charlotte, meet Boo and Sweetiepie. Nosy parkers extraordinaire."
The girls giggled.
"I'm Sweetiepie," said the one without glasses. "But I'm really Emmaline. And she's Esme."
"I'm five!" Esme cried.
Smiling, Charlotte was about to reply when a gorgeous older brunette on the porch called out, "Girls! Come put on your coats. We're about to start walking."
Running off after Gabriel put them on the ground, the girls disappeared into the mass of adults. Gabriel took Charlotte's hand again and tugged her toward the noisy group. It was obvious the males she could see were all related--their skin color wasn't all the same, but their confidence, the way they interacted, it all shouted the familial link.
She saw an older Samoan man she recognized as Joseph Esera from an interview Gabriel had done where he'd been photographed with his stepfather and his mom. Alison Esera, the tall brunette who'd called for Emmaline and Esme, didn't look like she'd given birth to one child, much less four hulking men.
Hair in a ponytail, she came over and, standing on the top step, kissed Gabriel on the cheek. She turned to Charlotte and did the same before Charlotte could figure out how to respond. "We'll talk later--after the zoo is on its way," Alison said, gray eyes sparkling.
Gabriel's eyes, Charlotte realized.
Alison was gone in the next heartbeat, right as a booming male voice cut through the din. "Right, any stragglers will have to run. I'm not missing kickoff!"
Taking the team scarf from around his neck, Gabriel put it around Charlotte's. "There, now you're ready." He took her hand again and they fell in with the rest of the group.
Emmaline and Esme ran up ahead, skipping alongside their grandfather. The others sorted themselves into pairs so as not to block the sidewalk. The noise level didn't appreciably decrease.
"Hey, Gabe!" called one of his brothers, the one who looked most like Gabriel--though his eyes were a brilliant blue rather than steel gray. "Introduce your girl, why don't you?"
The pretty young redhead at his side, her skin even paler than Emmaline's--who had to be their child--elbowed him. "Excuse Sailor," she said to Charlotte, her smile friendly and her accent unusual. "My husband has the manners of an elephant."
Grabbing his wife's jaw in a playful grip, Sailor planted a wet kiss on her mouth. "You know you love me."
"Get moving," Gabriel yelled back. "You know Dad isn't going to wait for you two to make out."
"Jealous. I bet you want to--oomph!"
Charlotte bit the inside of her cheek at the sounds coming from behind them. Gabriel's breath brushed her cheek the next instant as he leaned down to whisper, "I want to do all sorts of things to you, Ms. Baird, just not in public."
"Sailor, Isa," he said the next instant, turning slightly so they faced the other couple, "meet Charlotte."
"Hi," she managed to get out.
Isa waved her over. "Come talk to me and let the boys amuse each other."
Charlotte wasn't good with new people, but Isa was so welcoming that it would've been churlish to refuse... and she wanted Gabriel's family to like her. Letting go of his hand on a bracing breath, she fell in with Isa, the men taking up the rear.
Gentle and warm, Isa proved easy to talk to.
When Emmaline ran back to take her mom's hand, Alison came with her. The older woman slid her arm through Charlotte's while Emmaline and Isa went forward to join Jake, Esme, and Joseph.
"So," Gabriel's mother said, "you're the one who's been driving my son crazy."
It was such an odd thing to hear that Charlotte responded before thinking through her words. "I don't think I'm the one who's been driving anyone crazy."
Alison's laughter said she knew her son well. "Trust me, we've all heard about his assistant who won't listen to him and refuses to work Sundays." The other woman patted her hand. "Good on you. My sons are forces of nature--they picked that up from Joseph." An affectionately dry comment. "It's either stand your ground or end up mincemeat."
Startled at the thought that Gabriel had spoken about her to his family, she found herself saying, "Did he tell you I threw a muffin at his head?"
Alison burst out laughing again. "God, sweetheart, what had he done?"
"He kept growling and snarling at me that the documents weren't right when I'd double and triple-checked them."
"That doesn't sound like Gabriel. He's the most detail-oriented of my boys."
"Uh-huh." Charlotte nodded. "I suspected he'd 'lost' some of the pages on purpose just to mess with me."
Alison's lips twitched. "That sounds like Gabriel."
And suddenly Charlotte was laughing with this woman who had given birth to the most talented, infuriating, and gorgeous man Charlotte had ever known.
When Esme was sent back with a message that Grandpa wanted
"Dad," he said, "What's up?"
"You mother told me of her talk with you," Joseph said in his steady way that demanded absolute attention, his black hair grizzled with white now but his body and mind no less in shape than when he'd first come into Gabriel's life. "Have you really considered your decision, son?"
Gabriel shrugged. "You know what he did to us. Cancer doesn't change the fact that he's an unreliable piece of shit who abandoned his wife and children."
His stepfather lifted a hand to wave at another family on the other side of the road; Gabriel thought they might be neighbors. "Look, Gabriel," Joseph said. "You've always been smart and you know your own mind, so the decision's yours." Putting one hand on Gabriel's shoulder, he squeezed. "But I want you to think about what that anger inside you will do to you if he ends up dying before you've cleared the air with him."
Gabriel glanced over his shoulder to make sure Charlotte was still okay with his mom before he returned his attention to his stepfather. "I will," he said because of his respect for Joseph. "But I can't see myself changing my mind."
"Fair enough." His stepfather carried on walking. "So, tell me about your woman."
Charlotte had guessed Gabriel's family must have really good seats, given how important rugby was to the family, but she never expected to go through the main gates and up to the exclusive top level of the stadium complex.
"You have access to a corporate box?" she whispered to Gabriel, her eyes wide. She knew Saxon & Archer didn't have one of the elite rooms, so it had to come via one of Gabriel's other investments.
Keeping her tucked close to his side, he said, "Bishop Enterprises owns the lease."
Her mouth fell open at the name under which his property empire was nested. Tipping her parted lips shut with a finger under her jaw, he leaned down to whisper, "Filthy rich, remember?" His lips brushed her ear. "Emphasis on the filthy when it comes to you, Ms. Baird."