From book 3, Sweetwood Christmas
Zena needed to splash some cold water on her face before she
met with this guy. She made her way to the bedroom that was
always reserved for her. The nerve of Holly Blake! And how come Miss
Divorced from NYC knew about her aunt and uncle before Zena did?
It was maddening.
She rounded the corner at the top of the stairs and headed down
the hall leading to the set of rooms that were designated for Zena and
her brothers. Ever since she was little, it was a source of pride that she
had a bedroom to herself while Jacob and Keith had to share. Auntie
A was a fierce defender of the decision. “A girl needs a space of her
own,” she’d said.
But as she approached the doorway of her room, she was horrified
to find it occupied—so horrified that she let out a shriek.
“Ah!” shouted a tall, dark-haired man in his thirties. He recovered
quickly, more quickly than Zena. “I’m so sorry,” he said. “You
startled me.”
She could not help the expression her face made at that. “I startled
you? This is my room!”
The man looked confused. Zena put together that this was the “underwear
lawyer” and yes, he was good-looking. And well-dressed. And
smelled like leather, lemons, and smoke. He pointed to a suitcase on
the floor, then to himself. “I—uh, this is where Joseph left my things
but I can absolutely move if this is your room, Ms.?”
“Sweetwood,” she said. “And I think I see what has happened.
Joseph thinks he’s hilarious.”
He stepped toward her, his hand outstretched. “Ms. Sweetwood,
I am Gabe Da Silva, and I’m very sorry for the mix-up. I’ll gather my
things at once if you can point me to a different room.”
Zena shook his hand and sighed. “Yeah, come on,” she said, already
hating that he was being nice and so, she had to be nice in return. “You
can sleep in my brothers’ room next door.”
“They won’t be needing it in the coming days?” Gabe asked.
She laughed. “God, no. They haven’t set foot in this house since we
were all kids. I’m the only one who is still in regular contact with our
aunt and uncle.”
“Ah, so you’re the niece.”
“And you must be the smart lawyer because you put that together
so quickly,” she said, regretting the sarcasm almost immediately. Why
could she never play it cool in these situations? Her emotions always
seemed to get the better of her.
But Gabe let the comment go as he grabbed his things and followed
her to Jacob and Keith’s room. “Thank you for this,” he said curtly.
He was clearly waiting for her to leave, and she realized that she
had probably offended him. Well, too bad. She wasn’t apologizing.
This guy was literally here to break up her Aunt and Uncle. Who
cared if he looked like he belonged on a billboard in Times Square?
She wasn’t going to go out of her way for him. No way. She was going
to break him, make him feel like garbage for what he was doing to
her family.
“You’re welcome,” she uttered in spite of herself.
~~~
Gabe closed the door and swallowed hard. The niece was here! And
she was beautiful… and kinda mean. He really should be accustomed
to being automatically disliked based on his line of work, but
this felt different. She seemed genuinely hurt by his presence.
Even now he was picturing how tightly she’d held her red lips and
how her dark hair kept getting in her eyes the more frustrated she
became. And the way his body reacted to her—as if she glowed with
both excitement and warmth. He felt instinctively drawn to her, which
was confusing considering the circumstances.
In fact, his thoughts were going against every cutthroat lawyer
instinct he normally had. He found himself mentally researching
ways to help her. But maybe it wasn’t just the beautiful niece inspiring
these ideas. Adora had seemed so sad and almost… dissociated. Gabe
didn’t know her, of course. But that didn’t change the fact that something
was off.
So, what was he going to do about it? As Adora’s lawyer, he was
meant to be working on her behalf. Of course, she hadn’t officially
hired him yet. Cherry was on vacation for a few days, not back until the
day after tomorrow so Gabe was waiting on the papers to be drawn up.
No money had been exchanged. Nothing had been signed. This meant
he had some time to help the niece. Was it a sketchy, unprofessional
move? You betcha.
After a hot shower, shave, re-application of cologne, a fresh suit
change, and one last look in the mirror, Gabe was ready to knock on
her door. And a minute later, they were face to face.
