I woke up before you got a chance to case my house properly then, isn’t it?’ I said, standing up.
‘Oh for …’ The rest of the sentence got lost as he pulled the crash helmet from his head, revealing a very recently acquired neat short back and sides. ‘You’re officially nuts. You know that, don’t you?’ He turned away and began walking back towards his own side of the house.
‘And that’s your professional medical opinion, I suppose?’ I returned, with more than a hint of sarcasm.
I really don’t know why I was having such trouble believing this man was a doctor. I know you’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover and all that, but he just didn’t look like one. Not one I’d ever seen anyway. Which was probably just as well because he had a habit of raising my blood pressure dramatically – and not only because all we’d done so far was bicker. But right now, I was doing my best to put that particular nugget of information to the back of my mind and pretend it wasn’t there.
He continued walking away from me, his gait slightly stilted due to the stiff, protective motorcycle suit and boots. At my comment, he threw his hands in the air in resignation, not bothering to turn around. A moment later he disappeared inside and the patio door slid back into place with a little more help than it probably needed.
I shook my head and checked my phone for the time. My brother and his wife had invited me for dinner this evening, but I still had a bit of time to kill before I needed to get ready. Retaking my seat on the lounger, I picked up one of the magazines and flicked through the thick, glossy pages looking for inspiration. As I stopped on one particular article, I heard the neighbouring door slide open again. Keeping my head down, I concentrated intensely on the words. A moment later, Gabe McKinley was stood in front of me, and it was really hard not to concentrate on him instead.
I aimed for nonchalant as I lifted my head and met his gaze. He’d unzipped the yellow and black leather bike suit and the top half now hung down from his waist, the arms dangling loosely. Underneath he wore a fitted white T-shirt that showed every line and curve of a powerfully built chest and heavily muscled arms. He’d discarded the boots now and his feet were bare as he stood looking at me. I tilted my head in question at him because I wasn’t entirely confident about what might come out of my mouth if I attempted speech right now. Best to be safe.
‘Just so you know, I wasn’t casing your house. All I was going to do was shut your patio door. I know it’s pretty quiet here and this bit of the beach is private, but you never know. Gigi used to nod off out here from time to time, always leaving the door wide open, even though I’d suggested she might want to push it closed a little. It made me nervous for her. I know she wasn’t worried because she was so trusting. I grew up in a city and although I’ve lived here a few years now, it’s hard to shake that instinct, so I still always shut it for her if she was asleep when I came by. She always knew to check so that she didn’t bump into the glass or anything. It sort of became a habit.
‘Although you’ll probably disagree because it’s me who has said it – but I get the feeling you understand because you’ve definitely got suspicious instincts and probably had no intention of dropping off and leaving your door open. Having said that, I do see now that my behaviour might have seemed a bit odd to you as it wasn’t expected, and I’m sorry if I startled you – again – but my intentions were entirely honest.’ Having finished his speech, he nodded at me and turned to go.
‘My flat was broken into. It’s made me a little paranoid,’ I blurted, surprising myself. What on earth was I doing telling this stranger my business? Opening up to people, even my family, wasn’t exactly like me so why had I just told Gabe McKinley about the break-in?
He turned back, facing me once again with those incredible eyes. ‘I’m really sorry about that. It’s definitely not a nice thing to go through. I’ve been burgled myself.’
‘Here?’ I asked, my nerves tensing and my voice zipping up an octave.
He smiled, holding his hands up briefly in reassurance. ‘No. At home in Oz.’
‘Oh,’ I said. ‘Then I’m sorry for you too.’
‘That’s OK. It was a while ago now.’
I nodded.
‘I’m guessing yours was more recent?’ he asked, leaning on the metal balustrade that encircled both balconies. The leather of the protective suit creaked as he bent a leg and rested one foot on top of the other.
I knew that I should just shrug and give a noncommittal answer, thereby putting an end to the conversation. I didn’t want to start sharing with this man. He was unbelievably gorgeous, built like Atlas and with a sexy accent to boot. That was way too much good stuff wrapped up in what looked to be one incredible body. All of which meant he could only be Bad News – at least for me.
Of course, this was all moot anyway. There’s no way he’d be interested in me, despite what Gigi had tried to dream up in the past. I mean, I had accused him of being a burglar – twice. And been instrumental in him falling off a ladder, although that bit really was unintentional. It was just that he’d made me jump, not to mention the fact that he’d caught me in my underwear. Oh God! He’d caught me in my underwear!
‘What’s wrong?’ The deep voice penetrated my thoughts.
‘Huh?’ I looked up, quickly stuffing the images in my head away.
‘You all right? Your face went kind of scrunchy.’
‘Scrunchy? Is that another medical term?’ I asked, the hint of a rebellious smile sneaking onto my face.
‘Absolutely. You can look it up if you want.’
‘I’m sure you can see why I doubt your credentials.’
He laughed for the first time since I’d met him. It was a nice sound and he kind of did it with his whole face. His eyes crinkled, the tempting mouth widened and his nose did a little scrunchy thing of its own.
‘Yeah. I guess I could see why you might. But I swear it’s true.’
I nodded.
He shifted his body and faced me a little more squarely. ‘Look. I’m sorry we got off to a bad start. I guess it was a bit of a shock to see someone in Gigi’s house after all this time. I … I really miss her. I kind of keep expecting her to step out and tell me she’s “accidentally” cooked too much dinner again, so would I help her out by having some?’
I smiled but without looking at him because I didn’t want this stranger to see the tears in my eyes as he spoke so familiarly of my wonderful grandmother. I might still have trouble believing this totally built Adonis in front of me was a doctor – although the new haircut had definitely helped in that he now looked less like a beach bum, but I no longer doubted Gabe was the neighbour Gigi was always speaking so warmly of. All of his descriptions sounded just like something she would have done.
‘I’m sorry, too. I hope you didn’t hurt yourself too much when you fell this morning. You gave me a bit of a start!’
‘Nah. It’s fine. And I was totally out of line in saying that you didn’t see Gigi enough. I don’t know what came over me. I’m sorry. I know she really did love going up to London and staying with you. She’d talk about those trips for days and days!’
‘Really?’ I smiled.
‘Absolutely. And I’m pretty sure, like you said, she’d have given me a good clip round the ear if she’d heard me describe her as an “elderly lady”.’
I laughed, nodding in agreement.
‘I really did invite her up there because I wanted to spoil her. It’s beautiful here but I knew she’d always cook for us, which, as you apparently already know, she loved doing. But I wanted to give her the opportunity to be spoiled and waited on. It always felt like it was the least I could do in return for everything she’d done for me.’ I suddenly realised that he was making me do that whole ‘sharing’ thing again. What was