A Question of Love Read Online Free PDF Page B

true to your word. You did change my life today. And I thank you for that. But…” She bit her lip. “But you’re four years too late, and my sketches were never the part of my life that needed changing.” Her vision blurred, and she had to feign an interest in her sketch pad. She’d be damned if she’d let Gabe know he was still worthy of her tears.
    A minute passed, then another. The silence stretched out, fraught with unspoken memories. Neither of them moved.
    As though it was the last thing in the world he wanted to do, Gabe nodded. He stepped away from her and opened the passenger door of his car. Tina climbed in.
    “Are you still in the same flat?” he asked in a stilted voice once he was in the driver’s seat.
    She nodded. Four years and very little had changed. Her address was still the same. Her life was still the same, her feelings for Gabe and Connor were still the same, and the hurt cut just as deeply as it always had.
    The five-minute car ride home seemed to stretch into five hours. Several times Gabe opened his mouth as if to speak, and several times he closed it again without saying a word. His hands clenched the steering wheel, the skin over his fists stretched taut and white. Muscles bulged in his arms as he flexed his biceps over and over.
    Tina turned her attention to the road and pretended not to notice. She would not weaken her resolve. It didn’t matter how strong the physical attraction still was between her and Gabe, or how much she wanted to invite him home for the week. She would not make herself vulnerable to him again.
    “Thank you,” she said formally when he pulled up outside her unit. “Introducing me to Valerie was…thoughtful of you.” She kept her voice restrained. Her earlier excitement about meeting Val had gotten her into trouble. The hot, sensual kind of trouble of which she did not need more. “Would…would you be interested in coming to the exhibition?” How could she not invite him? Without him there wouldn’t even be a show. “Perhaps you could bring Connor along. And Maggie.”
    “Maddie,” Gabe corrected, his voice even quieter than it had been earlier. He shrugged. “Perhaps. Send me an invitation?”
    Tina gave a short, sharp nod and snapped open her seatbelt.
    “I’m sorry, T,” Gabe said before she moved. “I never meant to hurt you, ever.”
    She couldn’t deal with the tone she heard in his voice. Was it anger? Frustration? Pain? She didn’t want to think about it, didn’t want to give Gabe any more of her time. It would only crack open her heart further and let him creep inside all over again. She had to get away from him.
    “Look, no worries,” she said with a casualness she did not feel. “What was, was. Let’s just leave it in the past, shall we?” She braved a glance in his direction and immediately wished she hadn’t.
    Gabe looked at her with much the same expression he’d worn when they’d made love—alone—for the first time. Connor had been away for the weekend, and he’d given them his blessing to “have fun”.
    Gabe’s brown eyes had burned with a molten fire when he’d laid her down on the carpet and kissed her until her logic receded to the furthest recesses of her mind, and all she could contemplate was Gabe. He’d kissed her until she writhed beneath him, begging for more, and then he’d undressed her, removing each item of clothing with exquisite tenderness. He’d made love to her that day. That day she’d felt loved by him—and it was the first time she’d realized she loved him. Him and Connor.
    And just look where that dumb emotion had gotten her.
    Tina came tumbling back to the present with a resounding crash. She shoved the door open and scrambled out the car. It was time to shove Gabe and her memories back into the past.
    “Thank you again. I’ll be sure to get the invitation out to you.” Then she closed the door behind her, turned and walked away.

Chapter Four
    Gabe tore away from the footpath,