The Wives of Beverly Row 4: Lust Has a New Address Read Online Free PDF

She’d been hoping he wouldn’t bring it up.
    “I was out of line.”
    “You weren’t out of line,” Ariel said. “You just wanted to go out for a drink. It’s no big deal.”
    He looked at her and nodded. He looked shy, preoccupied maybe. She tried to read him. She’d have thought that after sixteen years of being married to Gabe, she would have been better at reading the look on his face but he was still a complete mystery to her.
    “Well,” he said, “I wanted to ask you out again,” he said, grinning.
    “What?” Ariel said. “Gabe, you asked me to paint this picture for you. You can’t just use that to get me to go out with you.”
    “I know,” Gabe said, holding up his hands, “I know that, Ariel. Believe me, I didn’t plan this.”
    “What is it then? You know how things were when we were married. It was hell.”
    “It wasn’t that bad,” Gabe said.
    “Yes it was. It was for me. You cheated on me constantly.”
    Gabe took a drink from his coffee. Ariel shook her head. He was acting so strange. She had no idea what had gotten into him lately.
    “I’m not asking you to marry me again,” he said. “I’m just asking you to have a drink with me.”
    Ariel looked at him for a good minute. She didn’t harbor ill feelings toward him like so many exes did. She was still fond of Gabe. They’d practically grown up together. He’d been the world’s crappiest husband, that much was true, he’d cheated, he’d lied, he’d even stolen money from her, but somehow, they’d managed to maintain a friendship that few people could manage even during the good years of a marriage.
    “Gabe,” she said, sounding as exasperated as she felt, “do you want me to paint this thing for you or do you want a girlfriend? Because if it’s the latter, that’s not what I signed up for.”
    “I know,” Gabe said. “I know, Ariel. I’m sorry. It’s inappropriate. You’re here to paint and I can respect that.”
    “Can you?”
    “I’ll try,” he said. “I promise.”
    “Thank you.”
    He nodded, but then he spoke again. He never did know when to shut up. “It’s just so difficult when you come in here looking as beautiful as you do, you’re so youthful and happy and full of life, you’re so pretty, Ariel. You’re irresistible.”
    “Gabe!” she said.
    “Alright, I’ll drop it.” He made a zipping gesture over his mouth.
    She looked at the canvas. It was impossible to concentrate while he was there, flirting with her, but she had to admit, she was making real progress on the painting. The color tones she’d been going for were working out beautifully. There were weeks of work ahead of her, but for an initial layer of paint, what she had looked surprisingly good to her. It made her confident that she’d be able to pull off the forgery the way Gabe was hoping.
    Gabe had left her to get some work done. He was over at a desk at the far end of the warehouse, typing on a laptop. She continued working for a couple of hours, layering paint slowly, gradually getting it the way she wanted. When she felt she was done she put her brush down and called over to him.
    “Gabe, do you mind if I ask you one question?”
    “Sure,” he said, getting up from the computer.
    “Why are you so interested in me all of a sudden?”
    “What do you mean? I’ve always been interested in you. You were the one who called things off.”
    “You know what I mean,” she said. “When we were married, you had eyes for every other girl but me. Now you’re practically begging me to go out with you.”
    “I didn’t think I was begging. ”
    “You were begging.”
    Gabe smiled. He shrugged. She couldn’t deny that he still had a lot of charm when he was acting like this. “You want me to be completely honest?” he said.
    “No,” she said sarcastically, “lie to me like you did when I was your wife.”
    Gabe shook his head. “Was I really that bad? I’m sorry, Ariel.”
    Ariel looked at him. “You were going to tell