Read Gabby Revealed (Finding Perfect) for Free Online Page B

standing on a kitchen chair using it to stir bowls of batter or frosting. The thick wooden spoon was one of many items Gabby had inherited and treasured.
    With a hand on either side of the drawer she gave it a quick tug and made a mental note to add a new can of WD-40 to her shopping list. While she loved her loft above the store, its age showed. A sucker for inanimate objects, she simply purchased more grease instead of throwing out the old things. Old things. That thought made her circle around to the old man she may end up doing more than just throw out. The night was young, anything could happen. Rolling her eyes, she picked a different spoon and scooped the fluffy potatoes into a glass dish with a lid. She packed each piece of the meal into containers meant for travel and then stacked them tightly into a bag.
    Stuck between wanting to serve John a hot meal and wanting to choke him, she pictured the smug grin tugging at her friend’s face. His sideways glance at Shane made her want to reach up and slap the twinkle right off the New Yorker’s handsome face. If she didn’t know better she’d think they were in on it together. But Shane hadn’t known about John until the whole bathroom fiasco.
    She’d been very careful about that, diligent in keeping her private life private. Shane dug for details with every phone call, asked questions about her world in every email.
    Gabby never answered.
    It wasn’t that she didn’t like him. He had a nice voice and he was funny. Actually, he could be quite hysterical, not that she would ever let him know. She always steered the conversations back to business and escaped his pull as quick as she could. And that had worked, for almost five years. It didn’t take a genius to figure out how he found her. Shane was her agent after all. Her given name versus her pen name wasn’t the only vital piece of data he required, as well as where to send her royalty checks. Damn small town. They’d been behind the times in bringing in technology that allowed for direct deposit. So now, he was here. In her town, in her space, in her world.
    Gabby had always been so worried about keeping her two identities as far apart from each other as possible. She never gave Shane’s flirting much thought in the past. It was obvious, she wasn’t stupid, she just didn’t reciprocate.
    Leaning back against the tiled counter top, she took a steadying breath. With him in New York, she could tell herself he was an ogre or a pocket protector wearing geek with broken glasses. It didn’t matter that his voice was deep and warm, that his laughter seemed to break into her solitary world. She lied, telling herself he was a gigolo who flirted shamelessly with every woman he came in contact with like a man-whore. She was no one special, not to him, not to anyone. She was still the girl of her past—a nobody.
    In person, those lies crumbled faster than a building brought down by dynamite. His smile was contagious and his sincerity too hard to ignore. He’d immediately picked up on John’s place in her life and the flames of jealousy she’d tried to fan died out when he’d put the puzzle together. He was too smart for his own good. A Good Samaritan, Boy Scout, and male model wrapped into one sizzling hot package. A package John was apparently trying to push on her that included a pretty bow atop it.
    Top it, top him, like on top of him. Gabby’s mind went straight to the gutter—again. A tingle raced down her spine, making her twitch while standing still in her spot. Pushing off the counter, she was restless. It was John’s fault. And Shane’s. They’d conspired, and here she was, standing in front of her kitchen counter, covered with dirty pots and pans she’d used to make a meal that was sure to be used against her somehow.
    “What the hell?” she asked the empty room, used to the thin air not answering. Running her fingers through her hair, she stalled as her palms held her head. She had to calm down.