Second Nature (His Chance 2)

Chapter 1

I’d imagined the moment when we found each other again a thousand times.

It was supposed to be like something out of a movie, and I had it all planned out—the things I’d say to him, the way I’d sweep him off his feet. I wanted to be so suave. But because I was totally blindsided by our reunion, all I could do was stand there with my mouth hanging open.

Four years had passed since he put me on a bus to Reno, where an aunt and uncle I’d never met before were waiting to get me into rehab. I’d begged him to come with me, but he’d refused. He said I didn’t need a junkie like him dragging me down.

He’d saved my life. I knew that for a fact. In a matter of days or weeks, my addiction would have killed me.

I never should have let him stay behind, because it was impossible to find him after that. When I returned to San Francisco, I tried like hell to track him down but he’d disappeared without a trace.

Until this very moment.

My friend Will introduced us, totally oblivious to the fact that he was about to throw my entire universe off its axis with three little words: “Gabriel, meet Riley.”

When I turned to face the person who’d just joined us, my heart stopped and I whispered, “Angel.” I’d only known him by his nickname. That was part of the reason it had been impossible to track him down.

It took a couple of seconds for recognition to dawn in his big, brown eyes. No wonder. I’d come a long way from the scrawny, strung out nineteen-year-old he’d put on that bus. Then his breath caught, and he grabbed me in a hug and exclaimed, “Oh my God, Riley! I never thought I’d see you again!”

He’d always had a habit of looking by touching. When he let go of me, his fingertip grazed the thin, silver ring that pierced my left nostril, and he brushed back my dark hair before running his hands down my biceps. I’d put on forty pounds of muscle since the last time he saw me, and it felt good to hear him say, “You look great.”

“So do you.” That was a total understatement, because Gabriel was perfection. With his glossy, dark hair that hung just past his shoulders, artful touches of makeup, and androgynous clothing, he had a style all his own that accentuated his natural beauty. He was dressed in slim-fitting pants and a black off-the-shoulder sweater, which made him look polished and sophisticated. Unlike me.

Even though I’d tried to dress decently for my weekend getaway to Catalina Island, all that meant was going with a less worn-out pair of jeans and a T-shirt that didn’t have any holes in it, along with the vintage black leather jacket I’d picked up at a thrift shop for ten bucks. If I’d had any idea I was going to run into Gabriel, I would have—well, okay, I’d probably still look exactly like this. My wardrobe was pretty lackluster.

“We have so much catching up to do,” he said, as he squeezed my hand. “How long will you be here?”

“Two days.” Not nearly long enough. “Do you work here?”

“Yeah. I mostly cover the front desk, but we all help out wherever we’re needed. I live on-site, too.”

“It’s really nice.” We were in the tropical courtyard of someplace called Seahorse Ranch, which belonged to one of Will’s friends. I’d been expecting something rustic, not a luxurious resort.

A party was gearing up around us, since Will and his boyfriend Lorenzo had gotten engaged just minutes earlier. The couple was actually nowhere to be seen at the moment, so I could only assume they’d snuck off to celebrate in private. Gabriel gestured toward the huge, white, Spanish-style building behind him and said, “I was making dinner with a couple of the guys before you arrived, and I need to get back to it because my dessert’s probably about to go up in flames. You’re coming to tonight’s dinner party, right?” When I nodded, he said, “If you don’t have plans, can we get together afterwards?”

As if I wouldn’t have dropped everything to spend time with him. “I’d love that.”

“Okay, good.” He gave me another hug and said, “I’ll see you soon.”

I watched him as he cut through the crowd. He turned back and looked at me when he reached the doorway, and the sweetest smile lit up his face. That made my heart feel like it was going to explode. Then he disappeared into the building, and I whispered, “Holy shit.”

It was pretty chaotic all around me as about a dozen people worked on pulling together an impromptu engagement party, so I retreated to the empty lobby. Then I bent over with my hands on my knees and took a few deep breaths. The enormity of what had happened was just beginning to sink in, and I could barely process it.