Abel (5th Street 4)

Abel froze, glancing at the intercom on her desk then back at her. “Not long,” Nellie said, exhaling with disappointment.

To Nellie’s surprise, Abel didn’t move away from her completely as she expected him to. Instead, he moved back closer, taking his place back between her legs again. He stared at her for a moment before leaning in and kissing her then stopped and asked, “Same guy you had breakfast with that one morning?”

“Yeah,” she said as Abel leaned his forehead against hers, still staring in her eyes. “For a moment there, I forgot I was expecting him.”

Now he smiled. That hardened look in his eye, the same one she thought she saw that very morning she informed him of her breakfast date with Logan, was gone. “For a moment there, I forgot why I came see you.”

Suddenly curious, she tilted her head. “Why are you here?”

His eyes moved down to her lips. “I wanted to talk to you about Vegas. The weekend of the fight.”

She was about to tell him she already knew, that he was the last of the guys to contact her about it, but her words were muffled by his lips. So far, she’d been witness to three sides of Abel. First, there was the hard-ass side in the ring, a side she thought nearly made an appearance the morning he realized she had a breakfast date. Though a few days ago after much theorizing, she’d concluded she’d obviously imagined any possible resentment about her meeting with another guy or even all she thought she felt from him in San Francisco, since she still hadn’t heard from him.

Then there was his aggressive insatiable side, the side that made her toes curl and had her tingling all over like when he’d first walked in her office. He’d come there with a purpose, and if it weren’t for Logan waiting outside, Nellie had every intention of giving in to him.

But this side of him, when he toned the aggression way down, was what she’d been sure she felt in San Francisco when his kisses became so sweet. It confused her because she could almost feel him trying to express something to her through these kisses. She hadn’t wanted to make more of it the first time she felt it last week, but it was impossible to dismiss.

Finishing off the incredible kiss that left her wanting so much more, he took a deep breath before pulling away. “Sorry, what were we talking about?”

She had to think about it for a few seconds before smiling a bit flushed. “You were saying something about Vegas the weekend of your fight.”

“Oh, yeah—”

“But I already have all the information. Emily has even booked my room.” She smiled. “I’m all set.”

“So are you flying?”

That she didn’t know. She hadn’t even thought about how she’d get there yet. “Hmm, I’m not sure. I’ll have to ask Emily if she booked a flight or not.”

“That’s Emily outside, right?” he motioned to the door. “Your assistant?” Nellie confirmed with a nod. “Then ask her because that’s what I was here to talk to you about. You saw how crazy it gets at the airport now. I can’t stand all the media, and it’s bound to be insane both at LAX and when I arrive in Vegas. I was thinking of driving, but everyone else can’t fly out until the day of or even a day before. So I’m looking at driving out by myself. That’s almost a four-hour drive. I thought maybe you and I could drive out together.”

Nellie stared at him for a moment. The thought of being alone in a car with him for almost four hours now that things may’ve changed made her nervous but at the same time excited her.

She cleared her throat. “Okay.” She hit the button on the intercom, not sure if she should hope her flight was booked or not. “Emily did you book me a flight for Vegas?”

“Not yet, did you need me to?”

Abel shook his head adamantly, smiling, and then kissed her sweetly on the temple, making her heart flutter. It was strange how his sweet kisses made her heart nearly skip a beat versus his aggressive ones that her body enjoyed equally, but there was such a difference in her heart’s reaction to them. “No,” she said, smiling at Abel. “I’ll be driving out. I just wanted to make sure you hadn’t booked anything yet.”

“No, I haven’t,” Emily confirmed. “And just an FYI, in case you like your food warm, Logan brought food.”

“It’s your favorite,” Logan’s voice came through the speaker now. “From Chente’s. I tackled the rush-hour traffic just for you, Nellie. I figured I’d get a few extra points in before our date tomorrow night.”

The hard-ass side of Abel was instantly back. The one she’d already dismissed as having imagined before. His unbreakable stare made her squirm against her desk, but he didn’t move away. Gulping back the incredible discomfort she was suddenly feeling now that Abel knew tomorrow night was actually a date and apparently this didn’t thrill him, she also tried to calm her insides. As uncomfortable as she felt, there was a slow buzz budding inside her. Had her instincts about San Francisco changing everything actually been right? It wasn’t a pathetic delusion as she’d begun to think this week.

She pressed the talk button on the intercom, but before she could respond, Abel did for her. “Come on in,” Abel said, still staring at Nellie, and her jaw nearly dropped open. “We’re done in here.”

“What are you doing?” she asked as soon as she let go of the talk button.

For a split second, she saw alarm in his eyes, but then it passed and he smiled. She could see it was a forced smile, but at least he wasn’t burning a hole through her with his glare anymore. “I don’t want to get in the way of your work, and I got what I came here to accomplish—to get you to agree to drive to Vegas with me.”