Island Kisses: A Billionaire Love Story (The Kisses Series Book 9) (19 page)

I
had been fairly
sure that I would never see the inside of Gabe's house ever again, but now I was standing on the deck watching the ocean once more. Not that I was complaining, though. I was happy to be there. In fact, the view of the ocean with the sun overhead never looked so good.

“I’m glad you came over today. We need to talk. I’m ready to work through this and make things right again. But first, we both have to come clean with each other,” Gabe said, leaning against the railing of his deck.

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea,” I agreed. My palms were sweating, but I felt calmer than I had in weeks.

His surprise visit at the restaurant had happened just the night before and this was the first time we had really had a chance to hash things out. This conversation needed to happen. It had been a long time coming.

“Where should we start?” he asked. The breeze from the ocean ruffled his dark hair.

“I guess what I really don’t understand is why you hid it from me?” I asked, starting the conversation. “How come I had to find out about what you did for a living by accident?”

“I was afraid that if you knew I owned Kindling Dating, then you’d think I’d rigged the algorithms so that I’d come up in your search results,” he explained.

“Well, did you?” I held my breath waiting for the answer.

“No, absolutely not,” he assured me. “I filled out the same questionnaire that you did when I created my own profile on there. That was the whole point of me doing it in the first place. Bastian, Leo, and I wanted to see what it was like to actually be a client, instead of trusting the feedback from our users. I was the only single guy so I was volunteered. I had no clue what to expect. Then we started talking and I wanted to meet you. I wanted to see if the program worked. And then I met you, and the algorithms didn't matter anymore. You were the perfect one for me.”

“You could have explained this to me,” I said, crossing my arms.

“I
tried
to explain it before you left that morning, but you wouldn’t let me.” He shrugged and looked out at the horizon. “You didn’t want to hear it and I understand. I should have told you everything right away so that you didn’t have to find out on your own.”

I guess I did leave that morning without giving him a chance,
I realized.
Was it possible that I overreacted? Did my emotion get the best of me?

“I’m sorry I left that morning,” I said. “I was just really upset when I saw that you were using me for an advertisement.”

Gabe reached forward and took my hand in his. “I
never
used those ads that you saw and I never intended to. Bastian had left those on my desk to try and convince me. The use of our relationship for an advertisement was his idea. I’m not angry with him about it, though, because honestly, he had the best intentions. He just wanted to drive more traffic to the site. He didn’t consider how much it would upset you. I love the guy, but sometimes he’s a little out of touch with people’s feelings, you know? He wouldn’t have suggested it if he thought it would have made you break up with me.”

“So you never posted the ads?” I asked just to make sure.

“Absolutely not,” he replied. “As soon as you left that morning, I threw away that paper and told Bastian that we’d never do anything of the sort, no matter how much traffic it brought.”

I took a deep breath. “What upset me most is that you didn’t tell me. If we’re going to make this work, then we have to be open with each other. A relationship is built on trust and there can’t be trust when there are secrets.”

“I know. And I’m so truly sorry for the secrets. I would give anything to take all of that back, but I’m grateful to have a second chance,” he said.

“So speaking of secrets, there's something I need to tell you,” I said slowly. Gabe's brows came together. “The first time we chatted, it was actually my sister pretending to be me.”

Gabe gave me a
'say what'
look. “Why would she do that?” he asked, obviously confused.

“Because she signed me up for the website without telling me,” I explained. “When she saw how strong of a match we were, she initiated the process so I'd have to meet you.”

“That explains why the chats were different than you were in real life.” Gabe chuckled. “Your sister knows absolutely nothing about sports, does she?”

“She's got that footballs are brown and that's about it,” I said. “But, the me you met in person is the real me.”

“The person that I met that day at the restaurant is the person I fell in love with.” He reached over and brushed a flyaway strand of hair from my face. “I didn't fall in love with you through those chats.”

I cocked my head to the side and flashed a playful smirk as something crossed my mind. “Not to change the subject, but had you been reading my blog the entire time we were dating? I remember there was mention of my website on the mock up ad.”

“Yes,” Gabe admitted. “I looked you up after our first date and when I saw your blog, I subscribed to it. I couldn’t help myself. To be honest, your writing is amazing and hilarious. I laughed out loud at all of your bad dates from the past. That was funny stuff.”

“You little snoop!” I teased, as I pressed my fingers into his stomach. “I’m going to start calling you Nancy Drew!”

“Hey, I may be Nancy Drew, but at least I didn’t create a fake boyfriend out of thin air,” he clowned back, tickling me just above my hips.

“Hey, Brian was the best thing that never happened to me,” I said between tickles. “I miss him so much. He never argued with me, he didn’t dirty the house and he’d come and leave whenever I asked. He was completely at my bidding. Oh Brian, Brian! My love, where art thou?”

I couldn’t stop laughing as I wrestled away from him and darted to the other side of the deck. Gabe chased me playfully over to the lounging area. When he caught up to me, he grabbed me around the waist and lifted me up, throwing me over his shoulder.

“Is that Brian I see over there?” Gabe mused. “Oh wait, never mind. It’s just a shadow. I must be seeing things.”

“You never know when he’s going to show up, though,” I squealed, as Gabe carried me across the deck. “He’s big and buff and afraid of nothing.”

“Well, let me know when you see him,” he laughed. “I’ll make sure to introduce myself. Sounds like he and I could be good buddies.”

It felt so good to play and joke with him again. It was helping so much with the healing process of my emotional wounds.

I continued giggling as Gabe hauled me inside and set me down onto his overstuffed couch in the living room. Then he sat next to me, draping his arm over my shoulder.

“Seriously, though, Harper, I’m sorry about what happened.” He squeezed me with his arm. “Truly, I am.”

“Me, too. Those two months were some of the hardest months of my life,” I admitted. “I really missed you and I’m sorry I didn’t give you a chance to fully explain yourself that day. I was just upset.”

“It’s okay. We both made mistakes, but now we can move forward. I just want you to know that I truly care about you, Harper,” he told me. “Like I said at the restaurant last night, no more secrets. I’m ready to start something amazing with you and I don’t ever want there to be anything between us that feels like betrayal. I won’t let it happen again.”

My hands were all over him as he spoke. I couldn’t stop touching him. I had missed him so much and all I wanted was to be as close to him as possible.

“Let’s not let little things turn into big things. We can’t allow stuff like that to keep us apart, ever again. It’s just not worth it,” I said. “How about right now, we make a pact that we’ll be open with each other? I’ll never make another blog post about our relationship without involving you in it and you do the same for me and your website.”

“Deal,” Gabe stated.

We held each other as we gazed out to the back porch, watching the sky turn a deep orange as the sun set. I closed my eyes and breathed him in, savoring the moment all that I could, grateful that things had turned out for the better.

“Out of curiosity, though,” Gabe began, after a few moments of relaxation. “If we’re going to be together, and you aren’t going on any more bad dates and since Brian doesn’t exist, what are you going to blog about?”

“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “I mean, I’m still taking reader submissions for bad dates and Cora is sending me plenty of material to publish on the site.”

The blog hadn’t been at the forefront of my mind recently, but as I sat there and pondered it, I realized that I wasn’t as interested in it as I had been before. Keeping up with the website seemed to be more of a hassle than anything else and it wasn’t bringing me very much joy any more.

“You know what? I’m not so sure where the website is headed these days,” I admitted. “I’m thinking about it right now and a part of me is really considering handing it over to Cora.”

“Seriously?” Gabe turned and looked at me in surprise. “I thought the site was your baby.”

“It
was
,” I agreed. “But I’m not so sure that it is any more. You brought up a good point and it made me think about what I could blog about. I’m sure I could come up with stuff, but for some reason, it’s not really appealing to me right now.”

“Maybe it’s time to move on from it?” Gabe suggested.

“Maybe it is,” I replied. “It’s something to think about anyway.” It definitely felt like a time for change, at least as far as the blog was concerned. “I’m thinking I might take some time off to do my own writing. Maybe I’ll focus on writing things that I’m interested in.”

“Like what?” Gabe asked. He began stroking my hair and I felt like purring with delight.

“I don’t know exactly. Maybe I could write about traveling or shopping or something I really enjoy,” I mused. “I can’t get over this feeling that it’s time for me to move onto bigger and better things.”

“Do you think Cora would want to take over the blog?” he asked, his fingers finding magic spots on my head.

“I think she would love nothing more than to have full control of that site,” I said. “She posts more content to it than I do these days, so really, she should be the one to reap any future benefits from it. Plus, she's not really happy with her current job.”

The more we talked about it, the more concrete my decision felt. I was seriously leaning toward handing over the blog to Cora and letting her have a field day with it. She was still enjoying her awful dates and I was ready to move on and just settle in with my new boyfriend. It was the perfect situation to take the next step forward in my life.

“I’ll call her later and talk to her about it,” I said, as I snuggled up closer to Gabe. “For now, though, all I need to do is watch this sunset with you.”

Gabe kissed the top of my head like he always did and it sent a pleasurable tingle into me. After two long months without communication, we had finally kissed and made up. I was surprised at how easy it was to repair things with Gabe. It shouldn’t have been so easy, but I assumed that part of it was because of the sheer ridiculousness of the argument that had torn us apart in the first place. We’d both overreacted and let our emotions control our decisions. It didn’t matter now, though. All that mattered was that we were finally back in each other’s arms. I was safe and sound and my heart was at peace.

T
he following week
I finally sat down to prepare for my final blog post. My decision was made. It was time to say goodbye and pass the reigns onto a new owner. It made sense and it felt right.

Gabe had told me to sleep on the decision, and for most of the week I had made my home at his house, which made sleeping
really
easy. But the truth was that it really hadn’t taken much deliberation; the blog seemed like a thing of the past, something that opened the door to new writing feats, and I was ready to walk through that door.

During our time together I had allowed the blog to slip even further off my mind, which was entirely okay with me. I had checked in periodically and had found a quick selection for Worst Wednesday. But besides that, and for the first time in a long time, I hadn’t paid it much attention. It seemed that the blog and I had finally begun to outgrow each other. At one time it had been my baby, but now it was moving out, and Cora was the perfect guide.

If there was anything that was gnawing at me about the blog, it was that I still had a mess to attend to. I had provided no resolution and not even a spec of news after my last post hinting at an imminent proposal.

After dinner one evening I called Cora to discuss the prospect of her assuming the blog, and even she had mentioned that my readers were commenting and begging for an update on Brian. It was like a mess of spilled milk sitting on the table, permeating the air and desperately waiting to be cleaned up, and I was less than eager to mop up the mess.
But they say not to cry over spilled milk, right?
I recounted the cliché and reminded myself as I finally sat down in front of my computer.

I was perched in Gabe’s office and sitting in his chair that was so massive it hugged me like a cocoon. His office was lit by a single lamp and came complete with a bookshelf full of novels, computer coding manuals and a few textbooks. His desk faced west toward a large window that encompassed most of the wall. It looked out upon the swaying waves of the water and the sun that was nearing the end of the day.

I sat and stared out the window as I contemplated what my readers would want to hear and how I could align it with the incredibly improbable way that things had actually happened. Everything really had worked out in the most extraordinary way possible. The words in my last post were more ironic than I ever could have imagined; my life
had
twisted and changed drastically, and as I had ignorantly predicted for the sake of the blog, I would have
never
seen it coming.

It also felt ironic to be writing the post at Gabe’s house, but I was more than okay with it. There was something oddly comforting about sitting in his confines to mop up my mess and move on from the blog. I could hear Gabe milling around in the other room, and inside I smiled.

The cursor had been blinking for several minuets at the top of the blank page as I sat there with an empty stare. I needed a way to reintroduce Gabe in a positive light so that I could naturally reference him moving forward. After all, if I was going to switch my focus to a different blog, there was no doubt that Gabe would be involved. Not only that, but his persona and our relationship would add to any future narrative I would write. I needed to devise a story in which Brian faded into the distance while Gabe came bounding in heroically. I continued to sit for a few moments before telling myself to just start writing. So I did.

I
stopped
and paused in the way that I always did when a thought in the back of my mind seemed to step out and tie my hands together. I was no mastermind, I knew that. And although it hadn’t been my intention, there really was
no
name for what had happened. Even as I attempted to fabricate a story I felt like I was only coloring over a picture that was already in place.
Maybe I had masterminded Brian
, I wondered. But it was for the sake of my readers. I could never take credit for the way things had panned out.
I don’t care if my readers think I’m a conceited jerk, it’s time to get Brian out of here,
I thought as I began typing again.

M
y eyes shot
up from my computer as Gabe entered the room. He was dressed in cozy clothes for the evening and wore a smirk as he approached the desk where I was working.

“What’cha working on?” he said cunningly, for he already knew the answer.

“Just finishing up my blog,” I replied and turned the chair to face him. He continued to round the chair until he was behind me squeezing my shoulders and massaging gently.

“Are you writing something juicy about me?” he teased.

I laughed. “Actually, I think you’re going to laugh when you read this one. It took some time to think about a way to craft things and make them work out.”

“You mean you didn’t want to say that I showed up expecting to confront a guy who didn’t actually exist?” His voice was full of happiness and it took everything I had not to turn around and kiss him silent.

“Shut up!” I said instead.

“It looks to me like you’re crafting algorithms or something,” he said, leaning forward and peering over my shoulder. “You know this is the chair where I did all of my most brilliant work?”

I couldn’t help but laugh again. “Do
you
know that if you keep distracting me with all your super hilarious jokes, I’ll never be able to finish?”

“I think you should take a break and come watch the sunset with me,” he continued to rub my shoulders as he had done throughout the conversation. Finally I turned around to face him.

“I’ll never be able to finish this thing if I don’t do it now. It’s already like a week late,” I said with a thin frown on my face. “But I’m almost done, I promise!”

“Okay…” he said warily, “I don’t know if you were planning on reaching up to grab the sun and stop it from moving, but if not you’ve only got a few minuets until we miss the sunset.”

I looked out the giant window to the west. The sun wasn’t quite setting, but Gabe was right, it was nearing the time.

“Okay, I’ll hurry! I really will!” I promised him and he smiled back before leaving the room to allow me to work. I picked back up and began typing quickly.