Threads Of Desire (Creative Hearts Book 3) by K.M. Jackson Read Free Book Online

even believed some of her murmured words of endearment in private. But this. This proved that she was using him. He gritted his teeth and swiped at his phone. He’d been played, and now it was time to do damage control and regroup.
    It’s me,  he texted . Are you going to be in this afternoon?  He only had to wait a beat for her reply.
    I have yoga.
    Nick felt his lips tighten. Leave it to Claire to double down on her bullshit. He fought to get control of his emotions. He let out a breath through his nose and tapped the keys.  Yoga, huh? Fine. What time?
    12:30. At the studio.
    He thought for a moment, deciding to keep his words short.
    I’ll have my things out by the time you return.
    Nick put his phone away and didn’t look back for her reply. It didn’t make a difference anyway. No matter what she said, he was out. There was no way he was being a cuckold to any woman—especially a woman like Claire. A woman like her, he’d give an inch and she’d have him licking her boots in no time. Sure, fun for her but definitely not his shade of kink.
    He got up to head toward the kitchen, suddenly ravenous, but for some reason he couldn’t help looking toward Gabby’s closed bedroom door. He ran his hand along his chin and shook his head. Their dance last night sent him back in the best and the worst way imaginable. He looked toward Steve’s closed door. What would things be like once his brother was gone? The past nagged at him as the problem of Claire and the present pulled him another way.
    He’d never quite gotten Steve and Gabby’s relationship. Or it could be he’d never gotten past his jealousy of it. How a man and a woman—though when they’d first met she was hardly a woman—could stay in the same proximity so long and remain nothing more than friends? It always made him a little crazy. She was always so easy and trusting with Steve. So unguarded in a way she could never be with him. And Nick had realized he wanted that so much. More than anything. None of that smartass sass she gave to the rest of the world. None of the fake smiles. Just Gabby, the girl from next door.
    But no, he’d had his chance. His one chance to prove himself, but he’d fucked it up and lived up to his legacy and broken her heart. It was a memory that, try as he might, he couldn’t shake. He knew he’d done her wrong. Sure, he’d been young, but still old enough to know better, and worse yet, she’d been young too and she’d trusted him. Steve had trusted him too—and what did he do that weekend when she’d come to his college for a tour, all prepared to start in the fall, looking for his guidance, his advice? He sent her back home with a broken heart and an even lower expectation of him than she already had. He’d let her down.
    Nick shook his head. Time to shake off the past and get his head back in the game. He looked back at Gabby’s door, no longer hungry, but knowing he should have something to eat anyway if he was going to go and face clearing out his place. It would be great if Steve could go with him to help move him in and bring some stuff to the storage place. But Steve would be busy with his own packing today and then he’d be off. Nick let out a sigh. And then it would be just them. Nick and Gabby. On their own.
    • • •
    Gabby fought her body’s natural urges to get up and lay in bed, staring at the door. She could hear him out there scuffling around. Moving and folding and then doing more scuffling. What the hell was he doing up so early on a freaking Sunday morning? Didn’t he get what Sunday mornings were for? She gave the door a glare and turned to her side, but that only made things worse. The shift had her bladder going to full alert and now she really had to get up. Which meant she had to see him.
    Gabby hated feeling this out of sorts in her own home. Hell, in her own skin. It went against all she told herself she stood for. Women’s empowerment, loving herself just as she was in that moment,