Free Gabe's Destiny (Alien Mates Book Three) by Serena Simpson

her watch showed she was down to fifty-eight minutes. Jumping up, she headed to the bathroom. Why? Because she believed him.

Chapter Ten
     
     
    It didn’t take her an hour to get ready, but it did take her an hour to get the courage to place her hand on the door knob and turn. She watched the minute’s tick down on the phone as she slowly descended the stairs entering the kitchen just as the hour struck. The trek had been silent. There wasn’t one person in sight; it was like they all cleared out so they couldn’t be considered material witnesses in case Gabe needed to take her door down.
    Gabe was at the stove cooking with his back to her. The smell of the food made her stomach rumble. Maybe not eating for a week wasn’t the smartest especially given the fact that she had been exhausted from her vacation at Zuhun land.
    “Sit before you fall.” His back was still to her, how did he know?
    She made her way over to the island. Wait…there wasn’t an island anymore; in fact the kitchen was totally different. Should she complain? Bring it to their attention that the house seems possessed or simply be grateful she didn’t have to climb up on those high stools? Gratitude for now; she could always use the possessed house as part of her defense later.
    “In most cases having rested would have helped you, but you got very little sleep. In fact, I would say that except for the first day you barely got any sleep at all, and the lack of food has made you weaker than when you faced Melissa.”
    “How do you know?” Her voice came out snarky. How dare he act like he had her best interest at heart.
    He turned around, his eyes looked red and tired. Several days’ growth of beard was on his chin. Hmm, she liked him clean shaven but the look on his face was scaring her. What was wrong with him?
    “What’s wrong with you?” She got up swaying slightly on her feet before she steadied herself on the table and walked to him.
    “What’s wrong with you!” This time she screamed it. One of them needed to be okay and she wasn’t okay right now.
    He wrapped her in his arms and just held her close.
    “I’m connected to you, Taya. I don’t know how it happened but it happened. I felt your pain and all I wanted to do was kick the door in and come to you, but I waited until I couldn’t wait anymore. Turns out, if you don’t sleep neither do I.” He led her back to her seat and went to the stove to finish cooking.
    He placed breakfast in front of her. Thick pieces of French toast layered with strawberries and whipped cream.
    “You really are connected to me. I’ve been thinking about this exact meal for days now.”
    “I know.” He grabbed a couple of glasses and filled them with milk before getting a plate for himself and sitting next to her.
    She cut into her food keeping her eyes lowered, scared of what she might actually see if she looked into his eyes. The silence stretched out between them as they ate. When they were done, they cleaned the kitchen together before moving out to the front porch.
    Staying in her room hadn’t helped; she was still at a cross road with Gabe and she honestly didn’t know what to do. She could still hear the voice of her mother telling her she would make the right decision. Well, hiding under the covers wasn’t it. Walking away didn’t feel like it either, but was getting married the right thing to do? That was a non-refundable action and just seemed silly.
    “Who’s that?” There was an older male walking up to the bed and breakfast who she had never seen before and although her danger meter wasn’t ringing, after Melissa her trust meter was rather low. He stood tall with his back straight and his shoulders squared. She got the impression of age from him but couldn’t tell with the way he was built. His hair was long with some silver shot through it. He had it tied at the nape of his neck with a leather tie. He might be too old for her but that wouldn’t stop her from looking if