Rush

Well, except Gabe,
     but perhaps it was time to get over her embarrassing teenage fantasies where he was
     concerned. At sixteen, it was understandable. At twenty-four, it just made her desperate
     and deluded.
    Ash and Gabe had been born into wealth. She and Jace had not, and she still wasn’t
     entirely comfortable in the circles her brother moved in. But she was inordinately
     proud of Jace for making such a success of himself, especially since he’d been saddled
     with a younger sibling after the unexpected deaths of their parents.
    Gabe was close to his parents, or at least he had been when they’d been married. In
     a shocking move, his father had divorced Gabe’s mother right after their thirty-ninth
     anniversary. Ash…his was an interesting situation at best. That was the most diplomatic
     word for it. He didn’t get along with his family—any of them. He’d gone his own way
     young, spurning the family business—and money—and perhaps his success was all the
     more infuriating to his family because he’d done it without them.
    Mia knew that Ash never spent any time with them. He spent most of his time with Jace
     and Gabe, but in particular Jace. Jace had made it clear to Mia that Ash’s family
     were, in his words, assholes, and she’d left it at that, not that she’d ever have
     occasion to meet them. They pretended that HCM didn’t exist.
    She wanted to turn and flee when two men approached her, smiling like they were about
     to score for the night. But she hadn’t found Jace yet, and she wasn’t going to leave
     so quickly when she’d spent a ridiculous amount of time getting ready. Just in case
     she happened to see Gabe, which was pathetic enough, but there it was.
    She smiled and braced herself, determined not to embarrass her brother by acting like
     a twit on his big night.
    And then, to her complete surprise, Gabe appeared, wading through the crowd, a scowl
     marring his face. He stepped in front of the two approaching men and took her arm,
     effectively herding her away before the men got to her.
    “Hello to you too, Gabe,” she said shakily.
    There was something about the man that just made her stupid. She couldn’t talk, couldn’t
     think, couldn’t form a single coherent thought. He probably thought it a miracle that
     she actually completed her degree and graduated with honors. Even if he and Jace thought
     it was a perfectly useless degree. Jace had wanted her to pursue a business degree.
     He wanted to bring her into the “family”business. But she wasn’t sure yet
what
she wanted to do. Which was another source of exasperation to Jace.
    That
made her feel guilty. Because she had the luxury of taking time to make decisions.
     Jace had always provided generously for her. An apartment, whatever she needed, even
     though after graduating she’d made the effort not to rely on him for support.
    The people she’d graduated with had already moved into jobs. They were making careers.
     She was still working in a pastry shop part-time and dragging her feet as to what
     she wanted to do with the rest of her life.
    And that hesitation likely had a lot to do with her deluded fantasies regarding the
     man hauling her away by the arm. She
had
to get over this fixation with him and move on. She couldn’t spend her whole life
     with the ridiculous notion that he was going to one day notice her and decide he had
     to have her.
    She greedily drank in the sight of him, like an addict getting their next high—like
     she’d gone far too long without that fix. He was a man whose presence filled any room
     he occupied. He wore his black hair cut short, styled with minimal product. Just enough
     to give it an expensive, sophisticated look.
    He had the look of the sinful bad boy all the women went wild for. He had a total
     “don’t give a fuck” attitude, and what Gabe wanted, Gabe always got. His confidence
     and arrogance were two things that drew her to him—had always drawn her to him. She
     was helpless to fight her attraction to him. God knew she’d tried for years, but her
     obsession showed
no
signs of waning.
    “Mia,” he said in a low voice. “I didn’t realize you were coming. Jace didn’t say
     anything.”
    “He doesn’t know,” she said with a smile. “I decided to surprise him. Where is he,
     by the way?”
    Brief discomfort entered Gabe’s eyes. “He was called away. I’m not sure if he’ll be
     back.”
    Her smile slipped. “Oh.” She glanced down