Liberating Mr. Gable Read online

  Etta blew on her mug of tea, letting it heat her hands. “You make it sound like I can either have the B&B, or I can have Anson.”

  Chloe said nothing to this, but let the silence speak for itself.

  Soap and Bubbles

  It was the first time Etta did not sleep well in Anson’s arms. They had taken to snoozing in whatever room they made out in the night before. Last night it was her bedroom, which made her drop her guard even more.

  Anson and Etta kissed until Anson fell asleep holding his treasure. Etta, however, kept her eyes wide open long before the sun came up. When six o’clock finally rolled around, Etta carefully removed his hand from her stomach and rolled not-so-gracefully off the bed. She moved like a clumsy ninja through the room, tugging on clean clothes and soundlessly yanking her brunette mess into a ponytail.

  Etta made herself breakfast, but did not enjoy the taste of it. Spoon poised at her mouth, she took inventory of everything that still needed to be done. In truth, nothing more needed doing. Everything left on the list was either cosmetic or just fun things her grandfather had not seen reason to do. It was then that it dawned on her: Chloe was right. Subconsciously she had been stalling.

  Suddenly, everything looked dirty. Dust that had been nonexistent the day before seemed to clutter up all the breathable air, causing her to abandon her breakfast for the duster. She tore through the large house like a tornado, cleaning as she went. As soon as she finished one project, another would pop up, demanding she scour it from top to bottom.

  She was elbow-deep in one of the upstairs bathtubs, scrubbing the already clean porcelain with such vigor, one might think the object offended her. So engrossed was she that she did not notice Anson watching her from the doorway, his handsome face marred by his concerned expression. “You okay?”

  Etta jumped. She turned to get an eyeful of the perfect man, wondering how crazy and disheveled she must look. “It’s dirty,” she explained, making excuses for her mania. “The house is dirty. I couldn’t sleep.”

  Anson nodded, taking a moment to run through his words before they birthed from his mouth. “Alright. How can I help?” He reached for the bucket and took out a rag, wringing it through his knuckles.

  Etta was grateful he did not call her out right away. “Um, the shower door is disgusting. Do you want to try polishing that?”

  “Sure. ’Bout time I earned my keep.”

  Etta’s heart sank into her stomach. “But you pay to stay here. I’m sorry. Put the rag down. I wasn’t thinking.”

  Anson moved to the shower door and ran the rag over it. He had never cleaned one before, but assumed the process was fairly simple. “What else am I going to do? Watch movies while you work? I want to be with you. Even scrubbing toilets.”

  Returning to the tub, Etta softened. “Um, if you think you’re scrubbing a toilet right now, then you’ve been using the bathroom all wrong.”

  “That’s what you think.” They worked in silence for a minute before Anson spoke. “What’s got you bothered?”

  “I’m not bothered. The house is just messy.”

  “Etta,” he scolded. “I know you better than that by now.”

  She paused, but refused to look up at him. “You do know me, don’t you?”

  He swiped the cloth over the door again, taking in her ragged appearance with a fond smile. “Know you. Like you. Love you.”

  It was the first time love entered the conversation. It was enough of a shock to dismantle Etta’s craze for cleaning. “What?”

  “I love you. Are you really that surprised?” He put the rag back in the bucket, pretty sure he wet the whole surface. “Is that okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m just… I didn’t know you were going to say that.” She cringed. “Great. The first time a guy tells me he loves me, and I’m filthy and smell like a toilet.”

  “I’m the first guy to tell you he’s in love with you?” He took the scrub brush from her and plopped it in the bucket. “That can’t be true.” He extended his hand to her, waiting patiently while she removed her yellow rubber gloves before he helped her up.

  “The one and only.” When he moved in to kiss her, she pulled away. “I’m disgusting!”

  “I don’t care.” He kissed her, determined to seal their love with something beautiful. Though she smelled like homemade cleaner, she was warm and soft, and his nose reasoned it belonged buried in her neck. Waking up without her to caress had been a letdown he was not prepared for. Since the first night they slept together, they had not had it in them to part. The empty side where she should have been forced more discontent upon him than he was anticipating, shaking him into the realization that where she went, he would follow. He felt her fingers brush through the hair at the base of his neck, comforting them both as they enjoyed the peace of the precious moment.

  Anson pressed her to the wall of the bathroom, inhaling the fragrance of her neck as if he was afraid she might not be real. His arms banded around her waist, holding her tighter than the gentle embraces they usually indulged in. He ignored her confusion and the questions she asked him as his hug grew more desperate.

  “Anson, it’s okay. I’m here.” She cooed soothing words into his ear, waiting for sanity to return to him, determined to hold him until it did. “What’s wrong?”

  He shook his head into her neck, refusing to answer. Everything he thought of sounded pathetic, so he kept it to himself. He slowly began to relax in her calming hold, his muscles shifting from rigid to soft after a few minutes of her short fingernails trilling down his back.

  Etta noted the way he clung to her with the hint of fear. “What’s got you so upset?”

  He pulled back and tipped her chin up so he could look into her eyes. “I don’t like waking up without you. If you need help cleaning the house, just ask.”

  Etta leaned forward and kissed his frowning mouth. “Okay.” She reached her arms behind him and cuddled his body. “Chloe said something that got me thinking, and I guess I just needed some time to figure out how she’s wrong.”

  “What’s she wrong about?”

  Etta kissed his neck, tipping his chin back to nuzzle his throat. “I don’t want you to pay rent anymore. You’ve proven your point that you’re not just freeloading. You’ve been working on the house with me, so no more rent.” When he opened his mouth to argue, she shook her head. “I’m pretty firm on that.” She sighed into his neck, letting the gentle sway they did together open her up to speaking further her concerns. “Chloe got in my head. She said the only option for us soon would be to reopen the B&B. When that happens, we’ll have to either break up or be ready for tenants to recognize you and take your little vacation here public.”

  Her words cut him like a sharp blade, slicing through any other ideas he might have. He looked into Etta’s fearful eyes seriously, trying, as she did, to think of a third option.

  The Talk

  “I don’t understand your logic,” Etta admitted, worming her way under the covers next to him.

  “It’s simple. This is a serious conversation. Those are easier to have in bed. No one can storm out this way.”

  “Who’s storming out?”

  He cupped her perfect posterior, amazed he was the only one pursuing the treasure. “No one, now.”

  “I don’t want you to leave,” Etta stated, showing her hand in the beginning, so there was no confusion. “But Chloe’s right. I have to reopen at some point.”

  “I don’t want to leave, either. But I also don’t think our life will be like it is, once the world finds out where I’ve disappeared to.” He stroked her backside, amazed he was permitted to touch it as often as he was. “I’m not going to lie, Etta. People are going to care.”

  “But why? Why does anyone need to know what you’re doing?”

  “Who I’m doing is very important to lots of fans. I don’t understand it, but that’s the way it is. It’s a big choice you have to make.”

  “Me? What’s my choice?”

  Anson t
raced the curve of her hip under the comforter. “To be with me or not. Chloe’s right. My job is a lot of work. It would affect you a great deal.”

  Etta put on her stern face, looking into his eyes with determination. “Okay, then. Real world time. How do we do this? I love you. Being without you is not an option. So, walk me through it.”

  There was so much to talk about, but Anson could not form a single sentence. He rolled on top of her and covered her mouth with a passionate kiss.

  “You love me?” he whispered into her ear.

  “I do.”

  Anson wanted her in ways he knew she wasn’t ready for, so he rolled onto his back. “We need a change of venue.”

  “What’s wrong with my bedroom?”

  “What’s wrong is that you’re sexy, and I’m trying to be a gentleman.”

  “Really?” Etta asked, confused and pleased that he wanted her so.

  “I’m about ten seconds away from seducing the panties off you. March.” He pointed to the hallway and took a few seconds to breathe while she gave him some much needed space to deflate.

  Etta made them lunch, and when Anson came out, he made the tea – a skill he was growing quite adept at. “Now, where were we?” Etta asked as she slathered a piece of bread with hummus.

  “Oh. The real world. You wanted to know what it’d be like.”

  “Right. Okay, shoot.”

  Anson watched her make him a sandwich, and wondered if he had ever seen anything so sweet and erotic at the same time. “Well, that would depend a great deal on you. Would you want to stay here together, or move in with me?”

  Etta froze, and then slowly answered. “You want me to move in with you?”

  “Of course I do. Or I could stay here, which I also like. I don’t really want to be without you.”

  “Me, either,” she admitted, layering turkey and pastrami on the bread. “Okay. So, if you lived here, eventually I’d reopen. Sooner or later, one of the tenants would recognize you. Then, what?”

  “Well, we’d release an announcement through my publicist that I’m in a relationship. Your name and a brief bio of you would be released, and soon enough, you’ll be booked through our fifties.”

  “But what about your job? Would you run the B&B with me, or will you have to go back to work someday?”

  “I’m retired.”

  “Retired? You’re thirty-one!”

  Anson shrugged. “How it works in my business, if you get lucky. I’ll go back to work if we decide that’s what’s best.”

  “We? You’d really consult me on something like that? I know so little about Hollywood.”

  “Well, you’re dating me now, so you’ll have to learn to care about it. Just like I learned to care about the B&B.”

  “I guess that makes sense. It’s just a lot of stock to put in someone so inexperienced at the whole thing. I hope you know what you’re doing.”

  “Teaming up with you? Safest bet I’ve ever made. You can run this place on your own just fine. I have no doubt you’d take to my world just as easily.”

  “Thank you.” She sliced a tomato and stacked it atop the hard cheese, and then reached for the lettuce as the kettle sang. Anson poured the hot water, moving around the kitchen with her in a perfect dance they practiced often. “Okay. So what if I decide I don’t want a bunch of people living here just to gawk at us?”

  “Then you could come live with me in LA.” He stirred in the honey and squeezed half a lemon over the mugs, glad he knew the little things, like how she preferred her tea.

  “I’ve never been to California.”

  “It’s not bad. Not as pretty as all this snow, but much easier to not drive off a cliff.”

  “That’s always a bonus. What about the B&B? I’d have to close it.”

  Anson shrugged. “That’s why I’m letting you choose. I’m happy either way. So long as I get to be with you, I’m good. LA’s my home, but it’s a little much sometimes, even for me. You’re the one with the decision to make.”

  Etta swallowed, not sure how to proceed. “I don’t think I like the idea of people snooping through my house for souvenirs of you.” She placed the plates on the table and sat down. “But LA? It just seems so different from this. What if I hate it?”

  Anson shrugged. “Then we come back here and start the Anson Gable museum. Coming out to the press is the big hurdle. Everything else is logistics.”

  Big Decisions

  Blowing on her mug, Etta mulled over his words. “You sound awfully sure we can handle this. I freaked out over Chloe and Cooper finding out about us. How big a fallout are we talking?”

  Anson scratched the back of his neck. “Big enough that you’ll need to be sure of us before we make that leap.” He took a bite of the tall sandwich, wishing he could stay in her cottage and eat her food forever. “I don’t like it, either. I’ve been off the grid for a while. I left my people a message before I split, telling them I was going on sabbatical and not to book me on anything until I got back. Chloe keeps me in the loop with all the celeb gossip she stays caught up on. Word’s spread that I’m missing.”

  “What about your family?” Etta picked at her sandwich, though she lost her appetite for it. “You never really talk much about them. I’m sure they’re going crazy not knowing where you are or when you’re coming home.”

  Anson laughed at her sweetness. “Oh, you adorable girl. I’m sure they found out I was gone when the magazines printed it. Did Chloe say anything about which publications are running it? Mom only reads one.”

  “I didn’t ask.” Etta grimaced. “I should’ve checked with her. A girlfriend does that sort of thing, and I didn’t even think of it. See? I’m already a horrid LA girlfriend.”

  “You’re fine. It’s not your job to spy for me. And no, my family doesn’t give a lick about me. My stepbrother Chase does, maybe. He stops by every now and then when he resurfaces from whatever failed entrepreneurial venture he’s onto this month. I’m not close with my family.” He took another bite and spoke between chews. “That’s something you should know if you come out there with me. You’re used to a whole community of people reaching out and being there for each other. I don’t even know my next door neighbors.”

  Frowning, Etta straightened in her chair. “Well, that won’t do.” She sipped her tea prematurely and singed her tongue. “What’s the rent?”

  “For what?”

  “Your house. What’s your mortgage payment or rent? We should split it if I stay there.”

  He chuckled as he ate. “Oh, Etta. You are cute.”

  “What?” Her nose crinkled. “That’s a legitimate question. Plus utilities. I’ll need to know what type of job to look for based on how much I have to pull in each month. I don’t want to get out there without something lined up.”

  His laugh shook his body, and he held his stomach good-naturedly. “Oh, man. I needed that. Whew!” He polished off the last of his sandwich and rolled his eyes with delight. “Woman, you make the best sandwiches in the world. That’s all I want out of life. You and sandwiches.”

  Etta raised her eyebrow at his mirth. “I don’t get what’s so funny. You’re being weird.”

  “I needed a good laugh. Thanks for that. I was worried this would be a big scary conversation. Paying rent.” He chuckled again. “You aren’t paying me a dime, little duck.”

  Stiffening in her chair, Etta disregarded her food. “What are you talking about? You paid me rent. Rent I never charged you. Why would it be any different?”

  Anson shrugged. “Because it’s different. I don’t pay on a mortgage. I own my place outright.”

  “I own this place outright,” she countered, blowing a stray curl from her face.

  “I don’t have repairs like you do. I paid because you’re running a business, and I didn’t want you to question why I was here. My house isn’t a business.”

  Etta blinked as she factored in the new information. “Okay, then. Utilities.”

  “No.”
r />   “No, what?”

  Pretending to consider her offer, he rephrased. “No, thank you? I’m not charging my girlfriend to stay with me. You’re the one giving up your world out here for mine. I should be the one paying you. Do you need anything for traveling expenses? I mean, I got the tickets, of course. Or do you want to drive your truck out?”

  “Now who’s being ridiculous? I don’t need money, Anson. I’ve worked my whole life.” She sighed. “Since we’re talking about moving in together, might as well tell you that Papa put the life insurance I got from my parents in a trust fund for me. I never touched it. Felt wrong for some reason. So that’s a sizeable chunk. Then there’s the life insurance I got from Papa passing. The house is mine, owned outright. I don’t have a ton of bills, and when the business is running, I make a decent living. So thank you, but you can keep your money. Unless I decide to buy a pet whale or something. You can foot the bill for that. Deal?”

  “You and your extravagant tastes.”

  “So I’m well off, but it’s mostly from everyone around me dying. So I don’t like to use that money. Rainy day fund instead.”

  Anson kissed her gently before speaking. As he spoke, he looked her in the eye to gage her reaction. “Well, I pulled in seventeen million last year. Not sure how much in investments and my other assets. And I’ve been having years like that for a while. Full disclosure.”

  Etta choked on her tea. “Um, well, okay then.”

  “This whale you’re wanting. Pink or purple? Never mind. I’ll just get you both.”

  “Oh, shush. Can I just pretend you have like a hundred thousand in the bank? I can’t process anything beyond that.” Etta’s eyes were wide as she drank too much of the hot beverage and coughed.

  “You okay?” he asked, patting her on the back.