Song for the chapter: Reflecting Light~Sam Phillips

GABRIEL

My parents' death influenced a lot of my perception of living in the moment, not knowing when your last day would come. Living each day on a whim has its advantages and until recently I have enjoyed the unknown aspect of what's to come.

But things feel different now.

Now, thoughts of what could be or possibilities of what I want plague my mind. Excitement buzzes through me and the smile on my face seems to be permanent nowadays.

"Read 'em and weep suckers!" Gramps pulls out his cigar after tossing his cards on the table. Two Aces.

The sneaky bastard finally won.

"Hollywood, it's official; you are dethroned, my boy." Gramps winks at me leaning back in his chair, blowing out a perfect 'O' with his cigar. "And I believe Nessa is everyone's good luck charm now." He winks at Vanessa, who hides her grin behind her stack of cards.

"Why do you call Gabe Hollywood?" She asks, keeping her cards close to her chest as Jaycee walks behind her to grab a second helping of the brunch that is set out at the backyard table. She's a quick learner.

Gramps chortles. But before he answers, my cousin Isaac beats him to it. "Isn't it obvious? Gabriel walks around like he's the shit."

"Jealous?" I toss a pair of cards down, glaring at my annoying cousin behind my shades.

"What's there to be jealous about?" He challenges with a smirk. "Besides having this gorgeous woman by your side; you ain't got nothing I don't already have." He sets down four nines; leaving him with three cards and then winks at Vanessa.

Dammit. If he beats me, too, he's never going to let me hear the end of it. But as luck would have it, Vanessa slaps down four Jacks next with a happy squeal and does a little victory dance in her chair.

I smack the back of Isaac's head catching him with his mouth open, ogling the way Vanessa's chest bounces with her dancing.

"Have some respect, asshole."

My family erupts in laughter around us. But Gramps seems to be the one enjoying himself the most.

"Well, I'll be damned. I didn't think I'd live long enough to see the day our Gabriel would grow up." His weathered hand slaps the table as he continues laughing.

"I'm grown up," I say with a scowl on my face. But that only makes everyone burst out into more laughter.

Gramps sighs after his chortling dies down and holds onto Vanessa's hand, patting it. "I tease Gabriel by calling him Hollywood or Hot Shot because he set out to make a name for himself. He knows I'm damn proud of him and don't mean anything bad by it. Broke my Millie's heart though when he left home after high school graduation and got himself a college degree out in Southern California."

"Too good to go to school here like the rest of us." Jaycee chimes in with a grin and I roll my eyes.

"Unlike us, Gabriel comes from money." My cousin John-John feels the need to share. " 'Course it's from his father's side, but still. Gabe didn't want to be known as a trust fund baby in the family and went off to make his own name."

"Made some smart choices with some investments early on and doubled what his father left in his inheritance." Uncle Tommy joins the conversation, sitting down at the other end of the table. "Started a non-profit organization in honor of Millie and continues to find ways to make the family proud."

I take a long drink of my ice tea, feeling Vanessa's eyes burning the side of my face. Leaning back in my chair, I try to ease my uncomfortableness. "Didn't know I was going to get my ego stroked this morning, everyone. I should have prepared a 'thank you' speech."

"And there it is." Jaycee throws a grape at me which I catch in my mouth, smiling as I chew. "The well-known cockiness Gabe is known for."

The others murmur in agreement as the game continues. But I don't even care because when my gaze finds Vanessa and the smile she gives me, I feel like a damn king.

While I may have had a great example of what love is about being around and raised by my grandparents—who are the epitome of selfless and pure love with a balance of humor and self awareness of each other's strengths and values—falling for someone is not something I ever planned on or even thought about.

Truth is, fear isn't what kept me from committing to anyone as everyone assumes, labeling me a commitment-phobe. It's the fact that I simply never wanted to before until I met Vanessa. I'm not saying there was wedding bells immediately, because that would be fucking crazy. No, it started out with something as simple as wanting to see her again and again.

The irony is the woman who possesses my every waking moment and now my heart since the night our paths crossed, is the one afraid of commitment. And the reality of not knowing all that much about her or her past is not lost on me. Hell, I only just found out about her traumatic work history with Keith.

My hand instinctively clenches remembering the arrogant asshole's face the night of the awards ceremony a couple of weeks ago. The scandal spread through the industry like wildfire, but thankfully Vanessa's name was mostly kept out of the rumors of Keith's inappropriate relations with several associates in the field.

It's unclear what's to come for the duo property management brothers, but from what a few connections have shared, Kyle is in negotiations to sell the company and their assets.

On the drive back to the city, I glance at Vanessa when she threads her fingers with mine, bringing my hand to her lap.

"You okay?" She asks.

I nod.

She purses her gorgeous lips. "You've been very quiet. What's on your mind?"

"Nothing in particular. Have a few things to do before I leave."

She doesn't say anything for a moment but then she leans over and kisses my cheek. "Thanks for another fun weekend. Despite all the teasing, your family loves you. They're wonderful. It's nice to see a family that genuinely likes spending time together."

My gaze finds her looking down at our hands, her eyebrows furrowing together. During our time together, she rarely opens up about her family. Her descriptions of her parents have been brief; her father is a hard to please, workaholic lawyer and her mother, an aloof paralegal. She has an older brother who lives in Colorado who she only sees once a year during the holidays unless there's a family reunion which she seemed to hint there is one coming but didn't elaborate.

Vanessa shifts in her seat, but she keeps holding my hand. Clearing her throat, her eyes shift to me. "You haven't asked if I made up my mind about going with you on this next trip."

I chuckle with an exhale as I get off the freeway. "Gorgeous, I leave in three days; I figured if you were coming you would have told me by now."

She looks down again and skims her fingers over my knuckles. "I want to go with you, Gabe. I've asked for the time off, but I got the feeling Jaqueline didn't really like the idea of me taking time off since we're not finished with the lease up. We've hit a slump."

"You're allowed to take time off, lease-up complete or not, Doll." She doesn't say anything but I can see the stress on her face. "No walk in traffic?"

"Hardly. Phone leads are low too." She clicks her tongue looking out the windshield as the light turns green. "It's to be expected, slumps are normal," she says, but it seems like she's trying to convince herself more than anything.

"Have you done flyering?" I offer a suggestion.

Vanessa shakes her head. "Jaqueline and Savannah think that's tacky marketing."

I chuckle. "Yet, they had you wrap your personal car with the property's name and information." I dodge her swatting my arm.

"I'm not above taking one for the team. It doesn't look that bad." She lets go of my hand, folding her arms and straightens her shoulders. Then she side-eyes me. "Does it?"

"Glad it's not my car, sweetcheeks." I tease, pinching her cheek. She glowers at me, pushing my hand away, but I hold on to hers and press my lips to it. "I'm just kidding. It doesn't look bad. Honest."

"Anyway." She adjusts in her seat to face me. "So, I won't be able to meet up with you until the end of the week."

Sliding into an open spot at the curb outside her building, I set the car to park and lean over to hold her face. "I'm just glad you're coming." I press my lips to hers. She smiles against my mouth before she deepens the kiss.

Pulling away, her soft breathing fans over my lips enticing me to kiss her again. Her eyes, half lidded, are focused on my mouth. She pulls her bottom lip in, "Do you want to come up?"

I kiss her again, and then trail my lips across her jaw and down the soft skin of her neck. A soft moan greets my ears, tempting me further. "Baby, if I come up, I won't be leaving." I kiss her lips as I make my way to the otherside of her throat. "And I need to square some things away before the trip."

Vanessa leans away with an adorable pout.

But her frown morphs into an ear to ear grin smile when I shut off the engine and open my car door.

_________________

I leave for my trip tonight and slide my phone into my pocket, after getting a text confirmation of my itinerary and grab Vanessa's hand as we stroll down the sidewalk after having lunch. She's unusually quiet. She's been preoccupied while we ate, too.

I stop and tug her hand so she faces me. "I know work isn't going well right now, but things will turn around. This is the peak season."

She shakes her head at me. "It's not just the lack of traffic, or deposits..." Her gaze drops and she saws her bottom lip between her teeth. "One of the residents named me personally in a lawsuit against the property. I got served yesterday."

My eyebrows draw together. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Her shoulders lift in a shrug. "I didn't want to bring you down...you've been so excited for this trip."

My hands cup her face. "Sharing what you're dealing with won't bring me down, Vanessa. What's their claim?"

"Fair Housing; discrimination." Her eyes shine as they stare back at me. "About three weeks ago, a resident referred his daughter and her husband to apply to move in. We ended up denying the application because the husband didn't have a social security number—which normally isn't an issue for non-residents—but he couldn't provide a US Visa or any type of documentation that allows him to reside in the US. We asked for a permanent residence card but he didn't have one. I had to call Jaqueline, because I never ran into this before. She said since they were married, it would be fine because the wife is a US citizen, but then the daughters' credit came back with her Social Security number as a mismatch, which turned into another can of worms with it being a fraudulent number, when she couldn't provide the actual hard copy."

She sighs. "Luis, the resident, has always been so nice and friendly but he snapped, which all things considered, I get it, but...he said I was a disgrace to my own race, that I was brainwashed and I was going to be sorry for turning against my 'own people'."

Dealing with combative residents or customers is not unusual, in property management, but seeing the distress on Vanessa's face affects me on a personal level. "Do your applications have applicants certify their residency status?"

She nods. "Yes and they answered 'yes' to being here legally."

"Well, then case closed." I brush away the wetness on her face with my thumbs.

Vanessa scoffs and sniffles. "Right, because if it was, how would they even have a case?"

"You followed your company's policies who have the backing of the company's lawyer for their procedures." I shrug. "Ultimately, the due diligence falls on the applicant to provide the necessary information to show they meet the rental criteria."

"I know, but it doesn't feel like my boss has my back in this. She made it clear while they're responsible for the property, unfortunately, when lawsuits name an employee specifically there's nothing they can do...and to see how it all plays out."

Biting the response that wants to come out and ask why she doesn't ask her lawyer father for help, I reach for her hand. "I have some contacts with the legal department in the apartment association. If you want I can reach out to them and see what they think?"

Her lips curve in a small smile. "I'd appreciate that." She leans in to kiss me.

"Vanessa?"

She stills in my arms at the sound of the stern voice and her eyes are wide when she steps back, turning towards the older man in a suit with familiar eyes.

"Hey, Dad."