Review: His Unlikely Lover

His Unlikely Lover by Natasha Anders
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

UPDATE
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3 ⭐⭐⭐ - OK decent reads
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==>Reread July, 02 2019

I removed 1 star and added new highlights.

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4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Liked it!
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==>Read December, 27 2016

He's ashamed of her + his dirty little secret + She is only good for sex
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"They were complete opposites—Bobbi’s untidiness against his neatness and her free spirit versus his buttoned-down conservativeness—and their friendship sometimes baffled him too."

"Bobbi was a tiny waif of a girl, so her ghastly outfit seemed to be wearing her. The top of her head barely came up to his chest. She had slender arms and legs, a flat chest, and no curves to speak of at all. He supposed she was okay-looking as such things went, with luminous, thickly lashed amber eyes that shone like dark gold in the sunlight, a snub nose that was crooked as a result of a childhood fall, and a perfect cupid’s bow of a mouth, which—in addition to her eyelashes—was one of the few feminine things about her. She had beautiful skin though, clear and golden, and her short, silky, straight black hair molded the elegant shape of her head."

“What’s up, Runt?” She winced at the nickname"

"He had imagined her at any of the social events that he was regularly required to go to as the CEO of GNT, and Bobbi was hardly the type of female he’d want gracing his arm."

“I was thinking we could come to an understanding. We keep this affair and our friendship separate . . .”
What? She didn’t understand what that meant. “I don’t understand.”
“It would be better if nobody else knew about it. If we kept it between us,” he said"

"Their family and friends would remain completely oblivious while Gabe slept with her in secret as if what he felt for her was something to be ashamed."

"Bobbi wasn’t the type of woman he was usually seen with. She didn’t have the dress sense, the gloss, or the elegance he enjoyed in a woman. Where would he take her for Christ’s sake? When she didn’t seem to own more than that one ugly dress?"

“I need someone else, someone who knows how to dress and handle herself in public, someone who won’t show up at events with questionable bruises . . .”

New Highlights (2019)

Because only a fool would stand idly by while the man she loved romanced another woman in front of her very eyes.

She wasn’t his type anyway. He preferred blondes—but this was one brunette for whom he would gladly have made an exception.

She had slender arms and legs, a flat chest, and no curves to speak of at all.

He could only conclude that he’d been more affected by his dance with the stunning Rosalie De Lucci than he’d known. It was past time for him to form a new relationship.

“Go to bed, Runt, before we do something . . . ill-advised.” He used the nickname deliberately, wanting to shock them both out of this erotic haze and it worked—too well.

He was her complete opposite in every way, and she knew that he would never belong to her.

But he had a weakness for sleek, expensive, classy cars and sleek, expensive, classy women, and he frequently indulged himself. He collected sports cars and dated women that Chase loved to call brainy, beautiful, boring babes.

“And while we’re at it, it’s all right to date a dumb brunette once in a while instead of a brainy blonde. I swear to God, that bloodless parade of boring blondes you date has sucked every ounce of life and fun out of you.”

“Look, those shorts are just too . . . short okay?

“Wear a damned bra, for God’s sake! You keep flashing those nipples at me and I won’t be responsible for my actions.”

How the hell did you tell your friend that you wanted to sleep with her? But that that’s all you wanted from her.

He loved her but she wasn’t a woman he could ever envision spending his life with.

The woman of his dreams was tall, graceful, refined, and had an immaculate sense of style and design.

Bobbi hooking up with some other guy might be just what he needed to get over this ridiculous desire he felt for her.

Meaningless sex? That’s all he wanted?
Of course that’s what he wanted! She was such a dolt.

“I was thinking we could come to an understanding. We keep this affair and our friendship separate .

“It would be better if nobody else knew about it. If we kept it between us,” he said,

How stupid of her to think that he would want a proper relationship with someone like her and that she could show the world how she felt about him. How foolish of her to fantasize about actually staking a claim on him and keeping all those annoying blondes at bay by right of possession.

Their family and friends would remain completely oblivious while Gabe slept with her in secret as if what he felt for her was something to be ashamed.

He usually took his other female companions out to dinner, dancing . . . some kind of event. Followed by a night of sex at their homes—which insured a quick and easy getaway afterward. Bobbi wouldn’t be getting the fancy dinners; he acknowledged guiltily but then appeased himself with the reminder that it wasn’t her scene anyway.

Bobbi probably had nothing that could be labeled lingerie in her underwear drawer. His Bobbi was a cotton-panties girl through and through. Lingerie was not for the practical mechanic,

“Gabe won’t ask you,” she said out loud, and flinched at the inescapable truth in the words.

“I take it things are more serious with this latest one then? What is she? An astronaut? A professor? No, you’ve already dated a professor . . . an astrophysicist? Neurosurgeon?”

“You’re so full of shit,” Chase lambasted him. “You never hid your relationships with those other women like they were dirty little secrets. If Bobbi is no different than any of them, why are you hiding this from everybody? Have you been out with her in public?”

“Oh cut the crap, Gabriel,” Chase derided. “You know that’s not what I meant. Bobbi doesn’t deserve to be treated like some second-class citizen, good enough for warming your bed but nothing else. You’re embarrassed to be seen with her, that’s what this is about.”

Bobbi wasn’t the type of woman he was usually seen with. She didn’t have the dress sense, the gloss, or the elegance he enjoyed in a woman. Where would he take her for Christ’s sake? When she didn’t seem to own more than that one ugly dress?

“I’m not the one who’s shagging my best friend, you idiot!”

“How big of you! What a relief to hear that you’re not just covering your own butt so that you don’t look like a complete dick when you dump Bobbi and move on to your next conquest.”

“My mother, Frank, and Kim are coming round for dinner tonight,” he said after a while. “I think it’ll be a late night, so it’ll probably be best if you didn’t come around.”

“I knew what I was doing when I agreed to his terms, Chase. I just didn’t expect it to be so difficult. One minute I’m floating on cloud nine and the next I feel . . . small and unworthy and just so stupid.”

“Did he say wh—” She stopped mid-word when she caught sight of Gabe exiting the house with Sandro and Theresa in tow. He had his arm wrapped around Rosalie De Lucci’s slender shoulders, and Bobbi felt like she took a blow to her solar plexus. She fought to catch her breath and couldn’t take her eyes off the gorgeous couple.

Gabe had his head bent toward hers, giving her his full attention as she said something to him.

Bobbi couldn’t drag her eyes away from Gabe and Rosalie though. They had paused halfway to the field, and he was brushing her hair off her brow with a grin. The wind kept catching the silky strands and blowing it back into her face, so Gabe was fighting a losing battle. They looked like the cover of a romance novel standing there, leaning into each other with the wind in her hair and the backlights from the house delineating their shapes in silver. Bobbi would never look that perfect standing next to him.

“Gabe, I’m surprised you were able to drag yourself from Rosalie De Lucci’s side,” she said, and then winced at how bitter she sounded.

“Don’t be childish, Bobbi. Rosalie is a friend and a very nice woman on top of that.” And he obviously found her attractive. “You think she’s beautiful though.” “Because she is,” he said impatiently, clearly done with the conversation.

Bobbi knew she looked awful but wished that fact wasn’t so clearly reflected in his disgusted expression. “Look at you,” he muttered. “Just look at the state of you! How am I supposed to even consider having a real relationship with a woman who wears overalls to work, hasn’t styled her hair in years, never wears makeup, and has grease under her fingernails?
“I need someone else, someone who knows how to dress and handle herself in public, someone who won’t show up at events with questionable bruises . .

“Don’t you understand?” His voice was edged with panic. “We’re already done . . .

“Just stop hurting me! Because that’s all you’ve been doing. You don’t think I’m good enough for you. Did you think I was ever unaware of that fact? But, I swallowed my pride and allowed you to hatch this insane arrangement—God I hate that word so much—between us. Any romantic notions I had about you died that night in my father’s den. Because I was imagining a real relationship with you, while you were trying to fix it so that we could shag regularly without anybody ever finding out.

“I felt small and cheap and stupid but I allowed it because I knew that it was the only way I could have you. I knew it was my one chance to be with you.”

“I deserve a real relationship with a man who loves me for who I am. Grease, calluses, unstyled hair and all. I’ll never be good enough for you and I refuse to twist myself up in knots over that anymore—because you know what? You’re not good enough for me either. If our so-called friendship has to be sacrificed as a result of all this, then so be it because right now I don’t know why the hell I ever considered you such a good friend in the first place.”

She was in love with him? How could she be in love with him? They were friends. They had always been friends.

She wouldn’t allow him to creep into her life only to make her feel inadequate again. She was determined to be stronger than that.

“My dad knows you’re up here?” she squeaked. “Oh God!”
“Of course he doesn’t,” she agreed bitterly. “Why would he? It’s not like it’s anything you wanted people to know.”

“I can’t possibly fit into your life and you won’t fit into mine. I was never interested in the elegant dinners and the fancy events that my dad hosted when we were growing up. I’m still not. I wouldn’t have the faintest idea how to speak to some of the people you deal with. You were right, we were just never meant to be more than friends.”

“So I am the one who has to make all the changes? That hardly seems fair,” he declared.

“Of course you have,” he dissented. “Expecting me to not care about the appearance of the woman by my side goes against everything I believe in.

“I suppose your great compromise would be getting to tolerate a less than perfect bit of arm candy for the couple of months it’ll take you to work me out of your system. And when it does end, you go trotting on your merry way to pick your next conquest in your search to find a woman perfect enough to be Mrs. Gabriel Andrew Braddock and I go back to my shop feeling publicly humiliated for not being good enough to snag the great Gabriel Braddock.”

“I’m not prepared to give you more. I won’t change who I am for you, Gabe. I just won’t, and if I’m really as important to you as you claim, you wouldn’t want me to.” “I don’t want you to change . . .” He seemed to be speaking through clenched teeth. “I just want you to wear a damned dress on occasion, go to a bloody hairdresser, have your nails done. You’re a woman, for God’s sake. These things aren’t hardships.”

“Let’s just be completely honest here, Bobbi! You’re punishing me because I’m not in love with you. I have the audacity to want you without craving all that romantic and sentimental bullshit as a side dish to the incredibly hot sex. I respect you and I care about you, but that’s not enough for you. I don’t love you the way you want me to so to hell with me, right?”

“Anyway, I like to have everything in its place.”

How would you fit into my life? he had asked. Where would I even put you? He needed to have everything in its place and that night he had had the equivalent of a panic attack not knowing where she slotted into his life anymore.

She had told him that she loved him so many times last night and he hadn’t come close to responding.

“A vow to forever love you just the way you are. You don’t need to change for me, Bobbi mine. You’re perfect and I love you so damned much. Never, ever doubt that.”

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