The First Time I Saw You Read online

  The First Time I Saw You COPYRIGHT © Lorhainne Ekelund, 2018, All Rights Reserved.

  No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Contact Information: [email protected]

  The First Time I Saw You

  The Friessens

  Lorhainne Eckhart

  www.LorhainneEckhart.com

  Contents

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  The Friessen Family Series Reading order:

  The First Time I Saw You

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Epilogue

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  What’s coming next in The Friessens

  Other Works Available

  Chapter 1

  About the Author

  Links to Lorhainne Eckhart’s Booklist

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  The Friessen Family Series Reading order:

  The Outsider Series

  The Forgotten Child (Brad and Emily)

  A Baby And A Wedding

  Fallen Hero (Andy, Jed, and Diana)

  The Search

  The Awakening (Andy and Laura)

  Secrets (Jed and Diana)

  Runaway (Andy and Laura)

  Overdue

  The Unexpected Storm (Neil and Candy)

  The Wedding (Neil and Candy)

  The Friessens: A New Beginning

  The Deadline (Andy and Laura)

  The Price to Love (Neil and Candy)

  A Different Kind of Love (Brad and Emily)

  A Vow of Love, A Friessen Family Christmas

  The Friessens

  The Reunion

  The Bloodline (Andy & Laura)

  The Promise (Diana & Jed)

  The Business Plan (Neil & Candy)

  The Decision (Brad & Emily)

  First Love (Katy)

  Family First

  Leave the Light On

  In the Moment

  In the Family: A Friessen Family Christmas

  In the Silence

  In the Stars

  In the Charm

  Unexpected Consequences

  It Was Always You

  The First Time I Saw You

  Welcome to My Arms

  I’ll Always Love You

  A Reason to Breathe

  You Are My Everything

  Want to know how all the series are linked? Stop by my blog for all the details: http://www.lorhainneeckhart.com/what-is-the-reading-order-of-your-books/

  The First Time I Saw You

  Like his parents, Andy and Laura Friessen, Gabriel knows what it means to face an impossible situation. When he puts up an ad looking for a roommate, he never expects to meet a down-on-her-luck gorgeous single mom with a meddling family, a crazy ex-boyfriend, and enough chemistry between them to heat the county. The only problem is that she doesn’t believe in happily ever after and sees falling in love as a mistake only fools make. But Gabriel can’t stop thinking about her, wanting her, and is determined to show her that the road to love isn’t as dangerous as she believes.

  Chapter 1

  “So this is what it’s come to,” Gabriel mumbled under his breath as he waited behind a beefy motorcycle dude with a leather vest, grubby jeans, and tattoos covering one arm, the kind of guy he’d never want to find himself at odds with. That was why, instead of asking him to move, he stood patiently at the back of the corner store, where the community bulletin board was, just so he could pin up his own pitiful request.

  The said biker dude was busy taking in the entire board of what looked like dozens of notices, ads, and items for sale, as if reading every printout twice. Gabriel had only another ten minutes before he had to get back to the job site, to his own eye-opening job on a construction crew under a big contractor in the area, doing anything and everything the head supervisor deemed necessary.

  The fact was that he was now having to get real and learn skills from the real world since deciding college wasn’t for him five years earlier. He was far happier with this hands-on way of learning than with a stuffy classroom, which was another reason he was standing there, staring at the recycled white bond paper on which he’d scribbled his information, looking to find a roommate so he could afford to pay the mortgage and every bill that was piling up for the fixer-upper he’d bought. Although he’d thankfully learned many of the skills to do the work himself, the house had turned into a money pit and had dried up Gabriel’s bank account to the red. He was now in overdraft, giving up his source of freedom and opening his house to a stranger.

  That was when the biker dude glanced back at Gabriel, his unusual dark eyes pinning him where he was. “Whatcha offering?” He had a raspy voice, the kind that came from smoking too long and too many cigarettes.

  Of course, he froze, not knowing what the hell the man was asking. For a second, his brain headed to some pretty lewd places, and he wanted to step back and away, to get the hell out of there, but he gestured to the paper he was holding, or rather gripping, in sweaty hands.

  “Uh…” was all he got out before the biker dude reached for the paper and took it from his grip. He grunted as he read the words, his lips moving, and he nodded as if liking what he read. Then he turned and pinned it over the flyer for an upcoming auction for a pickup. Gabriel just stood there with his hands still outstretched, trying to figure out what the fuck had just happened.

  “Roommate wanted, your own room and bathroom, shared kitchen…” The man was actually reading it out loud now, and Gabriel had to fight to keep from digging his fingers into his palms as the man flicked his unusual gaze his way. It wasn’t so much his face as it was his entire being, his big body, the size of him, and the long gold chain pierced into one ear and hanging to his shoulder. Everything about him screamed that he wasn’t someone Gabriel wanted to find himself face to face with in some back alley. He wanted to back out of there and say it was all a mistake.

  “So everything is included in this price, heat, electric, or is anything extra?” The man was still talking to him.

  He should say it was taken, ask for the paper back or something, because there was no way he was renting a room in his house to a guy like this. “All included,” he said, “but I should add that there’s no smoking, parties, or general craziness.”

  The man made a face and nodded as he glanced back to him. “Yeah, you can’t be too careful. All kinds out there. So is it a house or apartment?”

  Oh, good God, he was still asking about the place. Gabriel could feel the way his jaw pinched from how tightly he was grinding his teeth. This guy was seriously interested in his listing. This could not
be happening. There was no way biker dude was living with him. “House, but then, it has to be the right fit. You know, personalities and all, and cleanliness. There’s an expectation that everything will be kept neat and tidy.” Good job! He crossed his arms and took in the way the guy faced him now and cocked a brow, and his heartbeat kicked up a bit as he wondered whether the guy realized he was referring to him.

  “Garage, shed, what about storage options?”

  For a second, Gabriel blinked, because the guy hadn’t taken the hint. This conversation really was going to a bad place.

  “Street parking only, no sheds. It’s a nice area, a family area.” He really emphasized the last point, leaning in a bit, his arms crossed over his chest, hoping the guy got the message so he wouldn’t have to spell it out any clearer.

  “Perfect!” The man actually reached over and slapped Gabriel on the shoulder, showing his front two teeth with metal caps. Gabriel thought the floor softened beneath his feet as the man reached out and ripped off one of the fifteen slips with his phone number and lifted it in the air. “I’ll give this to my sister,” he said. “She’s looking for a place.” He actually held the paper up between his fingers as if to emphasize its importance, and Gabriel made a mental note in that second to make sure he turned her away.

  “Hey, Marty,” someone called out. “The pop truck is here. I’m going to help unload. Can you watch the front?” The neat and tidy lanky dude Gabriel had spotted behind the front counter strode past, flicking a lock of his long blond hair back. The biker dude shrugged.

  Now Gabriel was really looking at the guy and the empty hallway with the sign above that read Employees only, which the other guy had just walked down. It had him doing a double take, as he was having trouble understanding. Did the biker guy actually work there?

  “Of course,” Marty, the biker dude, said and stepped away from the board. Gabriel didn’t miss how big he was, at least six foot two, and he had to be close to three hundred pounds, give or take. “Anything else you need?”

  He realized Marty was staring down at him. Gabriel was far from a small man, just shy of six feet, with a broad chest and arms and shoulders strong enough to carry some of the heaviest beams on the job site, and he knew well that women appreciated the way he looked. As he stood there, trying to get his brain to kick in and come up with something reasonable and coherent to say, he realized Marty was still waiting patiently for an answer, so Gabriel flicked his hand to the side. “Ah, nope, just needed to put that up. I better get back to work.”

  He gestured with his thumb behind him and started backing up, then turned and put one foot in front of the other, getting the hell out that door.

  His phone buzzed from his back pocket as he stood on the ladder, the support beam on his shoulder. They were one man down today on the crew.

  Dwayne, one of the carpenters, sawdust scattered in his dark hair, was hammering the beam in place. “Okay, you can let go now,” he said, and Gabriel climbed down, rolling his shoulder and reaching in his pocket.

  He pulled out the phone on the third ring. “Gabriel Friessen,” he answered, gesturing to Dwayne to give him a minute as the man ran his hand over the pile of two by fours before pulling one out. He turned his back when he heard nothing. “Hello, anyone there?”

  “I’m calling about the room you have for rent.”

  He had to shove his finger in his ear so he could hear as Dwayne started hammering. “Yeah, sorry, there’s a lot of background noise here. You’re going to have to speak up.” He stepped over by the furnace, where the heating guys had just finished.

  “The room for rent? You are renting out a room, right?” It was a woman’s soft voice, and for a minute, he was about to say it had already been rented, as his first thought was that this must be biker dude’s sister. Maybe not, though, considering she didn’t sound the crazy type, and nor did he hear anything pointing him in the direction of her being related to biker dude.

  “Yeah, a shared house,” he said. “It’s a bedroom that comes with your own bathroom.” He walked across the room into where the kitchen would be, stepping over the plywood floors, seeing that the room had been taken back to the studs. There was silence again. “Hello, are you still there?”

  “Is the bedroom furnished?”

  He wondered for a second whether she’d hang up when he told her he had a sofa only and hadn’t bothered to buy anything else.

  “No, you’ll have to bring your own bed. It’s just a room. Look, if you’d like to see it, we can meet, but I’ll stress that I have others seeing it, so bring references, and…” And what? he thought. These “others” hadn’t yet called.

  “So you have a lot of people coming to see it?” She had such a soft voice.

  “I’ll be showing it tonight.” To hopefully more than one person.

  “And everything is included in the price of four hundred?”

  “Everything.” He nodded to Dwayne, who called out to him. “Come by around seven,” he said and rattled off his address, making a quick mental note to clean up the dirty dishes, laundry, and garbage he had lying around.

  Chapter 2

  His hair was damp, and he was wearing his only clean pair of jeans, a faded pair with a tear in the thigh, as he tied up the black garbage bag and then ran his hand over the teal granite of his island counter in the kitchen. It was one of the best rooms in the house since he’d renovated and rebuilt it, opening it up to the living and dining room to make it open. The white cabinets with glass fronts gave it a high-end look, as did the gas stove and pot filler. The new stainless-steel appliances were the icing on the cake and one of the many reasons he needed to rent out a piece of this house. The reno had been expensive, especially given all the problems he’d discovered behind the walls on demolition.

  He glanced at the clock, then down at his phone on the counter, seeing he still had no calls. Not one call for the room other than the lady coming now. What the hell? He’d expected to have his phone blowing up with messages, considering the price and the lack of places to rent. For his sake, he hoped biker dude wasn’t showing up with the lady. Even better, he hoped the lady coming now was no relation. If she was his sister, he’d show her around, take her references, and walk her the hell out of there.

  He picked up the black garbage bag. It was almost seven, judging by the large centerpiece clock on the otherwise bare living room wall, and he ran his hand over his bare chest. Yeah, he still needed to find a shirt, a clean one, which he’d do right after he tucked the garbage in the can outside. He pulled open the front door and stopped, taking in the long dark hair and slim curves of a gorgeous woman. She was holding the hand of what seemed to be a little girl of three or four, maybe.

  “Uh, hi,” he said, running his hand over his bare chest again and seeing that her eyes went straight there and then up. Her big bold eyes were the color of toffee, and she didn’t smile. Her gaze didn’t linger on him at all, either.

  “I called about the room to rent,” she said. “My name is Elizabeth Abercrombie.” She actually held out her hand. He took in the garbage he was holding and switched it to his other hand before giving his free one a quick wipe on his jeans and checking it to make sure it was clean. He took her slender hand in his, surprised by the firm handshake.

  “Gabriel Friessen,” he said, still holding her hand as he glanced down at the little girl again. She was looking up at him with the same eyes and a shoulder-length mop of out-of-control curls.

  Elizabeth pulled her hand away, and he glanced over her head to the street, seeing only his faded blue pickup out front before dragging his gaze back to the attractive woman, who still wasn’t smiling.

  “I didn’t hear a car,” he said as she pulled her hand away.

  “We took the bus,” she said. He noticed the big purse over her shoulder, light tan and black. She had no rings on her fingers.

  “I just need to dump this in the trash can,” he explained and stepped outside onto the front porch, taking in her cu
toffs and loose white shirt. Gorgeous legs, too.

  She pointed at the garbage bag in his hand, maybe because he was staring a few seconds too long. “You said you were going to put that in the garbage,” she said as if he needed a reminder.

  “Right.” He strode barefoot down the steps, knowing he was staring and acting like…well, like a man who’d lost his reasoning. She was nothing like what he’d been expecting. She definitely couldn’t be related to the biker dude, because she was gorgeous, a sweet girl-next-door package. He felt a moment of relief as he pulled open the garbage can by the front gate and dumped the bag in.

  “This is a very nice porch,” she said. “You don’t see many houses anymore with these old-fashioned columns. It’s nice, and it’s great that this house is close to the bus stop.” She was looking at the freshly painted white columns, the brand-new rail, and the finished deck, which had one red and white lawn chair, the only outdoor furnishing he could afford.

  Then she was staring at him, and it took him a second before he realized he was doing it again, staring as if he’d never seen a sexy woman before. She seemed to radiate something that he didn’t want to turn away from. “Ah, yeah, the house.” He gestured to the door, taking in the little girl. He thought it was a girl, or maybe a boy? She wore a striped T-shirt and blue shorts, with white sneakers on her feet. Quiet thing.