As Long as You Love Me (Previously Kiss and Tell)

Chapter 1 ♔ Shining Star

Kiss and Tell will be published as a paperback and e-book from W by Wattpad Books under the new name "As Long As You Love Me". The book is available for pre-order now: https://a.co/d/bV1ARdt

***

All I wanted to do was work but it proved near impossible. My concentration stumbled and fell altogether in turns, partially because I was so exhausted that my eyes could barely stay open. After pulling an all nighter to deliver a class assignment there was nothing less I could expect, but it wasn't the kind of issue that strong cups of coffee couldn't improve.

The other reason was the endless parade of girls lining up behind me, their voices too high or too low in their attempts to entice their target—which, by the way, wasn't me. Beside me was the object of affection of everybody in the office, old or young, man or woman, although a special emphasis had to be made on the young women.

I blew a sigh that sent my bangs flying. Paciencia, I told myself.

Without a doubt this wasn't the life I wanted. Not only was I alone in another country, miles and miles away from what remained of my family and everything I had grown up with, studying and working in a language that I hadn't quite mastered yet, and enduring all the mocking associated with pronouncing it with the hard vowels and consonants of my own. But I also had to contend with this guy both at school and at work.

Gabriel Cabrera, the bane of my existence.

He had no problem keeping his eyes on his screen, his fingers working on his keyboard as though he hadn't even realized the two accounting interns kept clearing their throats behind him like they had laryngitis. A strand of his long hair had escaped his low ponytail a while ago, so at odds with the perfectly ironed shirt that he wore for the office. He was the picture of a hard working intern, a keyboard warrior making his way through the maze of emails that piled onto the battlefield that was every day at the Engineering department we both interned for. If our supervisor walked by, he would be certain that Gabe wasn't spending his time flirting away with the girls in the office.

The twitching of his lips gave him away, though. The attention must be giving him the warm and fuzzies.

Since the girls didn't speak Spanish, I whispered to him in our mother tongue. "Has que se vayan."

That did tear his eyes away from the screen. "Why? Jealous?"

"Asco." I wrinkled my nose against the bad taste that filled my mouth. "More like I need to focus on this drawing."

The twinkle in his eyes made me grit my teeth. It was the same one he got every time he bested me at an exam or assignment. The one that always came along with the little smirk and lifted chin he was giving me right now, as though issuing a challenge that needed no words. The look at me, I'm better than you patented Gabe Cabrera expression. Except I didn't care if he had hordes of girls falling at his feet and right now he was giving me the look simply because he knew this whole thing was bothering me. And damn it, it was. I was behind on my emails and I had class soon.

So did he, but it was like he didn't care. About anything. Gabe swiveled around on his chair and greeted the two girls. Rather than taking their obviously non-work related conversation somewhere else, one of the girls invited him to the party her sorority would host next weekend.

"You can come too, Carolina."

The surprise invitation caught me in the middle of rolling my eyes. Fortunately I had my back against them and I was able to wipe my expression into a serene one when I responded. "Catalina, and thank you but I have plans this weekend."