FOURTEEN
ELIZABETH WATCHED
GAVIN’S CAR DISAPPEAR.
What the hell had
that been all about? Was he just fucking with her, trying to freak
her out?
She went inside,
checked her mail, then tossed it on the kitchen table. She walked
back and forth in front of her living room window, certain at any
minute she’d see Gavin pull up.
He
didn’t.
Dammit. She grabbed
her keys, got in her car and headed out onto the
highway.
By the time she’d
made it out to the dark road where Gavin lived, she had second
thoughts. What the hell was she doing? What was her plan? To knock
on his door and ask him why he’d followed her? She could have
called him.
Well, she was here
now, heading up the long driveway to Castle Grayskull. The imposing
two-story dark brick behemoth stood hidden behind thick, imposing
trees that didn’t seem at all welcoming. It looked eerie and
foreboding with vines crawling up the front and sides of the
exterior.
She shuddered,
hating this house and its isolation. She had no idea why Gavin
liked this place. It was a mausoleum. When he’d bought it several
years ago and showed it to her, she’d pronounced it the house of a
vampire and had never come back.
He’d laughed at her.
He’d probably laugh at her again tonight when she knocked on his
door, affronted that he’d followed her.
Tough. They had a
few things to get straight.
As she pulled in
front of the house and turned the ignition off, she almost decided
to turn around and head back to her place. With a sigh of
resignation and just enough righteous indignation left to see this
through, she got out, smoothed her skirt, and marched up to the
front door. She lifted the hideous gargoyle knocker and rapped
three times. It wouldn’t surprise her at all to hear screams coming
from the other side since this house was straight out of a horror
movie.
The door opened—with
a creak, no less—and Gavin stood there, a surprised, wide-eyed look
on his face. She helped herself to a scan of the rest of him, since
he wore no shirt and a pair of ratty sweats, and he was barefoot.
Everything that was female about her went into overdrive, and she
had to resist the urge to leap into his arms and lick him
senseless.
“Liz, what are you
doing here?”
“Followed you, just
like you followed me.”
He shrugged and
opened the door wide. “Come on in, since you’re here.”
She stepped inside,
shadows flicking their menacing greeting from the wall sconces in
the entryway. It was cold in this place. She grabbed her jacket and
pulled it tighter around her and followed Gavin into the living
room.
Dark burgundy paint
on the walls only added to the opposing atmosphere.
“Still gloomy in
this place.”
His lips curled. “I
like this house.”
“It suits
you.”
“You want something
to drink?”
“I’ll have whatever
you’re having.” She looked at his glass.
He went to the bar
off in the corner of the living room and poured her a whiskey,
added a couple of ice cubes, and refilled his own
drink.
“You going to sit
down or just glare at me?”
She plopped onto the
sofa. He handed her the whiskey and sat in the chair next to the
sofa. She sipped the whiskey, grimacing. Not her drink of choice,
but as it burned its way down to her stomach, it at least helped
warm her up a little.
“It’s freezing in
here.”
“Bitch, bitch,
bitch.” He grabbed a remote off the table in front of him and
clicked a button. The fireplace roared to life, heat blazing forth
and providing instant warmth.
“Thanks.”
“Not like Florida
here, is it?”
He just had to
mention Florida, didn’t he? “Not quite. It was bad here while you
were down there. Rained for weeks.”
“Yeah, I saw you
were getting bad weather.”
They were talking
about the weather. Is that what their relationship had been reduced
to? They used to be comfortable with each other before sex had
gotten in the way.
“Why did you come
here, Liz?”
“Why did you follow
me to my condo?”
“Just wanted to make
sure you got there safely since it was late.”
She took a giant
swallow of whiskey. “I’m a big girl, Gavin. I travel all over by
myself without a bodyguard and make it home without an escort all
the time.”
“I’m sure you do.
But if you’re somewhere with me, I’m going to make sure you get
back home okay.”
“I wasn’t ‘with you’
tonight.”
“Semantics. You were
driving home alone, and it was on the way to my place anyway, so I
just made a couple of extra turns to be sure you got home
safely.”
“Why?”
He shrugged. “Don’t
know. I guess it’s the nature of our relationship. I feel
responsible for you.”
“We don’t have a
relationship, Gavin, so you don’t need to feel responsible for
me.”
He dragged his
fingers through his hair. She wanted to run her fingers through the
thick dark strands, remembered how soft his hair was, hated that
she’d made him off-limits.
He lifted his gaze
to her. “Why don’t we have a
relationship, Elizabeth? What happened in Florida? Why did you
leave?”
She shrugged.
“Seemed time.”
“Time for what? Time
for you to write me some bullshit note and run like
hell?”
“You didn’t call
me.”
“What?”
She’d said it so low
she knew he hadn’t heard her. “Nothing.”
He came over and sat
on the sofa next to her. “Tell me what you said.”
She shook her head.
This had been a mistake. “Nothing.”
“Elizabeth.” He
tipped her chin and forced her to look at him. “Talk to
me.”
“I got scared, okay?
You didn’t come home and didn’t call that night. I had no idea
where you were and what you were doing. And I started thinking
about being in a relationship with a guy. I’d never done that
before. All the expectations. God, I hate expectations. I didn’t
want to be that woman.”
She stood, went to
the oversized window, and stared out at the tree limbs blowing in
the wind, reaching toward the window, seemingly mocking her,
laughing at her.
She heard Gavin
approach. He put his hands on her, and she inhaled, breathing in
his scent, so crisp, like the wild outdoors battering the
window.
A storm was blowing
in.
“What expectations?
You didn’t want to be what woman? I don’t understand.”
She crossed her
arms, hating that she was here having this conversation with him.
“I know you don’t understand, Gavin. Because it doesn’t make any
sense. I don’t make sense. This doesn’t make sense. I need to
go.”
She turned to leave
but he grasped her arms.
“Don’t go. I want to
talk to you about that night. After the game I got stuck in a
meeting and left my phone in my locker. And since I’m a moron and
don’t know phone numbers because they’re programmed into my cell, I
couldn’t call you. When I got back, you were already gone. I tried
calling you after the meeting to tell you I was on my way back. You
didn’t pick up.”
“I
know.”
“Why?”
Because she’d been
hurt and felt stupid for staying as long as she had. Because she’d
given him the power to hurt her and make her vulnerable for caring
about him. Because she already loved him and it devastated her.
She’d spent years guarding her heart around him, and it had been
working just fine. Laying her heart open around him had been
dangerous. She’d had to run.
“It can’t work
between us, Gavin. You know that.”
He arched a brow. “I
don’t know that. I thought we were having a pretty good time
together. You just got bent out of shape because I didn’t call
saying I’d be late for dinner.”
Her lips twitched.
Damn him. She didn’t want to cave on this. She wanted to remain
firm and distant. But his impish green eyes and his hair falling
across his brow were melting her, not to mention the warmth of his
hands squeezing her shoulders.
She’d missed him
over the past few weeks, more than she wanted to admit. Her body
missed his touch. She missed looking at him and sleeping next to
him. And despite her resolve to shove him back in the “client only”
corner, they’d crossed the bridge into something else, and she
wasn’t going to be able to shove him back into where he had been
before.
Shit.
“I might have
overreacted.”
“Just a little. And
so did I. Admittedly, I was pissed off when I came back to the
house and you were gone. I should have called you again. And again.
Instead, I let the radio silence continue because I was hurt you up
and left me.”
“You
were?”
“Hell yeah. I liked
having you in Florida with me. A warm body to share my bed at
night, a sexy, independent woman who has her own career and doesn’t
look to me to see to her every need? It’s every man’s
dream.”
Her heart did
flip-flops. “I hardly qualify as every man’s dream, Gavin. You said
it yourself. I’m a pain in the ass.”
“Yeah, you are. But
for some reason I like you, Lizzie. Despite your attempts to piss
me off.”
He pushed her jacket
off her shoulders. It was warm in the room now, and she was
comfortable in her sleeveless top. He skimmed his hands down her
arms, and he drew her against him.
“I missed holding
you.”
“I’m sure you
haven’t been lonely without me.”
He stopped and
pulled her back. “There hasn’t been anyone since I was with you.
Believe that. All I did after you left was play ball and brood a
lot.”
She stared at him,
unable to believe the bad boy of baseball would go almost a month
without a woman. She wanted to believe him, but the men in her life
had never been honest with her.
Gavin, however, had
never lied to her. Why would he now?
“The brooding part I
can definitely believe.”
He smiled and grazed
his knuckles across her cheek, then leaned in and brushed his lips
across hers. “Hey, I’ve been busy. It’s not like I go out and
randomly pick up women.”
She craved more of
his mouth on hers. “Neither do I.”
His lips lifted.
“You don’t randomly pick up women?”
She laughed. “No.
That’s not what I meant. I don’t randomly pick up
men.”
“Not even Ty
Anderson?”
She laid her palms
on his bare chest, loving the feel of his skin. “He’s a new client
and nothing more. Wanted to see a game tonight.”
“He seemed to want
to see more of you.”
She lifted her gaze
to his. “Jealous?”
His gaze narrowed.
“Hell yes.”
When he kissed her
this time, his lips were firm and possessive. He wrapped his arms
around her and crushed her to him. His tongue slid inside her mouth
and sucked on hers, demanding she surrender.
No problem there.
She’d missed him so damn much. Being in his arms still felt like a
dream to her. Being with Gavin felt forbidden, as if he was
something she wasn’t supposed to have. And no matter how many sweet
things he said to her about how he missed her and how it felt right
between them, she knew what they had was always going to be
temporary, for so many different reasons. So every moment they had
together felt stolen, and she was going to enjoy every
second.
He swept his arms
down her back and cupped her ass, bringing her closer to his
erection. She whimpered, needing him inside her right now, feeling
a burst of primal hunger and a desperate need to be
satisfied.
He backed her up
against the wall next to the windows and tore her top from the
waistband of her skirt. She kicked off her shoes and held up her
arms while he lifted her blouse over her head.
Lightning flashed
outside. She felt the electricity inside, too, when Gavin swept his
hands over the bare flesh of her belly, then around her back as he
unzipped her skirt and pushed it to the floor. She brushed the
skirt to the side and reached for his sweats, pushing them down his
hips. He stepped out of them, and she couldn’t help but look down
and admire the power of his body.
His eyes were heavy
lidded with passion, which fed her own need. She thrust her fingers
into his hair and pulled him toward her for a kiss that blazed as
hot and furious as the growing storm outside. Thunder rolled
outside and rain lashed the windows. Lightning lit up the living
room like daylight and the power flickered.
Gavin pulled back
only long enough to sweep his hand over her bra-clad breasts while
she was illuminated by the lightning.
Elizabeth took a few
moments to catch her breath, to watch Gavin’s face as the lightning
bathed it in on-and-off shadow. She gasped when he released her bra
clasp and held on to the cups to pull her to him, then bent and
sucked a taut bud between his lips.
The power of the
storm outside only intensified her arousal, made her grab his hair
and draw him closer to her breasts. Watching him lick and suck and
bite her nipples made her clit and pussy tingle, made her want to
feel him inside her pounding away.
God, she really
needed him to fuck her, wanted to come so badly she could touch
herself right now and go off like the lightning arcing across the
dark skies.
“Gavin, fuck
me.”
He lifted his head
and bent to remove her panties, sliding his hands slowly down her
hips, her thighs, her calves. She shivered at the feel of his
fingers on her skin. And when he kissed his way up her legs, she
parted them, knowing where he was going and wanting him there so
desperately.
“Lean against the
wall, Elizabeth.”
She leaned back and
spread her legs. Gavin kissed her thighs, cupped her butt cheeks,
and put his mouth where she needed it—right on her pussy. Seeing
his lips on her clit made her shudder. Feeling his tongue rolling
over the bud made her legs weak. She palmed the wall for support,
closed her eyes, and let the sensations wash over her.
It had been so long
since she’d had a climax, she came with a wild, surprising rush,
letting out a cry and tightening her hold on Gavin’s hair. He rose
and slid his cock inside her while she was still coming,
intensifying her already insane orgasm.
Elizabeth laid her
hands on his shoulders and dug her fingers into his skin, focusing
her gaze on his eyes. She couldn’t even come down off the high of
her climax, because he thrust into her, rolling his hips over her
already sensitized sex and taking her right back to a fevered
state. She wound her fingers around the nape of his neck and drew
his lips to hers.
He kissed her, and
thunder rolled outside, shaking the foundation and the walls,
making her crazy as the storm intensified inside her again, too.
Gavin didn’t stop, just continued to pummel her with the slow,
steady slide of his shaft in and out of her. It was the sweetest
torture, and the way he kissed her was maddening, taking her breath
away with his lips and his tongue, nipping at her, licking at her,
demanding she give him all she had.
It was a total
bombardment of her body, her senses, her heart, and she shook her
head, finally pulling her lips from his as he pummeled her beyond
reason, his chest scraping her nipples, his pelvis rocking against
her clit, and his mouth nuzzling her neck.
“Gavin.”
He didn’t answer,
just dragged his tongue from her neck to her shoulder and bit down
on her.
She shuddered, felt
the rising storm of another climax building inside her, felt her
pussy tightening around his cock. He stilled, and she felt him
swelling impossibly thick inside her. She knew he was ready to come
inside her. And when he gripped her buttocks and lifted her, she
wrapped her legs around him and let go.
He let out a
guttural cry and slammed her against the wall, found her mouth and
drove his tongue inside. She moaned into his mouth when she
climaxed, drinking in his groans as he came with her.
They sank to the
floor together, Gavin holding on to her with his hands and pulling
her on top of him. He held her, stroked her back, and swept her
hair away from her face, but he didn’t let her go, though she was
certain she had to be heavy. After a while, she lifted her head,
afraid he’d fallen asleep. His clear gaze rocketed to
hers.
“I thought you were
sleeping,” she said.
“No. Just enjoying
touching you.”
“Are we going to
stay like this the rest of the night?”
“I thought about it.
I like listening to the storm.”
She shook her head
and pushed up to sit on him.
“I like this view
even better.” He grabbed her hips and lifted his, rocking against
her.
She laughed, pushed
against him, and stood. “I need to go.”
He sat up and
watched her get dressed. “Why?”
She grabbed her
panties and bra. “Why what?”
“Why do you have to
go?”
“Because I have my
own place.”
“I know that. But
why can’t you sleep here with me?”
She stepped into her
panties. “In the dungeon?”
“Ha-ha.
Seriously.”
She shrugged. “I
don’t know. I’m thinking we should maybe keep things light and
easy.”
He stood, and she
found it utterly, deliciously disconcerting that he seemed content
to stand there naked. “So, you just want to get together and fuck
on occasion, and then go our separate ways.”
She fastened her bra
and lifted her gaze to his. “Something like that. It’s less
complicated that way.”
He came toward her
and pulled her into his arms. “You could hire a prostitute to fuck
you. Or find any number of willing guys.”
She laughed.
“Contrary to what you might think, there aren’t a bunch of men
lined up waiting to fuck me.”
His lips curled in a
smug smile. “So . . . just me?”
“Just
you.”
“Stay with me. Sleep
with me.”
She shuddered as his
hand moved over her back, his fingertips rested just above her
butt. “I can’t.”
“You won’t. You’re
afraid.”
She arched a brow.
“I’m not afraid, Gavin. I’ve slept with you before.”
“And then you ran
out on me. You’re afraid to get close to me.”
She laughed. “Are
you serious? We just got pretty damned close.”
“That’s not what I
mean and you know it.”
She snatched her
skirt and climbed into it. “This is ridiculous. I’m not having this
conversation with you.”
And he still stood
there naked. Arguing with her. Naked. Damn him anyway. She grabbed
her blouse and pulled it over her head, then slipped into her shoes
and searched for her purse and keys.
“You do realize I’m
not going to let you drive in the rain.”
She rolled her eyes.
“You’re not my father. You don’t control me.”
“I’m not trying to
control you, Elizabeth. But there’s one hell of a storm out there.
If you’d pull your head out of your ass and think logically you’d
realize you shouldn’t be out there driving in it.”
Ignoring the
punctuating thunder and bright flash of lightning that was trying
to prove his point, she dug into her purse for her keys. “I’ve
driven in rain before. I’ve lived in this city for a while now. I
can handle it.”
He didn’t say
anything so she pulled the door open and was immediately blasted by
a harsh, cold wind and flash of rain that soaked her. Shivering,
she stepped outside and tried to pull the door closed, but the wind
battering her prevented it.
“Goddamn it, Gavin,
would you help me out here?”
“Sure.” He came
over, jerked her by the arm and pulled her inside, then shut the
door and locked it. “You proved your point. Don’t be an
idiot.”
She dropped her
purse and keys and swiped her soaked hair out of her eyes. “I
forgot my jacket anyway.”
His lips curled.
“Yeah, that would have helped a lot.” He took her hand. “Come on,
honey. Let’s get you upstairs and into a hot shower.”
He led her upstairs
and turned on the shower. And okay, even though Castle Grayskull
was a giant medieval mausoleum, the bathroom was modern and roomy
and, oh, thank God, had a heater and a spacious shower with
multiple jets. Gavin stripped her of her soaking wet clothes and
threw her in the shower, soaped her up with this great-smelling
honey soap, and even washed her hair for her.
Afterward, while she
dried off and blow-dried her hair, he went downstairs and made her
hot chocolate with real whipped cream. She slipped into the fluffy
bathrobe he left out for her, and they crawled into his bed. He’d
turned on the fireplace in his bedroom and it was warm and toasty,
so the last of her chills had dissipated.
She sat cross-legged
in the middle of his bed sipping hot chocolate, feeling foolish for
her childish tantrum earlier.
“Why do you continue
to put up with me, Gavin?”
He shrugged and took
the cup from her, sipping the hot chocolate. “You’re a challenge,
Lizzie. I do like a challenge.”
“I’m a giant problem
for you.”
He handed her cup
back. “Yeah.”
She laid the cup on
the nightstand, took off the robe, and slid under the covers with
him. He turned off the lights and opened the drapes. The storm had
died down now, and the only thing left was the low thunder and
occasional lightning. The rain had lightened to just a patter
against the French doors of the balcony.
He pulled her
against him, and she laid her head against his chest and stared
outside.
“I think you’re
worth fighting for, Elizabeth. Even if I’m fighting you for
you.”
She didn’t know what
to say to that.
No one had ever
fought for her before.
She didn’t think she
was worth it.