It was almost midnight before Gavin walked Christine to the door of her condo.
“This was not the night I’d planned,” he told her, rubbing a hand over his eyes.
They’d stayed at the Robinson estate until darkness made it dangerous to pick through the destruction. Although the house had been effectively torched, they’d managed to find a number of personal mementos that remained undamaged. They’d put the items into boxes and driven them to the rental house Maddie had secured.
It had seemed a sorry collection pushed into one corner of the empty garage, but Gavin hoped they’d bring some comfort to Gerald and the rest of the family.
They’d gone to grab dinner with Maddie, Zach, Schuyler, Carlo and Connor. Somehow Gavin needed the tangible reminder of his connection with his siblings. With everything going on from new Fortune revelations to the trouble with the family business to the fire, being able to laugh with his family was a balm to his soul. Had he been wishing for life as an only child just a couple of weeks ago? What a fool he’d been.
His family was a gift, just like this time with Christine. He’d taken both for granted. That was his problem and why he knew he had to let Christine go at the end of all this. He didn’t have enough inside him to give her what she deserved.
“No one can plan for tragedy,” she said, pulling a key ring out of her purse. “It’s how a person handles it that shows what they’re made of.” She turned to him. “You were strong, articulate and compassionate tonight. It says so much about you as a person.”
Damn. He wished he were a better man because walking away from Christine was going to hurt like hell.
“Right back at you,” he said, then did a mental eye roll. He must have used up all his decent words earlier because he couldn’t seem to form a coherent thought at the moment.
She unlocked the door and opened it to allow Princess Di onto the small porch. The dog’s tail wagged enthusiastically as she greeted first Christine then Gavin with a head butt to the legs before trotting down the steps to do her business in the bushes.
“Do you need to walk her?” he asked, smiling at the dog. He really needed a pet. Maybe having something to come home to would help his outwardly exciting life feel not so lonely on the inside. “I could—”
“One of my neighbors took her out earlier.” Christine leaned inside and flipped on a light. “She’ll be ready to hunker down for the night after her potty break.”
“Right.” Gavin rubbed a hand along the back of his neck. “I guess I should—”
“Would you like to come in for a bit?” she asked, almost hesitantly.
“Yes,” he breathed, thanking the heavens for her invitation. It was ridiculous, this constant need to be with her. Reckless to allow himself to depend on her in any way. But he couldn’t help himself. She was like a cool drink, and he’d been in the emotional desert of his own making for far too long.
She whistled for the dog, and Diana came loping back up the steps and into the house.
“Let’s talk about your mad whistling skills,” Gavin said as he closed the door behind them.
She grinned. “What can I say?” His insides tightened as a blush stained her cheeks when she added, “I’m good with my mouth.”
If she’d smacked him over the head with a sledgehammer, he couldn’t have been more shocked. He felt his mouth drop open, and desire pounded through him, flooding his veins with a sharp yearning.
Before he could get his muddled brain to form a response, she turned away. “Would you like a drink?” she asked over her shoulder. “A glass of water?”
“Sure.” She toed out of her strappy heels and just that innocuous movement made another wave of need crash through him. Once again her pink-painted toes were the sexiest thing he’d ever seen.
She continued to the kitchen, hanging her purse over a chair. She took a dog biscuit from the cookie jar on the counter and then tossed it to Princess Di, who expertly caught it. The dog padded over to her bed while Christine pulled two glasses from an upper cabinet and filled them.
All the while he stood rooted in place, every cell in his body tingling with awareness and—Lord help them both—unbridled lust.
“Gavin?” She stared at him with wide eyes from the kitchen as if he were a hungry lion and she was the proverbial lamb invited to his feast. “I was joking about the mouth comment,” she said with a hesitant laugh. “I went too far. I’m sorry.”
Her apology jarred him from his lust-filled stupor. He ate up the distance between them in three long strides. “You never need to apologize,” he said, cupping her face in his hands. “Yours is the most tantalizing mouth in the universe.” He kissed her, nipping at the corner of her lips. “I thank my lucky stars each time you kiss me.”
She moaned in the back of her throat as he ran his tongue along the seam of her lips. “Open for me,” he whispered, and she did, her tongue mingling with his until his mind was swimming once more.
He ran his fingers through her hair, the way he’d been longing to all night, plucking out the thin pins that held the style in place.
At this moment he didn’t give a damn that she was too good for him. He couldn’t find it in himself to care about anything except the feel of her pressing into his chest. Her curves, her scent, the sweetness of her very essence.
Then she pulled away, and Gavin wanted to growl his protest. Was she going to send him away? Close herself off the way she had in the past week? He wasn’t sure he could take that distance again.
“Why haven’t we had sex?” she blurted, her eyes a little hazy but otherwise focused intently on his.
Just when he thought she couldn’t surprise him anymore, another inadvertent blow sent him reeling.
“Um... I’m trying to respect you,” he said, the words ringing false even to his own ears.
Her delicate brows drew together until she wasn’t so much frowning as glaring at him. “You only sleep with women you don’t respect?”
“No,” he answered quickly. “I didn’t mean that. What I’m trying to say is...” Oh, hell. What was he trying to say?
“You don’t want me like that,” she supplied and it took a moment for her words to register in his muddled mind. Right now the majority of his brain cells had gone on hiatus, allowing the lower half of him to take over the controls. That half wasn’t exactly known for its good judgment.
“I want you in every way possible.” He moved forward, and she stepped back as if putting distance between them was an unconscious response. No. He couldn’t let her put up a wall between them. Not tonight.
He softened his tone and let his need for her flood his gaze. His career and the choices he’d made to keep himself closed off in his personal life had made him a master of the poker face.
He wondered if he’d ever been like Christine, whose beautiful emotions were written on her face.
“You agreed to help me because of the pressure from my family,” he said slowly, needing the words to come out right. Knowing this moment mattered. “I don’t want to take advantage of that...of you.”
One side of her mouth kicked up. “What if I want to be taken advantage of?”
“Christine.”
She studied him for a moment, and he could almost see the emotional war going on inside her. Which side would win out?
“I want you, Gavin.”
He could have dropped to his knees in thanks. At the same time he didn’t want her to have any doubts or regrets so he asked, “Are you sure?”
She took a step closer and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Never more sure,” she promised and kissed him.
He let her set the pace and gave himself over to her slow, seductive torture. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this happy, and it was all because of the beautiful woman in his arms.
More.
That was the refrain echoing in Christine’s mind as she kissed Gavin. His hands reached up to stroke her bare shoulders, thumbs grazing over her collarbones. The featherlight touch made goose bumps break out along her skin, and all she could think was more.
She broke off the kiss, gratified when it took a few seconds for Gavin’s gaze to focus on her. He’d given her the choice tonight, and she loved him for it. For so many reasons. Despite her doubts and the understanding that heartbreak was inevitable, she wanted this moment. This man.
Hitching in a breath, she pushed the suit coat off his shoulders and tossed it onto the counter. Gavin’s nostrils flared as she moved closer and tugged on his tie, loosening the silk and sliding it from the collar.
“You can probably do this with more efficiency,” she said, her voice husky as she started at the buttons of his shirt with shaky fingers.
“I like you undressing me,” he whispered.
With every button, another inch of his muscled body was revealed. The shirtless Gavin she’d seen in photos from Fortunado beach vacations over the years didn’t do justice to Gavin in the flesh. Heat radiated from him, and his skin felt soft yet firm under her touch.
When he’d shrugged out of the shirt, she took a moment to admire his body in a way she hadn’t been able to the night of Diana’s trip to the vet. Her girlie parts screamed to get on with things but she hushed them. This was every one of her fantasies come to life, and she had every intention of savoring the experience.
He gave her a sexy half smile. “I had no idea I could be so turned on just by how you look at me.”
She reached out a hand and smoothed it up the hard planes of his chest. “How about when I do this?” she asked, wondering where in the world this confident seductress had been hiding.
Or perhaps not hiding. Maybe she’d simply been waiting for the right man to unlock her passion.
No doubt that Gavin held the key to everything.
“I love it.”
She took her other hand and skimmed it across the front of his trousers, and she knew without a doubt he wanted her. He let out a soft groan as she cupped him then he encircled her wrist with one hand. “You’re making me crazy, and I love it.”
“It’s an adventure,” she told him, earning a low laugh.
“The best kind,” he agreed, lifting her hand to his shoulder. Then he reached around and unzipped the back of her dress. The silky fabric slid down her body and over her hips with ease, pooling at her feet.
Although inwardly cringing at standing in front of this perfect man in nothing but a black strapless bra and pair of lacy panties, Christine forced herself not to squirm. As she had minutes earlier with him, Gavin took his sweet time studying her, his chest rising and falling sharply as his gaze wandered along her body.
The need and desire she saw there gave her confidence, and for the first time she tried to see herself through Gavin’s eyes. Clearly, he liked what he saw. Although she hadn’t been overweight for over a decade, Christine still viewed herself through the lens of the chubby girl she’d once been. The misfit. The loser.
But she was a different woman now, and it was past time she start embracing who she’d become. She refused to allow herself to be stuck in her old insecurities.
Biting down on her lower lip, she reached around her back and unclasped the bra strap, tossing the thin piece of fabric to one side. Then she hooked her thumbs into the waistband of her panties and slid them down her hips.
All the while, Gavin’s gaze remained on hers as his breathing grew more ragged.
“You have too many clothes on,” she whispered.
“Damn straight,” he agreed, his voice shaky.
He made quick work of his shoes and socks then unfastened his belt buckle and took off his pants, pushing them down his hips along with his boxers.
Suddenly, Christine had the realization that they were standing at the edge of her kitchen. Now what? She’d only been intimate with her previous boyfriend, and that had strictly been a lights out in the bedroom type of affair. Spontaneity was new for her, and while her body was a big fan, her brain wasn’t quite sure how to deal with the reality of her new adventure. “Oh, my gosh.”
Gavin chuckled. “I’ve gotten a lot of reactions in my day, but that’s a new one.”
“We’re in the kitchen,” she told him.
His grin widened, and he stepped forward. “You’ve never christened your kitchen?” he asked with a wink.
She shook her head.
He moved closer, reaching for her. “I like watching you try new things, and I have lots of them planned for tonight.”
“You have a plan?” Her voice came out in a squeak.
“Do you trust me?” he whispered against her mouth, licking across the seam of her lips.
“Yes,” she breathed.
“Good,” he said and lifted her into his arms.
She gasped. The feel of his body was even more amazing than she could have imagined. Then she gasped again when her backside hit the smooth wood of the kitchen table.
Gavin trailed kisses along her jaw then down her neck and lower. He cupped her breasts in his big hands. When he took the tip of one, and then the other, into his mouth, she moaned from the pleasure of his mouth on her body. One hand moved lower, grazing her hips before gently pushing apart her legs and inching closer to her center.
She thought the attention to her breasts was enough to drive her mad with desire, but this was something else entirely. His fingers found a rhythm that had her craving more, the pressure in her body building with excruciating sweetness until she finally cried out. It felt as though a thousand stars were crashing over her, bathing her in a bright light that was like nothing she could have imagined.
Gavin kissed her, deep and slow, as the pulsing release subsided.
“I’ll never look at this table the same way again,” she whispered when he pulled away.
“I’m going to take that as a compliment,” he answered with a husky chuckle.
“But you didn’t...” Christine cleared her throat. “We aren’t finished?”
“Not by a long shot.” He gave her a sexy half smile that made her toes curl. Then he bent and took a wallet from his pants’ pocket, pulling out a condom wrapper. “The next part of my master plan is moving to the bedroom.”
“I like that plan.”
She went to stand but before she could get to her feet, Gavin picked her up, one arm under her knees and the other cradling her back.
“Down the hall?”
She nodded. “You’re pretty good with your hands,” she told him, placing a hand on his bare chest. “But you haven’t turned me into so much contented jelly that I can’t walk.”
“Pretty good?” He made a sound low in his throat. “That sounds like a challenge. And I could carry you for miles.”
She bit down on the inside of her cheek when a denial popped to her lips. She might not feel confident about her body, thanks to years of being overweight, but she knew enough not to point out her flaws to Gavin.
He seemed as enthralled with her as she was with him, and that thought only served to open her heart to him even more.
“I can hear you thinking,” he told her as he entered her bedroom.
She laughed softly as he tugged down the comforter and sheet and placed her on the mattress. “Then you’d better distract me.”
“Exactly what I had in mind.”
He opened the condom wrapper and, a moment later, skimmed his hands up her body until he was leveraging himself over her. She could feel him between her legs, but he held still as he smoothed his thumbs along the sides of her face, gazing into her eyes with an intensity that stole her breath.
“You’re amazing,” he whispered.
She automatically shook her head. Christine knew she was many things. Smart. Loyal. Dependable. Okay, that sounded more like she was describing her dog, but it was difficult to argue with the truth.
Gavin gripped her head and said again, “You. Are Amazing.”
Oh, no. She blinked several times. There was no way she was going to cry in front of him because he’d said something nice and she wanted desperately to believe him. She lifted her head and kissed him. Then he was inside her, moving in a rhythm that she knew was unique to the two of them. It was everything, and she still wanted more. Pressure built again, consuming her, but this time she wasn’t alone in giving in to the pleasure. Gavin stayed with her, in her, until they lost themselves in the moment and all the things she felt but couldn’t put into words.
And Christine knew the emotion...this night...this man...would change her life forever.