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The sadness in Gavin’s eyes melts away and curiosity fill up his gaze. He’s listening to me, so I continue. “You suffered unimaginable pain and horror in your young life, and you let it bend you. It bent you over backward, nearly snapping you in half. But it didn’t break you. You didn’t let it break you. ”
“Savannah—” Gavin says and his words are husky, filled with emotion.
“The man that held my face and told me that I was the strongest heroine he’s ever known, that is a man who is living his life. The man who touches me so sweetly and does the loveliest of dirty things to me… the man that makes me crazy with lust and causes me to scream at the top of my lungs… that’s a man that is filled with passion. The man that writes such amazing words and sucks you into his story… he’s a man filled with genius and creativity. You’re sad, Gavin, and that’s okay. Let me share it with you, but don’t ever think for a minute that you will ever be a man that is content to just exist. ”
Gavin stands from the couch in such a swift move that I yelp in surprise. He grabs me by the back of my hair, pulling my face back and kissing me hard. Kisses me with passion and yearning and a zeal to make the most of this very moment we’re sharing.
He carries me to the stairs and up to his second-floor bedroom, his lips never leaving mine. I feel something different. In the way he touches me, in the way that he stares at me. He’s opened himself up to something that he never did before… something he had held himself back from, and I realize what it is in the moment when he lays me on the bed and looks down at me.
He needs me.
Gavin Cooke, a man who swam through darkness and torture, drowned himself in the ecstasy of the next big high and probably f**ked his way through half of London so he could forget his demons, rose from the ashes having survived, but having done so while being utterly alone.
Now he’s not. Now he knows that he has one other person in this world who is willing to share the burden of his sadness. And I can see it in his eyes… right this minute, that he is acknowledging that he needs me.
And God help me, I think I need him too, because he’s made me feel and experience things I never thought were possible in my narrowed existence.
Gavin crawls onto the bed, up my body, and lies down on top of me. He kisses me again, this time with more care than he has ever taken with my lips. He moves slowly but deliberately, pressing his mouth into mine, sucking on my bottom lip, giving me a soft bite. His tongue moves against mine. He angles his head to go deeper and possess me more thoroughly.
He kisses and kisses and kisses me, making no other move to touch me other than to stroke my face. I can feel his erection laying thick and long between my legs, yet he doesn’t even move his h*ps to grind into me. This isn’t about sex right now, although I know that’s coming.
It’s about him showing me how much he cares for not only what I just said to him downstairs, but also for the person I am.
He finally… yes, finally, because I am starting to fill up with a crazy burning for more of him, peels my clothes away, letting his lips travel over every bit of exposed skin. He silently caresses me with his hands, his tongue, and the very breath that rushes out of his mouth. I wriggle and moan, and even beg him to give me more, but he takes his sweet, filthy time with me.
When I’m completely naked, he rolls from the bed, standing briefly to disrobe, his eyes never leaving mine. When he crawls back in and lies back down on top of me, my heart hammers a hungry tune for him. I can feel his warm erection between my legs, pulsing and jerking with need. But he does nothing more than start to kiss me all over again, now whispering the sweetest of words that I’ve ever heard come out of his dirty mouth.
Sweet… your skin is so soft. I could kiss and lick at it for days on end.
Your ni**les… so perfect. Your br**sts, your stomach, your hips. All so f**king perfect.
Touching you is the best part of my every day.
We could live to the end of time, and even when the sun would finally die out, I’d still never have enough of you.
Oh, Gavin… my poet.
When he finally rises up just a bit, he looks down at me. He is suspended on one hand while, with the other, he takes himself in hand and guides it into me. He slides in easily, because I’m so ready for him, and when he’s seated to the hilt within my body, his eyes flutter closed and he sighs.
When he opens them again, he leans down and kisses me gently. After he pulls back from my mouth but before he gives the first move of his hips, he whispers, “Thank you. ”
And in that moment, I’m pretty sure my heart has been enslaved.
21
“Geez, love… how long exactly does it take for you to get ready? It’s just some drinks with your friends,” I say in exasperation as I lean against the doorjamb of my bathroom. Savannah has been diligently working on herself for the past half hour. I’ve watched as she put cream on her face and eyes, some type of frothy stuff in her hair. She then put on makeup—seemed like a million different things went on her face—yet when she was done, she didn’t look made up at all. Except for her eyes… her lashes were so long and thick that her eyes practically glowed at me. Then she dried her hair… then she took some type of wand looking thing and ran it through, causing the slight bit of wave that it naturally bore to straighten out and flip at different angles.
Finally… yes, finally, she slathered gloss on her lips, puckered said lips in the mirror, and all I could think about was getting those slick, wet lips around my cock. I had to turn my back on her and walk out the bathroom before I f**ked her right then and there.
Christ, she’s so f**king beautiful and sexy that she makes my eyeballs burn sometimes. And the way she looks at me, especially after I told her all about Charlie last night, especially after the way we made love… she makes my heart squeeze, contract, jump, shiver, and moan in delight.
I thought a lot about what Savannah said… about how I didn’t just exist, but I lived. She told me I had been bent but never broken. And I suppose she’s right, to some extent… I slogged my way through the darkness that I let overtake my life for a while. I managed to pull myself up and write a book, and when additional opportunity came my way, I managed to remove myself from the life that was dragging me under and get a fresh start here in the Outer Banks. Yeah… I did that all on my own. Crawled out of the deepest hole I could have ever been able to dig for myself.
But where Savannah doesn’t acknowledge the full story is where she didn’t mention her part. I may have dragged myself up to the edge of the hole, but I think I was hanging onto the edge with my fingertips. Barely… just barely.
I didn’t get out of that f**king hole until she wandered up, looked over the edge at me, and smiled. I didn’t get out of that hole all the way, until just last night when she grabbed ahold of my wrists and with every bit of strength, care, and kindness, pulled me up out of it the rest of the way.
I woke up this morning, after having pondered that all night while I held her in my arms, and realized that I could have a different life than what I thought, starting today.
Starting right this very moment where I want to really start it off right by walking back into that bathroom, stripping her naked, and feasting on her body for hours.
“I’m ready,” she says, coming out of the bathroom.
“Finally,” I grumble, pulling her into my arms. “You look fantastic. Smell even better. I know for a fact you taste f**king amazing. Want to give me a taste?”
She nods, so I lean down. I kiss her wet lips, tasting vanilla and mint on them. Then I release her, or else we’ll never make it out of the bedroom, and I know she’s dying for me to meet her friends.
I briefly marvel at how fast all of this seems to be moving between us. Just a little over two weeks ago, I was snarling at her and she was cowering from me. Then I fingered her in my Maserati, and things definitely changed then. After I f**ked her for the fir
st time, I knew that sex would never be the same for me again. And last night… after we talked about Amanda, Charlie, and my addictions, she liberated me from the rest of my darkness with just a few small, comforting, but heartfelt, words.
And now, here we are, and she wants me to meet her friends.
I’m up for the challenge, of course. After the things I’ve been through, nothing scares me. Except the prospect of losing Savannah, when I just found her. So, maybe I am a little nervous they won’t like me. Particularly Brody, who I can tell is very protective of her.
Yes, forget her pack of girlfriends… Brody is the one whose approval I’m going to need to get.
“Are you having fun?” Savannah says as she saunters up to me with a flushed grin on her face. She’s at that place right now where she borders between slightly buzzed and really buzzed, and she’s f**king charming as all get out.
I was watching her play pool with Hunter, my eyes either pinned to her ass or the slight cle**age she shows when she bends over. Every once in a while, my gaze will stray to make sure no other guys have their eyes pinned to her ass or tits, which is something I wouldn’t take kindly to.
“Loads of fun,” I assure her, but while her friends have all been nice… except Brody, who seems a bit reserved, I’d much rather take her home and spend hours making her scream.
“So, where do you stand on PDA?”
“P-D-what?” I ask, confused.
“PDA… public displays of affection,” she says seriously. “Some guys don’t like that, and I’m curious where you stand?”
Reaching out, I place my hands on her face and draw her closer to me. “I’m not sure. Let’s test it out first… see if I like it or not. ”
Bending down, I touch my lips to hers, with only the intent of grazing their fullness. But she presses in to me, opening her mouth and slipping her tongue in. I’m powerless not to reciprocate, so I do… giving her a deep, sensual kiss, so that when I pull back she is dazed and weak-kneed.
“I think I like it,” I murmur as I release my hold.
Her fingertips come up to rub her lips thoughtfully, and she stares at me intently. “I really like it too. ”
My hands slip to her waist and wrap around her lower back, pulling her in flush against me. “When can we leave?”
“Already?” she asks in disbelief. “We just got here. ”
“Three hours ago,” I point out, and while I have indeed been enjoying myself, I’m dying to get her alone.
“Pfft,” she says, waving her hand dismissively. “What’s three hours in the grand scheme of things?”
Laughing at her near-drunken silliness, I bend down again and give her a quick kiss on her mouth. I put my lips near her ear. “It’s three hours too long without feeling your sweet pu**y wrapped around my cock. I’m dying here, Sweet. I want to leave so I can f**k you. ”
“Oh,” she breathes into my neck and then pulls back to look at me. “Why didn’t you say so? That sounds like so much more fun than hanging out here. ”
I give her a huge grin and release her waist, only to take her hand. “Let’s say our goodbyes then. ”
I turn to start walking her over to where the girls are all standing, only to practically run into Brody. He’s holding a bottle of water in one hand and glass of Scotch in the other.
Handing the liquor to me, he says, “I bought you a drink. ”
I take it from him, heaving with frustration on the inside, and say, “Thanks, mate. You didn’t have to do that. ”
You really didn’t have to do that.
“Oh, sure I did,” Brody says affably, although I sense an underlying tone of censure in his voice. “Besides, I thought we could have a chat. ”
I c**k my eyebrow high, to let him know just what I think of that, but then turn to Savannah. “Why don’t you go hang with the rest of the gang for a bit, love? Let Brody and I get to know each other a bit better. ”
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