Gavin: Pure Passion (Hamptons Book 1)

by Taylor, Drucie Anne

  “With Gavin?”

  I nod. “Yeah.”

  “You seem to get along really well.”

  “It’s more about getting to know each other . . . He asked if I’d stay, and I think a little distraction will do me good.”

  “And fun,” she adds, with an amused smile.

  “Distraction,” I repeat, but this time my voice sounds more resolute.

  “Distraction can be fun, too,” she says, teasing me. Then she gets up. “I have a rehearsal, anyway. When will I see you?”

  “Either tomorrow evening or Monday.”

  “Fine. Have a great weekend, Lane. Enjoy the time with Gavin. He seems to be good for you, even if you haven’t noticed it yourself, yet.”

  My eyebrows shoot up in surprise, but I try to cover by rubbing my hand across my forehead. “You have a good weekend, too, Macey.” Then I leave her room and go to mine, where Gavin is sitting on my bed, waiting. “Sorry, that took longer than I thought it would.”

  “No problem. I was playing Angry Birds.” He grins.

  I go immediately to my closet and get a duffle bag to hold my things for the next two days. I doubt it’s a very good idea, but Gavin must have a reason for inviting me.

  “The guys asked if we’ll go dancing with them tonight.”

  “Do you want to?” I ask him.

  “I’d prefer to spend the evening alone with you, to be honest. What about you?”

  “I’d really like to relax tonight.” I close the closet door and reach for the book that I’m currently reading, which is on my bedside table, and put it in the bag. “I’ve got everything.” I haven’t chosen my clothes very carefully, but I doubt we’ll be going anywhere fancy to eat or anywhere that has a dress code.

  Gavin stands up and reaches for my duffle bag. “Can I carry this for you?”

  I give it to him, and then take my handbag. “Wait!”

  He stops suddenly at the door and turns around. “What is it?”

  “I should change. As comfortable as your clothes are, I’m getting tired of holding up the pants because they keep sliding off my butt,” I explain.

  “I’ll wait in the kitchen.”

  “Thanks.” I hurry to my closet again, slip out of his clothes, and pull on tight jeans, a tunic shirt, and comfortable sneakers, and I add a light jacket on top. Summer may have started, but I get cold easily. Then I fold Gavin’s sweats and slip the Ramones T-shirt inside. Since he already noticed it was gone, I don’t want to keep it any longer. It wasn’t a nice thing to do, anyway. I leave the room and go to him. “I’m ready.”

  We’ve almost arrived at the Plaza. “Would you like to go out to eat?”

  “No, I’m not hungry.”

  “I can’t believe that you still aren’t hungry,” he sighs.

  “It’s true. It’s probably because of the hangover, and the nausea that goes with it.”

  “That’s a classic case of too much information.”

  I laugh softly. “I just wanted to explain why I’m not interested in food at the moment.”

  “Thanks for that,” he teases.

  “If you ask me something, I’ll give you an honest answer,” I counter.

  “I’m starving, I could go for a pizza.”

  “You should have something lighter. All that fatty stuff will just make you sluggish. It would surely be good for you to eat better in the next few weeks for the dance show.”

  “I still have a craving for pizza, and because you so kindly gave me advice, I’m going to order double cheese.”

  I roll my eyes. “Can you get something like that from room service?”

  “No, from Pizza Hut,” he answers with a wink. “I just have to find one.”

  I give him directions, but he would have to turn around again, and I don’t feel like driving around.

  “Maybe you can send one of your bodyguards to get you a pizza. Since we’re almost to the hotel, you’ll soon be safe from your groupies, anyway. You’d be able to relax while they take on the city traffic.”

  “That’s a great idea,” he says with amusement and stops in front of the hotel. We get out and Gavin gives the key to a parking valet. On the way to the elevator, he takes his phone and selects a number from his contacts. “Hi, Phil, could you get me a pizza? Yeah . . . from Pizza Hut . . . Yeah, with salami and double cheese . . . And a chicken Caesar salad wouldn’t hurt either . . . Thanks, Phil.” He hangs up before we enter the elevator, and strangely enough, when the doors open there’s no operator. “All set.”

  “Is he getting your pizza?”

  “Yup.” Gavin puts his arm around my waist and caresses my side. His touch is featherlight and immediately makes me lose focus on anything else, which is probably clear to see by the moronic grin on my face. He bends down to kiss my cheek. “Maybe you’ll be hungry, too, when he gets here.”

  “We’ll see. Just the thought of a fatty pizza makes me shiver.”

  “That’s why I ordered a salad for you.”

  “That was nice, thank you.” I lean against his body and close my eyes. We’re not really a couple, but if I’m spending the weekend with him, I’m happy to enjoy his closeness and warmth. Besides, after Monday I’ll barely have a chance to see him again. The thought bothers me, but I don’t really know why.

  Gavin strokes my temples gently. “I’m looking forward to the next two days.”

  “Really? I feel a little like I’m stuck in a movie like Indecent Proposal.” I smile a little.

  “What? I’m hardly paying you to spend the weekend with me!” He says, looking offended.

  “I know, but I still think this is the way it would feel.” I could have mentioned Pretty Woman instead, but it wouldn’t really fit the idea of going for the weekend.

  “Now you’ve given me a strange feeling about the whole thing,” he says.

  “I don’t want to give you a bad feeling, but it really is strange. You’re the star who wants to spend a weekend with me, and I’m just a dancer who . . .”

  “Yes?” He looks at me doubtfully.

  “I’m not exactly in the position to end that sentence,” I say with a giggle, and let go of him as the door of the elevator opens.

  We step out and enter the suite. He brings my bag to the bedroom where I woke up before. So I guess we’re both sleeping there. Not that it bothers me, but this suite seems to be so huge that I was assuming I’d get my own room.

  “Make yourself at home!” he says.

  I slip out of my shoes and sink into the sofa. My eyes sweep the room, which is decorated in warm colors. I would prefer to take a little nap until the nausea finally subsides, but I don’t want to sleep, since I don’t have that much time left with him.

  Gavin comes and slips behind me on the sofa and lies down, pulling me on top of him so my head rests on his chest, lying on my back. “You seem tired.”

  “I don’t feel particularly spry.”

  “Then sleep for a little while,” he suggests. He reaches up and massages my temples gently, and my eyelids start to flutter closed, but I fight it.

  “I don’t want to sleep.”

  “Why not?”

  “I’m not tired,” I lie, suppressing a yawn.

  He laughs softly. “But you look very tired.”

  “But I’m not,” I repeat, and close my eyes to enjoy the massage.

  “Why don’t I believe you?”

  “I have no idea.” This time I can’t hold the yawn back.

  I wake up and look around in surprise.

  “Did you sleep well?” Gavin asks cheerfully.

  I roll onto my stomach so I’m facing him, with my upper body resting on his. “The pillow was pretty hard,” I say with a grin.

  Gavin nods. “Yeah, you’re right, I should eat more pizza.”

  “Maybe you should.” I lay my cheek on his chest and yawn again.

  “You slept for three hours. Are you still tired?”

  “No, I’m not tired anymore. I just want to relax a little.”
I have no clue why I’m feeling so needy. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, either, because this morning I was so embarrassed I could barely look at him.

  He strokes my hair. “Then relax a little. I’ll use the time to read.”

  “What are you reading?”

  “A book a friend of mine wrote. She wants me to give her some feedback. It’s a dystopia scenario.”

  “About what, the end of the world or something?” I ask. Since I also like to read, I’m always happy if someone gives me a recommendation.

  “It’s set in a small city that is one of the last to have enough water, so it’s attacked by a band of outlaws. The mayor’s daughter has to bargain with the leader and use all of her talents, mostly in bed, to keep him from killing the people. Outside the city walls, mutated humans have taken over. The outlaws are the only ones who can help the city, because they have modern weapons that they stole from a military storehouse after the government collapsed.”

  “Sounds like it digresses into erotic fiction.”

  “There’s sex, but not too much.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “When they do it, it’s explicit.” He grins. “But it doesn’t get too extreme or heavy-handed. Somehow, the author has a talent to describe it without making it uncomfortable to read.”

  “So it turns you on?”

  “Actually, no. Erotic fiction doesn’t do anything for me. I don’t usually read it, I just wanted to do my friend a favor.”

  “Will you read something to me?” I ask, looking into his eyes.

  “I don’t like to read aloud very much,” Gavin says with a smile.

  “OK, then I’ll get up and work a little.” I untangle myself from him.

  “What do you have to do?”

  “Watch a few videos of dance contests on my laptop. I have to find out as much as possible about my competition for the next one.”

  “So you’re spying?” he says with a wink.

  “Not really, I just want to see what their strengths and weaknesses are. It’s important to know what you’ll be measured against,” I say as I reach for my bag, which contains my laptop. I take it out and sit down in an armchair across from the couch. After I’ve got the laptop started up, I call up the hotel wifi and type in the password guest, which works at almost every hotel I’ve ever been in. I’m pleased to see the confirmation that I’m now connected. After connecting to the hotel’s wifi, I log into my Dropbox account, where I’ve stored the videos I need to watch.

  “Do you have a pen and some paper?”

  Gavin gets up. “Just a minute, I’ll get it for you.”

  “Thanks.”

  He returns with a pad and pen, and sits down on the arm of my chair. “Can I watch with you? I like watching dance, and maybe I can get a few tips for the show.”

  “Actually, it’s Julie who determines how you dance.”

  He reaches over and strokes my shoulder. “The more I think about it, the more I’d like to dance with you on this show, Lane.”

  I turn to look at him in surprise. “But that doesn’t work, the casting is already over.”

  “Maybe my manager can do something about that.”

  “Gavin . . . I’d love to dance with you, but I wasn’t chosen—that’s why I have to dance as part of the ensemble. Julie shouldn’t have to lose her chance for a good part because of me,” I say. Of course it would be great if I was on the show as one of the main dancers, but my professional career also includes the competitions where I dance with Jonah.

  “Not even for me?”

  “I wouldn’t say no, but I don’t want to take Julie’s place, or anyone else’s. Every single one of us is grateful when we get a chance to take part in a show like that. If I did that, it would feel like cheating. I don’t want to stab my friends in the back.”

  He sighs and goes back to his place on the sofa. He doesn’t bother to answer. Maybe it’s clear to him that I won’t let him convince me to change my mind.

  In the meantime, I’m not so sure it was a good idea to spend the weekend with him, but on the other hand, I find him so appealing that I just want to rip all my clothes off.

  We barely spoke while I watched the videos. Gavin read and I did my research, and now we’re sitting across from each other at the table, eating. There’s a candelabra between us that blocks my view of him. It doesn’t really bother me very much, because this way I don’t feel like I have to rip off my clothes at any second. But it also gives me the chance to think about my screwed-up life. I think about Brooke again. I poke around in my salad, lost in thought, and it’s starting to look like something a cow chewed up and spat out again.

  “Is everything OK?” Gavin asks me.

  I look up at him. “Yeah, thanks.”

  “It doesn’t look that way, Lane.”

  I take a deep breath to give myself courage before I’m able to speak again. “I was thinking about a friend of mine who died recently.”

  He draws in a breath sharply. “I’m sorry.”

  I shake my head. “You couldn’t have known.”

  “Sure, but if I had, I wouldn’t have been so tactless about your mood. I’m really sorry about that, I hope I didn’t step on your toes.”

  “You didn’t. Everything’s all right. Actually, it’s probably good that you pulled me out of my ruminating.”

  “Why is it good?”

  “Because otherwise, my mood plummets into the cellar pretty quickly without something to stop it,” I answer with a bitter smile, although he probably can’t see it because of the damn candelabra.

  Gavin stands up and comes to my side of the table. He doesn’t say anything, he just holds both of his hands out to me and smiles.

  I put my hands in his, and he pulls me up out of my chair and into a hug. Then he takes one of my hands and puts it on his shoulder. “Let’s dance a little, Lane.”

  I really don’t feel like it, but I nod. Maybe it will improve my mood. He goes to switch on quiet music, and then pulls me closely against him so our bodies are touching. I look up into his face, but every time I blink, my eyes overflow with tears. “One Fine Day” was Brooke’s favorite song.

  “What’s wrong now?” he asks, looking worried.

  I sigh and rest my cheek on his chest.

  “Lane?”

  “That was her favorite song . . . I’m sorry, right now I’m pretty messed up. Maybe I should go home,” I say, wiping the tears off my cheeks.

  “You don’t actually believe I’m going to let you leave now, do you?” he whispers as he strokes my shoulders.

  I feel completely ridiculous. First I sleep with him and don’t remember a thing, then I cry in front of him and want to leave, but he won’t let me. What’s happening here?

  He picks me up and I throw my arms around his back while he carries me into the bedroom. “Will you tell me what happened?” he asks as he lowers me gently to the bed.

  I cry on his shoulder until my grief is spent for the moment, unable to tell him anything. Besides, I don’t know if I want to risk opening up like that, because I’m afraid of what will happen if it all comes flooding out at once. But I know I have to let it out sometime. Otherwise he’ll just think I’m completely nuts, I’m afraid.

  It feels to me as though hours have passed when I finally calm down enough to speak. Gavin is still holding me close and stroking my shoulders, and his touch fills my body with warmth. It’s a beautiful feeling that I’ve never had before, even with Jonah. “Everything all right?” he asks softly.

  I nod slowly. “Yeah . . . I’m sorry I freaked out.”

  He kisses my forehead. “You didn’t freak out. You just cried, that means you’re human.”

  “I’m sorry anyway.”

  “Don’t worry about it. It just shows that you can let your feelings take over, unlike so many other people, and you’re not made of stone.”

  It’s amazing how easily he’s taking it. Other guys get really uncomfortable or just leave if you cry in f
ront of them. “OK,” I agree.

  “Do you want to talk about it, or is it still too difficult for you?”

  “It’s too difficult,” I reply quietly.

  “Shall we just lie here a little longer?”

  “If you don’t mind,” I whisper.

  “Not at all,” he says softly.

  I cuddle close to him. Gavin is a guy I could fall in love with. I barely know him, but I’m starting to fall for him even though I vowed not to let another man get so close to me again. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, because normally I never fall for anyone so quickly. I wouldn’t say I’m exactly falling in love, but I’m starting to feel a lot of affection for him. Either I put a stop to it now or I’ll end up unhappy, because I know I’ll never be able to have a man like him to myself.

  There’s a knock at the door, and Gavin starts in surprise. “I’ll just go see who that is.”

  “Sure.” I let go of him.

  He gets up and hurries out of the bedroom. “What the hell is wrong with you?” I hear him ask with annoyance in his voice.

  “Don’t ask what’s wrong with me, ask what’s wrong with Azer.”

  “OK . . . What’s wrong with Azer?” I have no idea which one of his friends it is. To be honest, all of their voices sound the same to me. They’re deep, male, and every word they say makes you melt. Except Azer’s. It’s not like the others.

  “That idiot got smashed out of his mind and went on a rampage, and then ran off. None of us knows where he’s hiding. The bodyguards can’t find him and his phone is switched off. We have no idea what we should do. Linden is totally pissed off at him because he hit on Thally, and she got upset and wanted to go home. The guy is completely out of control.”

  “What now, Mike?”

  “He listens to you, that’s why I’m supposed to tell you from the others you should help look for him.”

  I get up and go to the door, trying not to be noticed. Maybe I should really go home. Either that or offer my help. I know my way around this city very well, but maybe they do, too.

  “Maybe he went to the penthouse apartment,” Gavin says. “He still had a key, you know, even though he was supposed to give it back when Joel wanted to sell the place.”