Gavin: Pure Passion (Hamptons Book 1)

by Taylor, Drucie Anne

  He sighs, then picks up the book and starts reading to me. I’ve never read Dracula before, which is why a lot is still new to me since I’ve only seen the movie, and apparently there’s a lot missing in it. I look at the book and read along with him, but above all, I enjoy it just being the two of us, his closeness, and listening to his voice.

  “Are you hungry?” he asks after a while.

  “A little,” I admit shyly.

  “What for?”

  “No idea. You decide.”

  “As far as I’m concerned, something easy would be nice. How about pasta?”

  I nod against his shoulder.

  “Any special wishes?”

  “No garlic.”

  “I was going to ask if you’d like spaghetti Bolognese or something else.”

  “Is there a menu I can check?”

  “We could go down to the restaurant,” he suggests.

  “I’m completely underdressed for that.”

  He chuckles. “So we’ll eat here. I’ll choose our dinner . . . Without garlic, of course.”

  “OK.”

  I sit down on the couch and follow him with my eyes as he walks over to the phone. I watch him while he talks—those dark brown locks that he hasn’t bothered to style today, his angular features, and the smile he wears on his lips when he looks at me. I lean my head back and gaze at him dreamily. Apparently I mean more to this man than I thought.

  He hangs up and sits down next to me, then pulls my legs into his lap. “A penny for your thoughts.”

  “I was wondering what I am to you,” I ask him.

  One eyebrow rises. “My girlfriend, and the girl I fell in love with the first time I danced with her.”

  I smile at him.

  “What am I to you?”

  “A guy with stalking tendencies,” I reply drily.

  Gavin’s eyes widen for a second as he loses control of his smooth features. “What?”

  I shake my head, laughing. “You’re the guy who makes me feel self-conscious and safe at the same time. I didn’t know that was possible, but apparently it is. And . . . I’ve fallen in love with you, too.”

  He pushes me down onto my back and rolls on top of me, and I spread my legs so he can come closer. Gavin doesn’t say anything, he just kisses my lips. I return the kiss gently, sliding my hands behind his neck, just like he did with me. His tongue touches my lower lip, caresses it gently before nibbling that sensitive spot, and he utters a little growl. I suck in some air with a hiss as he bites down a little harder, but he doesn’t give me a chance to object. His hand slides under my top until it reaches my breasts. After pulling down my bra, he massages them with slow movements. He pinches my nipple between two fingers and pulls on it gently, making it stiffen almost painfully. I open my mouth with a sigh, and he takes advantage of my open mouth to gently nudge my tongue with the tip of his. They begin a passionate tango during which neither of us wants to let the other get the upper hand. The kiss becomes wilder fast. I grab his shirt and pull it up. Gavin leans on his free hand so I can pull it over his head, and then he pulls his arms out. My fingers start exploring his upper body, which gives him the shivers.

  “Sensitive?” I whisper, gazing into his eyes and bending upward toward him.

  “A little,” he murmurs and tries to kiss me, but I redirect him so I can tickle his neck with my tongue, my lips, and finally nip at him with my teeth. A soft moan escapes his chest while I let my lips wander along the indentation between his shoulder muscles. Meanwhile, Gavin begins opening his jeans. I push them down farther after his hands fall away. I don’t touch his boxers. Gavin pulls his legs out of his jeans, and then sits up. He pulls off my top and throws it aside, and then he pulls down my pants while I’m taking off my bra. I slip my hand into his shorts and grab hold of his penis, which is already rock hard. I have to pull back, though, as he slides his thumbs under the waistband of my panties, helps me stretch my legs upward, and then frees me of that irritating little piece of fabric. Suddenly he gives an irritated snort.

  “What is it?” I ask quietly.

  “I don’t have any condoms here,” he answers.

  “I take the pill and I’m healthy.”

  “I’m healthy, too, my last checkup didn’t show anything,” he murmurs, bending over me. He kisses me gently while two of his fingers slide between my petals and tease my clit. I moan as his thumb strokes the sensitive little bud faster and faster. While he’s driving me insane with his fingers, I can feel his penis right at my opening, into which he now slides only the tip. “Oh my God,” I gasp as I feel him stretching me, while fine spasms chase each other through my abdomen. As soon as I come with a scream, he suddenly pushes deeper inside me so my twitching muscles massage him. Any other sounds that might have escaped my lips, Gavin seals in with a kiss. His thrusts are slow and unexpectedly hard, but I like it. I enjoy how he’s keeping my legs bent and pushing into me with long, hard thrusts.

  When he moves his hips around, I damn near lose my mind. The size of Gavin’s cock is impressive, and it’s stretching me out almost painfully, but I love the feeling.

  “Oh, man, you’re so fucking tight right now,” he moans. “I can’t stand it much longer.” He gazes into my eyes as he speaks, and with each of his words, his lips touch mine again. “Come for me again, Lane,” he demands quietly, and yet his voice is incredibly hard. His eyes glitter dangerously as he thrusts into me again, more demanding, more powerfully.

  There’s a loud knock on the door the exact second I cry out, “I’m coming!”

  With a last thrust, he empties himself into me with a loud moan that I follow suit with a moment after.

  We lie there for a moment, breathing hard, as there’s another knock. “Room service!”

  “Just a minute!” Gavin shouts, and then kisses the tip of my nose and detaches himself from me. “I think that’s our food. Do you want to go to the bedroom meanwhile?”

  “I . . . I guess that’d be better, huh?”

  He nods hastily and helps me get up, then he hands me a blanket from the arm of his chair and wraps it around me.

  The knocking becomes more insistent.

  “Jeez, just a minute!” Gavin growls, pulling on his boxers. He goes to the door while I retreat to the bedroom. “If you ever knock like that again, I’m going to make a complaint,” I hear Gavin say, which is followed up by an apology from the hotel employee. Finally he comes into the bedroom with the serving cart. “I’ve decided spontaneously that we’ll be eating here,” Gavin tells me with a grin and sits down next to me.

  “OK.” I smile.

  After our meal we lie in bed, snuggling up against each other and watching TV. We’re spooning; Gavin is the big spoon with his arms around me. He strokes my stomach and breathes light kisses onto my neck, which make me shiver. He tells me with a chuckle, “If you want to sweep a woman off her feet, all you have to do is kiss her neck.”

  I giggle and turn around to face him. “Was that what you were trying for?”

  He nods gravely and then gives me an audacious little grin that makes his eyes sparkle.

  “You can do that without kissing my neck,” I reply with a smile.

  His lips cover mine with a gentle kiss, but I pull back. “What’s wrong?” he asks.

  “Would you hold me? I’d . . . like to cuddle,” I whisper.

  He pulls me as close as possible. I lay my head under his chin; his large hands stroke my back. “Shall we rehearse again tomorrow morning?”

  “I need to go home early tomorrow, I promised Pax.” After deciding to spend the night here, I called Pax again to let him know. Luckily, he didn’t seem upset.

  “But we could get up early and do another run-through, couldn’t we?”

  I sigh, giving in. “OK. But only one new lift, not two, all right?”

  “I can live with that.”

  And above all, we can prove to my dear colleagues that way that you didn’t drop Julie on purpose, I think, but I don’t say it
out loud. That would only upset Gavin.

  He places a little kiss on my forehead as I yawn. “Are you tired?”

  “It was a long day.”

  “Then we should put you in one of my shirts and go to sleep.” He lets me go with a sweeping motion and walks over to his closet to grab a shirt.

  “How long will you be here this time?” I ask while I strip down to my undies.

  “Until Sunday, how about you?”

  “I’m driving back to the Hamptons tomorrow night, because I’m invited to a party.”

  “Sounds exciting.” He hands me the shirt as I’m taking off my bra.

  “Thanks.” I pull it on and lie back down. “I wonder how it’s going to be.”

  “Are you going with somebody?”

  “Yeah, I am.”

  “Paxton?” he inquires in a hard voice.

  “Yes, I’m going there with Paxton since the party is being hosted by one of our former classmates. He has a club on the beach, and that’s where it’s going to be.”

  “So it’s an open party?”

  “Yeah, I assume so.”

  “Would you mind if I come?”

  I take a deep breath. “I don’t know if you’d like it.”

  “Why not? I could ask the guys to come, that’d be fun,” he says.

  I manage a smile. “There will be lots of women there stalking you.”

  “I can deal with that.”

  “What about me?” I say, risking being a little pushy.

  “Lane, I won’t be flirting, all right?”

  “I’m not jealous.” I grin. “It’s just that the two of us should probably show up separately because this thing between us could go public otherwise.”

  “Would it bother you if people knew that we’re a couple?” he inquires skeptically.

  “No, but I’d like to keep it out of the dance show, we can make it official after that.”

  He sighs deeply. “OK.”

  “So we’ll act completely normal in public. It would be best if you acted the way you usually do, which means you’ll be meeting women so nobody suspects me,” I whisper sadly.

  Gavin raises an eyebrow in skepticism, looking at me as if I’d just slapped him. “You’re asking me to cheat on you?”

  “No, I’m not asking anything. I just don’t want people to get suspicious.”

  “Fine, but I won’t touch any of those women, should I date them, and I’ll meet you afterward, understood?”

  I give a quick nod. “Loud and clear.”

  After he’s taken off all but his shorts, he lies down with me and pulls me into his arms. “Sleep well, Dancing Queen.”

  “You, too, babe.”

  He kisses the top of my head. “The next few weeks will be hard.”

  “We’ll get through it,” I answer with a yawn and close my eyes.

  Saturday night. The show has started, and the two hosts are announcing our dance. We’re the fourth couple to perform. They’re showing our intro video with the scenes of when we “first met” and had our first lesson. The audience laughs as he steps on my toes and I pull a face as though he’d chewed with his mouth open right next to my ear. While the audience is watching the clip, we take up our positions on the dance floor.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, here are Gavin McLeod and Madeleine Dubois, dancing a rumba,” the announcer introduces us before the music begins. I’m standing in front of the jury, acting as though I’m crying bitterly. Luckily I can act well enough to not look like a maniac.

  Gavin whirls me around and pulls me onto the dance floor. Then, with another spin, he peels off my trench coat and peels off his own during the next spin. We changed the dance a little just this morning, but it’s working fantastically.

  At the end of our dance, which went perfectly smoothly, he tries to kiss me, just like we planned. Just before our lips touch, or actually they even brush lightly, I pull back from him and run away.

  The audience claps and I return with a smile. I approach Gavin, who holds out his hand to take mine and walks toward the jury’s seats with me.

  “Gavin and Madeleine, you look happy,” Xander Goodrem, who hosts the show, tells us. “How did Gavin behave during practice, Madeleine? Did he step on your toes at all?”

  I’m smiling as I’m handed the mic. “A few times, but I had him work extrahard to make up for it.”

  “Sounds like she was rough on you,” Xander tells Gavin with a wink, which makes him laugh.

  “She had me practice hard, but I’m very glad, because I want to get into the next round, too,” Gavin replies, amused, but it’s still audible in his voice that the dance was exhausting for him.

  “Well, I think the two of you danced great. But let’s hear what the jury has to say,” Xander says, turning to them. “Candice, your opinion, please.”

  Candice is smiling. “I have to say, you’ve improved vastly since the last show, Gavin. You and Madeleine danced well together, and your feet moved beautifully. You do have to work on that hip motion a bit, though.”

  Gavin laughs quietly. “Madeleine had a tough time with that already, but I’ll try my best.”

  After that come the other jurors, and even the most feared one, Aileen Rocksten, gives us good feedback.

  “Thanks to the jury! The two of you can go upstairs now,” Xander says, turning to face us.

  Gavin reaches for my hand before we go upstairs together. “That wasn’t so bad.”

  “Still, we’ll have to work on those hips,” I tease him as we’re climbing the stairs to reach LaToya, the other host.

  “Hi, guys,” she greets us. “You danced beautifully!”

  “Thank you,” Gavin replies, beaming.

  “And how was it for you to be dancing with one of the currently most-wanted single men, Madeleine?” she asks me.

  “It was fantastic,” I answer with a grin. “I didn’t even know who he was until this show began, but we had a lot of fun rehearsing, and I hope we will in the future, too.”

  She giggles, which sounds artificial. “Well, let’s see how many points the jury gives you.”

  “George Cavendish,” we hear the announcer’s voice say, and he lifts a sign with the number nine on it.

  “Candice Fulton.” She gives us a ten.

  “Perry Trammors, your points, please.” He, too, shows us a ten, which already makes Gavin whoop out loud. In the last two shows, he only got sixes and sevens. “Aileen Rocksten, your points, please.” She shows us an eight, which by her standards is pretty generous.

  “Oh my goodness! According to the jury, you’re the best couple so far!” LaToya cries out.

  Gavin and I hug each other.

  “But the audience still has to call in for you guys, so it’s up to you now, Gavin.”

  “Umm, yeah,” he says into the mic. “I’d like to stay on the show for a while longer, and I hope you’ll give me another chance so I can show a fast dance next week. Oh please, please, call for us, we’re number four!”

  “You heard it, ladies and gentlemen, give a call for them if you want to see them out on the floor again.” She smiles at the camera. “And after a commercial break, we’ll be seeing Madeleine Dubois and Jonah Quincy on the dance floor, since Madeleine is replacing the late Brooke Thompson.”

  I take a deep breath as the show’s music starts playing and the cameras aren’t rolling for a moment. “I need to get changed,” I say, turning to Gavin.

  “Good luck,” he says quietly and lets go of my hand. I take a hidden hallway to the makeup room, where they quickly put my hair in a loose bun and change my makeup.

  “Lane, are you ready?” Jonah has also just entered the makeup room.

  I’m getting dressed behind a folding screen.

  “Almost.”

  “We need to be out there in two minutes,” he reminds me.

  “I just need to slip on my shoes,” I reply. My shoes are a hybrid of ballet slippers and normal dancing shoes. The toes make up the ballet part, but they have a one
-and-a-half-inch heel. “Done!” I call after a moment, and run toward the studio with Jonah.

  The music begins just as we step onto the dance floor. We position ourselves next to Xander. I’m standing diagonally in front of Jonah, and I’m holding the hand he’s wrapped around my torso.

  “The winner of the last season, Brooke Thompson, died tragically three months ago, which is why today’s show is being dedicated to her. Here at my side are Madeleine Dubois and Jonah Quincy, who were her best friends,” Xander says.

  I bite my lower lip to get a grip on myself and not start sobbing.

  “We’ve compiled a few of her best scenes to give you an idea of Brooke’s career on Celebrity Dance Hall.”

  I raise my eyes to the big screen, on which her name has appeared. It also says 1991–2014. I clench my jaw as Brooke appears. “Hey, my name is Brooke Thompson, and I’ll be performing on Celebrity Dance Hall with Russell Conners. We’re on the way to his place right now so we can meet him.” She smiles at the camera. There’s a cut to one of her dances with Russell, a broken tango, which is being danced to “Bust Your Windows” in a style similar to the movie Step Up 3. You can see her passion for the dance in each of her steps. Another cut. “You’re supposed to hold me, hold me!” she says, laughing as the lift goes completely awry and she falls on top of Russell. Then there’s a last cut to the final show of the last season. “Brooke, is there something you’d like to say to us?” LaToya asks her.

  “It was great, and I hope I’ll be on the show again next time, because this is honestly so much fun. It also means I get to spend even more time with my best friend Madeleine, who is just as passionate a dancer as I am.” She’s barely finished talking when I walk over and hug her. “Love ya, Maddy-Lane,” you can hear her whisper before the video ends. There are tears in my eyes.

  “You can do this,” Jonah whispers to me as we’re standing in the dark, waiting for our dance to be announced. He backs up a few steps, leaving me alone by the ballet barre that’s standing out on the floor as a prop. I lay my hand on the polished wood.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, here are Jonah Quincy and Madeleine Dubois with a freestyle dance to ‘One Last Wish’ from the movie Casper.”