Romance: Gibson's Legacy ( New Adult Contemporary Erotic Romance) (Last Score Book 1)

by K. L. Shandwick

Just visible on the far side of the beach was a group of what looked like normal Californian beach boys. Sun kissed hair and golden tans, surf boards and wetsuits that were on but stripped to the waist, the sleeves hanging down.

  The closer we got the more Gibson seemed to stand out. I wasn’t sure whether that was because he was the one I most wanted to see or the one that was the most difficult not to think about.

  Standing side on with just his profile showing he gave me the chance to observe his amazing form. His long and lean but muscular frame captivated me. Strong thighs, arms and from what I could see, a back a rippled with hard muscle groups.

  As if sensing I was there, Gibson’s torso twisted in my direction and his eyes connected with mine. Instantly, his face was glowing and he smiled widely. Striding across the sand towards me his hand came up in a wave.

  “Hey. You made it. How are you feeling?” Smiling warmly at me, Gibson could have been any regular guy greeting a friend. The way he was attentive and open made me feel more relaxed than I had before I saw him. “Come sit, we’re just checking we’ve got everything before we head out. Did they set you up with a wetsuit yet?”

  Nodding, I looked in the direction of the two guys that had brought us to the beach. They were carrying them over their arms along with two body boards. Gavin and Eddie were already in theirs. Eddie was standing staring at Toby Francis like he was some kind of apparition.

  I hadn’t spoken at all since I arrived but Gibson hadn’t seemed to notice and was nervous, which was something I hadn’t really experienced with him before. “I’m really glad you’re here, Chloe.

  Today is about having fun, darlin’. Toby and I have been friends since we were kids and we haven’t seen each other for fourteen months. I was going to blow him out because you were here, but I figured that we do better in a group and we’ve only got one day. Are you okay with this?”

  Again, Gibson had somehow outdone any thoughts that I may have had about him trying to get me alone. He had obviously considered my feelings and was trying to arrange something that didn’t put our relationship thus far under any more pressure. I wasn’t really sure how I felt about that because part of me was kind of at the point where I was ready to test the water and try it Ruby’s way.

  Splitting into two boats, Gibson, Toby Francis, Jill, Ruby, Mick, Gavin and Eddie were on one boat with me and the other had Lennox and Simon from M3rCy and Hugh and Denis, from Gametes, with what I assumed was their girlfriends.

  Like everything else Gibson did, he water skied with an expertise that made me wonder if he had ever gone to school in his life. I mean, he must have spent all his time on the beach to have learned the tricks he could do.

  My heart was in my mouth as the boat sped along at 45 knots and he was cutting across the wake we were leaving and zigzagging left and right, doing somersaults and leaping through the air as if he were born to do it.

  Tubing was a lot of fun even though I was always scared to try it. The speed of the boat made the tube feel out of control at times and I was scared of the beasts in the sea. Manatees were freaky looking creatures, like big dollops of moving blubber, and sharks…well they had teeth and they snuck up on you. That was the only information I needed to know to feel frightened about the ocean.

  After some coaxing, I was persuaded to tube on my own. Butterflies in my tummy danced like there were too many of them and they were all jostling for position. Accelerating away from me the boat got smaller, then suddenly the rope was taut and I was being dragged at speed behind the boat.

  Gibson was smiling, standing at the back with his arms on his hips; enjoying watching me being bounced around by the white foamy wake the boat was leaving as it cut through the water.

  Hitting a wave wrongly, my tire bounced high in the air and as much as I tried to hang on, my wet fingers slipped free and I was coasting in mid- air with a feeling of fear gripping me that my stunt had somehow gone badly wrong.

  Sharp pain stung my belly as I hit the water in a belly flop, then I seemed to be tumbling downwards through the dark freezing salty water. Holding my breath, I was trying not to panic but I knew I wasn’t a strong swimmer and the undercurrent was quite strong. After what seemed like a few seconds I could feel my lungs begin to burn and I knew I was in trouble.

  Panic began to take hold just as a pair of strong arms encircled my waist and began to pull me to the surface. Sharp gasps of air re-inflated my lungs with fresh oxygen as I sputtered and spat, my arms fighting the hold on me.

  “Stop!” The voice from behind me was Gibson. “I got you, Chloe. Don’t fight me, lean back into my shoulder.” Gibson was under me and I was lying with my upper back on his chest, his hand under my chin, keeping me afloat.

  “Don’t panic, honey, you’re okay, I got you.” Gibson swam confidently towards the boat and passed me by my underarms to Gavin and Eddie who pulled me aboard. Gibson pulled himself up on the back board then up into the boat. “Okay, she’s alright, everyone back off and leave her to me. I got her.”

  Without any hesitation he pulled me on his lap and hugged me tight. “Fuck, Chloe, tell me you’re okay. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have pushed you into doing that.” I’d had a fright, no doubt about that, but Gibson had got to me before any damage was done and he was taking the blame for me being in the water.

  Both of our chests were still rising and falling from the effort of getting back to the boat safely, but it was his eyes I was focusing on. They were full of concern and hurt that I had been in a tumble.

  Smiling softly, I wanted to reassure Gibson it was an accident and I didn’t blame anyone. I commented, “I’m fine, I was figuring out the tubing thing, it was fun, it’s the falling off I think I need practice with.”

  Gibson’s face immediately relaxed and he kissed my forehead. “Damn, Chloe. You are banned from tubing. That was agony for me to watch. You have no idea the feelings that ran through me when I watched you being tossed up in the air like that. You must have been thrown about fifteen feet before hitting the water… and coming down flat on your front like that…” Shaking his head, his voice trailed off like he was traumatized by the event and didn’t want to recount it.

  Seeing the way Gibson was affected by what had happened to me warmed my heart. I couldn’t remember the last time anyone had shown that level of personal concern for me. Taking his cold cheek in my hand, I lifted my face to his and placed a soft, slow kiss on his lips. “Thank you for saving me. So I need to add ‘hero’ to the titles you hold now, huh?”

  Gibson smirked. “Nah, it was a no brainer going to get you. There isn’t another fish in the sea like you.” As soon as he said that, I started giggling and he pretended to look injured. “What? What did I say?”

  “Jeez Gibson you need to get better lines. I thought you wrote lyrics? And that was the best you could come up with?” Glancing over at Ruby, I smiled reassuringly at her worried face and saw it relax. She turned and began to speak to the others and I heard her tell them I was fine.

  Chuckling heartily Gibson squeezed me to his chest. His laughter vibrated against my body. “Corny, cheesy… call it what you want, it’s true. I’m smitten with you, what can I say? Still chuckling he was stroking his thumb up and down my arm, and his smiling eyes turned more hooded and intense.

  “I’m not messing with you, Chloe. You give me feelings I’ve never had before. I don’t know what the fuck to do with them. All I know is when you are near me it’s like…like someone has stuffed a helium-filled balloon inside me. Like a floating feeling but inside my chest.”

  His explanation had me giggling and he started chuckling again. “Just don’t ask me to write a song about you because it will be shit if this is the kind of lines you bring out in me. I don’t think I’ll ever have a hit with the stuff that’s going on in my head about you.”

  Becoming conscious that there was a group of people around us, I looked away from Gibson to see Toby Francis staring at me, shaking his head and smiling. I don’t know why but it gav
e me the feeling that he was reading how Gibson was flirting with me, and with that thought, that he was somehow playing me.

  Pushing myself away from him, I rose off his lap and stood up. As soon as I did I could see the confusion on his face. He hadn’t done anything wrong, and I wanted to believe that what had happened between us was a genuine exchange, but when I had seen Toby’s reaction I wasn’t sure anymore.

  Maybe if Gibson had been just a guy, and Toby just a guy, I wouldn’t have felt the way I did, but these two rock stars were in the news almost daily about their conquests, so I did have some scope for feeling the way I did.

  Walking across to the starboard side of the boat I balanced myself against the edge and began to pull off the wetsuit. My mood lifted with the warmth of the sun on my skin when I pulled the suit free of my body, my skin instantly drying with the searing sun.

  Ruby came over and leaned against the edge of the boat, one foot up on the soft leather seating beside me. “Damn girl, I thought he was going to lay you out on the deck and have his way with you for a second there. The way you were looking at each other took me right back to Beltz Bar all those years ago.”

  Ruby wasn’t the quietest of speakers and Gavin turned to look at the both of us. “Guess I don’t stand a chance after that huh, Chloe?” Again Gavin had made a reference to us being more than friends. When I made eye contact with him there was a look in his eyes that said he wasn’t joking either.

  I really liked Gavin, he had been a good friend and I was kinda attracted to him, but I wasn’t interested in having him as a boyfriend. I wasn’t in the right frame of mind for a relationship with anyone. Or so I thought until this stuff that’s been going on with Gibson.

  Now, him I was extremely attracted to. Actually from what Gibson was saying, I was the magnet and he was the shiny metal. I was drawing him toward me and he was starting to stick. I was scared to think about him in those terms, because I would start to believe that something more than a one night stand could happen between us.

  Magnets attract and repel, because they have lines of force that enter their south pole and exit the north. Opposite poles attract each other while similar ones repel. With that reasoning I could concede that Gibson and I were definitely opposites.

  Ignoring Gavin’s comment Ruby covered the awkward moment for me by starting to chat with him and I turned to scan the horizon. Glancing at the beautiful scenery of the ocean and distant shoreline I realized my conflicting emotions.

  Emotionally, I was fragile. Trust was going to be really difficult for me because of Kace but my feelings were telling me that Gibson deserved a chance, just like Johnny had said to me. Sliding a hand gently around my waist Gibson pulled me into warm smooth chest again and I turned my head to the side to see him standing half behind me.

  “What just went down, Chloe? You’re confusing the fuck out of me. One minute you’re smiling and relaxed the next it’s like someone stuck a poker up your ass and you jump away from me like I’m on fire.”

  Swallowing hard, I knew my behavior must be frustrating. The hot and cold feelings were something I desperately needed to work on. Girls that did that were given names like ‘prick tease’ and that wasn’t my idea of how I wanted to be known, especially to Gibson, his band and his friends.

  “I’m sorry, Gibson. Delayed shock of what happened?” Despite his candid disclosures about how he felt towards me I found myself lying. We had one day, like Ruby said, and I wasn’t going to spend it talking about something as depressing and traumatizing to me as Kace.

  Bending so that his mouth was near my ear, he whispered seductively, “You have to forgive me Chloe, I’m struggling to keep my hands to myself with you today. If I could have one wish it would be to be alone with you.” Gibson’s warm breath fanned across my ear and sent shivers down my spine.

  When he confessed what he wanted my mind flitted back to the wish we had both shared from our phone call, when we’d been desperate for more than words. I felt my nipples pebble as my body reacted to his touch and the slow tantalizing seductive timbre in his voice and the memory of our mutual want.

  Long fingers closed slightly, gripping a little firmer on my bare flesh exposed by my tankini swim suit. Turning me to face him, Gibson shuffled backwards with me until I was leaning on the back of one of the chairs and he glanced down the front of me. His eyes briefly fell to my breasts, my nipples clearly protruding under the thin unpadded material, then he glanced up to meet my eyes.

  “Fuck, Chloe. You have no idea how much I want to hold those in the palms of my hands.” Right at that moment, if we had been alone I was sure I would have encouraged that. Instead I said nothing, and just stared back at him.

  Conscious there was another six people on the boat, I looked past him to see who was looking at us but they were all turned in the opposite direction, watching the antics of the guys in the other boat.

  Stretching up on my tiptoes, I took the initiative again; not asking for permission this time, and kissed him slowly, my lips light on his. Gibson’s hand skimmed my ribs from my waist and his other wrapped around my shoulders. He murmured seductively to me, but his lips never left mine, and his voice was thick with lust. “Chloe, please trust me. We have one day, please…let’s just do this. Let me in.”

  CHAPTER 29 - PRYING EYES

  Chloe

  Gibson pressed his body against me and I felt myself melt into his chest. Gently and tentatively his mouth pressed against mine; handling me with care, moving at a speed that was so slow it was increasing my need for more than what was happening.

  His unhurried cultivation of the kiss between us made me so needy that when he suddenly pierced my mouth with his hot tongue and claimed it almost forcefully, the shock of it only heightened my desperation for him.

  When he broke the kiss, he let out a shuddery breath, his mouth trailing down my neck and into the crease of it beside my collar bone. Trailing his tongue flat up my neck again towards my ear, he whispered sexily, “Good girl, Chloe. Relax. Feel how I feel for you. I got you.”

  Between his sexy whispering making me tremble, his low raspy voice, his touch and the way he demanded my attention with his kiss, he pushed my limits of what I felt safe doing, increasing his overall effect on me.

  Breathless, our chests heaving with the effort of controlling ourselves, we both drew back from each other at the same time and Gibson grinned roguishly at me and murmured in a low gravelly voice, “Fuck, Chloe. You’re killing me… slowly, but you’re doing it nevertheless.”

  Smirking wickedly at me, he leaned in and pressed his lips to my forehead brushing a few strands of hair from my shoulder at the same time before bending his head and peppering my neck and shoulder with little kisses again.

  Stepping back, Gibson’s hand trailed from the back of my head down my arm until he grasped my hand in his. “Pity we have to be appropriate around these assholes Chloe, because I have the feeling if we’d been alone right now that kiss would have gone much further.”

  Something about the sexy way he said it had me nodding my head slowly, then I felt my face flush and I had to break eye contact with him because my pussy was pulsating with a need I hadn’t felt before and there was an ever increasing damp patch forming between my legs.

  Gibson turned on his heel and clapped his hands together. “Right that’s enough of this kind of exercise for a while. Sand bar time.” Toby fired up the engine and we powered at speed around a couple of small islands until we came to an expanse of soft white sand with crystal clear waters.

  Killing the engine, we coasted closer to the sandbar then he threw the small anchor in as everyone began to get off. Gibson jumped into the water and turned with his hands up to face me. Smiling warmly he gestured for me to jump into them. “I almost lost you once today. I’m taking no chances this time.”

  Smirking at him, I was delighted that he wanted to keep me safe. Nervous, I was wondering how I should jump down into his arms without hurting either of us. I figured I migh
t as well just launch myself and trust him to get a hold of me. Something I reflected on afterwards, because if that had been Kace I know there would have been a lot of debate about me doing that.

  The cool water was just above his thighs and as he caught me I wrapped my arms tightly around his neck, while his hands moved quickly from under my arms to under my butt cheeks to haul me up his body and get a firm hold.

  During this, his thumb went between my legs and his head snapped back, his eyes connecting with mine. Worry changed his appearance and his brow furrowed. I could tell it was an accident but I figured he might think I thought he’d done it on purpose.

  “Sorry.” Strange seeing how awkward he looked when that happened because the Gibson who had been at Beltz Bar would have been delighted that he’d copped a feel of me. I tried to ignore it but I couldn’t ignore when he slowly changed one hand up my back again and pulled me even closer before sliding me down his front.

  Sliding past his hips, there was no mistaking how Gibson was feeling about holding me close to him. Fortunately it was easier for me to hide what I had been feeling. The sensation when his thumb skimmed my seam between my legs was incredible.

  Just one swift movement with that thumb but it just about set me alight. Immediately after that I felt the way he handled my butt and there were a couple of little squeezes that he passed off as general positioning, but he didn’t fool me.

  Once he had placed me on my feet in the water, his hand snaked around my waist so that he was holding me firmly against him. Glancing up at him, his eyes were already on mine and a slow smile tugged at the edge of his lips. “Not a very dignified exit from the boat there, Chloe. You and boats definitely have issues, you do know that right?”

  Gibson kissed the top of my head and said, “Luckily for you I like you so I’ll just have to go on being your hero for the rest of the day since we’ve got to go back on the boat again later.” Smirking with a glint in his eye, he took my hand and led me out of the water and on to the soft sand.