by Linda Turner
“I know,” he said huskily. “The furnace seems to have gone out, but I’ve got a fire going in the fireplace. It should warm up here in a moment.”
Even as he spoke, the heat from the fireplace began to take some of the chill out of the room, giving him the excuse he needed to release her immediately. But just then she suddenly noticed how close they were. She stiffened, awareness flaring in her eyes as they locked with his. “I’m sorry. I’m crowding you. This mattress is so soft—”
She started to pull away, and if he’d been thinking clearly, he’d have let her go. But his defenses were down and she was so soft against him. He wanted her, heaven help him, and right or wrong, he couldn’t bring himself to let her go. Not yet.
“It’s okay,” he rasped softly, tightening his arms around her ever so slightly. “It’s still pretty cool in here. We should share our body heat.”
The fire was warming the room now, and they both knew it. Her eyes wary, she arched a brow at him. “It feels quite nice in here, actually,” she replied. “If you’re still cold, maybe you’re coming down with something.”
The only thing he was coming down with was a bad case of desire for her, but he didn’t tell her that. That was something he was still trying to deal with himself. “I’m fine,” he assured her huskily. “Just stay.”
She shouldn’t have. His arms felt too good around her, his lean, hard body too tempting next to hers. And snuggled together under a cocoon of covers, with a blizzard raging outside the windows of their suite, it was all too easy to imagine that they were the only two people in the world. There was no past, no future, nothing but the never-ending darkness of the night and each other and the feelings they stirred in each other.
Temptation slipped up on her unannounced and set alarm bells clanging in her head, but she could no more pull away from him at that moment than he could apparently bring himself to release her. Still, she had to offer a token protest. “Gavin, this isn’t smart.”
“You know it’s what you want,” he rasped softly. “It’s what we both want.”
She hesitated—and gave herself away. Murmuring her name, he leaned over and kissed her, and she was helpless to stop him. Just that easily, the need he stirred in her so effortlessly was back, impossible to ignore, even more impossible to resist. With a soundless sigh of surrender, she melted against him and gave herself up to the magic of his kiss.
He groaned, and in the time it took to gather her against him, they were both lost to everything but each other. One kiss led to another, then another, and Summer ached for more. Moving against him, she needed something she couldn’t put a name to, and somehow he seemed to know. His hands snaked under the cranberry-colored angora sweater she wore, and with an expertise that robbed her of breath, he blindly unhooked her bra. Her breasts spilled into his strong, warm hands, and she cried out in surprise at the gentle wonder of his touch.
“Easy,” he murmured against her mouth as his fingers gently stroked and kneaded and caressed. “It’s all right, sweetheart. Just let me take care of everything.”
His mouth covered hers in a languid kiss that seemed to go on and on even as his fingers tenderly played with her breasts, and she could only moan and kiss him back. And all the while, deep inside, the restless ache that had lodged low in her belly tightened like a fist.
She wouldn’t have considered herself a bold or demanding woman, but a need she had no experience with was driving her and suddenly she seemed to have no more control over her hands than she did the storm raging outside the inn. She needed to touch him—all of him—now! Her hands raced over him, fumbling with the buttons of his shirt, the fastening of his slacks, tearing wildly at his clothes. Her fingers were far from steady, however, and she could only manage a button or two.
More frustrated than she’d ever been in her life, she felt a sob well up in her throat, but then his hands were there to help her, not only with his clothes, but hers, as well. Buttons parted from button holes, zippers growled low in the night, and with an ease that stole her breath, he stripped them both. Then, before she quite knew what to expect, they were skin to skin.
Suddenly shy, she went perfectly still in his arms, not quite sure of herself in these new, uncharted waters. But then, he touched her. His hands moved over her in a slow dance of seduction, stroking her breast, the curve of her hip, the soft skin of her belly, and the breath she hadn’t even realized she was holding escaped in a shuddering sigh of pleasure. She reached for him, her hands unconsciously following his example as she learned the angles and planes of his lean, hard body.
She’d thought he was a man with iron-clad control, but it didn’t take her long to discover that she could snap that tight hold he kept on his emotions with just a touch. Her fingers only had to trail down his chest, and with a low growl, he quite simply lost it.
Before she could do anything but gasp, he rolled her onto her back and in the next instant was moving over her, caressing her, loving her with his hands and mouth and driving her out of her mind with need. Her senses throbbing and her thoughts reeling, she clung to him helplessly, her body moving with his in a dance she would have sworn she didn’t know the steps to.
At that moment the world could have stopped revolving on its axis and she never would have noticed. Lost in the wonder of his touch, there was just Gavin and the wild magic of his loving. She couldn’t think, couldn’t catch her breath to tell him that they needed to take it slower. Then, just when she thought she knew what to expect next, he surged into her, stretching her, filling her, and she cried out in a mixture of pleasure and pain.
At her first cry, Gavin froze, disbelief nearly knocking him back on his heels. She was a virgin? How? She was nearly thirty years old! He’d known she didn’t date much—in a town the size of Whitehorn, it was impossible not to keep track of what other people were doing—but he’d never thought, never expected…
She’d been a virgin, and he’d just taken her like an animal.
Self-disgust filled him, along with regret. She’d given him so much—her trust, her support, not to mention the respect that went hand in hand with her family name—and now she’d given him her virginity without any expectations of getting anything back in return, not even tenderness.
Riddled with guilt, he said hoarsely, “I’m sorry, Summer. I didn’t know.”
“It’s okay,” she whispered tearfully. “There was no way you could know. I should have told you. I just didn’t expect—”
She couldn’t finish, and with a murmur, he leaned down and kissed her gently. “Let me make it better.”
He didn’t give her a chance to argue, but simply kissed her once, then again, soothing her with slow, languid kisses that were soft and tender and seductive. When she hesitantly kissed him back, he felt as if she’d just handed him the moon and the stars. Wrapping her close and holding her as if he would never let her go, he covered her mouth with his and took the kiss deeper, then deeper still.
This time he was determined to not rush her. Keeping a tight rein on his control, he let her set the pace, waiting until she moaned and lifted her hips to his before he moved ever so gently inside her. He half expected her to cry out in pain, but she clung to him and kissed him with a sweet hunger that nearly destroyed him. The whimper that vibrated low in her throat was from need, not pain.
He’d thought he was a man who was ruled by logic, not emotion, and for her sake, he needed to take things slow this first time they made love. But when her mouth turned eager under his and her hips caught his rhythm, he discovered, to his surprise, that he had very little resistance when it came to Summer. With a groan that seemed to come from his very soul, he could no more hold back his desire for her than he could stop the snow from falling out of the night sky.
Madness. What happened after that could only be described as sweet, sweet madness. Intoxicated by the feel and taste of her, he drove her wild with his hands and mouth, until her soft, panting cries swirled about them in the warmth of the dark sile
nce that enveloped them. Then when she was shuddering and crying out for release, he took her over the edge.
Still hard with need, he felt his own body catch fire when she shattered. Groaning, he clenched his teeth and tried to hang on, wanting to draw out the pleasure, but he was fighting a battle he couldn’t win. Not when he wanted her so badly. Deep inside, what was left of his control started to unravel, and he was helpless to stop it. Her name a harsh cry in the night, he followed her over the edge.
Summer never remembered falling asleep. One second she was wrapped in Gavin’s arms, her body still humming from the wonder of making love for the first time in her life, and the next the sun was shining full in her face. Coming awake slowly, she rolled over, buried her face in her pillow, and started to drift back to sleep—only to realize she was naked under the covers.
Memories came rushing back then and hit her in the face like a bucket of cold water. Gasping, she bolted upright in bed, the covers grasped to her bare breasts and her heart pounding crazily. She looked quickly around for Gavin, a blush already stealing into her cheeks, but she was alone. If she hadn’t known better, she might have thought he’d never been there at all. Then she noticed he’d neatly folded her clothes before he’d left and laid them on the end of the bed, along with a note.
Snatching it up, she read it quickly and learned he’d gone to the dining room to scrounge up something for them for breakfast. He’d thoughtfully noted the time he’d left, and a quick calculation had her reaching frantically for her clothes. He’d be back any second, and she didn’t intend to be sitting naked in the bed.
Scrambling into her clothes, she’d just zipped her slacks and pulled her sweater over her head when there was a quiet knock at the bedroom door and Gavin walked in. The second their eyes met across the length of the room, every touch, every kiss they’d shared during the night was suddenly there between them.
Flustered, Summer ran a hand through her disheveled hair and tried to remember what she’d been doing when he’d walked in. Then she noticed her shoes sitting on the floor next to the fireplace and realized that if he’d arrived five seconds earlier, he would have walked in on her half naked. Just thinking about that stole the air right out of her lungs.
He made love to you last night, ninny. He wouldn’t have seen anything that he hadn’t seen before.
Realizing how silly she was being, she had to laugh at herself. So she wasn’t thinking straight. Who could blame her? She’d had the most incredible experience of her life last night, and her emotions were still bubbling up inside her like a fountain. She wanted to laugh and cry and walk right into his arms. But most of all, she wanted to talk about it, about them, to tell him everything she was feeling and know that he understood what she meant because he felt the same way.
But when a smile she couldn’t control bloomed on her face and she stepped toward him, he didn’t give her an answering smile. Hesitating, she said, “Good morning. Is everything okay?”
His expression grim and his manner cool and distant, he nodded. “The snow stopped about five this morning, and the plows have been at work ever since. The highway department opened the pass about a half hour ago, so we can head for home whenever you’re ready.”
He didn’t slap her, but he might as well have. Stunned, Summer felt her smile fall and could do nothing to hide her hurt. Last night, she’d shared an intimacy with him she hadn’t even come close to sharing with another man, and this morning, all he could talk about was the weather? Who was this man? Had she imagined the tenderness of his touch in the dark of the night? Had it all been just a dream? Or was he already regretting it and trying to forget it happened?
She wanted, needed to ask, but his face was set and closed and didn’t encourage further intimacy. Hurt, not sure if she’d ever be the same again, Summer just barely resisted the need to hug herself. No, she wouldn’t give herself away that way. If he wanted to act as if nothing had happened between them, then she certainly could, too. Even if she did feel as if he’d just ripped her heart out by the roots.
“I just need to put on my shoes and comb my hair and then we can go,” she said stiffly, and turned toward the bathroom. “Just give me a second.”
Gavin watched the proud way she walked away from him and wanted to throw something. She was hurting, and he was the one who’d hurt her, damn it! But last night never should have happened. They had a business arrangement, nothing more, and that hadn’t changed just because the charges against him had been dropped. Granted, they were two consenting adults and they could have sex if that was what they both wanted, but they’d shared a lot more than sex last night. He’d let her get too close, and he couldn’t let it happen again. Not if they were both going to walk away from their marriage at the end of a year with their hearts still intact.
So he let her go without offering any kind of explanation and wouldn’t have blamed her if she hated his guts. But some things were for the best, even when they hurt like hell.
The drive back to Whitehorn was accomplished in virtual silence. Summer wanted to ask what was wrong, but the set of Gavin’s jaw didn’t encourage conversation and she didn’t really need an explanation, anyway. He obviously regretted ever touching her. Well, he didn’t have to worry, she thought with a sniff, staring blindly out the passenger window. It wouldn’t happen again.
She was so miserable, all she wanted to do was to go off to cry by herself when they got back to the house, but Gavin didn’t head directly home when they drove into town. Instead, he turned north. Not surprised, Summer didn’t have to ask where they were going. Now that his name had been cleared, he would, of course, want his daughter back. Summer just hoped Rachel Henderson had meant it when she’d told him she wasn’t his enemy. If she bucked him on this, she was in for the fight of her life, and Summer couldn’t think of anything sadder. No one won in a custody battle, least of all the child.
Reading her mind, he broke the silence and said gruffly, “I’ll do whatever I have to to get my daughter back. You know that, don’t you?”
She nodded. “I’d be disappointed in you if you didn’t,” she replied. “But I don’t think it’s going to come to that. Rachel and Jack know Alyssa belongs with you. They’ll do the right thing.”
He wanted to believe her, but after all the hell he’d been through over the course of the past year, his faith in the basic goodness of people wasn’t what it had once been. He doubted that he’d ever trust anyone ever again to do the right thing.
Still, he was willing to be proven wrong. “I hope so,” he said as they reached Rachel and Jack’s and he parked at the curb. “I guess we’ll know in a few seconds.”
Ready for a fight, he escorted Summer to the Hendersons’s front door and knocked boldly. He didn’t doubt for a second that Rachel and Jack were expecting him—the second they’d heard that Audra Westwood had confessed to Christina’s murder, they had to know he would come for Alyssa—but the welcome he and Summer got when Jack opened the door to them was nothing like what he’d expected.
The past few months, Gavin had thought he’d come to know Jack fairly well. Honest and hardworking, he’d spent years working the streets of L.A. as a cop, and it showed in his face. When he smiled, there was usually a cynical edge to it, and despite his happy marriage to Rachel, there was still a trace of disillusionment in his hazel-green eyes that came from dealing with the dregs of society on a daily basis.
Or at least there always had been in the past, Gavin corrected himself when the other man smiled broadly at the sight of him. He looked so damn happy that he almost looked drunk. Then it hit Gavin. “Rachel had the baby.”
“Yeah! Can you believe it? I’ve got a daughter and she’s beautiful. Just like her mother. Would you like to see her?”
“Oh, Jack, that’s wonderful!” Summer said, stepping forward to impulsively hug him. “Of course we’d like to see her. And Rachel, too. When did all this happen? We’ve been kind of busy…”
“Yeah, we heard about Micky
Culver turning Audra in,” he replied. “That was too damn close. Congratulations, man,” he said to Gavin, and held out his hand. “Rachel and I didn’t believe you were capable of such a thing. If we had, we would have done everything we could to keep you away from Alyssa.”
Instead, they had welcomed him into their home every time he had come to visit his daughter, and for that, Gavin would always be grateful. “I know that,” he said gruffly, “and I appreciate it. I’m sure just about everyone you know warned you against me.”
He didn’t deny it. “We’ve never had much use for gossip.”
“So when did Rachel have the baby?” Summer asked, changing the subject before it became awkward. “I thought she wasn’t due for another couple of weeks.”
“So did we, but the baby decided she’d waited long enough and put in an appearance three nights ago. She and Rachel just got home from the hospital this morning.” Motioning them to follow him, he said, “Come on back to the family room. Rachel’s there with the kids.”
Considering that Rachel had only been home from the hospital a matter of hours, Summer realized they should have made their apologies and gotten out of there so the new mother could catch up on her rest. But this wasn’t a social visit—they were there to collect Alyssa. Considering the circumstances, this probably wasn’t the best time to do that, though Summer doubted that there would be a time that would be easy for any of them.
So she and Gavin followed Jack to the family room at the back of the house, where they found Alyssa sitting in Rachel’s lap on the couch and talking about the baby, who was asleep in a portable crib next to the couch. At the first sight of Gavin, Alyssa grinned and pointed to the crib, talking excitedly, and the only word that was understandable was “Baby!”
Chuckling, Gavin strode over to her and picked her up, nuzzling her neck as they both peered down at that baby. “I know,” he said. “You’ve got a new cousin. Isn’t she pretty?” Looking over her head, he smiled at Rachel. “And how’s the new momma feeling?”