Lovell, Cooper - Tessa's Highlander (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Cooper Lovell

  “Nope. You can do me another time.” He waggled his eyebrows up and down suggestively to accentuate his point. She rolled her eyes at him, turned, and leaned back against his chest. They sipped their wine, trailed their fingers over one another’s skin, languishing in each other’s company, verbal communication completely unnecessary.

  Glasses emptied, water temperature dropped to lukewarm, Gavan extracted himself from behind Tessa and climbed out of the tub. Opening the small closet door, he found he’d guessed right and pulled out two big, fluffy bath towels. He quickly dried himself with one, then held the other up for Tessa to stand and be wrapped in it. He helped her out of the tub and she stood her on the thick bath mat as he dried her with soft pats from head to toe. Seeing her robe on a hook near the shower, he grabbed it and held it out for her to slip into. Once belted, he picked her up and carried her back to the vanity and sat her on the stool, facing the mirror this time.

  * * * *

  Confused, Tessa said, “What are we doing?”

  Gavan didn’t answer her, but reached for her brush.

  He held her hair in his hands while he brushed through the ends so that any tangles he encountered wouldn’t pull. After working through that he began to brush with long strokes from her scalp to the ends. Tessa wanted to close her eyes and relish in the feeling of someone brushing her hair so lovingly, but the image in the mirror of his naked torso, thighs, and arms, muscles flexing and rippling with every movement, made this act so sensuous, so erotic that she was nearly mesmerized. The twitch she felt in her pussy surprised her. She’d been certain that that part of her had shut down for the night. But the throbbing between her legs was undeniable and wetness was slipping from her, dampening the seat of her robe. Shifting a little, she squeezed her thighs together and a jolt ran to her clit. She continued to watch him pulling the brush through her hair with long strokes, his other hand following the brush, smoothing it. His brown-pink nipples were like little BBs. He moved to the left a little and she saw that he was hard again. She swallowed audibly. His body was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. Every part of him was worthy of worship. The sight of his flexing muscles combined with his big, beautiful cock, erect again, while he cared for her so tenderly, stirred the beginnings of another orgasm.

  Modesty long gone, she slid her hand across her leg, into the opening of her robe. Resting it on her lower abdomen, she lightly stroked only her pinky finger across her swollen, aching clit. The immediate, intense reaction told her that it wouldn’t take much to reach climax. She wiggled her pinky and brushed over her button again and drew in a quick breath. Two more flicks and the rumbling began in her thighs. Her eyes were fast upon the side of Gavan’s strong, tan thigh, the curve of his tight ass, and his dick, hard and pointing at the ceiling. Before she could stroke her little finger across her throbbing bud one more time, Gavan’s hand slid into the robe next to hers. His finger swiped lightly across her clit and she came, shuddering. She leaned back into him and she felt his hard cock pressing against her shoulder as he leaned over her, his hand holding her mound lightly, soothing her down from yet another orgasm.

  Bending her neck back, she looked up at him and smiled. He leaned in and kissed her, his lips lingering on hers for a moment before he pulled back.

  “Aye, you had one more in you, dinna you?”

  She nodded, her soft gray eyes sleepy. “Mmm hmm.”

  Suddenly aware of the hardness pressing into her shoulder, she looked at him. “Oh, Gavan.”

  He shook his head. “Is’na worry. Seeing you like that got me excited. It’ll go down. Believe me, love, I am a more than satisfied man.”

  She blinked. “You’re sure?”

  Standing her up, he took both of her hands in his, raised them to his mouth, and kissed her palms.

  “I’m verra, verra sure. Now let’s go tae bed.”

  He picked her up, carried her to the big, fluffy bed, and climbed in. With a click, he turned on the ornate corner fireplace, removed Tessa’s robe, and wrapped his arms around her to pull her body against his.

  Completely spent, they slept like spoons without moving all night.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Tessa woke up, a smile already plastered on her face. Gavan’s arms were still wrapped tightly around her, her back against his chest. His breath was warm on her shoulder and she relished the feeling. She turned her body to his and nuzzled her face into his chest, tickling her nose against the crisp hair that dusted his golden skin. Just as she was about to lose herself in deliciously fuzzy sleep in the strong arms of her man, it occurred to her that it was Sunday.

  Oh crap! she thought, snapping her eyes open. Alex! He’s home now He’ll be over this morning, just like every Sunday. Carefully, she untangled herself from Gavan’s grasp and slid out of bed. She winced as every muscle in her body screamed in sweet agony, but with effort, she found she was capable of walking. She silently padded around the room, pulling what she needed from various drawers, and went into the bathroom to shower. A glance at the clock on her way in told her she could afford to linger under the hot water for few extra minutes in order to soothe her muscles.

  Pulling on low-rise yoga pants and a T-shirt, she happily noted that the shower had helped with some of the stiffness she’d felt in her body. Just to be sure, she swallowed some ibuprofen to help the cause. At the vanity, she dragged the brush through her hair and she thought of Gavan brushing her hair for her last night. The butterflies clocked in right on time and went to work with enthusiasm and vigor. She shook her head and stuck out her tongue at the idiotic grin on the image looking back at her in the mirror. She gave up, as usual, on trying to tame her hair, brushed her teeth, and opened the bathroom door.

  Slippers in hand, she tiptoed across the room. She heard Gavan snore softly and slipped out the door to go downstairs.

  In the kitchen, she clicked on the fireplace and readied a pot of coffee. Once it was brewing, she set the breakfast table. She was on her way from the fridge with cream when Alex, box of pastries tucked under his arm, sauntered in. He looked her up and down as she stiffly moved to the table, making a squinty face as he appraised her.

  “Oh my God, girl. You got laid!”

  Blushing, she spun around. “What?”

  Alex waved his finger up and down the length of her body. “Look at you. You can barely walk. You’re moving like you’re carrying a log between your thighs.”

  Tessa was about to deny it when Alex grabbed her hand, his eyes bugging.

  “Wait! That’s it, isn’t it? You did have a log between your thighs. You had that big, gorgeous man between your thighs, didn’t you?”

  Tessa could only smile, despite her friend’s vulgarity. After all, she was in love and part of her wanted to let everybody know about it.

  Alex smiled at her. “Oh, baby love, he moved you, didn’t he? You are positively radiant.”

  He took the cream from her and picked up the sugar on his way to the breakfast nook. “Grab that coffeepot. We’ve got some talking to do.”

  Seated in their usual chairs, Alex put his mug down after taking his first sip and said, “Okay, I can see that this isn’t one of those ‘give me all the details’ times, but you absolutely must give me my Five Questions.”

  Tessa nodded. “Okay, but one-word answers only.”

  Alex said, “Fair enough,” and started to think about his five very important questions.

  Five Questions had always been the way that Alex and Tessa treated life events that they wanted to let each other in on, but somehow full disclosure seemed too personal or new. Five Questions worked whenever Alex had a new lover, when Tessa had boyfriends in college, and when Tessa finally submitted her first manuscript to a publisher but didn’t want to jinx things by talking about it. It even helped in times of tragedy when words failed.

  After several minutes, Alex said, “Okay, you ready?”

  Tessa nodded.

  “First question. When was the first time you did it?”<
br />
  Without having to think, Tessa said, “Two nights ago. I know that’s not really a one word answer, but I think that’s okay.”

  He mulled over her answer then leaned in. “Second question. Do you still think relationships are a load of crap?”

  She really didn’t want to hear his “I told you so,” but she had to be honest. “Nope.”

  He thought for a moment. “Third question. Should I make nice with him?”

  It seemed like a light question but it, in fact, held great importance.

  “Definitely.”

  The look of shock on Alex’s face made Tessa laugh.

  “Okay, girlie. Number four.”

  Knowing that question four was generally where Alex either started to get ridiculous or remained serious, Tessa braced herself.

  A mischievous expression appeared on Alex’s face. “Now this is completely for my own future entertainment. How big is he?”

  She felt her face go scarlet. So, he was taking the left turn instead of the right. But, she had no choice. Her one-word answer was “Big.”

  Alex ran his hand down the front of his face. “Man, why do all the good ones have to be straight? Please tell me he has a brother somewhere who’s not.”

  Tessa beamed as she took a sip of coffee. Alex was leaning in for his fifth and final question when they heard Gavan coming down the stairs.

  They both turned to watch him. Fresh from the shower, his hair was wet and tousled, a few chocolate curls clinging to his face. He wore only his jeans, top button still undone, an A-1 sexy look in Tessa’s book. Barefoot, he carried his boots and socks. Tessa’s hard-working butterflies concluded their well-earned break when the reason he was bare-chested occurred to her, because his shirt still lay in a puddle on the floor of the library.

  Alex reached over, squeezed her hand, and leaned in to press his forehead to hers affectionately. “Tessa, he is glorious.”

  * * * *

  “Tessa, honey, I kin’na believe you left me alone. I was looking forward tae a nice lo—”

  Gavan stopped in his tracks when his gaze landed on Tessa, his Tessa, sitting in her breakfast nook with the smarmy lover-boy she had been with last week looking very cozy.

  Even worse, the bastard was touching her.

  He dropped his boots to the floor and sat on one of the lower stairs to slip into them without putting on his socks. A million thoughts bombarded him. The loudest thought, though, was the one that shouted at him, You are a jackass for believing pillow talk.

  When he stood, Tessa came to him and wrapped her arms around his waist.

  “Good morning. I didn’t want to wake you.” She leaned in and kissed his chest, swiping her tongue on his bare skin, and added in a sultry voice, “Thought you might need some rest after last night, so I snuck out.” She craned her neck in obvious anticipation of his kiss, but he denied her. Instead, he gripped her arms and pushed her from him.

  * * * *

  Confused and a bit hurt, she stuttered, “Wha…w:what are you doing?”

  His eyes were icy and his jaw was clenched. “I have tae go. I’ll be in tomorra tae get back tae work.”

  This couldn’t be happening. What happened to the man who took her to the brink of ecstasy with such ease, who tenderly cared for her when she ached from his loving, who held her so tightly while they slept, who looked directly into her eyes and told her he loved her?

  “Gavan, why would you leave? I don’t want you to leave. What’s going on?”

  He closed his eyes and pushed his hand through his damp hair, an expression of extreme anguish on his face.

  To Tessa, the silence went on for an eternity. When he looked at her again, his eyes were fiery with anger.

  “What’s going on is I will’na be made a fool of and I will’na share you with another man. I din’na know you’d be entertaining this morning or I would have cleared out of here last night.”

  Pain and then anger surged through her. “What the hell are you talking about? You’re not sharing me with anybody. And I’m not entertaining. It’s just Alex.”

  From behind her she heard, “Geez, thanks, T.”

  Without turning in his direction, but waving a dismissive hand at him she said, “Not now, Alex.”

  He put his hands up in apology.

  Gavan headed toward the foyer. She ran to him and grabbed his arm. He spun on her. “Oh, he’s just Alex. Oh, you’ve known him forever. Jesus, Tessa, doona you know how beautiful you are? That no man is going tae just want tae be friends with you? I doona care how long you’ve known each other.”

  Once again, from behind her, Tessa heard Alex, “Oh good Lord. That burr is like liquid heat.”

  Tessa’s lips thinned at his unsolicited comment and without turning so as to maintain Gavan’s gaze, she called to Alex, “Could you please come over here?”

  As he approached, she said to Gavan, “You couldn’t be more wrong about this. You’re getting your boxer-briefs all in a twist for nothing.”

  He shook his head at her, eyes still alight with fury, a muscle twitching a rapid beat in his clenched jaw.

  Alex arrived at Tessa’s side, snaked his arm around her waist, and said, “What can I do for you, honey?”

  She saw rage flash in Gavan’s eyes at the endearment and intimate contact that she just knew too-smart-ass-to-know-what’s-good-for-him Alex threw in there on purpose, and for a moment, she feared for Alex’s safety. Thinking it was better not to delay this any longer, she turned to Alex. “Will you please tell Gavan what you said to me about him while we were at the table? You know, right after you asked me your fourth question.”

  Normally, Tessa would never expect Alex to thrust his sexual orientation in someone’s face because it wasn’t how she defined him or their friendship. She knew he would recognize that asking him to do it now meant this was something that was incredibly important to her. Alex was completely out and utterly open and he was never shy about his pride. It wasn’t a problem for him at all. In fact, it was probably less of a problem for him than it was for her to even make this request.

  He took a deep breath, looked at Gavan, and said, “Well, if I recall correctly it was something like, ‘Why are all the good men straight and please tell me he has a brother who isn’t.’ Or did you mean when he was coming down the steps and I said he was glorious?”

  Gavan’s mouth dropped open and confusion filled his eyes. Tessa, arms crossed over her chest, shifted her weight from one foot to the other, hoping that Gavan would be able to accept this and not walk out on her. Without realizing it, she held her breath. She was about to implore him to believe there was no reason to be concerned over her friendship with Alex when he smiled. A wide, beautiful, perfectly devastating smile. He thrust his hand out to Alex and when Alex grasped it with his own, Gavan pulled him into a full bear hug, lifting him right off the floor.

  “Alex, it’s great tae meet you, man!”

  He released an obviously shaken Alex from his embrace. At first, relief filled Tessa, but at second thought, she bristled at the fact that she had to produce a bona fide gay man in order to placate his jealousy when he could have simply chosen to listen to and believe her.

  Gavan grabbed her chin between his thumb and forefinger and tilted her head up to receive his kiss. Quickly, she stepped back to avoid it.

  Tessa could have clobbered him when he said, “Honey, I’m sorry. If you would have tol’ me, I’d have understood.”

  Now she was seriously pissed. Behind her, Alex groaned loudly. She flicked her hand at him, a signal to shut up.

  “Oh, so if I would have just told you that Alex was gay, you wouldn’t have acted like such an ape?”

  Gavan squirmed a bit. “Well, I wouldna’ had tae worry if I’d known he had no interest in you.”

  Tessa’s eyes narrowed.

  “Ah-huh. So what you’re saying is that whenever I tell you about a friend of mine, I should divulge some aspect of their private sex life to you, is that it? Like, if I ta
lk about Jaime, I should preface it with the fact that he lost his virginity to a forty-year-old woman when he was fifteen?”

  Behind her, Alex gasped, “No way!”

  Tessa turned her head. “Not now, Alex!” Then she looked back at Gavan. “Was I supposed to say, ‘Oh, by the way, this is Alex, Queen of Center City’?”

  Once again, Alex chimed in from the background, “Have you seen my tiara, honey? I seem to have misplaced it.”

  She whirled around and glared at him. “Alex! I’m going to choke you! Can you ever resist an opening?”

  She turned back around and Gavan was reaching for her.

  “Please, I’m sorry. You’re absolutely right.” Looking up, he said, “Alex, I hope there are no hard feelings.”

  He shook his head. “No problems here, Gavan. Tessa, I’m just going to slip into the powder room, see a man about a snake.”

  Tessa rolled her eyes and sighed. He did pick the worst times to be ridiculous.

  As he passed by Gavan, he leaned in and said, “Got your hands full with this one, don’t you, big boy?”

  Gavan nodded solemnly. “Aye. Best handful I’ve ever had, though.”

  * * * *

  Once alone, Gavan drew Tessa into his arms. At first, she resisted, her body stiff as a board.

  He tickled his fingers up and down her back, shamelessly exploiting the fact that he knew she loved being tickled and stroked, and kissed the top of her head, murmuring into her hair, “I’m so sorry. All I saw was his hands on you, the two of you sharing secrets. If I’d taken two minutes tae see the two of you interact, I’d have seen a true friendship. You two are great together. I kind of like seeing somebody push your buttons like that.”

  He delivered another kiss to the top of her head, letting his lips linger, breathing in her lavender fragrance.

  “This is so right, so fast. I love you. But I have to tell you that I’m scared as hell so it’s possible I might get a wee unreasonable occasionally until I’ve convinced myself you’re real,” he said quietly into her hair.