“Yes.” She clung to him, her legs intertwined with his, their bodies glued together over their inconvenient clothing. “Let’s not overthink this. Let’s do it.”
“Sounds good to me,” he said, his voice gruff. He cuffed her under the armpits and plopped her butt onto the countertop. She kicked off her shoes and wrestled out of her jacket, so excited—almost too excited. His deep chuckle echoed around them and she stilled.
“Am I...doing something wrong?”
“You couldn’t possibly do anything wrong.” His smile faded as he reached for her coat. “Let me, okay? I’ve been wanting to unwrap you for a while now.”
“Okay,” she agreed on a breath.
He moved her jacket off her shoulders and she pulled her arms free. Then he fingered the buttons of her blouse, undoing the top two and kissing her neck. She tilted her head to give him better access. He took liberal advantage, kissing along her collarbone and undoing another button. “Still okay?” he mumbled before sliding his tongue into the space between her breasts.
“Uh-huh,” she breathed, clutching the back of his head.
She felt his smile and the warm exhale of his breath against her skin when he said, “Good.”
He tugged her shirt open and she wrapped her legs at the backs of his thighs and squeezed. His gray-blue eyes didn’t move from hers when he unbuckled the slim belt around her waist. They didn’t stray when he unbuttoned and unzipped her, or when she lifted her legs and allowed him to take off her jeans.
When she was down to her bra and panties his gaze wandered over her body. She arched her back and hoped he liked what he saw. Holding her breath, she waited for his reaction. It was a good one.
His nostrils flared, his palm smoothing along her side and up and over one of her breasts. “My God, you’re more beautiful than I imagined.”
“You imagined?” She reached for the hem of his shirt, tickling his heated skin with her fingertips.
“Honey, you have no idea.” He pressed his mouth to hers but she pulled away, tugging at his shirt impatiently.
“I want to see you.”
He granted her wish, undoing the buttons on his shirt one by one. As his shirt parted, she was rewarded with muscular pecs and a whirl of dark chest hair. She spread her hands over his heated skin and moaned her approval.
“Like what you see?”
“So much.”
“Your turn.” He tossed his shirt over his shoulder and reached for her bra, unhooking it and slipping it from her arms. He backed away and admired her breasts before teasing her nipples between his fingers and thumbs. Her skin puckered in the cooler air of the room, as her breaths reduced to harsh exhales of desire.
When he laid his tongue on her skin, she nearly shot off the countertop.
“Relax,” he breathed over her damp skin. “I’m in no hurry. I’m not going anywhere. And if you want me to stop—”
She fisted his hair and brought his head up. “Don’t you dare.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He gave her a knee-weakening grin before laving her with his tongue. Long, wet strokes that had her squirming where she sat.
“Now, Gav. Now, now.” She’d have been embarrassed to beg before, but she couldn’t make herself care now. It’d been far too long since she’d had sex, and she could already tell sex with him was going to be really, really great.
“All right, all right,” he said, a smile in his voice. He yanked off his pants and then rolled her underwear down, tossing them to the floor with the rest of their clothes. The backdrop of the shiny, pristine kitchen was beautiful, but not as beautiful as the man between her legs.
His hands wrapped around her ass, he scooted her to the edge of the countertop and dived into her mouth tongue-first. When he kissed her neck, she stole a peek at his penis—erect and long, thick and damn mouthwatering. She couldn’t think of anything except what he’d feel like moving inside her. Like every fantasy she’d had come true, she imagined. Mere inches away from that happening, he stopped and blew out what sounded like a tortured breath.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, prepared to remind him that he promised not to go anywhere.
“Condom. Hals.” He blinked hard. She loved that he’d been as lost in her as she’d been in him. “I need to sheath up, sweetheart.”
Fingers in his hair, she tugged gently. “You do?”
His laugh was pure anguish. “Yeah, honey. I do.”
“I’m on the pill.” She dug her heels into his butt and pulled him against her center. “Do you ever have unprotected sex?”
“Never. It’s against my rules.” Half his mouth shifted into a smile. “You?”
“I haven’t, ah, been in the game for a while, but I have been on birth control pills since I was a teen.” For irregular periods that were as far from clockwork as imaginable, but she kept the unsexy detail to herself. “And I never have unprotected sex. Can we count this as a rule to break? Sounds like we can do it safely.”
She wasn’t sure what the future held for her and Gavin, but if this was the only chance she had to be with him, she’d gladly forgo a layer of latex between them.
“Skin to skin.” He rubbed his bare chest against hers. “Is that what you want?”
“If that’s not too selfish.” She turned her eyes to his, pleased when his squinted into a smile.
“Not selfish. I want you the same way.” He cupped her cheek and delivered a soft kiss to her mouth. “You trust me?”
“Yes.”
“Good.” The word was practically his motto. He brushed her entrance with the tip of his cock. She gasped, gripping his shoulders and tipping her hips toward his advancing body. He blew out a harsh breath, his eyes dark and molten. “Damn, Hals. That’s better than good.”
“So much better,” she agreed.
He slid deeper, his breath turning ragged. His eyes slipped closed, but she kept hers open, not wanting to miss a single moment. When he dragged out and entered her again, though, her eyes sank shut on their own. He thrust again and again, taking her against the hard countertop. He flattened his hands on her back and brought her body to his, lowering his head to suckle her nipples. Her mind blanked when he nipped her neck, and when he nibbled her earlobe, tremors shook her legs.
“Close?” he breathed, moving frantically with her.
“So close.” Her skin caught fire when he lifted her hips and sped up the pace. Within seconds she shouted his name, clutched and came. “You, you,” she murmured as her orgasm shimmered through her.
“Right here. Almost,” he breathed against her lips.
Her limbs buzzed and her mind blanked as his slick skin slipped along hers. A sheen of sweat decorated his brow as he worked. She shifted her hips, which had the added bonus of him landing deeper. She’d done that for him, but her body greedily took another orgasm. When she let go this time, he went with her. His arms tightened around her before his muscles loosened, and he hissed between his teeth.
The upper half of his body collapsed on hers, his exhalations warm on her throat. She stroked his hair away from his temple. When a full-body shudder overtook him, she committed that to memory, as well.
He kissed her collarbone and her neck before lifting his head. Long lashes shadowed his cheeks, and his full mouth parted to suck in a desperate breath of oxygen. He looked a little lost and a lot impressed when he murmured, “God damn.”
The profanity was as good as a compliment. She’d reduced this big, strong, confident man into a sated, boneless heap. How much did she love that? Of course, she could give him credit for leaving her boneless, as well. She had no idea how she’d find the energy to hop down from this counter and redress herself. Maybe she would slide into a puddle and sleep curled up on the floor instead.
“Hallie, Hallie.” He dropped his forehead onto hers. “Incredible. You sounded like you enjoyed yourself. Twice,” he
added cockily.
“Well, you’re very good,” she said, happily feeding his ego.
His grin suggested he liked having his ego stroked.
“I have a confession,” she whispered as he eased from her body.
His eyebrows lifted.
“I like dessert after sex. Ice cream if you have it.”
His grin was slow and satisfied and she thought she’d like to see that exact look on him a few more times. “Cone or bowl?”
“Bowl.”
“Whipped cream? Chocolate sauce?” His eyes moved over her naked body. “We should have started with that.”
Playing it cool—as if toe-curling sex with him hadn’t been the highlight of her year—she patted his cheek. “Maybe next time.”
Thirteen
“It was irresponsible. And stupid. And it won’t happen again.” Fingers nested in her blond hair, Hallie hunched over her speakerphone at her desk and prayed her sister wouldn’t fire her.
Photos of Hallie and Gavin had popped up on social media shortly after their impromptu make-out sesh on the boardwalk. Telling the crowd she wasn’t her sister hadn’t prevented at least one person from selling the photos to the highest bidder. The fake story—that Hannah was a cheater and Gavin was the scum of the earth—had probably broken the internet by now.
“I’m so sorry, Han.” Hallie bristled, but her sister’s reaction wasn’t the one she’d been expecting. Hannah burst out laughing. “Are you... Are you all right?”
Hannah snorted through another peal of laughter.
Oh-kay. “I assumed you’d be upset learning the world believes you’re an adulteress who is cheating on your new husband with his brother.”
“Hallie, hon,” came Hannah’s consoling, comforting voice all the way from France. “Will and I were posting online photos of our vacay at that exact moment. Our whereabouts are corroborated and time-stamped. There are several of my fans arguing in my defense—they know those photos are of you and Gavin and not me.”
“Oh. Well, that’s good news.” She’d never considered the PR nightmare could work itself out. “I love your fans.”
“Me, too.”
Hallie sighed. “For what it’s worth, I wasn’t trying to start a scandal.”
“I can see exactly what you were trying to start.” Hannah’s tone was salacious. “Are you going to indulge me with details about why you were sliding lips with Gavin Sutherland?”
In the background, Will asked, “Who is that?”
“Don’t tell him!” Hallie said at the same time Hannah happily supplied, “Hallie.”
“Hannah!”
“The whole world knows you were kissing him. Will would find out eventually. Which begs the question, why were you strolling on the boardwalk with Gavin?”
“He took me to dinner. As a thank-you. I’ve been helping him with the interior design for his new house.”
“And then last night you decided to measure the square footage of his mouth?” Hannah laughed at her own joke. Will groaned.
No way was Hallie telling her sister she’d ended up having condom-less sex with Gavin on his countertop. For one, Hallie wasn’t sure she was ready to admit it out loud and for another, she really wasn’t ready for Will to know about it.
“Don’t worry about a thing,” Hannah said when Hallie didn’t respond. “You know the public. They’re going to think what they’re going to think. Like Gram always says, we are in charge of how we react.”
“You’re right.” Hallie had conveniently forgotten the wisdom their grandmother had shared repeatedly over the years. In Hallie’s defense, whenever Gavin kissed her, she forgot everything.
“I’m always right,” Hannah said.
“Square footage of his mouth,” Hallie repeated with a smile. Her sister was pretty funny.
“When was the last time you went after what you wanted?” Hannah asked tenderly. “Maybe it’s time you allowed yourself to take a risk.”
The truth was Hallie had gone after what she’d wanted mere hours ago in Gavin’s newly christened kitchen. She ended the call, still smiling both at her sister’s reaction and her own warm memories of last night.
Hallie had mentioned a next time and he hadn’t argued. Instead, he’d made a giant ice cream sundae smothered in caramel sauce, hot fudge and whipped cream. He’d fed her bites while she sat on the same countertop where they’d had sex.
She’d never look at a bowl of ice cream the same way again.
Before Gavin, she’d convinced herself she wasn’t missing out on anything by not having a man in her life. But now that he’d been embedded deep inside her, she knew she had been missing out. And she wasn’t nearly through making sexy memories with him.
Even as she allowed the fantasy, she reminded herself to draw boundaries around what they were doing together. Not for the sake of her twin sister’s reputation, but for her own. Control was important to Hallie—yes, even while having fun. She’d simply find a way to do both.
Once her rule-breaking days were over, she could walk away, head held high, with enough sexy memories to fuel her for the rest of her days.
* * *
“Place looks good.” Gavin’s brother Cash walked from one side of the house to the other to admire the views. “You had to outdo me. One waterfront view wasn’t enough for you?”
“I wasn’t trying for one-upmanship.” Gavin handed Cash a beer. “That was a bonus.”
Since he’d moved out of his parents’ house, Gavin had lived in one apartment after the other. Until recently, when he’d decided to build a home. If asked years ago, he would’ve sworn he didn’t want the hassle of a house. Houses were a lot of work. A ton of responsibility. He liked the idea of renting—of someone else taking care of the inevitable problems that would come up. But lately, with neighbors above, below and on all sides of him—he’d felt boxed in.
He’d be the first to admit a house this size was too much for him. But hell, why not? He worked hard for the money he made, and he had a big extended family. At the rate his brothers were going, Will and Cash and Luke would be populating the Bay with kids in the coming years. Gavin liked the idea of hosting huge family Christmas dinners with his future nieces and nephews. He could be the fun uncle.
In the meantime, he’d settle for using every available surface area as a place to set Hallie before tearing her clothes off and blowing her mind.
“You okay?” Cash interrupted.
“Yeah, why?”
“You’re grinning like a moron. Are you reliving the kiss with Hallie Banks, or perhaps what happened after?”
Gavin should have expected that question. He and Hals hadn’t exactly made “front-page news,” but he’d seen photos of their lip-lock on at least two social media channels. She texted him this morning to assure him he didn’t have to worry. She’d evidently talked to Hannah, and neither Hannah nor Will cared what the gossip rags had to say.
“She’s the twin sister of a famous person, Gav. That comes with responsibilities.” Cash put on his big-brother voice. “There are going to be cameras around. Especially if people think she’s Hannah.”
“I don’t need a lecture.” Especially since he was nowhere near ready to share how far he and Hallie had gone last night. There were some details his family didn’t need to know.
Cash lifted his beer bottle. “I’m only trying to help.”
Even if that was true, it didn’t make his brother’s interference any less irritating. “So, what, then? I never kiss a woman in public because someone might be watching?”
“We’re not talking about any woman. We’re talking about Hallie Banks.”
“Fine. I’ll rephrase. So, I should never kiss Hallie in public because someone might be watching and assume she’s Hannah?”
“As long as it’s okay with Hallie, you can do whatever you want.”
>
And didn’t that hearken more memories of last night? She’d been amazingly receptive. Bold and inviting. He’d never forget her perched on his countertop, wearing nothing but his button-down shirt while he fed her ice cream.
“It’s more than okay with her, bro. She was the one who attacked me,” Gavin said proudly.
“Oh, is that how it happened?” Cash raised a skeptical eyebrow.
“Kind of.” Gavin had given her space to come to him, but he’d also encouraged her. He knew what he wanted—whom he wanted. When she agreed, he’d counted himself one lucky son of a bitch.
Gavin had been able to think of little else but driving into Hallie’s sweet body while she screamed his name. Then she’d mentioned a “next time.” He sure as hell hoped she’d been sincere, because he was in.
As if he’d summoned her with his mind, his cell phone pinged, her name appearing on his screen. The text read: When’s my next lesson?
He wanted to reply right now, but he had approximately three thousand things on his to-do list. Damn his overachiever tendencies. He settled for: How’s Friday?
Her one-word response came half a second later: Perfect.
Like her, he thought. Then he was jolted from his stupor when his brother smacked his arm harder than necessary to get his attention.
“Shit, brother. You’re smiling at your phone like a besotted teenager.”
“You’d know,” Gav grumbled, uncomfortable. He’d long avoided being “besotted” by anyone. Although, in Hallie’s case he’d make an exception. He’d be her sex slave any damn day of the week.
“Well, now you can fill your huge house with babies. After you get married, of course.” Cash’s grin was pure evil.
“Do not start.” Especially on the heels of a night filled with hot, sweaty sex in said huge house.
“Eh, I’m busting your balls. Each of us has our own path. You are no exception.” Cash rested a hand on Gavin’s shoulder. “No matter what you are or are not doing with Hallie Banks, make sure she knows your intentions. You don’t want her expecting something from you you’re not able to give.”
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