by Jamie Begley
Gavin’s anguished amber gaze met hers. “I’m not worth what I put Viper, the brothers, and you through.”
“No, you’re not, you’re worth so much more.” Ginny stood up and held her hand out to him. “Come dance with me.” Seeing he was going to refuse her, she sabotaged his intention. “I was asked to dance two times tonight. Third time’s a charm.” Grinning at him, she reached down to take his hand.
“Who asked you to dance?” His tiger-like eyes narrowed on her, while his hand twisted under hers and clasped it within his. He pulled her closer until her kneecaps brushed against his. “Why did you come here tonight?”
“Come dance with me, and I’ll tell you,” she cajoled him. Using her free hand, she brushed his long hair back to tuck behind his ear. “Please… for me and Leah. We’ll share the dance with her.”
Taking her hand out of his, she slipped her hands under his jacket to slide his jacket down his arms. Gavin didn’t resist as a Berlin song in the background began to play “Take My Breath Away.”
“Dance with me, Wild man.”
Holding her hand out again, she held her breath as she waited for his answer. The warm clasp of his enfolded hers as Gavin rose to his feet.
On the dance floor, Dustin and Jessie began slowly moving away to give them space. Inexperienced, Ginny mimicked the way Jessie was holding her husband. Sliding her arms over his shoulders, Ginny moved closer to Gavin leaving more space than Jessie had between she and Dustin. Using the beat of the music, Ginny started moving backing and forth.
“Why were you here?”
Ginny shook her head, “I’ll tell you after our dance. Just feel the music, Gavin. I want to remember our first dance, make it special for me … and Leah. Something we’ll always cherish, even if you don’t care for me. Just this once can we pretend you’ve never loved a woman before …. and it’s brand-new to both of us. Take my breath away, Wild man, make me forget everything but you.”
Ginny felt’s Gavin’s body loosen against hers, as he slowly moved. When his hand went up her arm, she thought he was going to pull away, instead he moved it higher until her arm circled his neck.
“Hold me like this…,” his deep voice whispered into her ear.
Dropping his hands, he went to her waist to pull her closer. Languidly he swayed them back and forth. She was self-conscious of her breasts being pressed against his chest, until the music took over, and as it always did, it drove her into the realm of make-believe that Gavin had never held another woman the way he was holding her.
Sensuously, their hips would touch, then part, then meet again with a sensuality that Ginny had never experienced. This wasn’t a boy and girl dance; it was an earthy feast of senses for a man and woman yearning for each other. Laying her head on his shoulder, she let the music carry her away emotionally, while she remained physically cognizant of the differences between his muscular body and her feminine one.
She felt her groin tingle and her nipples harden, and Ginny self-consciously started to pull back at the overwhelming feelings. Gavin’s hand slipped to the back of her hip to hold her in place. Glancing up at him, she was transfixed by the man staring down at her.
A feminine shiver had her breasts tightening in need.
Blushing at the experienced knowledge she could see lurking in his tiger-like gaze, Ginny quivered at the predatory gleam she recognized, even though she had never been on the receiving end of one before.
Realizing she was unexpectedly out of her comfort zone, Ginny tried to backpedal. As the song ended she dropped her arms.
“One more.”
Winding her arms back around his neck, Ginny held on for dear life. When the next song began playing the moody music, she wished she had never asked him to dance. She asked for a dance she would remember forever, not one that would be scorched into her soul for eternity.
Ginny had no doubts that Greer and Silas would be able to help make Gavin whole again, and she was equally sure she wouldn’t be the one who would be reaping the benefits.
How would she survive when he chose another woman to spend his future with, have children, make a home. A home she had been searching for her whole life—first with Trudy, and now with Gavin.
Another song blended in seamlessly. Gavin stepped away from her as the words sang out across the bar. “You and Silas set me up just so I would come here? Pretty convenient those love songs are playing.”
Ginny masked her crushed reaction and looked toward the bar.
“Mick why did you play these songs?”
Gavin glared at her for asking the question, surprised she would call him out on his presumption.
“Jessie brought it in tonight for me to play for them.”
“Thanks, Mick.” Stiffly walking toward Gavin she glared up at him. “I guess you’re not the only stubborn male in Treepoint.”
Breezing past him she went to her table to retrieve her purse, then hurried out the front door.
“Wait, Ginny.”
Ginny started walking across the parking lot heading toward the road.
“Ginny, Wait!”
A hand took her arm jerking her to a stop.
“I’m sorry.”
“I keep asking myself how many times I’m going to forgive you. I love you, Gavin, but I’m not a saint.”
“Let me drive you home. I won’t say another word.”
“I prefer to walk. I wouldn’t want any accusations of me trying to lure you into the backseat.”
“Dammit, will you listen?”
“Why should I?” She stopped walking long enough to point a finger in his chest. “Why are you arguing with me? You prefer riding alone.” Ginny turned back to walking, motioning toward the road. “Have at it.”
Gavin strode in front of her, blocking her from going farther.
“I overreacted, okay?” he shouted. “If you’d let me get a word in edgewise, I’d admit I was a fucking ass.”
Ginny folded her arms over her chest.
“This, I have to hear.”
“I have a confession to make.”
Wanting to smooth down the tumbled mess he was making of his hair when he raked his hand through the long strands, Ginny clenched her fingers to prevent herself.
“I’m listening.”
“I liked dancing with you. Instead of admitting it to myself, it was easier to blame on you.”
“Why?”
“Because I wasn’t expecting it to feel so good.”
Ginny blushed remembering the warmth that spread thought her body when they were dancing.
“During those two dances, I felt like I use to, like I had the world at my feet, and the woman I wanted in my arms. By the third dance I started getting….” Gavin seemed lost for words.
“Freaked out,” Ginny added helpfully.
“Yes.”
The mysterious quicksilver rushed through her bloodstream, again, at his wry laughter, and she saw a glimmer of the man he used to be … the one that was beginning to reappear.
The dark sky was spread out before her like blanket, and the twinkling stars seemed brighter than normal, as if they were smiling down at them from above.
“Maybe the stars were aligned for us tonight,” she said musingly more to herself than him.
“What do you mean?”
Ginny lowered her gaze away from the sky.
“When you first came to Treepoint, the stars weren’t aligned for us. You were engaged to Taylor, and I was too young. Do you ever wonder what kind of life you would be leading now if you hadn’t been kidnapped?”
“I try not to think about it.”
“Go to Taylor’s Facebook page; her life is an open book.”
“Are you fucking saying I was better off being kidnapped than being married to her?”
“No. I’m saying, quit dredging up your past like one of those gold miners who kept digging, even though the claim had been played out.”
“You mean stake another claim?”
Ginny didn�
��t let the irony in his voice bother her.
“No, be a man who admits he was wrong and move the fuck on,” she said cuttingly.
Gavin laughed. “That’s the first time I’ve heard you say that word.”
“Believe it or not, I can let loose with that word frequently when I’m mad—” She stopped midsentence when she realized he was no longer listening to her. “What are you doing?”
Gavin was striding across the parking lot and looking down at the ground, as if he were searching for something.
“Trying to find my earring. It must have come unlatched when I pulled my hair back.”
Giving the ground a cursory glance, Ginny changed directions and went to Silas’ car.
“You coming?”
“You’re not going to help me look?”
“It’s pitch dark out here, and the lighting is even worse inside; it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. You can call Mick and ask him to keep out an eye for it. Personally I think silver suits you much better.”
“The earring was solid gold….”
Ginny gave him an unladylike snort. “Then you got taken. It was ten karat, and that’s if you were lucky.”
Impatiently she tapped the roof of the car. “You mind opening the car?”
Tossing her the keys, he asked, “Will you wait here while I go inside and look around?”
“Knock yourself out.” Ginny got inside the car and turning the ignition on. The music was blasting away when Gavin returned ten minutes later.
“No luck?” she asked turning the radio down.
“No. Mick will call if he finds it.”
“Don’t look so discouraged, something will turn up.” Raising the volume, Ginny lowered the car window, enjoying the wind coming into the car.
Gavin gave her a harassed look, then turned the volume back down.
“You never did tell me why you went to the bar.”
Ginny gave him a pained glance. “I have a confession to make.”
“What?” he asked taking his eyes of the road.
“I was meeting someone.”
“Who?”
She turned to stare out the window at the jealous tinge in his voice.
“Just remember before you go off the rails, that you were mean to me when we were dancing. By the way, isn’t it customary for a gentleman to thank a woman for dancing with her?”
“I haven’t been called a gentleman in more years than I can count.” Gavin put on the blinker to turn into her driveway.
After parking the car, he shut the car off and turned to face her. “Thank you. I enjoyed dancing with you, right up until the part I made an ass of myself.”
She removed her hand from the door handle.
“You’re really sweet when you want to be. Can you hold onto that sweetness for a couple of seconds? Do me a favor and close your eyes.”
“Why?”
“Just do it.”
Gavin closed his eyes. Ginny pressed a fleeting kiss on his lips.
“You’re welcome.” Pulling back she got out of the car while he was still trying to regroup. Leaning in the window she broke the news to him with the safety of the car door between them.
“By the way, I was meeting Marty at the bar. He bought the diner, and he wanted to have a taste for who made the best burger in town and who would be his biggest competition.”
“Marty bought the diner?” he growled.
“Look on the bright side, how often do you eat at the diner?” Ginny took off with a squeal of fright when Gavin jerked himself out of the car. Laughter trailing behind her as she headed for the porch.
Running full tilt to reach the front door first, Ginny pulled on the door knob only to find it locked. Warily she looked over her shoulder to see a satisfied Gavin standing on the bottom of the steps jiggling the house keys in his hand.
“Wow, how the tables have turned.”
Saucily strolling toward the end of the porch, she gave him a plaintive pout.
“How was I supposed to talk him out of buying the diner? He said I was like the daughter he never had, and he missed me.”
“What happened to his business in Nashville?”
“The tornado wiped it out, and the only thing he was able to salvage was his grill. Marty said he wouldn’t have managed to save that except a little birdy warned him to sell before the epidemic hit, and he put the grill in his house and bought a new one for the restaurant. Crazy how it worked out, wouldn’t you say?” Holding back her laughter, she knew Gavin had been the one who warned Marty to get out of restaurant business with the outbreak beginning to spread.
“The only thing I can say,” he said wincing as he handed the house key over to her, “is no good deed goes unpunished.”
Chapter Fifty-Five
Ginny was carrying her laundry basket out the front door when a motorcycle pulled up the driveway. Staying on the porch to keep her distance, she waited for Viper to get off his bike and remove his helmet.
“Is Reaper around?”
Ginny pointed toward to the outbuilding nearby. “He’s at Matthew and Isaac’s forge.”
“Mind if I go talk to him?”
Ginny’s heart went out to Viper. The last two weeks had to have been hard on him. That awful day still had her shaken at how close they had come to losing Gavin.
In a million years, Ginny would never forget the fear she had gone through waiting for Silas to come back. Every moment she had been in agony that Silas wouldn’t reach him in time, or that he wouldn’t be able to convince Gavin not to end his life.
Ginny gave Viper an encouraging smile. “Go ahead. I think he’d like to see you.”
Her heart broke at the twisted look of pain transforming Viper’s arrogant features at her words.
“It’d be the first in a long time.” His expression was strained, as if he didn’t believe her assurances. Then Viper started toward the building with slow steps, as if dreading what he would find. His faltering steps halted as he turned toward her infinitesimally.
Smiling, she came off the porch, going to the clothesline. “He’s doing well, Viper. Go see.”
“I’m afraid I’ll say the wrong thing.”
“Say anything you want. There’s no right or wrong way to talk to him. Just treat him the same way you do Shade and Rider.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“I want to make sure he’s doing well. Then I want to rip him apart for taking twenty years off my life.”
Ginny understood the mixed emotions of grief and anger. She had lived through that terrible evening with the same ones tearing her apart.
“He wasn’t even going to tell me good-bye,” Viper continued. “Reaper planned all along to take his life when he found Slate. He even bought each of the brothers a good-bye gift!”
Ginny winced.
Viper gave her a grim smile. “Yeah, the brothers want to return the favor by kicking his ass.”
Ginny bit her lip, trying not to laugh. She could imagine how a few of The Last Riders would react. No gift would replace Gavin or make them feel them better if he had succeeded.
“I bet,” she remarked only.
“He left me jack shit.”
Uh-oh … Ginny saw what was coming.
“He gave Rider and Shade fucking Rolexes. You know what he left me? His last will and testament!”
Ginny didn’t have to ask what he had done with it. Trudy had called her after Killyama phoned her. Killyama said Viper had lost it and had gone through a rampage through the club after tearing the will to shreds. The Last Riders were still finding pieces of the paper that had been flung everywhere.
“Viper, deep down, I don’t think Gavin would have been able to take his life. That’s why he didn’t have a gift for you … Buying one for you would have been his final good-bye.”
Viper remained unconvinced. “He didn’t even care how bad it would have hurt me if he succeeded.”
“Gavin felt as if you and The La
st Riders were better off without him. He was trying to spare you from more pain, not cause you more.”
“How do you know?”
“Gavin told Silas when I asked him the same thing.”
“Thank God for Silas.”
Ginny repeated the sentiment to herself.
“He’s been calling me to give me updates on Reaper. I wanted to come that night, but he told me to wait.”
“You were tired of waiting?”
“I couldn’t wait any longer. Silas around, by the way? I want to thank him.”
“He and my other brothers went out for the day. They drove to Louisville to pick up some brass. They’re making a day of it to keep Fynn from feeling so isolated. They’re going to hit a drive-thru before going to a drive-in.”
“The drive-in is a good idea. We should organize a day for the kids at our place. They’re going stir-crazy. Chance and Noah are driving Razer bonkers.”
“I can imagine.” Ginny laughed. “They were constantly in trouble when I worked there. I can’t imagine what turmoil they’re getting into with school being out so long.”
“Put it this way; Lily was suffering with morning sickness yesterday when she was letting the boys finger-paint. When she came back, they were covered in paint. They told her it was the tattoos they were going to get when they’re older.”
“I miss seeing them. I made some more jelly for Lily and Beth. I’ll set them on top of your seat, if you don’t mind taking them for me?” she asked.
“I don’t mind playing messenger, if you send an extra jar for the club. We’re out since Reaper confiscated the last jar and took it to his room.”
“I’ll send a couple of extras.”
Viper looked toward the building. “Maybe I should wait for Silas to say it’s okay ….”
“He told me you’d be coming; that’s why I went ahead and made the jelly.”
“How did he know?”
Ginny gave him a wry smile. “Could have been the ten texts you sent him yesterday asking. He would’ve suggested you come yesterday, but Gavin was out with Jody, and Jacob and wasn’t here. Go … Viper, it really will be all right.”