by Nina Lane
“That’s so fucking sexy,” she whispered, releasing him only to slide her fingers through the mess coating her skin. “I love how you feel on me.”
“Get yourself off for me.” He stroked his hands up and down her smooth, damp thighs. “I want to watch you.”
Shivering, she slipped one hand between her legs and brought the other to her breasts. She twisted her pink nipple and worked her fingers on her clit. Much as he wanted to delve his fingers into her slippery heat again, he restrained himself from reaching for her.
He couldn’t take his eyes off the sight of her touching herself, her body sleek and soft. She threw her head back, her hair spilling over her shoulders. Moaning, she moved her fingers more frantically, her body tensing with need.
“Gavin,” she gasped. “I feel it… I still feel you… oh God, I’m going to… ah!”
A high, keening cry broke from her throat as her body shook, her hand still rubbing her clit. Fucking gorgeous sight, spearing him with fresh lust.
“Oh fuck.” She groaned, collapsing on top of him in a hot, sweet bundle of softness. “That was amazing. My ass is still sore from your hand, and I swear that made me come even harder.”
He gave a short laugh. Yeah, he’d lost the battle all right. He was about to lose the whole fucking war. And never before had he wanted to surrender.
Chapter
THIRTEEN
As their breathing slowed, Gavin twisted a few locks of Mia’s hair around his fingers, liking how the golden strands shone in the light. She shifted and slid her hand over his sweaty chest, pressing a kiss against his shoulder.
“Don’t move,” she murmured. “I’ll get dessert.”
“You are my dessert.”
“This is just as good.” She kissed him again before climbing off the bed and hurrying to the kitchen.
He watched her go, admiring the swing of her hips, the bounce of her bare ass. He shifted to the edge of the bed to discard the condom and pull on his pajama pants. Mia returned with a white bakery box and climbed onto the bed again.
“You know I’m devoutly loyal to Polly and Wild Child, but she doesn’t make whoopie pies, and they’re one of my favorites.” She set the box on the nightstand. “Granny used to make them all the time. A few years ago, I found a bakery up in Santa Cruz that makes really yummy whoopie pies. I went up to get a few because I wanted you to try them. I’m also on a mission to get you to love sugar.”
She opened the box to reveal a dozen cream-filled pies wrapped in wax paper. Gavin accepted the one she held out to him and moved to sit back on the bed. He didn’t even try to understand how his life had gone from eighteen-hour work days and strict routines to whoopie pies and explosive sex with a beautiful girl who’d stepped right out of fairyland.
“The bakery has a ton of different flavors, but I like the originals best.” Still gorgeously naked, Mia curled up with her back to the headboard and bit into her pie. “Granny used to make them with French buttercream. It was her go-to treat for whenever I had friends over. Whoopie pies and cold milk.”
He took a bite of the pie, appreciating the chocolate, creamy taste but more enamored of the girl sitting beside him. Mia ate with both enjoyment and pure sensuality, slowly relishing each bite, licking her lips and fingers. A fucking miracle that he’d somehow kept her at bay for so long, when now he craved her like an addiction.
“The bakery makes pumpkin whoopie pies in the fall.” Mia sucked a drop of cream off her thumb. “They also have a raspberry cream, mint-chip, and red velvet. I think they just launched a lemon one, too.”
Gavin’s gaze slid to her as she devoured the pastry, licking up the cream and getting chocolate on her lips. She was killing him. He couldn’t imagine a better way to go.
“Give me that.” He grabbed the whoopie pie from her and leaned over to crush a kiss against her sugary lips. “I’m getting jealous of a damned whoopie pie.”
“Hmm.” She licked his lower lip. “Maybe I’ll learn some new techniques.”
Much as he wanted her to demonstrate those techniques on him, Gavin had another idea. He set her half-eaten pie back in the box.
“Lie down,” he ordered.
“I wanted to finish that,” Mia complained, even as she stretched out against the pillows, her body shifting with the grace of a feline.
“You can have it when I’m done.” He shot her a pointed look. “If you’re good.”
Heat rose to her cheeks. “I will be.”
He separated the two cake layers of his whoopie pie and put them in the box, then gathered the pastry cream on his fingers. Mia watched him, her eyes lighting with curiosity and a little nervousness.
“What…” Her pink tongue darted out to lick her lips. “What are you going to do?”
“Spread your pretty legs and you’ll find out.”
Her breath caught. She spread her legs, exposing her damp pussy, still flushed and swollen from the friction of his cock. He knelt between her legs, raking his gaze over her naked body, the red marks on her hips and thighs evidence of his grip.
He reached over with his other hand to caress her tits. Her nipples were hard again, sticking straight up like little rosebuds. Fuck, but she was perfect.
“You can touch your tits, but nothing else,” he said. “Got it?”
Her throat worked with a swallow. “Yes.”
Gavin pushed her thighs farther apart and stroked the vanilla cream over her pussy. She flinched at the coldness and gave a breathless laugh.
“What would the baker say about you desecrating his whoopie pie like this?” she asked.
“He’d probably approve.” He eased onto his stomach, pressing a kiss to her naval before slowly moving lower.
She tensed, her thigh muscles stiffening. “Gavin. I don’t usually let…” Her voice trailed off.
He lifted his head. She watched him, her eyes dark and uncertain.
“You need me to stop?” he asked.
She took a breath. “No. I mean, I don’t think so. But…”
“You trust me.” It wasn’t a question.
“Of course I do.”
“Then you know I’ll stop if you tell me to.”
“Okay.”
She was still tense when he pressed a kiss to her inner thigh, inhaling the salty musk of her scent mixed with the cream. He touched his tongue to her clit. She gasped, her hips arching upward. He put his hands on her hipbones to keep her still, licking the cream around her clit, his blood firing at the sweet taste of her.
“Oh my God, Gavin.” Her hands fisted in the bedcovers. “That feels incredible.”
“Good.” He flicked his tongue around her folds and lower to circle her slit.
“Gavin…” She started to pant, twisting her hips and squirming like she wanted him to fuck her with his tongue. “How is it possible that I’m already aroused again… God…”
With a muffled grunt of satisfaction, he pressed his fingers to open her before thrusting his tongue inside. She shrieked, one hand tangling in his hair. He shoved his hands under her thighs, spreading them open as the taste, scent, and feel of her flooded every part of him.
He sensed the urgency winding through her, the hot pain of needing relief. He slipped one finger inside her, groaning at the sensation of her inner flesh, and closed his lips around her clit. She came with a scream, her body vibrating, her fingers yanking his hair. He held her to the mattress, swiping his tongue over her folds as she slid down the other side.
Slowly he eased away from her, bringing her legs together, his veins burning with the force of his own revived lust. Mia didn’t move, her chest heaving. She lay with her hands pressed to her eyes, her hands covering her face. Her body shook with what looked like a sob.
Alarm shot through him.
“Mia?” Gavin moved up to the bed to her side, grabbing her wrists.
He pulled her hands away from her face. Tears trickled from her eyes, sliding down her reddened cheeks.
Shit shit shit.
“What?” He rested his hand against the side of her neck, his forehead creasing. “Baby, what’s wrong?”
“N-nothing.” Her breath hitched. She rolled to her side, curling against him, her head on his chest. “I just… I’ve never felt like this before. So safe, like I can do anything at all. Like I could go out bungee-jumping or sky diving, and everything would be fine because I’d end up right in your arms.
“You make me feel so capable and strong… which is such a stupid thing to say after you just went down on me with a whoopie pie, but I’ve been so stuck ever since Granny died. I feel like I’ve been hiding behind this persona of the fun, flirty girl—I mean, I am that girl, and I like who I am, but there’s so much more to me than that. And you, Gavin Knight, make me believe in all the other parts of who I am.”
A red-gold wave swelled underneath his heart. He couldn’t, wouldn’t, put a name to the feeling, but it filled his veins with light and made him invincible.
He stroked Mia’s hair away from her face, letting the long strands slide through his fingers, studying them in the dim light. He’d been wrong to think her hair was just blond or even gold. Like her, it was a thousand honeyed shades—daffodils, flax, butterscotch, amber, lemon, sunshine.
“You deserve to believe in yourself.” His voice was rough. Mia deserved so much more than even that. She deserved everything. He wished with all that he was he could be the man to give her everything.
She nestled into him with a sigh, her body relaxing. Gavin edged off the bed and eased his arm under her thighs and the other around her shoulders. After picking her up, he walked to the bathroom and set her gently in the granite shower stall.
Much as he liked her messy and drenched with lust, he turned the hot water on and adjusted the temperature. He indicated that she should get under the spray.
“Are you coming in with me?” She closed her eyes and tilted her face to the water.
“If I do, you’ll come out dirtier, not clean.”
“I’d be okay with that,” she remarked, even as she sighed with pleasure when he turned the water hotter.
He was tempted to wash her, wanting to feel the slick, soapy glide of her skin under his hands, but he didn’t trust himself not to leave her alone. Already his mind blistered with images of pushing her up against the tile wall, her ass arching toward him…
He closed the shower door, picking up the box of whoopie pies before returning to the kitchen. He set her half-eaten pie and another whole one on a plate and leaned against the counter. His mind filled with images of her in the shower, water sluicing over her body, her hands soaping her breasts, her thighs and lips parted.
Sweet and soft though she was, she had a raw lust he craved, like a cherry soaked in bourbon. He could become obsessed with her. Probably he already was.
“That was awesome.” She came into the kitchen wearing one of his T-shirts, her legs bare and her wet hair hanging down her back. “Thank you.”
He nodded to the plate waiting for her on the counter and opened the fridge to take out the milk. Mia made a little noise of pleasure as she hitched herself onto a stool and bit into her pie.
“So good,” she said.
Gavin poured a glass of milk and set it in front of her. “I’m taking you home after you’re done.”
She stilled, her expression shadowing. “Why?”
After some consideration, he decided not to tell her about the threatening letter and photos. He needed her to be careful, but he didn’t want her to panic right before the wedding—much less at the actual event, which she was so looking forward to. The last thing he wanted was her joy over her friend’s wedding to be discolored by fear.
“You need to trust me when I tell you it’s best for you to stay at home,” he finally said.
She looked down at her plate. “What are you not telling me?”
“Nothing you need to know.” He moved closer to her, pushing a lock of her wet hair away from her neck. “If there is something you need to know, I promise I’ll tell you. Right now I just need to keep you and everyone else safe, and to make sure the wedding goes without a hitch. I can’t do that if you fight me.”
She pursed her lips, then nodded. “Okay. But I might get a little scrappy after the wedding. All that pent-up frustration, you know.”
“I’ll look forward to that.” He brushed his thumb across her cheek, suppressing his unease over the idea of after the wedding. “I’ll take you home as soon as you’re done.”
“I can drive myself.”
“You’re not driving home alone at this time of night.” He put a hard note in his voice to warn her this wasn’t up for discussion. “No arguments.”
A brief defiance flashed in her eyes, but she turned her attention back to the pies. After finishing both with delighted murmurs that had his dick twitching again, Mia returned to the bedroom to dress. Gavin pulled on jeans and a T-shirt, and they went out to his SUV.
“Polly told me Luke invited you to the family barbeque tomorrow night.” Mia pulled her seatbelt on. “She also said you told him you’ll be working.”
“That’s correct.” He backed out of the driveway and headed toward Indigo Bay.
“I’ll be there,” she said. “I’d love it if you took a break and stopped by.”
Gavin tightened his fingers on the steering wheel. He hadn’t given much thought to socializing in public with Mia. He could control his reactions to her around other people, but it would take an effort he didn’t want to expend. And part of him didn’t even want to hide. He wanted to claim her as his, to let everyone know she belonged to him.
Then what?
He hated the idea of his life returning to what it had been before Mia had flown into it with her sweet nature and lusty side. But he couldn’t give her a hearts-and-flowers future.
“I’m too busy,” he said. “The wedding is in a week.”
“Can’t you spare an hour?” She sounded hurt.
He hardened his heart. “No.”
Mia let out her breath in exasperation. “Do you ever socialize with the Stone brothers anymore?”
“Not much.”
“Even though you once wanted to be part of their family?”
Gavin flexed his hands on the wheel, not liking where this was going. “Forget it, Mia.”
“I won’t forget it.” She turned to face him. “I hate that you close yourself off from people so much. That’s what you did with me, isn’t it? Even though you’ve noticed me for a full year.”
Gavin pulled into the parking lot of her apartment building and got out, shutting the door to avoid further conversation. As if that was enough to stop her.
“You don’t have to live like that anymore.” Mia hurried to catch up with him as he strode to the front door. “You don’t have to be trapped.”
“I know.”
“You don’t know.” Her voice rose. She stabbed the elevator button with her forefinger, her shoulders tight. “You’ve been trapped in one way or another your whole life. And then you told me that I trapped you. That was never what I wanted. It’s certainly not how I feel about you. But if that’s what you think this thing between us is, then maybe you should reconsider what you want.”
His jaw clenched. What he wanted, now more than ever, was for this lovely girl to be happy forever. He wanted her to find her heart’s desire, to follow it, to live by her granny’s dictates about beauty and hope. He wanted her to wear pretty dresses, to laugh and socialize and eat ice cream for dinner. But how the fuck could she do any of that with him barking orders at her and forcing her into his rigid life?
“You’re better off without me,” he said. “We both know it.”
“Oh, don’t give me that crap,” Mia snapped. “I may not have everything figured out yet, but I still choose to be happy, just like I chose you. I haven’t spent all these months trying to get your attention, and finally having it, to let you push me away now.”
He had no response to that. Mia approached,
sliding her warm hand against the back of his neck.
“I like cupcakes and fairies,” she said. “I like having fun. I like stuffed animals, going home, being with my friends. Anything that gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling inside. And every time I saw you at Wild Child, you gave me that feeling. You still do. You make me happy.”
He wrapped his hand around her wrist and tugged her closer. Breathed her in. Something shifted inside him, like a taut wire relaxing.
“Please come to the barbeque tomorrow.” She stood on tiptoe to kiss his nose. “The Stones want you there. Show up and surprise them.”
Gavin let out his breath, suddenly blindsided by how fast Mia had gotten under his skin, to the point that his perspective of the world was starting to shift. How bad could things be when there were wildflower wedding bouquets and whoopie pies? Spontaneity could be fun. Following your heart was important. And sometimes, surprises were amazing.
He stepped back from her door, deflecting a sudden painful stab to his chest.
“Get some sleep, sweetheart,” he said.
He turned and walked away, feeling her gaze on him as potent as a touch. No matter what happened between them, his life—he—would never be the same again. That might be the biggest surprise of all.
Chapter
FOURTEEN
Colorful bouquets of helium balloons rose from the redwood deck railing. More balloons floated from the numerous beribboned posts scattered around the backyard of Warren Stone’s vast estate.
The deck stretched out over a manicured lawn that swept down to a magnificent view of the valley. A few dozen people were busy laughing, talking, and playing lawn games. Music floated from a speaker system, and Warren presided over an elaborate grill smoking with the tantalizing smell of steaks and hamburgers.
Under any other circumstance, Mia would have been having a good time—except the party had been underway for well over an hour, and Gavin hadn’t shown up. Clearly, despite her impassioned plea, he wasn’t going to.
She tried to smother her disappointment, which unfortunately felt more vast and all-encompassing than it should have. Gavin was under siege with security issues, so it was no wonder he didn’t have time to attend a family barbeque. Even though it was Saturday, he’d probably been at the office all day or at the wedding villa going over all his checkpoints and whatnot.
