“Hi honey!” His mom exclaimed brightly as she rushed inside, hurrying to get out of the cold.
His sister greeted him as she followed behind their mom. “Hey, big little brother!”
He was in shock and didn’t speak for several seconds before shutting the door and asking, “What are you guys doing here?”
Heather did a double take between him and his mom. “Mom! You said you told him.”
Both he and his mom spoke at the same time.
“I did!”
“She didn’t.”
His mom waved her hand at him dismissively. “He never listens.”
Heather co-signed by nodding her head.
This was a battle he knew he’d never win.
“Hi,” he heard Ginny’s soft voice coming from the doorway to the kitchen.
He turned and saw her hand lifted in a wave and a tentative smile on her face.
“Oh my gosh!” His mom squealed. His fifty-five-year-old mother squealed when she saw Ginny. “You are even prettier in person. And so tiny!”
“Isn’t she tiny?” His mom swatted his arm. “And pretty? So pretty!”
“Yes,” he agreed. “She’s very pretty.”
Ginny blushed again as she dipped her gaze to the ground shyly.
He wished he could pull her against him, but his mom already thought something was going on between them and despite the fact that he’d just had his tongue down Ginny’s throat, he didn’t want his mom to get the wrong idea.
Instead, he stepped closer to her to make introductions. “Ginny, this is my mom, Patty, and my sister Heather. Mom, Heather, this is Ginny.”
His mom and sister were both just staring at her like they couldn’t believe she was real, but Ginny was probably used to that. She handled the awkward situation like the pro she was.
“It’s so nice to meet you both,” she enthused as she hugged first his mom then his sister. His mother’s jaw dropped open and her eyes were as big as saucers over Ginny’s shoulder, like she couldn’t believe Virginia Valentine was hugging her.
Ginny stepped back. “Dax has told me so much about you.”
“He has?” Heather looked up at him with a questioning look.
His sister knew that he never talked about his personal life to women. Or at least he hadn’t before Ginny.
“Yep.” He nodded, then moved on to more pressing matters. “How did you guys get here? I just talked to mom last night.”
“We flew into O’Hare and rented a car.” His mom answered as if it was obvious. As if it was something they did all the time. It wasn’t. His mom hated to fly. When he got out of the Corps he’d moved to Tennessee and she’d made the ten-hour one-way drive to visit him once a month for two years. This was the first time she’d come to Illinois and he’d been here eighteen months.
“You flew?”
“Of course I flew,” she snapped as if he was a kid that was talking back to her.
“Oookay.” He lifted his hands in surrender and almost said “yes, ma’am” since that was his default whenever he heard that tone.
“So, what’s on the agenda today?” she asked, as if she and his sister were included in whatever he and Ginny were doing.
“I have to work but you both can hang out here.”
His mom’s face fell.
Ginny must have noticed it because she placed her hand on his arm. “Actually, I’ll be fine at the studio. You don’t have to stay there with me all—”
“Yes I do.”
Her eyes widened slightly at his harsh tone.
He hadn’t meant for his words to come out that severe, but him not staying with her was not up for discussion.
“We can go with you. I’ve always wanted to see what you do.”
“No, Mom.” The last thing he needed to do was babysit his sister and mom all day.
Ginny bit her lower lip, which she did whenever she was in problem solving mode. Over the time he’d spent with her he’d noticed that she was a people pleaser. She wanted to make everyone around her happy, but, at least from what he saw, no one was making sure she was happy.
“Well, um, the studio is at the Riverwalk. There are shops, even a spa, and restaurants.” Ginny’s face lit up as she continued, “Oh, The Plate is there too. It’s so beautiful, Dax and his partners did such a great job.”
“I would love to see it,” Heather said. “And a day at the spa wouldn’t hurt either.”
“Then it’s settled.” His mom clapped her hands. “When do we leave?”
“Just give me a few minutes to freshen up.” Ginny stepped past them and started down the hall.
Her arm brushed Dax’s back and even through his thermal he felt the heat of her body. As soon as the door shut to her room, both his sister and mom started whispering questions and comments about her.
He closed his eyes. This entire morning had felt so surreal. From Ginny openly discussing what she’d said last night, to the passionate kiss they’d shared in the kitchen to his mom and sister showing up out of the blue. He felt like he was in The Twilight Zone.
“Do you know if she wants to have kids?” His mom whispered in a conspiratory fashion. “A lot of career women don’t.”
Or Hell. Yeah, he felt like he was in Hell.
Chapter 14
The red LED lights on the clock beside her read 1:15 a.m. Ginny had been staring at the numbers changing for the last forty-five minutes. She had gone to bed early tonight to give Dax some time alone with his family. At twelve thirty she’d heard his deep voice in the hall wishing his mom and sister goodnight and telling them that he planned on working out and then crashing in the basement tonight. Since then she’d been biding her time until she thought the two women might be asleep.
Since this morning, she hadn’t had a moment alone with Dax and she couldn’t stop thinking about the kiss they’d shared and the things he’d said to her right before it. He’d told her that he hadn’t been with anyone since their first night together. She hadn’t expected that. It’d been torture being so close to him and not being able to talk to him, touch him or kiss him again.
Ginny bit her lip and clenched her fists. She sat on the edge of the bed, shaking from the anticipation of what she was about to do. Would she really do it? Could she sneak downstairs to Dax and pick up where they left off? With his mom and sister in the house?
Yes. Yes, she could and she would.
As scared as she was to do it, she was even more scared not to do it. Last night Amber had said something that resonated with Ginny. She’d told her that real living happens outside your comfort zone.
The basement, and all the things she hoped would happen there tonight, were well outside of her comfort zone, that was for dang sure…and she was ready for it. No more being timid. No more hesitating. No more being afraid to ask for what she wanted, and what she wanted was to kiss Dax again.
That kiss…holy hotness that kiss. It had consumed her thoughts every instant since it had happened. All day in the studio it had occupied her mind. It was burning in her brain, heating up her body like a torch. Every time she closed her eyes, she could feel his lips on hers as if they were still touching her. She could feel his hair under her fingers and feel his body against her skin. Oh, man. She was going to burst into flames if she didn’t do something about it. Now. So she was.
It was time to start living real life.
She stood and walked to her bedroom door. Her footfalls were soft, but she moved with purpose. With trembling fingers, she twisted the doorknob and inched the door open, moving deliberately so that the hinges wouldn’t squeak and attract attention. She tiptoed down the hall to the door that led to the basement, then repeated the “stealthy spy” routine as she opened it and crept down the stairs.
Ginny hoped the fact that she felt the need to sneak around wasn’t a sign that what she was doing was a majorly bad idea.—after all, she had always done what was expected of her and what better indication that she was behaving in a way that was
going against expectations than having to sneak away to do what you were doing? But she didn’t feel like what she was doing was wrong at all. It didn’t make her feel bad, or scared, or even nervous, really. Instead, it brought out a bad girl side to her that she’d never imagined lived in her heart. It made her pulse quicken and arousal shoot through her. It made her feel naughty, but in the best way possible.
As she descended the basement steps with cat-like grace, she heard Dax’s workout machines clanging and got even more turned on picturing him down there, hopefully shirtless. Flexing. Sweating…
She shook her head to clear it. She was going to get herself worked into a frenzy before he even touched her.
When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she paused on the last step and stood still, enjoying the view in front of her. He was blessedly shirtless.
She watched his biceps bulge as his muscles strained under the weight of the heavy barbell he was lifting and lowering. As she watched those muscles ripple and flex she felt a twitch deep in her belly. Wow, she couldn’t believe what this man could do to her…and without even intending to. It was like he’d woken a dormant side of her, her sexual side.
She was so turned on just by seeing him, just by his mere presence. Well…not just his presence. To be fair. Also, his naked chest and sexy muscles. Yeah, that helped.
When he placed the barbell back into its cradle, she spoke softly. “Hi.”
He sat up with a start, his legs on each side of the bench, his eyes narrowed and his body looked primed like he was in battle mode.
But when he saw it was her, he smiled and his shoulders relaxed. “Damn.” He spoke just as softly as she had. “I’m not used to people sneaking up on me. No one gets the jump on me. Is something wrong? Did you need something?”
“Um, yes. I do need something.”
Gathering her courage, she moved towards him and without another word she straddled his lap and pressed her body against his. She snaked her arms around his neck and stared at him for a brief moment before she pressed her lips to his.
At first he remained still and didn’t kiss her back. She was just starting to think that this dive was a belly flop when a low moan rumbled in his chest and his hands took hold of her hips as his mouth took control of the kiss. Since he was on board, she didn’t hold back. Parting her lips she drove her tongue into his mouth and kissed him with all the pent-up passion that had been building in her since this morning…or maybe it had been building since the first night they’d spent together.
Either way, she wanted him to know everything that she was feeling, all the arousal, all the heat. She wanted him to know how much he meant to her, not just physically, but how attached to him she’d grown over the time she’d been here. How with every day that she spent with him she felt herself falling just a little bit more in love.
Even when he’d been all business, she couldn’t help herself from falling deeper. She loved how honest he was. How trustworthy. How funny he was in the oddest moments. How he treated Capone like his baby. How talented he was. How smart he was. He’d displayed all of those traits without trying, just in the little things he did and her feelings were growing each day, each hour, each minute, each second she spent with him.
She didn’t have the vocabulary to explain it in words, but she wanted to show him with her body. She wanted her lips, her fingers and her skin against his to express everything that she hadn’t figured out a way to express yet with language.
Her hands roamed up and down his back, her fingers exploring the lines and contours of the muscled planes of his shoulders. He groaned low in his throat as she rolled her hips against him in desperate need for release. Through his shorts, she felt him hardening and growing larger. Knowing that she affected him like that was almost as much of a turn on as his kiss. It amazed her that she had any affect at all over a guy as worldly and experienced as Dax. It made her feel like the woman she wanted to be. It made her feel empowered, feminine and sexy. She’d never felt that before, and she liked it. She liked it a lot.
Suddenly, though, he pulled back, taking her completely by surprise. There were a lot of things she might have expected him to do in that moment. Yanking himself away from her was not one of them.
“What’s wrong?” she whispered, her voice still low even though it now held confusion and anguish.
“You said that you wanted to kiss and do other things you haven’t done before.” The gravelly quality in his voice sent a shiver through her.
“Yeah?” They’d been over this already, she wasn’t sure why he felt the need to bring it up now.
His tone grew low and serious and the intensity in his brown-gold stare deepened. “Are you a virgin?”
Again, she thought they’d covered this. But thinking back it occurred to her that she hadn’t explicitly told him, although it didn’t take a genius to read between the lines. It was certainly implied but maybe he needed to hear her say it. “Yes. I’m a virgin.”
He inhaled sharply and his nostrils flared as he closed his eyes. His hands tightened on her hips and she loved the feeling of his fingers digging into her.
When his heavy lids opened, he shook his head slowly back and forth. “We can kiss but that’s all that can happen tonight.”
“What?” she was so confused. She might be a virgin but that didn’t mean she couldn’t feel that he wanted her.
“I always make sure that when I’m with someone we are both on the same page. I want to kiss you, but that’s as far as things can go. Your first time is not going to be like this. In a dingy basement, with people upstairs. It needs to be special. It needs to be perfect.”
She wasn’t sure if she had just never felt arousal before or if it always felt this urgent, like she would die if he didn’t touch her, but either way, she wanted him. Now. Waiting was not an option she wanted to entertain. So taking a deep breath she dived into the deep end of the ask-for-what-you-want pool. If she belly flopped painfully, at least she would know she’d tried to swim. She hadn’t just sat on the side just dipping her toes in.
“Being with you is what would make it special,” she insisted. “You are what would make it perfect. I feel safe because I’m with you, and I also feel reckless because I’m with you. Everything…all of these things that I’m feeling now…some of them for the first time, and some of them just more intensely than I’ve ever felt before…they’re all because I’m with you. As long as my first time is with you, it will be special. I promise you.”
He shook his head again, still not convinced. “No. You deserve so much more,” he said, his voice sounding strangled. “The whole fairy tale thing. The classic first time. Wine, fire in the fireplace, candles…God, I don’t even know what else…” he trailed off.
“You don’t even know because that’s not real life,” she replied pragmatically. “The truth is, most people’s first time is when they’re a teenager, in their parents’ house, or the back of a car. Are you kidding me? Here in the basement, having to be quiet because your family’s upstairs? That’s a more typical first time than I ever dreamed about having. In fact it would probably be one of the more ‘typical’ things that I’ve ever gotten the chance to do.” She grinned before pleading, “Please.”
He searched her face. “Are you sure?” he asked.
“Absolutely,” she replied, making her voice as firm as possible in an attempt to convince him one-hundred percent that, yes, this was definitely something that she had thought through and was committed to. Now she just had to make sure that he wanted it too. “Do you want to be with me?”
“Yes,” he replied immediately. Then he sighed, balling his fists in her pajama shorts as he squeezed his eyes shut. “But you deserve more than this. More than typical. You’re not most people. You’re special. You’re perfect.”
Ginny tightened her lips in determination. She’d had enough of this conversation. She wasn’t perfect, she didn’t want him to put her on a pedestal, when people did that there was only one wa
y to go…down. The media had built her up just to tear her down more times than she could count. Not that that was what Dax was doing, but she wanted him to see that she was real. A real woman that wanted him. The time for talking was over. Now it was time to take action.
Reaching between them she grabbed the hem of her tank top. In one swift movement, she slipped it over her head and dropped it on the floor. She sat in front of him, chest bared proudly. Even though he was the first person to ever see her naked breasts, there wasn’t a hint of shyness in her. This was Dax. Everything was okay with Dax. She’d felt that from the first instant that she met him. She was safe with him. She could be herself.
She watched his eyes travel down and lock on her exposed breasts. There was lust in his eyes, and a hunger, and it caused her nipples to harden under his gaze. Her breath quickened. Her pulse sped up. Her skin began to tingle and heat. She felt like she was under the influence of some drug she’d never heard of. Damn. If there was a drug that could make her feel like she felt when Dax ran his appraising gaze over her naked flesh, she could see herself getting addicted to it all too easily. The sensation was magnificent.
Lifting her hands she placed them on his chest and trailed her fingers down along his heated skin, marveling at the rock-hard muscles just beneath the surface. The incipient power there. He was as sculpted and cut as a marble statue, but his flesh under her fingertips was as hot and vital and alive as anything she’d ever felt.
“I want you to be my first.”
Without tearing his eyes away from her chest, he rasped, “We’ll have to be quiet.”
She smiled. She had him. She’d won.
He lowered his mouth to her nipples, alternating between them, nibbling and sucking and swirling his tongue around them in a way that made her head spin. All of his concern about their surroundings had been completely unnecessary. When he touched her, she had no idea where she was, anyway. The wine-and-candles scenario would’ve been totally wasted on her once his tongue made contact with her skin at any rate. They could’ve been in his basement or the Taj Mahal—the only thing that mattered was his mouth on her skin.
All He Feels - Dax & Ginny (Crossroads Book 11) Page 13
