Pulse (Collide)

by Gail McHugh

  Emily dropped her gaze from his swollen lip dappled with blood and stared at his shirt. Lifting her eyes, she met his steady gaze, and she could tell he was waiting for something from her. An approval possibly, words that would let him know she was okay with what’d happened. Not knowing how to begin, she simply looped her arms around his neck and brought his mouth down to hers.

  Gavin pulled her into him, his hands gripping her waist and molding her body against his. “I had to do it, Emily,” Gavin breathed, kissing her softly. “I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if I didn’t.”

  Threading her fingers through his hair, Emily choked back a threatening sob. “I know you wouldn’t have, and I’m sorry I expected you not to.”

  Gavin went to speak, but Emily kissed him harder, guilt flowing through her body. As her senses spiraled into his touch, Gavin’s blood rolled around on her tongue, the taste deliciously intoxicating because she knew why it was there. She knew he’d been wounded defending her. The one thing she thought she knew was all wrong. For a brief moment, she was sure Gavin couldn’t do anything to make her love him more than she already did. This proved to be false as she stood in the middle of a packed Manhattan café, kissing the man that’d forever changed her world. Her life. The man she loved a million times more than a few minutes earlier. Blind to further evil and deaf to the sound of ever crying again, Emily sank, crashed, and fell deeper in love with Gavin than she thought was humanly possible.

  “I’m pretty sure if you squeeze my hand any tighter, I’m going to lose circulation.” Gavin looked at Emily’s sweating hand intertwined with his as if she were on a roller coaster ride and holding on for dear life. He knew she was afraid of flying, but shit, considering she was half his size, he couldn’t believe the grip on her. “What good would I be to you if I lost a hand? I’m extremely talented, but only having one to work with might prove difficult during foreplay.”

  Emily swallowed, trying to focus on Gavin’s dimpled smile. “Right. One hand’s no good.” She drew in a cleansing breath, slightly loosened her hold, and squeezed her eyes closed. “How much longer until we’re on the ground?”

  Lifting his right hand, which happened to be the one she wasn’t trying to demolish, he stroked his knuckles along her jaw. “Ten minutes.”

  “Ten minutes,” she repeated, her voice shaky. “Okay. Ten minutes. I can do this.”

  Gavin chuckled. “I have absolute faith you can. But really, I offered to keep you busy in the cabin, and you declined. You know I would’ve been good for a four hour flight and then some.”

  Smiling, Emily opened her eyes, her brow lifted. “Gavin Blake.”

  “Emily Cooper,” he mocked, his grin widening. “I was simply trying to calm your nerves by properly initiating you into the mile high club. The only thing you would’ve had to fear was I might not have stopped once we landed. The jet would’ve been rocking on the runway.” He leaned over and brushed his nose against hers, his words slow and husky. “Oh… yes.”

  “Sick.” She laughed, nipping at his lip.

  “Sick in love, baby.”

  As the plane began its descent from the clouds, Emily re-tightened her hold around his hand, her body once again taut with fear. She leaned back and exhaled. Landing was the part she dreaded the most. “Oh… my… God.”

  “That sounded fucking hot,” Gavin teased, but not really. She honestly sounded hot saying it. “I’ve said it before. You have the ability to make the simplest phrase sound sexual. I just had the sweetest vision of you sitting in a confessional booth, talking to a priest.”

  “Gavin!” she breathed, fighting against the smile cracking along her face.

  Gavin leaned over, dragging his bottom lip between his teeth as he stared into her widened green eyes. “Pigtails. Short mini-skirt. Legs slightly parted. Black lace panties. Mmm, lucky bastard.” Emily tried to breathe as he trailed his hand up her bare leg. Tingles shot down her spine. “You were confessing the naughty things I do to you that you can’t get enough of.” He slipped his fingers underneath her skirt, gently nudging open her legs. “The way I make you moan while sucking on those pretty little nipples. The way, right before you come, I hold you back and start over again while licking that sweet pussy. Your panties were drenched. Your breathing was heavy. Your body was… boiling for me like it is right now.”

  Emily couldn’t think as he leaned in, grazing his soft lips against hers. Pulling her bottom lip between his teeth, he circled his fingers along the edge of her panties.

  “Guess what?” he whispered, his voice low, his eyes intense.

  She could barely get out a word. Hell, she could barely think. Damn him. “What?” she breathed, her mind concentrating heavily on his other hand—that’d come loose from her death-grip—floating up the side of her breast.

  “We’ve landed, sweets.” He slipped his tongue into her mouth, kissed her passionately for a damn millisecond, and stood, his megawatt grin beaming from ear to fucking ear.

  Sitting lax in her seat, panties severely dampened, she watched him yank their carry-ons from the overhead compartment, his face as cool as a cucumber. “You’re evil.” Emily stood, her lips pursed in disappointment. “Pure evil.”

  Reaching for her hand, Gavin chuckled. “I’m evil?”

  Emily nodded and slung her purse over her shoulder. “Yes.” She laced her fingers in his as they made their way toward the front of his jet. “Don’t even try to play innocent, Blake. You’re evil, and you know it.”

  “Me? I was a Catholic altar boy growing up, and now you have me thinking impure, cast-me-into-hell wicked thoughts. My poor mother would be devastated.”

  Emily giggled, following him. They stepped out of the jet and into the clear, sunny air of San Diego. Emily inhaled, taking in the warmth.

  Gavin kinked his head back, a smirk plastered across his lips. “Miss Cooper, it’s apparent I’m the victim here. You, my little vixen, should be wearing diamond-studded horns on your head.”

  Emily snorted. “And I bet you’d find that sexy.”

  “Beyond reason,” Gavin answered, handing their bags to his chauffeur. He pulled Emily into his arms, his smile wide. “I wouldn’t mind that as my Christmas gift tomorrow. You, naked in a red bow, wearing those horns.”

  Emily lifted a brow, her voice husky. “You forgot about the red, six-inch stiletto heels, my hair pinned up off my shoulders, and a bottle of champagne. My belly button could serve as your glass.”

  Gavin’s eyes flared with instant, primal need. “Get in the limo.” He opened the door for her.

  “Is that a threat?” Emily asked nonchalantly, trying to rile him up as she slipped in. She scooted across the cool leather seat and watched Gavin duck in behind her. “Because if so, it sounded… weak.”

  Without a moment’s hesitation, Gavin dragged her body on top of his, straddled her legs over his waist, and hit the button for the privacy screen, sealing them off from the driver’s view. Emily went warm with pleasure as Gavin eased his hands through her hair, bringing her lips down to his. He kissed her hard, his tongue licking greedily over hers. God, he tasted so good. A cross between the bourbon he was drinking on the flight over and minty gum. It made her high. He made her high. His smell, touch, and taste did things to her body she’d never experienced. She couldn’t help but moan into his mouth as he slid a hand down her neck, along the arched curve of her spine, settling on her waist. His grip tightened in her hair, his kiss becoming desperate. Her heart took a nosedive into her stomach.

  “Gavin,” she breathed, “my sister’s house is less than five minutes away.”

  Still kissing her, he slipped his hand under her shirt, his voice strangled deep with desire. “I’ll tell the driver not to stop until we’re finished.”

  Pulling back, a frown split her lips. She glanced at her watch. “We can’t. It’s already four. Dinner’s at a quarter after. My sister’s borderline OCD. She’ll seriously panic if we leave her waiting.”

  Sighing, Gavi
n scrubbed his hands over his face. Staring at Emily, he shook his head, a lazy grin pulling at his mouth. “You know I’m inhaling every inch of your body after everyone goes to sleep, right?”

  Emily smiled. “I would hope that you do.”

  “I have every intention of doing so.” Resting his hands on her hips, he swept his gaze over her face. “Okay. Let’s play twenty questions.”

  Emily gave a look of confusion. “Uh, okay.”

  “Emily, I have a massive hard-on right now that I’m pretty sure isn’t going down anytime soon. I’m also pretty sure it won’t look too good in front of your sister and brother-in-law. I need something to take my mind off of the things I was planning on doing to you on the way over. Get where I’m going?”

  Covering her mouth, Emily stifled a laugh. “I do. Okay. Twenty questions. You start.”

  Gavin shifted beneath Emily, trying to ignore his need to rip her clothing right from her body. “My driver knows where we’re going, but I forgot the name of the town they live in.”

  “La Jolla.”

  “Beach community?” Gavin asked, swiping a hurried hand through his hair.

  Emily nodded, clearly able to see he was still suffering. “Right on the beach,” she answered quickly.

  Gavin cleared his throat. “Nice. What does your brother-in-law do for a living?”

  “He’s a computer engineer.”

  “Ah, a computer geek. Cool.”

  Emily smiled. “Yes. A certified computer geek.”

  “And your sister? What does she do for a living?”

  “She’s also a computer engineer.”

  Gavin lifted a brow, the corner of his mouth tipped upward. “Two computer geeks. That sex must be pretty dull.”

  Emily crinkled her forehead. “What does that have to do with it? I’m a teacher. That’s kind of geeky.”

  “Mmm, no, that’s sexy. Even David Lee Roth agrees he’s hot for teacher.”

  Emily let out a laugh. Knowing she shouldn’t but unable to resist, she leaned down and placed a soft kiss on his lips. “I’m seriously starting to think you need therapy.”

  Circling his hands around her waist, Gavin flicked his blue eyes to her mouth. “I’m going to need a cold shower if you do that again. Or I could tell the driver to keep going while I give you an early Christmas gift in the back of this limo. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  “Deal.” Emily smiled, but her features quickly softened. “Thank you,” she whispered.

  Confusion blanketed his face. “For what?”

  “For coming out here with me for Christmas. Even though we celebrated early with them, I know it’s hard for you to spend it away from your family. Especially your niece and nephew.”

  Emily was correct. This was the first time Gavin wouldn’t spend Christmas surrounded by his family, but it was her first Christmas without her mother. He knew she should be at her sister’s side. He gently ran his hands over her arms. He hoped being together on Christmas would ease some of the grief he knew they would experience. “Don’t thank me. All I want to do is love and take care of you, Emily. I know you need your family right now. Nothing would’ve stopped me from making sure you were out here with Lisa.”

  His words tightened around Emily’s heart, anchoring deep in her soul, a place no one else had ever attempted to gain access to. No one. Staring at perfection, both inside and out, Emily leaned down and kissed him, wanting nothing more than to pour every ounce of her love into that kiss. As Gavin’s mouth whispered over hers, Emily had never felt more alive, never felt more complete than she did right there and then. At the same time, sadness set in. She’d nearly lost this man. Fate had a weird way of circling back over paths that were meant to cross. This was something Emily had always believed in and she knew it’d happened with her and Gavin. Now, there wasn’t a thing she wouldn’t do to make sure their paths never drifted apart from one another again.

  “I liked that kiss,” Gavin whispered as Emily pulled back. “But you know what that kiss did, right?”

  Emily laughed. “Yes. I’m sitting on top of you, so I can feel what it’s done.”

  “Okay. As long as you remember I’m inhaling you later, it’s all good.” Gavin shifted, trying to get comfortable as his body screamed at him. “And I don’t care if your sister and Michael hear us.”

  Smiling, she shook her head. Her gaze shifted to the sandy beaches and rocky shorelines coming into view as the limousine made its way into her sister’s hilly seaside neighborhood. La Jolla was nothing short of a pure oasis, a glorious retreat from the sweet insanity of New York. With the sun beginning its descent, the scenery popped and sparkled with vibrant Christmas lights twinkling against each home. Emily sighed. She loved this time of year.

  As suspected, Lisa was eagerly awaiting them when they stopped in front of the home, her smile showing she was as excited as Emily. Emily heard her squeal, and it made her laugh. After dropping a quick kiss on his cheek, she hopped off of Gavin’s lap, swung open the door, and raced into her sister’s arms. She hugged Lisa tightly, comforted by her presence. Though it was just shy of a month since Emily had seen her, it’d felt like an eternity, considering everything that’d happened.

  “Oooh, a limo,” Lisa drawled, her eyes resting on Gavin stepping out of the vehicle. “Nice touch.”

  Emily looked at Gavin and smiled. “Yeah. He definitely has his ways.” Dragging her attention from the man who couldn’t even begin to know how much he was already making her Christmas bearable, Emily placed her hands on Lisa’s shoulders. “I’m starving. Is dinner ready yet? Oh, and please tell me you made mom’s casserole.”

  “It is, and I did. But before we go in, I have to tell you something.”

  Emily stared at her sister’s face that’d suddenly taken on a look of distress. “What’s wrong?”

  “Phil’s here,” Lisa whispered.

  “What?” Emily asked, exasperated. Keeping her voice low, she stepped closer. “Lisa, why didn’t you tell me he was going to be here?”

  “I didn’t know he was coming. He stopped by on his way through to see his parents in Laguna Beach. He literally called five minutes before showing up.”

  Emily sighed and shook her head.

  “I know. Talk about awkward.” Lisa frowned. “But he’s not staying the night.”

  “Thank God for that.”

  “Thank God for what?” Gavin asked as he approached the women, his and Emily’s luggage in hand.

  Biting her lip, Emily battled whether or not to tell him about Phil. Not that she could hide it from him, the real question was whether or not to tell him exactly who he was. Emily cleared her throat, deciding to take the plunge into complete honesty. “Uh, someone I used to date is here.”

  “Oh,” Gavin said simply. Snapping his eyes between the two sisters, a smirk lifted the corner of his lips. “Should we be expecting Dillon for dinner as well?”

  Emily’s mouth dropped open as Lisa let out a gut-belly laugh. “No, Gavin.” Lisa pulled him in for a hug. “It’s good to see you again, and absolutely not. Dillon won’t be attending dinner tonight.”

  “It’s good to see you again as well, and it’s refreshing to hear I won’t have to break bread with, excuse my language, the biggest fucking asshole I’ve unfortunately had the dishonor of knowing.” Lisa nodded in agreement as Gavin snaked his arm around Emily’s waist. Leaning into her, he whispered, “So, how serious were you with the unnamed gentleman in your sister’s house? Did you sleep with him?”

  Emily let out a breath, her eyes wide. “No, Caveman, I didn’t sleep with him. He became a little… obsessed with wanting to date me.”

  “Obsessed?” Gavin questioned, his brows furrowed.

  “Phil’s a good guy, Gavin,” Lisa interjected. “A little quirky, but nonetheless a decent guy. I went to college with him, and we became best friends. He took my sister out on a few dates. That’s all. But let’s just say after her interest in him faded, he didn’t give up so easily.”


  Gavin smiled one of those killer, sexy smiles known to drop panties. His blue eyes lit up with raw humor. “Ah well, who am I to fault the man for that? Your sister brings out an honest fight in any warm-blooded creature. As long as he didn’t develop stalker tendencies, since I’m the only Caveman allowed to get like that with Emily, I see a very enjoyable evening in our future.”

  Again, Lisa laughed as Emily let out another breath.

  Gavin shot Emily a wink, his lips grazing her ear as they followed Lisa to the house. “You know I’m going to have a little fun with this guy if he pushes the wrong buttons, right?”

  “You?” Emily playfully questioned as they stepped into the foyer. She closed the door and cupped Gavin’s cheek. “You’re not only known for your stalker-ish tendencies. I’ve come to know you as one of the biggest wiseasses I’ve had the pleasure of loving. Just don’t be too hard on him, okay?”

  After setting down their luggage, Gavin dipped his head and kissed Emily’s lips. “I’ll try. But I promise nothing.”

  She rolled her eyes and looped her arm through his, leading him into the kitchen where Phil was leaned against the counter while her brother-in-law helped Lisa set the dining room table. When Phil saw Emily, his face lit up, his smile more than showing he was happy to see her again. Emily flicked her gaze to Gavin, his smile more than showing he was definitely going to have his share of fun with Phil.

  Headed right in her direction, Phil’s smile widened. “There you are, kiddo. I had no idea you were coming out until Lisa told me.”

  Before he reached them, Gavin leaned into Emily’s ear. “Kiddo? What are you, twelve years old? I already feel like smacking him across the back of the head. Please tell me I have your permission. I’ll be quick. I swear to God I’ll be quick.”