“That is my plan.” Gavin couldn’t have hidden the grin spread across his face if he had tried.
***
The rest of the afternoon passed in a blur. Clint returned to the hiding place of his house. Audree spent much of her time reassuring her mother that she was okay and that she would think about pressing charges against Scotty. She didn’t want to think about it anymore, she wanted to stay focused on Eva coming home and surprising everyone with Clint’s return.
“Momma! Momma!” Eva’s voice called through the house. “Momma, I’m home.”
“Who is that?” Audree called from the kitchen.
“It’s me, Momma.” Eva laughed.
“Well, I don’t know anyone named ‘Me’, so you had better leave before my beautiful daughter, Eva, comes back. See, I have been saving a huge ginormous hug for her, and I have missed her like crazy. So, Me, you had better run along now.”
“Momma, you are so silly.” Eva ran into her mother’s arms and squeezed her tightly.
“I really missed you, sweet girl.”
“I really missed you, too.”
“Hey, is that Eva I hear?” Gavin appeared around the corner, greeting Brooks with a handshake and Marissa with a kiss on the cheek. “How was your trip?”
“Uncle Gavin!” Eva shouted and ran into Gavin’s open arms. “I missed you.”
“I missed you too, sweet girl.” He squeezed her as the wrapped her arms around his neck.
“I got to sit in a big seat on the plane and they gave me slippers,” Eva stated, readjusting her body but not letting go of Gavin when he tried to put her back down on the floor.
“Yeah, thanks for the upgrade, first class is awesome.” Marissa smiled at Gavin.
“Not a problem. Can’t have my family flying in coach.” He winked at Audree when her mouth dropped open. “Come on, we have a party to get ready for.” Gavin shrugged and turned back to the kitchen.
“Is anyone hungry?” Audree asked, before she and Marissa slipped their arms around each other’s waist and followed Gavin.
“I’m going to take the bags up,” Brooks said, heading for the stairs.
“Need help, man?” Travis asked, walking through the front door quietly followed by Ruby and Harry.
“Sure,” Gavin said, lifting a suitcase up off the floor and handing it to Travis as he picked up a larger one and then tucked a smaller one under is other arm.
After everyone was introduced to Harry, they sat down to have lunch and catch up. An excited Eva rushed through stories of her trip. She was happy to be home and couldn’t wait to see her grandparents and her horse. She was disappointed when Audree told her that her visit with Star would have to wait until tomorrow because they had a party to get to. Eva jumped up and asked if she could wear the new dress Grandma Layne had bought her. As soon as Audree said of course, Eva bolted out of the room and rushed up the stairs to her room, calling over her shoulder that she didn’t need anyone’s help.
When she reappeared a few minutes later dressed in a frilly pink dress, she announced that she was ready to go to her party. She was excited to see her grandparents and hoped there were lots of games to play. Audree told her she had to wait for everyone else to get ready and, when Eva asked if she could ride a four-wheeler down to the barn, everyone, in unison, said no. She would ride down in the truck with Audree.
Walking into the barn, Audree was impressed with the lights and decorations that the guys had finished putting up. She couldn’t help but look up at the last decoration she had put up with Scotty’s help, and was glad to see it had been taken down. Gavin must have followed the direction she was looking when he stepped up behind her, slipped his larger hand into hers, and gave it squeeze. “Thank you,” she mouthed to him as they moved further into the barn.
“Everything looks amazing; you all did a wonderful job,” Talia said as she came up behind them.
“Grammy, Grandpa!” Eva shrieked and ran into her grandparents arms.
“I think you’ve grown like a foot, kid.” Spencer laughed, looking at the little girl in his arms.
“Oh, Grandpa, I didn’t grow that much.” She giggled.
“Oh, I think you did.”
“And where is my hug, sweetie.” Talia hugged Eva. “I absolutely love your dress.”
“Grandma Layne bought it for me.” Eva wiggled out of Talia’s arms. “Look when I twirl,” she said, giddily, as she spun.
“That is some twirling you got going on,” a voice said from behind them and everyone turned toward the voice.
“Uncle Clint!” Eva pushed through the adults in front of her and ran into Clint’s open arms.
“Clint!” Talia cried and ran into her son’s arms as he stood at the open door and the room filled with claps and roaring cheers.
“Son,” Spencer threw his arms around his son and held back his own tears.
“Hey, stranger.” Ruby didn’t bother hiding her tears when she wrapped her arms around Clint’s neck.
“Clint, this is Harry; Harry, this is Clint, Audree’s older brother.” Ruby sidled up to Harry and took his hand in hers.
“Good to meet you, man.” Harry shook Clint’s hand, but they still eyed each other for a moment.
“How long have you been home? When did you get in?” Talia asked, not having let go of her son’s waist.
“I’ve been home a couple of days, but couldn’t ruin this surprise.” He laughed and looked at Audree.
“You knew,” she looked at Audree and raised her eyebrow then looked at Gavin. “You two knew, didn’t you?” She looked between Gavin and Travis, who both shrugged and pointed at Audree.
“What? And ruin the looks on your faces? Hell no.” She laughed.
“Come on, come on, let’s get this party started, already,” Eva said, tugging on Audree’s hand and pulling her toward the center of the barn.
The evening was a buzz of congratulations on Clint’s return, Eva’s homecoming, the success of the start of Ruby’s catering business, and the fact that it was the last party of the summer. There was drinking, dancing, laughter, and just tons of partying. Eva lasted until just after the fireworks then passed out in Talia’s arms. Audree’s parents said their goodnights and told everyone to stop by their house in the morning for breakfast or lunch depending on when they dragged themselves out of bed.
As Audree was saying goodnight the last few guest, she looked around, she saw Brooks and Marissa sitting over to the side talking to Ruby and Harry. Travis was over in a corner making out with a red head she had seen around before, but had never been introduced to. Clint was hanging out with Canter and his wife. Audree couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face as she looked around at her family and friends. Just as she realized that she hadn’t seen Gavin, her phone buzzed in her pocket. When she pulled it out, she smiled and looked around the room, but didn’t see him.
“Hello?”
“I didn’t get to call you last night and ask you out properly, so I was wondering if you would like to go dancing with me?” She could hear the smile in his voice.
“I would like that very much.” She glanced around the room again. “When would you like to pick me up?”
“How about you meet me, that way there is no pressure of a goodnight kiss if I drive you home,” he chuckled.
“Huh, okay?” She laughed at his silliness.
“When do you want me to meet you?” she was waving at her parents as they pulled away from the barn, with a sleeping Eva tucked in the backseat when she felt his arms wrap around her waist from behind.
“How about right now?” He turned her to face him. “May I have this dance?” He offered her his hand.
“I would love to.” She slipped her hand into his, and he led her around the side of the barn. “Are we not going back inside?”
“I haven’t had a moment alone with you since this morning, and I just want a couple of minutes of you to myself,” he slipped his arm around her waist and tugged her against his body. �
�You feel so good.” He brushed his lips against her ear.
“So do you.” She ran her fingers over his short hair.
“I want to kiss you so badly, right now.”
“I certainly won’t stop you.” She smiled and closed her eyes, waiting for his lips to meet hers and when they didn’t, she peeked up at him. He was smiling down at her.
“You have really been making me work on getting close to you again.” He lifted her chin with his finger when she looked down at her feet.
“I don’t want us to waste any more time not being together. We have done that for so damn long.” She tried to hold back the tears, but one slipped down her cheek and he wiped it away with his thumb.
“I don’t want to waste any more time without you either.” He leaned his forehead to hers. “I …” he shook his head.
“I love you, Gavin, and want to move past all of this.”
“Say it again.” He blew out the breath he hadn’t been aware he was holding.
“Gavin, I love you,” she whispered and brushed her lips across his.
“I have wanted to say it for so long and when I did it was ...” he sighed. “I have loved you for so long, Audree. You have had my heart for most of my life. I want you to know that I have been faithful to you. I haven’t been with anyone except you in years. I tried. I tried to stay away from you so many times. I only dated other people when you did, but it never felt right. It has always been you. You have my heart.” He brushed another tear from her cheek and kissed her lips.
“And you have my heart; you always have.” She wrapped her arms around his neck.
“It is about freakin’ time,” Clint called from behind them, followed by claps, hoots, and hollers from everyone else.
“Now you can stop sneaking around for the booty calls.” Travis laughed from behind Clint, his arm around the red-headed woman.
“Seriously, man.” Clint turned to him. “Still my sister,” he sighed.
“At least you have your own place to stay, they get loud.” Travis laughed again.
“Travis!” Gavin and Audree yelled together.
“It is true, damn; I’ve had to put headphones on sometimes. One night, I even…”
“Shut up!” Audree said with cheeks burning.
“You think I like hearing my brother calling ‘Audree’ over and over?” He stepped away from the girl, knowing what was coming.
“You, my brother, are a dead man.” Gavin kissed Audree quickly on the lips and took a step toward Travis.
“Can I get some back up here, Brooks?”
“Woo… leave me out of this.” He laughed taking Marissa’s hand in his and kissing the back of it.
“Leaving me hanging.” Travis shook his head. “What are you gonna do? I’m too…”
“You mean what are we gonna do?” Clint asked sternly, now standing behind Travis, effectively blocking his escape from Gavin.
“I was joking.” He looked between them. “Sorta.” He nervously chuckled. “Audree is loud, too.” He laughed, now sounding somewhat nervous. “You can’t hurt anything vital; I was taking Georgia here back to my place tonight.”
“Hi, Georgia, we haven’t been introduced.” Audree calmly stepped up to Georgia and offered her hand. “I’m Audree.”
“Hi.” She blushed. “Are they really going to hurt him?” she asked nervously.
“Only if they catch him.” Ruby chuckled as the three started circling around the barn. “I’m Ruby, by the way.” She offered her hand as well. “And this is Harry.” She motioned to Harry, who was still standing behind her.
“Georgia, this is my daughter Eva’s father, Brooks, and his girlfriend Marissa. This could take all night.” Audree moved behind the bar and grabbed a beer. “Anyone want one?” She held up the bottle.
“I’ll have one.” Ruby moved to take the bottle Audree offered.
“I’m in.” Harry moved up behind Ruby.
“A couple of waters here, please.” Brooks called out.
“Here.” Audree handed one to Georgia. “Come on let’s pull up a seat.” Audree moved over to a table in the back, laughing at the show going on in front of her.
“Do they do this a lot?” Georgia asked taking the seat next to Audree.
“Yup,” was all Audree said before she laughed again.
“This is how they have always settled things and Travis has been in need of a good beating for a while now.” Ruby took the seat on the other side of Audree. Harry stood behind her.
“I could help if it gets out of control.” Harry lifted his beer to his lips.
“I kind of owe him a pop, too.” Brooks laughed.
“Do I get one too?” Marissa chuckled.
“Sure, I think we all owe him at least one.” Ruby sipped her beer.
“No need,” Audree said, watching the three roll around on the floor of the barn. She hadn’t seen the three of them go at it in years. “I’ll stop them as soon as I finish my beer.” She took another sip from her bottle.
“This just seems stupid.” Georgia’s concern seemed to be building.
“They’re all fine. The punching hasn’t even started, yet.” She winked at Georgia’s growing discomfort.
“Okay, okay, let’s not scare Georgia away, just yet.” Audree laughed as she stood up and dropped her empty bottle in the recycling bin by the bar. “You did a fabulously awesome job tonight. Leave all this shit and we’ll take care of it tomorrow.” She wrapped her arms around Ruby and hugged her tightly.
“We did do an awesome job.” Ruby returned Audree’s hug. “I love you.”
“Love you, too, good night.” She stepped over to Harry. “Good night, Harry.” She gave him a quick hug. “Georgia, it was very nice meeting you. Wait here and Travis will be right with you, hope to see you again real soon.”
“Huh, ah, you too,” Georgia said confused as she watched Audree walk in the opposite direction of the scramble still going on in the center of the barn.
“Goodnight, guys,” Audree called as she stepped just outside of the barn doors. “Thanks for everything, it was great. See you in the morning.” She slipped into the darkness of the yard to make her way back to the house. Five, four, three, two...
“Audree, wait up.” Audree laughed to herself, and tried to hide her smile even though he wouldn’t have seen it in the dark, as Gavin called, out of breath, behind her.
“Oh, were you done with the brawl?” She laughed as she continued to walk ahead of him.
“Little shit needs to learn to keep his mouth shut.” Gavin blew out a breath, swung his arm around Audree’s shoulders, and pulled her closer to his body.
“Am I really that loud?” She couldn’t believe she just asked that out loud.
“Well, it has been a while.” He laughed when she smacked his chest. “But, as I recall, you were just perfect. I loved hearing every sound you made.” He moved his arm down to her waist. “I gotta tell ya, though, hearing you scream my name when you come is one of the best sounds you make.” He spun her around to face him. “I want to stay with you tonight.” He pressed a chaste kiss to her lips and pulled back to look into her eyes, now that they were slightly lit by the lights shining around the pool.
“I want you to stay with me tonight, but only if you’ll still be in my bed and wake up with me in the morning.”
“There is nowhere I would rather wake up.” He lifted her up and slipped his hands under her thighs as she wrapped her legs around his waist.
“We might not make it to the bedroom if you keep kissing me like this,” she said and pressed her lips to his.
“I love you,” he said against her lips.
“I love you, too.” She smiled when he pressed her against the wall to the side of the kitchen door. “You know this is the exact spot where you kissed me the first time,” she said breathlessly as he ran his lips down her neck to her collarbone.
“That kiss, that night, was one of the best of my life.”
“Mine, too.”
“I can’t believe I was so stupid to just leave you here like that.”
“My mother came in right after you left.”
“Then maybe it was good I left; it might not have stopped at a kiss.”
“Yes, it would have, because you knew we weren’t ready that night and we both would have regretted it.”
“And we wouldn’t have had that night in your truck.”
“Ah, that night was one of the best of my life.”
“Mine, too.”
“I can’t believe you waited for me.”
“I would have waited a lifetime for you.”
“It feels like we have.”
“Then let’s not waste any more of it.” He took her mouth before she could respond.
A Week Later…
“That was so much fun,” Georgia said, stepping off the back of Travis’ four-wheeler. “Why haven’t we done that before?” She threw her arms around Travis’ when he stood next to her.
“This is the first time we’ve actually had the four wheelers out this summer. We were so busy helping out at the farm, we haven’t been out here.” He handed a bag from the back to her.
“You are the last one here, man. You know what that means?” Gavin slapped him on the shoulder just as he had slipped his shirt over his head.
“Ouch, shit,” Travis seethed. “When will that shit stop?”
“Never. Last one here cleans the rides. That is the way it has always been, that is how it will always be,” Clint said, holding a towel around his neck. “You know what else still stands.” He looked over his shoulder at Audree and Ruby making their way to the edge of the water. “Last one in makes lunch.” He threw his towel in Travis’ face and turned in the direction of the water only to be blocked by a bent over Georgia.
“Sorry, man, but that would be you.” Travis grabbed Georgia’s hand and pulled her up as they dashed to the water, followed by a laughing Gavin chasing after Audree.
“Shit, man, he got you,” Gavin said as he broke the surface of the water after diving in to beat Clint.
“I don’t cook,” Clint stood with his hands on his hip.
“Then it is good we brought dogs and burgers for grilling.” Audree laughed, wrapping her arms around Gavin’s neck as she pressed herself against his back.
Love Unclaimed Page 20
