Chapter 36
Gen stretched her arms above her head and stifled a yawn as Gavin closed the door after the last of their friends had departed. Damn, hanging out with them was fun, but to be honest she thought they’d never go. In fact, the evening had seemed like it was stretching on so long that she had briefly considered the idea that maybe they knew about her and Gavin and were only dragging things out to mess with her head.
Of course, she was probably being paranoid about that. Her friends had her best interests at heart– besides, she knew for sure that Ella knew, and she and Donovan had been the last to the leave. Sweet Ella would never do anything just to mess with her.
Gavin turned around to face her, a hungry look in his eyes. “Shit, I thought they’d never leave.”
She laughed, and even to her own ears, her voice sounded throaty and thick with lust. “You’re reading my mind.”
His eyes roamed the space. “We’re all alone now, in this big empty apartment. What should we do with all this space, and all this time?”
She stood and glided across the room toward him, her movements sensual and lithe. “Oh, I don’t know. I can think of a few ideas.”
“Tell me what they are. And don’t spare any details.”
She looked down at herself, lifted her still slightly sweaty T-shirt away from her body, and wrinkled her nose “Well, I’ll tell you one thing. The first one has to do with showering.”
He chuckled. “I’m on board with that. What you think the chances are I could join you in the shower?”
She winked at him. “I’m no mathematician, but I’d say somewhere in the neighborhood of a hundred percent.”
With that, she turned and ran toward the bathroom, pulling her T-shirt off over her head as she went. He followed, tossing his T-shirt after hers.
She sat on the edge of the tub and turned on the water, dangling her fingers under it to test the temperature.
“How’s the water pressure?” Gavin murmured, running his hand over her ponytailed hair.
“We’re about to find out.”
When the stream was suitably hot, she flipped the toggle switch that caused it to flow through the shower head instead of the tub faucet. The jets of steaming water splashed down into the clawfoot tub and Gen stood and made quick work of pulling off the rest of her clothes.
As she did, she watched Gavin doing the same thing and fluttering bursts filled her belly. Damn, even after all these years, he still revs my engine every single time, she marveled. Vroom freaking vroom.
When they were both naked, he stepped to her and took her in his arms. So many different kinds of heat flooded her body– the heat of arousal, the heat of the steam quickly filling the small bathroom, and the heat of Gavin’s body against hers.
She felt positively lightheaded and she loved it. Normally, she’d want to be in control of all things at all times, but with Gavin’s arms around, her she felt safe enough to relax into the delicious sensation of the world spinning around her. She didn’t have to be the one to keep herself upright. She knew that Gavin would catch her if she fell.
He bent his head and kissed her, then lowered his head to her breasts. She looked down to watch him as he took one of her nipples into his mouth and then the other, alternating between them until they both stood at attention, silvery and shiny in the moonlight streaming in.
Her back arched to meet his mouth, pressing her nipples even tighter against his roaming tongue. He flicked them faster and faster. She loved how they came alive in his mouth, growing into sweet, hard pebbles for him to play with and devour. She felt proud when he did that, like her body’s response was the equivalent of a gift she was offering him.
He surprised her then by scooping her up in his arms. It was one swift, smooth gesture. One minute, her feet were firmly on the ground. The next he was holding her as if he was about to carry her over the threshold.
Which he did, in a way. With one sure step, he moved the two of them underneath the stream of hot water and then sat her back down on her feet, this time inside the shower.
The hot streams of water flowed over her skin and his as they stood there under the spray, clinging to each other. It was almost like a slick, shining rope winding around the two of them, binding them together.
They kissed and caressed until Gavin pulled back suddenly, pushing her wet hair back from her face and then framing it with his hands. He looked into her eyes like he was searching for something. For an answer, maybe. But to what question, Gen didn’t know.
She trailed her fingertips up and down his body as he looked fiercely into her eyes. It was almost more than she could take. Too close, too intimate. But, at the same time that it pushed her to the edge of her comfort level, it also filled her belly with such a deep sense of satisfaction that it was like nothing she could ever remember experiencing before. For that reason, she stood her ground and pushed through the discomfort.
God, who ever had first coined that phrase about everything good existing just outside your comfort zone knew what they were talking about. This connection with Gavin, this deep sense of intimacy– it was everything. It was life.
He bent and kissed her. The same way he had done a thousand times before, in one sense. But in another sense, it was like no other kiss he had ever planted on her. Ever. The depth of feeling behind his lips was the thing that was new.
He drew back and took a deep breath. Running his thumb along the line of her jaw, he said, “I’m here to stay, Gen. This is not a fly-by-night thing anymore. It’s real. To me it is, anyway, and I think it is to you, too.”
All she could do was nod, but she did that furiously, sending small drops of water flying from the tips of her wet hair.