Resting her cheek against his chest, Emily smiled. “What am I going to do with you?”
He looked down at her, and Emily met his gaze. Expression softening, Gavin angled his lips above hers, his eyes searching. “Move in with me.”
Emily pulled in a breath and went to speak but hesitated. Anxiety rained down on her, and her pulse leapt. She touched his jaw, her big green eyes staring up at him. “What?”
He cupped his hand over hers. “You heard me. I want you to move in with me. I know it’s—”
“Crazy,” she interrupted.
Gavin’s hands found the curve of her neck. “Yeah. It’s crazy, and it’s quick. It’s dangerous, reckless, and intoxicating.” Gavin paused, drawing her face closer. “But it’s what makes us. It’s what’s made us since the moment we met. Move in with me, Emily. Stay crazy, dangerous, reckless, and intoxicating with me. Just do it waking up by my side every morning.”
Emily dropped her gaze to the ground and nibbled on her thumb nail. The whole idea was more than intoxicating. God, everything about Gavin bled her dry of anything negative. However, her uncertainty of whether or not she could truly make him happy hammered through her thoughts. It was enough he’d taken her back, trusting her again with his heart, but something inside screamed she’d never be able to fulfill what he needed.
“I don’t know,” Emily said, looking up at him. “Let’s see what it’s like when we get back to New York. Give it time maybe.”
A slow smile smeared across Gavin’s face, and without warning, he picked up Emily, hauling her delicate body over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. “Emily Cooper, are you asking me to wait longer than I already have?”
“Gavin Blake, are you insane?” she gasped, curling her fists in the back of his T-shirt.
“I’m the one asking the questions.” Chuckling, Gavin strolled over to his car and set Emily on the hood. She gasped again and jumped off. “What?” he questioned.
Eyes wide, Emily swiped the hair away from her face. She frowned. “The hood burnt my ass.”
Gavin smirked and pulled his T-shirt over his head. He spread it out across the hood, picked Emily back up, and set her on top of it. “And here I was thinking your ass couldn’t get any hotter.” Smirk holding steady even as Emily stared at him as though he had ten heads, he shimmied between her legs. Leaning in, he softly kissed her lips. “Is that better for you? If not, I can take my shorts off to give that sweet ass added cushion.” He started unbuckling his belt.
“You are crazy.” Emily reached for his hands, her eyes skirting over every ripple of his sun-kissed abs. “Certifiably crazy.”
Gavin lifted a single brow and nodded. “Crazy in love,” he replied, slowly leaning in again to kiss her. Sliding his arm around her waist, he pulled her closer. “Hook ‘em.”
“What?” Emily breathed, her head tilting of its own accord as Gavin ghosted his mouth down her jaw.
“Your legs,” he said, draping her arms around his shoulders. “Hook ‘em around my waist.”
Emily flushed. “We’re on the side of a highway, Gavin.”
“I know. Kinky, right?” With a wide smile, he didn’t wait for her to do as he asked. He took it upon himself, curling his hands around her calves and wrapping them tight around his waist. “Ahh, there we go.”
Noticeably embarrassed, Emily bit her lip, her gaze shifting to the highway of speeding cars. Gavin laughed when her eyes widened as a car flew by, honking, with a passenger whistling out of the window.
Gavin lifted his hand from one of her calves and placed a finger under her chin. He brought her attention back to him. His eyes scanned over her lush, berry-colored lips, his pulse automatically thudding. “Move in with me, Emily. Fuck, we fell in love like this… Let’s crash the rest of the way.”
Staring into the sea of his blue eyes, Emily swallowed and clenched her hands around his bare shoulders.
Gavin leaned in closer, brushing his lips against hers. “I can’t promise you it’ll always be sweet and tender because you and I fight hard. But I’m pretty sure it won’t be a horror ride either because you and I love even harder. What I can promise is you’ll always mean more to me than my next breath, and it’ll always be you in my life. No one else.”
In that moment, everything Emily ever feared fell away, disappeared, muted along with every sound in the background except for her and Gavin’s breathing. Her heart, that was so empty just days before, felt as if it was about to bust at the seams. Pulling him closer, she nodded, the smile on her face rising in succession with tears falling from her eyes. “Okay, Mr. Blake. Let’s crash.”
Matching her smile, a hint of surprise flashed in Gavin’s eyes as he pressed his lips to hers. “Really?”
“Yes.” Emily giggled against his lips. “Really. Let’s fucking crash.”
With his infamous smirk, Gavin swept Emily off the hood. She squealed, her feet dangling over his arms. “That was pretty easy. I figured you’d fight me a little bit more. It was my strip tease, am I right?”
“Yes, Gavin,” she replied simply, but the hilarity in her eyes was tangible. “The strip tease did me in. Lord, help me.”
Gavin sank his lips to Emily’s, and it was there on a long stretch of highway in Mexico, he knew wholeheartedly they would get their do-over.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Emily looked up from her desk to the clock on the wall. “One minute left.”