The door opened and Claire breezed in. “Guess who has release papers!”
Gavin and I both looked up at her. She froze. “Did I interrupt?”
“Yes,” I said at the same time he said, “No.”
I cleared my throat. “We were talking. Can we have another minute?”
“Sure—”
“It’s not necessary,” Gavin said. “We’re done here.”
“Gavin, wait!” I called, but it was too late. He was gone.
31
Talie
The drive to Aunt Ruth’s seemed to take forever, just like the wheelchair trip down to the car at the hospital. They wouldn’t let me walk, and I wasn’t about to make a scene, so I sat there while they pushed me to the car.
Claire knew I was upset, but she didn’t press, and I was grateful. I wasn’t ready to talk about this with anyone. I just wanted to find Gavin. I wanted to make him listen to me. If, after he heard this baby was actually his, he still wanted to run, I wouldn’t stop him.
Gavin’s car was in the driveway at his house. As soon as Claire parked, I got out of the car and went down onto the beach and up onto his deck. I knocked on the glass sliders, but he never came to the door. I peered into the windows, searching for him and even called out his name, but still he didn’t answer.
I spun around with a frustrated sound and looked down on the beach. In the distance, I could see him, a guy in jeans and red T-shirt. He was wearing a hat, but I would know him anywhere.
He was walking along the shoreline, toward the house.
I didn’t think it would be a good idea to go running off down the beach after just getting released from the hospital (though I wanted to) so instead, I sat down in one of his deck chairs, willing to wait it out.
When Gavin got close, I knew he saw me because he stopped walking and stared up to where I was sitting. I stood as my heart bounced around and my hands quivered. I was afraid he might keep walking, that he might turn away again.
Instead, he started walking again, his long strides bringing him onto the deck.
“What are you doing here, Talie?” he asked.
“The baby isn’t Blake’s,” I said loudly, over the rumbling of the waves. “It’s yours.”
He stilled as if shock rendered him motionless. I gave him time to process, to make sense of what I said.
“That baby isn’t mine,” he said, pointing to my stomach. “It’s too early.”
“Which is exactly why I have to go back in a month. Because an ultrasound wouldn’t show anything. A blood test confirmed it.”
He still looked like he didn’t want to believe.
“I haven’t had sex with Blake in over six months.”
His eyes snapped to mine. I saw the hope there. He desperately wanted to believe. I nodded. “This baby is yours. Call Stitch. He’ll tell you how early I am.”
He shot forward so suddenly that I stumbled. But it didn’t matter because his arms were around me in seconds, pulling me against his body and claiming my mouth with his. I was gasoline and he was the match. We burst into flames that burned brighter than the sun. His mouth was demanding as he kissed me so deeply I had to cling to his biceps to hold myself in place.
Gavin’s tongue knew exactly where to stroke, the exact amount of pressure to apply, and exactly how to twist around mine. I groaned, fisting my hands in the fabric of his shirt, trying to get closer. I would climb inside him if he let me. There was no place that was close enough to him.
He broke the kiss just as suddenly as it started. His eyes looked like blue fire as he speared me with a look. “Six months?” he demanded.
I shook my head. “He hasn’t touched me in six months.”
He growled deep in his chest, the sound of an alpha male claiming what was his. He lifted me off my feet and carried me into the house, not stopping at the couch or against the wall like we usually did.
Instead, he carried me into his bedroom, into a room I hadn’t been before. The shades were drawn so it was dim and all I could make out was a large bed in the center of the room. Gavin placed me in the center of the mattress and stood at the foot of the bed, staring down at me possessively.
With one hand, he yanked the shirt off his head and sent it flying backward, and then he reached for the button on his jeans. I pushed up to sit, scooting closer to where he stood. I climbed to my knees and pushed his hand away, reaching into the worn fabric of his jeans to cup the already rigid length inside.
In one swift movement, Gavin pushed down his jeans and boxers, leaving him completely bare and at my eye level. His cock was swollen and proud, impatient for pleasure.
I wrapped my hand around him and squeezed, rubbing my lip over his head. He made a guttural sound and I smiled, liking the power I suddenly had over him. Keeping my hand on him, I lowered down, deep-throating him in one long stroke. His body jerked like he’d been shot and his hands reached out to grip my shoulders.
I began to bob up and down on his length, using the moist heat in my mouth to make him slick. When his member began to quiver, I pulled back, licking down his length and drawing the delicate skin of his balls between my lips.
He whispered my name, but it was barely decipherable. Gavin yanked out my ponytail and headband to delve his hands into my hair. I flinched a little when he bumped the knot on the back of my head, but I ignored the sting of pain.
I tried to go at him a little more fiercely with my mouth, but he wouldn’t let me, pulling me back while breathing hard.
He made short work of my clothes, throwing them places I didn’t even look. All my attention was on him and his hands, on only the pleasure he could give me. When I was at last completely naked, we backed up on the bed, Gavin coming over me, making me feel small as his body blocked out everything else in the room.
He leaned down and kissed me, the kind of kiss that branded me forever his. Gavin’s lips trailed down my neck and across my shoulder, sucking and licking as he went.
“I don’t want anyone else to touch you again,” he rasped, his voice low and deep.
I made a sound as his tongue flicked over my puckered nipple. He pulled the flesh into his mouth and rolled it around. The action felt so insanely good that I groaned and delved my fingers into his hair.
He rose over me and settled between my legs. Our eyes connected and emotion swelled up between us. It was so intense I was almost overwhelmed. Gavin pushed into me, my slick, swollen insides yielding to his satiny, rigid cock.
I cried out as my body tightened around him, every nerve ending in my entire body on fire. I couldn’t even think after that. My mind just sort of blanked because there was so much pleasure there was no room for thought. When he finally brought me to release, bright lights burst behind my eyelids and I called out his name.