Deadly Ties (20 page)

And more he gave.

Had he ever made love to woman and stared into her eyes the entire time, hoping she could see what he didn’t understand?

Gavin pushed deeper, worked her on him until her eyes filled and she smiled on a shuddering sigh.

When he felt her tighten, knew she was cresting, Gavin jerked her head back.

Looking straight into her clouded eyes, he said, “Mine.”

And followed her over the wave of passion.

* * * *

Late into the night, when all that was heard was the soft sounds of appliances--the hum of the ceiling fan, the whir of the air conditioner, the tumbling of the icemaker, Gavin lay awake, lost in thought. Taylor was snuggled up against him, her head nestled in the crook of his shoulder, her hair fanned out over his arm and the pillow and bed behind her. The coppery tresses were like soft new flames licking their way across the pristine white sheets. His fingers tangled in one long curl. Her arm draped over his chest, and her thigh was atop his.

The ceiling fan continued its slow rotation and he watched it hoping for sleep, but it alluded him.

What was he doing?

This was generally where he was either ready for the woman to leave or he was thinking how to end a relationship. Not that he’d had as much practice as was rumored--he simply avoided tangles and commitments. Kept things simple. He was busy with work, and getting his practice off the ground so that he no longer worried that he would have to join another group of doctors.

He wanted his own practice. He was his own man. His own man.

Maybe not his own anymore.

Turning slightly, and tucking his chin in, he studied the woman in his arms. She was so damn beautiful his breath caught. Long lashes curled like russet crescents against her pale, freckled cheeks. He wanted to run his finger down her nose, over those full lips that were slightly parted. With one hand, he gently brushed a strand of hair back off her forehead and tucked it behind her shell shaped ears.

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His? Well, that was what he’d told her.

Mine
. Like some damn battle cry. Where had it come from? Gavin hadn’t thought, it had simply come out. And that was not like him at all.

Wherever the hell the word had come from, he meant it.

Mine.

Taylor was his. His hand bunched in her hair and he tightened his arms around her.

Mine.

What if the woman didn’t want to be his?

There was a thought. So, what of his charm? He made her laugh and she liked being with him. She cared about him. But was it more than that?

Did he want it to be?

Mine.

Yes. Damn it. Yes. She was his and surprisingly he was hers. The woman just didn’t know it yet. Gavin shifted. He had a feeling that with time Taylor would come to trust him not to hurt her and maybe come to love him.

Love?

Well, if she was his what else did he think it was?

No, he couldn’t be in love. Love was … love was.… Truthfully, he had no idea what love was. He loved his parents and his brothers, his family. But he had no idea about love for a woman.

Attraction, interest, lust. Those he knew and understood, he’d experienced them enough.

But love? That emotion he didn’t exactly understand, not the kind his parents had, the kind that Aiden and Jesslyn had. Is that what he felt for Taylor?

Gavin had absolutely no idea.

He did, however, know that he loved spending time with her, couldn’t wait to talk to her or see her. Making love to her had been like nothing he had ever experienced in his life. The feelings just kept building, kept growing.

With Taylor, he wanted to see her smile, hear that tinkling laugh that reminded him of the stories of faeries in sunshine. He wanted to make certain she was never hurt again.

So did he love her?

Okay, he’d steer away from that question for the time being and just go with the stream of things, see how she thought about things in the morning.

This was a first. He never worried about what the woman thought. Well, he did. But this had absolutely not a damn thing to do with lust or passion. Gavin didn’t want Taylor to regret any of what they shared.

Part of him wanted to wake her up and demand to know what she thought of all this, what she thought of them. But he didn’t, and he was too much of a man to act like a boy.

No, he’d be patient and wait. Wait and see what she thought, how she acted, and what her feelings were, if they were the same as his.

And if they weren’t?

Then he’d just have to persuade her.

Gavin smiled at the thought. He’d have to make certain she just didn’t know he was

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persuading her, or there would be hell to pay.

But, no matter what he had to do, he wasn’t letting her go. Love.… Taylor was.… Taylor was right. Simply right.

He yawned, his thoughts finally settling.

Taylor was his.

Love.

Mine

.

* * * *

The ringing phone jarred her awake. For several seconds Taylor had no idea where she was and panic took hold. “Hello?”

Gavin. She was with Gavin and he was talking on the phone. They were in his hotel suite and Ryan was just down the hall with Brayden and Tori.

Relaxing, Taylor stretched. Sunlight slanted in through the windows of the balcony doors.

“Yeah, I’ll tell her,” Gavin said, his voice throaty from sleep. The phone clattered back into its cradle. His eyes cut to her before he propped up on his elbow.

Taylor smiled at him, and bought her hands up to rub the dark stubble on his jaw. “What?

Who was that?”

“Brayden. He wanted me to know that they were going to take the kids.…” He looked away then back at her.

“Take them? Where?”

He yawned and shrugged. “I have no idea.”

“Gavin!”

He pinned her down. “I don’t remember that part, but they’ll be back about lunch.”

“Lunch? What time is it?” Taylor tried to get up.

Gavin held her down. “I have no idea. Morning.”

Taylor couldn’t help it, she laughed. “Yes, dear, but when in the morning is the operative thing here.”

“Hmm.…” He lowered his head and kissed her, a soft gentle kiss that left her yearning.

“Morning, on mornings off, is only morning.”

“Days off.” Work! “Oh my God.” Jerking out of his hold, she turned to look at the clock. It was after nine. “I have got to go. I can’t believe.… Clothes? I don’t have any other clothes and I can hardly wear my dress to work.” Taylor shimmied out from under him and hurried to the bathroom.

“I cannot believe this. Why didn’t you wake me up before now? I’m new for God’s sake. I can’t just miss work because I’d rather lie in bed with you all morning. I already take Friday afternoons off for Ryan’s doctor appointments. I’ll be lucky if I don’t get fired. After the Gibbons fiasco, I’ve been assigned the most boring mundane cases, which is all fine and well.” Taylor turned the water on in the shower, hoping it heated fast. After nine. Jenkins was going to kill her.

While the water ran, Taylor went back to the bedroom intent on calling her boss because she was running late--as if the woman wouldn’t have figured it out by now.

Gavin was leaning against the headboard, his arms stacked behind his head and that

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crooked grin on his face. “You are so sexy when you hurry around the room naked.”

That grin that she’d love to kiss, but didn’t have the time to, danced on his lips.

“I need to borrow your phone.” He thought she was sexy.

With a smirk, he leaned over and handed the phone out to her. She snatched it away and tried to remember her new work number. It was written in her little black book at home. Lot of good it did her there. Luckily she remembered and dialed Jenkins’s office.

Having accomplished that, she hurried through her shower. What was she thinking? Her wet, uncooperative hair struggled against the braid she forced it into. She wondered how to get Ryan back to Ms. Johnson’s before work while she went to get clothes, which was halfway across town and in the opposite direction of her office.

She stalked into the kitchen, dressed in a robe, hoping for coffee. Gavin, dressed in a pair of black pajama bottoms, sat at the table with two cups.

“That was quick.” He held one of the cups out to her.

“I have a problem.”

One black brow quirked. “And that would be?”

“Can you watch Ryan for me until I get off work?” If he couldn’t she would figure something else…. Damn the coffee was hotter than hell. Taylor took a deep breath and set the scalding brew on the table, pushing her burnt tongue against her teeth. “I should have thought of all this last night. I hadn’t planned on staying and….”

Gavin’s look made her stop. It was expectant, but daring at the same time and she didn’t understand it.

Seconds stretched while they stared at each other. Finally, he cleared his throat and looked away. “I would love to watch him, if you don’t think he’ll have a problem with it.” His blue eyes locked back to hers. “I called downstairs for some clothes for you. It’s nothing fancy, some flats, and a pants suit that was in one of the shops.”

He wasn’t getting her clothes.

His hand shot up. “I don’t want to hear it. So stuff it, Taylor.”

This time he stood up and walked to her.

“You cannot buy me clothes. I know I didn’t order that alarm system at the house and I want to know how much it cost.”

His arm settled on her hip before his hand cupped her chin. “Yes I can, and I am not going to tell you. They are gifts, take them and don’t insult me.”

The man was an idiot.

“You can’t just buy me things.”

Oh she hated that supercilious brow of his. “Why?”

Taylor scrambled her brains. She really didn’t have time for this. “Because, I can buy my own clothes and security systems.”

His gaze ran over her face and settled on her lips. “So, I can buy you anything other than clothing or security systems?”

“Yes. No.” The man drove her nuts. “You don’t need to buy me anything.”

His chuckle rumbled between them. “You’re right, Gorgeous, I don’t. But need and want are two very different things.”

His voice could coax a moth to the flame.

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“Arrrgggg….”

“I know I render you speechless. It is a charm I have.”

“More like a curse.”

The hand on her hip gently squeezed, and Taylor couldn’t help but turn her cheek and place a kiss in his palm.

A knock at the door had them pulling apart.

Gavin opened it to reveal a uniformed woman carrying a dress bag with a copper colored pants suit that looked soft and flowy, something expensive. A sack tucked under her arm must hold the flats.

Gavin thanked the staff member and shut the door. Then, he turned and held out his gifts.

“Go put these on. I don’t want you to get in trouble with your boss. What time do you have to be there?”

Taylor just looked at him. Why was he doing this? She was out of her element here. She wasn’t used to gifts just because. True, both times they were things she needed, but Gavin just got them, without her even mentioning anything. He just knew.

Walking to him, she took the clothing. “I don’t understand all this, but thank you.”

He leaned over and kissed her, tasting of coffee. “You are welcome, now hurry.”

When she turned around he slapped her bottom.

Taylor glared at the smiling man.

On a sigh, she quickly shucked the robe, tossing it to the bed. In the sack was a camisole and panties. Taylor fingered the bronze material. The flats were Italian woven leather and felt soft as butter. Shaking her head, she quickly dressed. The suit was exquisite. There were no real lines, everything just fell.

She couldn’t believe she was wearing it to work. It probably cost more than she cared to think about. Even with her generous settlement she’d gotten out of the marriage and her inheritance, she still worried about money and never spent it just because she could. No, all and any extra earnings went to a college fund for Ryan and another trust fund for him.

They lived extremely comfortably and she wanted to make certain they stayed that way.

Which was why she never bought anything like this. The material felt like her vintage dresses, so soft as to almost not be there.

She was so busy looking at herself in the mirror she didn’t see Gavin until he slipped his arms around her middle from behind.

“You look lovely.”

She looked into his eyes in the mirror. “Gavin, I can’t accept these things.”

His sigh blew forgotten strands against her cheek. “You plan to go to work naked?”

The man could always make her laugh. “No.”

“Then?”

Taylor knew she’d lost this argument. Turning the topic she asked, “Where will you and Ryan be?”

He shrugged. “I have no idea. Why don’t I call you and let you know all the details when he gets back. When will you get off work?”

“Well, that depends on what happens. Hopefully, five, but I’ll need to make up for the two hours I missed today, so it will probably be after six. Is that okay?”

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He turned her around and kissed her like she’d wanted him to all morning.

“Fine,” he said, pulling back. “Now, get to work before you get fired and find a way to blame it on me.”

“I wouldn’t do that,” she told him, picking her evening bag up off the counter. “Oh, my dress.”His hands waved her on. “Go, don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of it all.”

For just a moment she hesitated. The clock read fifteen till ten. Time to go. She leaned on her tiptoes and gave him a quick peck. “Okay, thanks. I’ll see you both tonight.”

The door shut quietly behind her and she stood in the hallway wishing she knew which suite Ryan was in so that she could tell him bye. But she had no clue and no time. She tried not to worry about that as she made her way down to the elevator.

As the doors slid home, she realized how nice that had been. How
normal
, as though it were an everyday occurrence for her to kiss the man ‘bye’ as she went to work knowing he was watching her son.

Taylor sighed. She was moving way too fast. Way too fast. This road could lead nowhere with a man like Gavin. Could it?