Gavin: Pure Passion (Hamptons Book 1) (17 page)

There’s a loud knock on the door the exact second I cry out, “I’m coming!”

With a last thrust, he empties himself into me with a loud moan that I follow suit with a moment after.

We lie there for a moment, breathing hard, as there’s another knock. “Room service!”

“Just a minute!” Gavin shouts, and then kisses the tip of my nose and detaches himself from me. “I think that’s our food. Do you want to go to the bedroom meanwhile?”

“I . . . I guess that’d be better, huh?”

He nods hastily and helps me get up, then he hands me a blanket from the arm of his chair and wraps it around me.

The knocking becomes more insistent.

“Jeez, just a minute!” Gavin growls, pulling on his boxers. He goes to the door while I retreat to the bedroom. “If you ever knock like that again, I’m going to make a complaint,” I hear Gavin say, which is followed up by an apology from the hotel employee. Finally he comes into the bedroom with the serving cart. “I’ve decided spontaneously that we’ll be eating here,” Gavin tells me with a grin and sits down next to me.

“OK.” I smile.

After our meal we lie in bed, snuggling up against each other and watching TV. We’re spooning; Gavin is the big spoon with his arms around me. He strokes my stomach and breathes light kisses onto my neck, which make me shiver. He tells me with a chuckle, “If you want to sweep a woman off her feet, all you have to do is kiss her neck.”

I giggle and turn around to face him. “Was that what you were trying for?”

He nods gravely and then gives me an audacious little grin that makes his eyes sparkle.

“You can do that without kissing my neck,” I reply with a smile.

His lips cover mine with a gentle kiss, but I pull back. “What’s wrong?” he asks.

“Would you hold me? I’d . . . like to cuddle,” I whisper.

He pulls me as close as possible. I lay my head under his chin; his large hands stroke my back. “Shall we rehearse again tomorrow morning?”

“I need to go home early tomorrow, I promised Pax.” After deciding to spend the night here, I called Pax again to let him know. Luckily, he didn’t seem upset.

“But we could get up early and do another run-through, couldn’t we?”

I sigh, giving in. “OK. But only one new lift, not two, all right?”

“I can live with that.”

And above all, we can prove to my dear colleagues that way that you didn’t drop Julie on purpose,
I think, but I don’t say it out loud. That would only upset Gavin.

He places a little kiss on my forehead as I yawn. “Are you tired?”

“It was a long day.”

“Then we should put you in one of my shirts and go to sleep.” He lets me go with a sweeping motion and walks over to his closet to grab a shirt.

“How long will you be here this time?” I ask while I strip down to my undies.

“Until Sunday, how about you?”

“I’m driving back to the Hamptons tomorrow night, because I’m invited to a party.”

“Sounds exciting.” He hands me the shirt as I’m taking off my bra.

“Thanks.” I pull it on and lie back down. “I wonder how it’s going to be.”

“Are you going with somebody?”

“Yeah, I am.”

“Paxton?” he inquires in a hard voice.

“Yes, I’m going there with Paxton since the party is being hosted by one of our former classmates. He has a club on the beach, and that’s where it’s going to be.”

“So it’s an open party?”

“Yeah, I assume so.”

“Would you mind if I come?”

I take a deep breath. “I don’t know if you’d like it.”

“Why not? I could ask the guys to come, that’d be fun,” he says.

I manage a smile. “There will be lots of women there stalking you.”

“I can deal with that.”

“What about me?” I say, risking being a little pushy.

“Lane, I won’t be flirting, all right?”

“I’m not jealous.” I grin. “It’s just that the two of us should probably show up separately because this thing between us could go public otherwise.”

“Would it bother you if people knew that we’re a couple?” he inquires skeptically.

“No, but I’d like to keep it out of the dance show, we can make it official after that.”

He sighs deeply. “OK.”

“So we’ll act completely normal in public. It would be best if you acted the way you usually do, which means you’ll be meeting women so nobody suspects me,” I whisper sadly.

Gavin raises an eyebrow in skepticism, looking at me as if I’d just slapped him. “You’re asking me to cheat on you?”

“No, I’m not asking anything. I just don’t want people to get suspicious.”

“Fine, but I won’t touch any of those women, should I date them, and I’ll meet you afterward, understood?”

I give a quick nod. “Loud and clear.”

After he’s taken off all but his shorts, he lies down with me and pulls me into his arms. “Sleep well, Dancing Queen.”

“You, too, babe.”

He kisses the top of my head. “The next few weeks will be hard.”

“We’ll get through it,” I answer with a yawn and close my eyes.

Saturday night. The show has started, and the two hosts are announcing our dance. We’re the fourth couple to perform. They’re showing our intro video with the scenes of when we “first met” and had our first lesson. The audience laughs as he steps on my toes and I pull a face as though he’d chewed with his mouth open right next to my ear. While the audience is watching the clip, we take up our positions on the dance floor.

“Ladies and gentlemen, here are Gavin McLeod and Madeleine Dubois, dancing a rumba,” the announcer introduces us before the music begins. I’m standing in front of the jury, acting as though I’m crying bitterly. Luckily I can act well enough to not look like a maniac.

Gavin whirls me around and pulls me onto the dance floor. Then, with another spin, he peels off my trench coat and peels off his own during the next spin. We changed the dance a little just this morning, but it’s working fantastically.

At the end of our dance, which went perfectly smoothly, he tries to kiss me, just like we planned. Just before our lips touch, or actually they even brush lightly, I pull back from him and run away.

The audience claps and I return with a smile. I approach Gavin, who holds out his hand to take mine and walks toward the jury’s seats with me.

“Gavin and Madeleine, you look happy,” Xander Goodrem, who hosts the show, tells us. “How did Gavin behave during practice, Madeleine? Did he step on your toes at all?”

I’m smiling as I’m handed the mic. “A few times, but I had him work extrahard to make up for it.”

“Sounds like she was rough on you,” Xander tells Gavin with a wink, which makes him laugh.

“She had me practice hard, but I’m very glad, because I want to get into the next round, too,” Gavin replies, amused, but it’s still audible in his voice that the dance was exhausting for him.

“Well, I think the two of you danced great. But let’s hear what the jury has to say,” Xander says, turning to them. “Candice, your opinion, please.”

Candice is smiling. “I have to say, you’ve improved vastly since the last show, Gavin. You and Madeleine danced well together, and your feet moved beautifully. You do have to work on that hip motion a bit, though.”

Gavin laughs quietly. “Madeleine had a tough time with that already, but I’ll try my best.”

After that come the other jurors, and even the most feared one, Aileen Rocksten, gives us good feedback.

“Thanks to the jury! The two of you can go upstairs now,” Xander says, turning to face us.

Gavin reaches for my hand before we go upstairs together. “That wasn’t so bad.”

“Still, we’ll have to work on those hips,” I tease him as we’re climbing the stairs to reach LaToya, the other host.

“Hi, guys,” she greets us. “You danced beautifully!”

“Thank you,” Gavin replies, beaming.

“And how was it for you to be dancing with one of the currently most-wanted single men, Madeleine?” she asks me.

“It was fantastic,” I answer with a grin. “I didn’t even know who he was until this show began, but we had a lot of fun rehearsing, and I hope we will in the future, too.”

She giggles, which sounds artificial. “Well, let’s see how many points the jury gives you.”

“George Cavendish,” we hear the announcer’s voice say, and he lifts a sign with the number nine on it.

“Candice Fulton.” She gives us a ten.

“Perry Trammors, your points, please.” He, too, shows us a ten, which already makes Gavin whoop out loud. In the last two shows, he only got sixes and sevens. “Aileen Rocksten, your points, please.” She shows us an eight, which by her standards is pretty generous.

“Oh my goodness! According to the jury, you’re the best couple so far!” LaToya cries out.

Gavin and I hug each other.

“But the audience still has to call in for you guys, so it’s up to you now, Gavin.”

“Umm, yeah,” he says into the mic. “I’d like to stay on the show for a while longer, and I hope you’ll give me another chance so I can show a fast dance next week. Oh please, please, call for us, we’re number four!”

“You heard it, ladies and gentlemen, give a call for them if you want to see them out on the floor again.” She smiles at the camera. “And after a commercial break, we’ll be seeing Madeleine Dubois and Jonah Quincy on the dance floor, since Madeleine is replacing the late Brooke Thompson.”

I take a deep breath as the show’s music starts playing and the cameras aren’t rolling for a moment. “I need to get changed,” I say, turning to Gavin.

“Good luck,” he says quietly and lets go of my hand. I take a hidden hallway to the makeup room, where they quickly put my hair in a loose bun and change my makeup.

“Lane, are you ready?” Jonah has also just entered the makeup room.

I’m getting dressed behind a folding screen.

“Almost.”

“We need to be out there in two minutes,” he reminds me.

“I just need to slip on my shoes,” I reply. My shoes are a hybrid of ballet slippers and normal dancing shoes. The toes make up the ballet part, but they have a one-and-a-half-inch heel. “Done!” I call after a moment, and run toward the studio with Jonah.

The music begins just as we step onto the dance floor. We position ourselves next to Xander. I’m standing diagonally in front of Jonah, and I’m holding the hand he’s wrapped around my torso.

“The winner of the last season, Brooke Thompson, died tragically three months ago, which is why today’s show is being dedicated to her. Here at my side are Madeleine Dubois and Jonah Quincy, who were her best friends,” Xander says.

I bite my lower lip to get a grip on myself and not start sobbing.

“We’ve compiled a few of her best scenes to give you an idea of Brooke’s career on
Celebrity Dance Hall
.”

I raise my eyes to the big screen, on which her name has appeared. It also says
1991–2014
. I clench my jaw as Brooke appears. “Hey, my name is Brooke Thompson, and I’ll be performing on
Celebrity Dance Hall
with Russell Conners. We’re on the way to his place right now so we can meet him.” She smiles at the camera. There’s a cut to one of her dances with Russell, a broken tango, which is being danced to “Bust Your Windows”
in a style similar to the movie
Step Up 3
. You can see her passion for the dance in each of her steps. Another cut. “You’re supposed to hold me, hold me!” she says, laughing as the lift goes completely awry and she falls on top of Russell. Then there’s a last cut to the final show of the last season. “Brooke, is there something you’d like to say to us?” LaToya asks her.

“It was great, and I hope I’ll be on the show again next time, because this is honestly so much fun. It also means I get to spend even more time with my best friend Madeleine, who is just as passionate a dancer as I am.” She’s barely finished talking when I walk over and hug her. “Love ya, Maddy-Lane,” you can hear her whisper before the video ends. There are tears in my eyes.

“You can do this,” Jonah whispers to me as we’re standing in the dark, waiting for our dance to be announced. He backs up a few steps, leaving me alone by the ballet barre that’s standing out on the floor as a prop. I lay my hand on the polished wood.