Gavin: Pure Passion (Hamptons Book 1) (22 page)

“No idea, probably still out dropping off Mikayla at her parents’ place, then she’ll be back,” Holly answers.

“Thally, could you bring the Jell-O shots outside?” Camille asks.

“Already? Why?” she replies.

“Because maybe someone wants one?”

So now I know, it’s no ordinary Jell-O, it’s made with alcohol.

“Cami, we’re only celebrating tonight, nobody should get wasted yet,” she tells her, chuckling.

Cami rolls her eyes. “There’s ice outside and no more space in the fridge, so please do it.”

“All right, but only for you,” Thally tells her, amused, and slips off her stool.

“Can I help in some way?” I inquire. “I’m feeling kind of useless here.”

“You can help me with the salad if you’d like,” Dale answers, getting out another cutting board and knife from a cupboard.

“Sure.” I let her hand me everything, starting to get my mind off the conversation about Gavin’s crazy fans. Even though I don’t know these girls, they seem pretty nice.

“Is Clayton coming, too?” Hailey asks.

“Thierry invited him, but he said he has work to do,” Holly says, slathering some meat in marinade.

“Patty!” somebody calls out.

“Shai’s here,” Cami announces with amusement.

“Oh, shut up, Rough!” we can hear somebody saying, probably Shai.

A guy laughs and says, “They’re in the kitchen.”

A young woman with shoulder-length curls comes into the kitchen. “Hiyaaa, sisters!”

We’re sitting outside together when we hear Delsin laugh loudly. “I can’t believe it, she’s seriously trying to tackle him . . . Come on, Faith, I want to see you tackle that grizzly!” he calls out.

“Yeah, in a sec!” she replies. “I’m still practicing!”

Delsin watches them for a while. “Give it all you got, Faith!”

“Go, Faith!” a girl standing next to Delsin with dark brown hair calls out. She looks a lot like him, which is why I assume she’s his sister.

I stay seated since all the space by the railing is taken up after everybody went to join Delsin, and gaze at their backs. The guys are all pretty muscular, which makes me wonder if that’s the standard for Miami men. What surprises me even more, though, is how different their girlfriends are. Short, tall, chubby, skinny. I’m not superficial, but I thought guys with those looks would be. I guess I was wrong about that.

After everybody sits down after cheering for Faith, Hailey, who was originally sitting next to me, and Gavin switch places. “Why didn’t you tell me about those threats you got?” he asks me quietly.

I stare at him in shock. “Who . . . ?”

“Thally’s worried about you and told me before. Why won’t you talk to me about this?” he repeats.

“Could we talk about this later? I don’t want the others to notice,” I reply in a decisive whisper.

“OK, but we’re definitely talking about this,” Gavin replies just as seriously. “Alexis asked me if we’re together.”

“What did you tell him?”

“The truth, but he isn’t telling anybody until we decide to tell Linden and Mike, too.”

I nod slowly. “OK.”

The afternoon and evening with Thalia’s friends was a lot of fun. I really like her a lot. There was a lot to laugh about because Shailene and Delsin were constantly teasing each other. Now I’m sitting in Linden’s sports car with Gavin. He still wants to talk, which is why we haven’t gone inside yet. I feel like I’m trapped, because he’s staring at me critically.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I didn’t want you to worry,” I answer sheepishly, avoiding his eyes.

“Are you crazy? You’re my girlfriend. If there’s anybody allowed to worry about you, that would be me. How bad is it?” he wants to know.

I take a deep breath. “Death threats,” I mumble.

“What?” he cries, shocked.

I nod slowly. “First they were only saying I’d regret it, then that they’d finish me, and finally they started sending threats that they’d kill me and dump me in the Hudson River if I keep making passes at you.”

“My God, we need to tell the police!”

“They won’t do anything. It was the same with Brooke, and they didn’t help her. Now my best friend is dead because those idiots drove her to suicide!” I sniff.

Gavin sighs heavily. “You should have talked to me. I’m going to talk to Joel so he publishes a news release about these incidents, and you don’t leave the house without a bodyguard anymore. I don’t want anything happening to you. How did you get the messages?”

“Via my Facebook page, but I think they’re using fake accounts; that kind of person wouldn’t use their real one,” I reply quietly.

“Did you have the profiles flagged? Facebook takes care of those things when you notify them.”

“No, all I did was delete the app from my phone so I could have some peace and quiet.”

“What were those women’s names?”

“They had names like Downstair Alley Fan or Erica McLeod and stuff like that. Those gals really sounded pretty fanatic to me. It might also just be a dumb, childish prank, which is why I don’t want to deal with this any longer.”

“You have to do something, though, or it’s never going to stop. Azer’s girlfriend suffered from it, too, which is why she left him, and goddammit, I’m not about to lose you to those freaks!” he yells so loudly that he makes me jump.

“Fine, when we’re back in New York, I’ll go straight to the police,” I reply sheepishly.

I’m not angry at Thalia for telling Gavin. I’m angrier at myself for not telling him.

He bends over and pulls me onto his lap so I’m straddling him, stuck between him and the steering wheel. “I don’t want anything to happen to you,” he murmurs, tilting his seat back.

“I’m going to be fine.”

“How do you know? If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that you can’t underestimate that kind of person. They live in their own worlds, giving in to their fantasies and obsessing so much that they finally think of it as reality,” he explains.

I brush my lips against his to silence him; he isn’t the only one this is getting to. It’s bothering me just as much, probably even more because it’s about me.

But he pushes me away. “I won’t be distracted by kisses now,” he tells me with determination.

“So why did you pull me onto your lap, then?”

“Because this time I’m the one who wants to cuddle you,” Gavin answers in a husky voice.

My lips stretch into a wide smile. “It’s much nicer in bed, though.”

“I know, but . . . the guys don’t know yet.”

“So? Then they’ll notice that way. Short and painless,” I reply, opening the door to climb out of the car. I manage, but without looking particularly ladylike.

“Nice thong,” Gavin tells me with a chuckle, shoving his hand under my skirt.

“Thank you.” I put some distance between myself and the car so he doesn’t start fondling me in the middle of the garage.

“Your place or mine?”

I turn around and tilt my head. “Whose bed is bigger?”

“They’re both king-size, so it won’t matter.”

I think for a moment, and then I walk over and hold out my hands to him. “We’ll take your bed, then. Looks much dirtier if I come stumbling out of your room than if you come out of mine.” My giggles are thrown back by the walls, which makes them sound kind of insane.

Gavin gets out of the car and locks it. “I guess I should bring my dirty girl to bed, then.” He grins at me mischievously before he grabs me and picks me up.

“Sure you can get up the stairs like this?”

“I lift two hundred pounds every day, I think I’ll manage.”

“Gee, thanks.” I lay my head on his shoulder.

“What I wanted to say was, you’re light as a feather.”

“Suuure, you think I’m fat, admit it,” I reply, amused.

“You women always see hidden messages where there aren’t any. All that matters is having the guy get the dirty end of the stick.”

“Honor where honor is due,” I tease him, which makes him act like he’s about to drop me. I wrap my arms around his neck while he’s still laughing. “You dick!”

“Whoa, whoa, I can still drop you,” he threatens jokingly.

“Oh no you wouldn’t,” I reply.

“Sure I would.” Gavin carries me upstairs to his bedroom, where he drops me on his bed. “See, I’d drop you.”

I stifle a laugh as he sits down next to me. “I need my stuff.”

Gavin gives me a confused look. “What stuff?”

I cock an eyebrow. “My toothbrush and my nightie?” I ask him purposefully, giving him a charming smile. I hope he doesn’t realize it’s an escape attempt.

“Oh, yeah . . . Toothbrushes are in the bathroom cabinet, and I can lend you one of my shirts for sleeping.”

“One would almost think you were planning for me to spend the night here,” I state drily.

“No, Mrs. Atkins did.” Gavin chuckles, then bends over me to kiss my lips. “And now that you’re here I’m not about to let you leave again; I know full well you wouldn’t come back, because you’re scared the guys could see you.”

Dammit, am I that easy to read?
I ask first myself and then him.

“I can read you like a book,” Gavin replies with a smile. My look must have betrayed my astonishment, because he starts laughing. “You don’t believe me, huh?”

“Not really, or you would have known about the . . . threats earlier,” I whisper.

Gavin sits up quickly, leaning his elbows on his knees and his head on his fists. “That’s true, but sometimes even the best novels are hard to understand.”

I crawl after him and kneel behind his back, wrapping my arms around him. “I’m sorry.”

He puts his hand on mine and strokes it with his thumb. “Am I going to lose you if they don’t stop?” he asks very quietly.

His question shocks me, but even though I’ve thought about leaving him for my own safety, I’m not going to. Gavin is the first guy who has ever been able to make my heart race and my blood boil with a single look. “No,” I breathe into his ear, kissing the sensitive skin under it. Then I make a path of kisses to reach his lips, twisting around his body. I lay my free hand against his cheek and pull him gently toward me, covering his lips with mine. Gavin growls softly as I nibble on his lower lip. The sound zooms straight to my abdomen, making it clench with desire. As our lips fuse together, I slide to the side a little, pushing him down onto his back. I sit down on his lap, rubbing against the bump forming in his jeans, and pulling up his shirt. Then I detach my lips from his, brushing them over his stubbly chin, following a path over his neck and down.

“What’s this, babe?” he murmurs.

“Just relax,” I reply with a smile, following my invisible path down his chest.

“That’s kind of hard when your lips are all over me like this.”

“Just enjoy it,” I command quietly but determinedly.

“Yes, ma’am,” he says, stroking my hair and removing the hair band so it tumbles over my shoulders.

As my lips trace the valley between his extremely muscular pecs, Gavin tickles the back of my neck. My fingers go lower to find the waistband of his jeans and open the button. I slide down until I’m sitting on his thighs, letting my tongue circle his belly button.

Gavin’s wordless moan is like music in my ears. It also turns me on enough to go further. I slide off his lap, get up to stand in front of him, and pull down his jeans and underwear all together. He lifts his head to watch me as I pull the straps of the dress off my shoulders and let it fall to the ground. Now only in underwear, I kneel down between his legs, kissing my way up the inside of his right thigh until I reach his penis.

“Lane,” he moans in one long sound as the tip of my tongue slides up his cock. He moans even louder as my lips surround his tip and start sucking. I lay my hands on his tense thighs. Gavin closes his eyes and grabs onto the sheets as I look up at him.

As I start using my tongue, he lets out a gasp, arching his back. I can taste the salty drop of his lust, which makes me move up and down even faster. “Oh my God, babe,” he murmurs, starting to push into my mouth gently. Meanwhile, I’m giving him some pressure with my lips, letting him feel the tip of my tongue and even my teeth. I’m moving back and forth, too. “Babe, I’m about to come,” he moans, and I can feel him holding back. I keep going because I want him to finally give in.