Hitched (25 page)

“Happy to hear it.” He spun her to face the truck and tucked himself back in, but didn’t try to zip over his painfully hard erection that would probably just get worse here in a minute.

“Brace yourself,” he whispered hoarsely in her ear.

She put her hands on the side of the truck, palms flat, a shiver going through her body.

He gathered her hair to one side, exposing her neck. He kissed along the sensitive skin behind her ear to the spot where it curved into her shoulder, then he bit down gently.

She gasped, her hips wiggling against his groin. He was already hard, but that friction made him suck in a quick breath. He settled one hand on her hip to keep her still. He was going to drive her crazy but had to keep his own cool.

The truck was parked so that anyone coming out the front door of The Hub could see them. They’d be able to see the way he slid his hand up under her shirt to palm her breast, the way she arched into him, the way her head fell back when he played with her nipple.

Of course, there weren’t many people in Bend who came to The Hub this early. Still…

“Someone could walk out at any minute,” he said gruffly as he tugged on her right nipple.

“I know,” she gasped. But she definitely didn’t try to pull away. Her breathing was ragged.

He lifted her shirt, exposing the left cup of her bra. The air wasn’t cool, but she shivered and Gavin grinned. He pulled the cup down and she moaned.

“The next person to come out will see all of this,” he reminded her, fueling the fantasy—that could be quite real at any moment. He rolled her nipple between thumb and forefinger.

She moaned again, louder.

“They’ll see how gorgeous you are, how much you love having my hands on you, how hot I make you.”

She looked toward the door, nearly panting.

“You really do love this, don’t you?” he asked, actually surprised.

She shook her head but she made no move to cover up.

“I didn’t know you were an exhibitionist.” He didn’t mind. He hadn’t known
he
was an exhibitionist either, but he suddenly didn’t care if a crowd gathered. He wouldn’t mind if the whole town saw this gorgeous, amazing woman pleasuring him and letting him have her body however he wanted it. He felt like a fucking king. Even more, he wanted the
world
to know that
he
was the guy she let close, let touch her, who brought out the lust in her, made her wild. Allie was coming apart in
his
hands. They could put that on national TV if they wanted to.

“I didn’t know I was either,” she whispered back to him. “But…”

He moved his free hand to the front of her jeans and unsnapped and unzipped. “I have to feel how hot you are.”

She moved her feet further apart and he smiled. He slipped his hand in front of her jeans, past the silk of her panties and down into the wet heat that proved she was right with him.

Her head dropped forward as he slid his finger in and out, then up over her clit.

“
Gavin
,” she groaned.

He slid his finger deep, stroking long and slow, pressing his erection against her butt. He felt her clench around his finger and knew she was thinking about being watched.

“Damn.” He stroked over her clit again and thumbed her nipple. “You want to have spectators, Al?” He growled. “’Cause I’ll take you back in there and lay you out on the pool table and fuck you in front of everyone if it will make you scream.”

Her muscles clenched again and she gasped. He had no idea she had this fantasy. Would
he
really do something like that? He wasn’t sure. It would definitely push his boundaries, but if it made Allie happy, he’d consider it.

“Maybe I should just call the guys out here?”

She pressed back against him, breathing faster.

“Those young guys could stand right over there on the porch,” he said huskily. “They would be able to see your nipple, see my fingers stroking you, see the way you spread your legs for me and the way you beg me for more.”

Her breathing grew choppy and he felt her grow hotter and wetter.

“They could watch me get you off just like this. Or,” he said against her neck, “I could strip you down, open my fly and thrust into you from behind. I could make you come around my cock instead while they stroke themselves, watching you lose your mind right here against my truck.”

Allie cried out, clenching around his fingers, her orgasm making her whole body tremble.

After she went completely stiff, she slumped forward, her forearms on the edge of the truck bed, her head on her arms, breathing hard.

Gavin slipped his hand from her jeans and pulled the cup of her bra to cover her before letting her shirt fall back into place.

“Home. Now,” he said. Jerking the truck door open and practically throwing her onto the seat before jogging to the driver’s side. They’d get his car later. He wasn’t letting her get more than an arm’s length away from him right now.

They didn’t make it even two miles. Gavin pulled over—well off the road so no one would think they’d had car trouble this time—and pulled Allie into his lap. After only a minute of fumbling with clothes, he pushed up into her.

She rode him until they came together seemingly moments later.

“Holy crap,” Allie said after she’d caught her breath.

He chuckled, stroking his hand over her hair. “Guess we’ll have to start over for the guys.”

She pulled back and grinned at him. “I appreciate the offer. But I’m good with keeping that just in my imagination.”

She climbed back into her own seat so they could have some space to readjust their clothing. As she’d needed to pull one entire leg of her jeans off, it took some time and squirming to get everything back in place.

Watching her bend and wiggle made Gavin eager to get home. It was about time he made love to her in his bed.

He shifted the truck into gear and said, “You know—we just chocolate frosting-ed the hell out of each other.”

She looked up from rebuttoning and grinned proudly. “And I started it.”

Gavin laughed. “You most certainly did.” He pulled the truck back onto the road. “In fact, I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to eat another piece of cake without getting an erection.”

But her laughter and the way she took his hand as they drove was what really got to him. That was better than sex
with
chocolate frosting.

And that was saying something.

They fell into a routine for the next few days that seemed just about perfect.

Allie slept late while Gavin got up and went into the clinic for patients. When she finally wandered downstairs she always found breakfast waiting for her—muffins, yogurt parfaits, and, of course, oatmeal. Lydia was never around—probably a good thing—but Allie had decided to make a truce with the girl. She went into the kitchen only for food Lydia had prepared specifically for her—she knew because there was always a piece of paper that said “Allie” beside the plate or bowl—and she tidied up when she left the room.

After breakfast she made a habit of taking a long walk on Gavin’s land. She explored hills—definitely no mountains—and the stream that ran through his property. The views were gorgeous, the air clean and the quiet and solitude restful.

Until one evening when Lydia mentioned the possibility of running across a bear.

Allie stayed a lot closer to the house after that.

At lunchtime she and Gavin would meet up in the kitchen. Lydia was generally there, preparing the salads and sandwiches and soups and starting dinner, so they didn’t have time to get too frisky. There were some stolen kisses, some sexy innuendos, even a few less-than-innocent touches when Lydia wasn’t looking, but the one time they tried to make a good excuse to go up to the bedroom together, Lydia put her foot down.

“If you’re going to have sex in the middle of the day, tell me so I can bump the patients back to two o’clock,” she said sternly.

“I don’t need two hours,” Gavin had protested with a grin.

Lydia had looked from him to Allie and said, “Sorry to hear that.”

After that, sex in the middle of the day was off the table. So to speak.

Allie spent the first afternoon around the house. But, predictably, that drove her crazy. So the next two days, she explored Bend. She checked out the bookstore, the antique shop, the sewing and craft shop, and the coffee shop/ice cream parlor.

She did yoga when she returned to the house and then read until Gavin was finished in the clinic. Then they spent the rest of the evening together—unless Gavin got called out to see a patient, which happened three of the five nights—and then made love until they fell asleep, exhausted and happy.

The following Tuesday, Allie awoke with a smile for the sixth morning in a row. She stared up at the ceiling. She’d never slept this much. Or this well. She hadn’t eaten this well or exercised this much or relaxed this much in…ever.

She stretched, feeling amazing.

That was followed by the jab of guilt, then worry, before she succeeded in stuffing those emotions down deep.

She couldn’t feel guilty about not being at home to make breakfast and organize everyone’s days. Lydia said Charlie and Danny were doing great and their dad was “fine”.

Fine.

She frowned. What did that mean exactly? Fine wasn’t bad. But it also wasn’t great.

She rolled and pushed herself out of bed. Her dad hadn’t called her. He could have easily gotten Gavin’s number from Charlie. He was clearly not worried and didn’t need to ask her how much soap to put in the washing machine or where he’d put the checkbook. Either he really was fine or he wasn’t washing clothes or paying bills.

Maybe he wasn’t calling because he hadn’t paid his phone bill and his service had been canceled.

Allie was still stubbornly avoiding her cell phone and the texts and voice mails waiting for her. Gavin said he’d told Hayley to let everyone know she was all right, and Lydia kept Charlie updated. That was good enough. Apparently for her father too.

Allie forced herself to calm down as she pulled her hair up and stepped into the shower. She wasn’t actually worried about the laundry or bills. If something happened, Charlie would ask Lydia and she’d tell him how to fix it.

Allie had walked into the kitchen two nights ago to find Lydia on the computer with Charlie. She was showing him and Danny how to put together a PowerPoint presentation.

She’d said a quick hi to her brothers and heard that Dad was “fine” again, before she completely lost their interest to the younger, cute, nonsister girl in the room.

So Lydia could take care of whatever they needed.

That
was fine.

Kind of.

Trying to come up with something that Lydia couldn’t coach her intelligent-in-spite-of-how-they-act-brothers in, she almost ran the girl over.

Lydia was standing at the bottom of the stairs—did she have Allie under video surveillance or something?—holding a plate.

Allie stopped on the bottom step, literally unable to pass.

She couldn’t believe Lydia and Charlie had started up a friendship. Or whatever it was. But, strangely, since learning they were talking and that he had a new job, Allie realized she wasn’t really worried about her brothers. She was—
annoyed
she supposed was the best term—that they seemed to suddenly need someone they barely knew more than they needed their own sister. But there was something to be said for having the attention of a non-relative girl their age. Who was cute. Even when she wasn’t smiling. Of course, Allie had noticed that Lydia smiled a lot when she was on the computer with Charlie.

Truthfully, though, it was nice that someone was keeping track of them. And it felt nice for it not to be her.

“What’s this?” Allie indicated the plate.

“Spinach, mushroom and Swiss omelet.”

Allie’s stomach growled on cue. She checked out the breakfast. There was a side of fruit—oranges, grapes and strawberries—and a toasted English muffin too.

Allie crossed her arms. If Lydia got her all excited about the food, then said it wasn’t for Allie, she might have to smack her.

“Sounds good.”

Lydia handed her the plate. “Here.”

“Why so nice this morning?” But Allie took the plate, then stepped up two steps, out of Lydia’s reach.

“Gavin’s upset.”

Allie was prepared for a smart-ass comment, so it took her a second to process Lydia’s words. “Upset?”

Lydia nodded, looking worried. Not annoyed, not bored, not irritated, not resigned. Worried.

“What’s he upset about? And what does that have to do with my breakfast?”

The food Lydia left her every morning was delicious, but this was beyond anything she’d done so far.

“He got a call this morning,” Lydia said.

Was he upset
at
Lydia? If Lydia was kissing up to Allie, hoping she’d put in a good word, it was probably too little too late. Still, Allie would hear her out.

“You need to talk to him,” Lydia added.