The Guarded Widow (17 page)

A slow grin spread over his face as he walked forward and grabbed her hand, forcefully hauling her up against him. His eyes darkened as he spoke in a dangerously low voice.

“I didn’t like how close he was to you. I don’t like to see or know of any man touching you,” Gavin explained, his tone deceptively calm. “Especially not, Masters. He’s had his eye on you from the start.”

Then he brought his mouth down upon hers. Viciously, as though staking claim to what was his.

A warm tingling started in her toes and slowly surged upward through her body. It never once registered that she should pull away. Instead, Olivia heatedly met his demands, sliding her hands up over his jacket, thrilled to feel the hard strength in his shoulders.

Longing to touch her, he shifted his own hands underneath her coat and skimmed them over the thin cotton covering her breasts. Her low sigh of approval nearly pushed him to his breaking point. Gavin knew he needed to gain control or he’d end up dragging her onto the hood of his truck.

So he shoved her away and turned his back to take a deep breath, trying to clamp down on the fierce desire raging within him.

“Olivia, you need to go into your house and leave me alone. I need a few minutes,” he ground out between clenched teeth.

She stared at him for a moment.

“You’d promised not touch or kiss me again,” she stated, coldly.

Gavin turned around to rake a scorching gaze over her.

“I promised not to touch you or kiss you while I was in your house. But we aren’t standing inside your house right now,” he said with a contemptuous smile.

She narrowed her eyes at him.

Smiling arrogantly, Gavin replied, “Besides, I didn’t feel you resisting.”

Angrily spinning on her heels, Olivia marched back into her house. She hated it when he was right.

The following morning Olivia never encountered him until she’d returned from the bus stop, which was Gavin’s intent. He’d decided it was best to hole up in his room for the remainder of the night. After mulling over the events of the previous evening, he eventually admitted to himself that he did overreact to Jeff Masters.

So he decided he owed Olivia an apology.

Again.

He found her sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee resting within the curved palm of her hand.

Lost in her own thoughts, she gazed silently out the sliding glass door.

“Good Morning,” he said, walking over to pour a cup of coffee.

She merely flicked him a split second glance before returning her gaze back to the outdoors again.

Gavin walked over and tugged a chair out to sit down. He sat facing her in silence for a few moments before finally speaking. Never once did she look his way, purposefully averted her gaze.

“I owe you another apology,” he told her, sheepishly.

Olivia finally looked at him, keeping her face void of any emotion.

“Gavin, I’ve never been so embarrassed in my entire life. Jeff Masters has been interested in me for years, since high school and I’ve always been able to handle him. Last night, when you came rampaging down the hall, the look in your eyes scared me. I was afraid you would seriously hurt him.”

Gavin sighed. It was his turn to stare out the sliding glass door.

“I’m going to be very honest with you, Olivia. I did want to hurt him. I didn’t like him holding you.” He paused a moment before he spoke again. “I want to be the only one to touch you.”

Hesitantly, she breathed out a quiet laugh.

“Well I’ve gathered that much, Gavin.”

As his deep blue eyes sought hers, regret shaded them.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know why I lose my head when it comes to you. I promise it won’t happen again. Never. Not anywhere.”

She offered him a soft smile. “I will hold you to that promise.”

Then she reached out, placing her hand over his as she confessed. “I believe I have feelings for you too, Gavin. I just don’t know what to do about them.”

She stood up and with an alluring smile, walked over to him.

“You know, I’m beginning to think I don’t want to hold you to that first promise you made me, your promise not to kiss me.” She ran a teasing fingertip along his jaw, giving him a sultry look before bending down to brush her lips ever so gently over his. “I definitely know I don’t want the not anywhere, never, clause applied to your first promise.”

Gavin grabbed her hands, drawing her down onto his lap.

“Olivia, don’t play with me,” he warned.

Her lashes lowered, sensually, as she gave him an enticing smile.

“Kiss me, Gavin. I’m inviting you too.”

He wrapped an arm around her waist, growling with pleasure. “I’m pleased to accept your invitation.”

Stunned by his desperation for her, she molded her body to his and completely poured herself into the kiss, making him groan aloud from sexual frustration.

She loved how it made her feel, the heady rush of sexual power from knowing he wanted only her.

Drowning, Gavin realized she had no intentions of ending their embrace and even though it went against every carnal instinct, he pulled away and held her at arms length.

“Olivia, I fully intend to respect your wishes regarding sex. But I can only take so much and you need to get off my lap, right now,” he told her and promptly dropped her onto a kitchen chair.

Walking briskly toward the front door, he yelled over his shoulder.

“I’m going for a run.” Then he shut the front door behind him.

Olivia, feeling shaky from the intensity of their kiss, dropped back against the chair, realizing she needed her own time to regroup.

Since Gavin was gone for the time being, Olivia decided to take an opportunity to sneak into the guest bedroom and search for the hidden safe. Her intentions were to get in and out, before he returned. Not wanting to risk the possibility of being discovered, she hurried up the staircase.

The guest room had originally served for years as Tom’s office and Jeff had specifically stated that he’d installed a hidden safe inside the office’s closet. But that doesn’t necessarily mean anything; she told herself, trying not to get her hopes up. Impatient to discover whether it was true or not, she hastily pushed aside Gavin’s clothes in order to view the left rear wall of the closet.

Sure enough, when she brushed her fingers over the plaster she could feel a slight texture difference. As per Jeff’s instructions, she swept her fingers up to the ceiling, found a small lever, and then forced it down. The wall sprang open, revealing a small safe nestled discreetly inside.

She stared at it. Once again facing the knowledge that the man she’d been married to for twelve years had been a man of many secrets and wondered what he would’ve used as a combination. Knowing Tom, at least as much as I thought I did, he probably would’ve used one of our birthdays; she mused and started with the boys’ birthdays.

She smiled with satisfaction when her fourth attempt unlocked the safe. But as the door loudly unbolted and the heavy door creaked open, she grimaced over the irony that it was her own birth date Tom had chosen for the combination. After inspecting the entire belly of the safe by running her fingers over every inch, she realized it was empty and was overcome by an overwhelming disappointment. She’d thought she’d finally be finding the answers she so desperately sought and was crushed to learn that once again she’d hit a dead end.

“What are you doing in here, Olivia?”

The sound of Gavin’s voice made her jump, hitting her head on the open safe door. She winced from pain and abruptly spun around, feeling like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. She hoped to jump out quickly, but accidentally entangled herself within some of his clothes. By the time she had wrenched herself free Gavin had closed the distance between them and now stood before her with narrowed eyes and sweat trickling down his face, blocking the exit out of the closet.

“I, well, I,” she stammered.

Annoyed by getting caught and feeling guilty about it, she stubbornly raised her chin. “This is my house, Gavin. I was looking for the safe Jeff told me about. I just found it, but I can’t believe it, it’s empty,” she said, looking up at him in exasperation.

Gavin yanked her out of the closet and walked her over to the edge of the bed.

“Sit down,” he instructed.

She glared at him, but complied. As she watched him walk over to the dresser and wrench open the top drawer, she realized why the safe was empty.

Gavin had gained access to it first.

“Masters spilled his guts after I threatened to knock the teeth out of his head. I found them last night,” he told her, lifting a thick overstuffed manila folder out of the drawer. “This is what your attacker wanted, Olivia. There are numerous copies of the fake insurance policies your late husband and his accomplice were selling. They must’ve been collecting the premiums from these policies and then sharing the proceeds for a number of years based on the dates recorded. I was planning on telling you about them today and then turning it all over to Ron, for processing.”

He cupped her face within his hand and rubbed his thumb over the lone tear which escaped down her cheek. “I’ll leave you alone to look over these by yourself.”

Olivia stopped his retreat by firmly placing her hand over his.

“Please wait to hand them over,” she pleaded in a devastated tone of voice. “Please wait until after the holidays and the anniversary of Tom’s death. This is going to turn our entire lives upside down again.”

Thoughtfully studying her, Gavin gazed into wide, pleading green eyes and knew instantly, that he’d never b
e able to deny her this request.

“Alright Olivia, we’ll deliver them to Ron on January first, together.”
Tears fell silently as she shook her head in agreement and then opened the
folder to peruse its contents.

Chapter Twelve

The final two weeks prior to Christmas literally flew by. As the boys were preparing for their last day of school before Christmas break, they were practically bouncing off the walls in anticipation.

Gavin loved it, their enthusiasm was contagious.

He returned from dropping them off at the bus stop, humming a Christmas carol, and had just closed the back door when the Olivia’s home telephone started ringing.

“Can you please answer the phone?” she called down from the second floor.

“Hello, this is the Jones’ residence,” he said, immediately recognizing the female caller and responding with affection clearly warming his voice.

“Mom, it’s so good to hear from you. How did you know where to reach me?” Surprised to hear his own mother on the line, Gavin didn’t notice Olivia approach and ask him who it was.

Noticing his pleased expression, she paused to listen curiously and was relieved to find out it was his mother. Funny, she’d never considered herself to be a jealous woman, but at the thought of another female seeking his attention she’d definitely recognized the ugly sensation. Feeling relief, Olivia smiled as he apologized for not calling for so long, then valiantly tried interrupting him when he’d informed his mother that he wouldn’t be home for Christmas this year. Not comfortable with his decision, Olivia tried to continue to verbally protest his choice not to return home until Gavin eventually lifted a finger to her lips and promptly pushed her out of the kitchen.

“We’ll discuss this later,” she grumbled to herself, and then angrily marched up to the boys’ bedrooms to finish putting away the laundry.

Upon hearing Gavin coming up the stairs, Olivia arched a brow as she hung up the last shirt. After shutting Luke and James’s closet door, she turned around and noticed him leaning against the doorway, watching her.

“That was my Mom on the phone,” he explained with the hint of a smile.

“I realized who it was when you called her Mom,” she sarcastically huffed out, trying to pass by him to leave the twins’ bedroom.

“I’m sorry I scooted you out of the kitchen. I could tell you were upset.”

He smothered a smile as he recalled the loud exaggerated sounds of her footsteps going up the staircase. There was never any second guessing if Olivia was angry.

Angling her chin, she looked him directly in the eyes.

“Please let me pass by you, Gavin. I’m not mad. I guess my feelings were just hurt. But as I put away the wash, I thought it over and realized I have no right to these feelings.”

He studied her, his expression now puzzled.

“I really don’t understand what it is you’re trying to say, Olivia.”

“I don’t want to talk about it, now please move out of my way,” she demanded and used both hands to give him a hard shove against his chest.

Gavin arched an eyebrow at her and grinned.

“Sorry Olivia, you’ll have to do better than that,” he said, taking her by the arm to bring her up against the rock hard wall of his chest.

I always have trouble thinking when he pulls me in like this, she thought as Gavin ran a hand up through her hair to gently tug her head back. His gaze never wavered as he lowered his lips down to meet hers.