Chapter Sixteen

Kate

"Gavin!" I squeal when I see him walking in the restaurant. One of my crew guys just left so Gavin snuck in while the door was open. "What are you doing here?" I run up to him.

He gives me a hug. "I wanted to surprise you and come see your place." He kisses me, then takes a moment to look around. "It looks awesome, Kate. It looks ready to open."

"It's not quite ready but it's getting there." I hug him again. "I'm so happy you're here. How did you get off so early? It's not even five."

"Jett wasn't—I mean, Peter was out of the office today with Jett. I thought with the boss gone, it'd be a good time to leave early."

I step back. "So where were you working today? At your regular job or for Jett?"

"My regular job. Why?"

He laughed a little when he said it, which is what he does when he's nervous. He laughs at stuff that's not funny. So is he lying to me? Is that why he's nervous?

"You said Jett wasn't there, so I thought that meant you were working at the campaign office today."

"No. So anyway, do you want to eat an early dinner so we have more time at home? Or do you have stuff you need to finish here?"

"I need to finish some stuff before we go, but you can hang out here in the dining area. The guys aren't working out here today so it'll be quiet."

He puts his arms around my waist and smiles. "Why don't you give me something to do? Need any screws tightened? Nails hammered?"

I laugh. "For some reason, I can't see you doing that, at least not without landing yourself in the emergency room."

"Hey!" he says, acting offended. "I can tighten a screw or hammer a nail without hurting myself."

"Are you sure? Because I seem to recall you having to put ice on at last two swollen fingers after you hit them with the hammer trying to hang a clock on the wall." I struggle not to laugh as I remember that day. He was trying to be all manly, hammering the nail in, but it hit a stud in the wall so he went to hit the nail harder and hit his hand instead.

"It was a faulty hammer," he says.

I smile. "Oh. So it was the hammer's fault."

"Well, obviously. How else would you explain it? I wouldn't purposely hit my hand."

"No, of course not." I try not to laugh but can't hold it in.

He laughs too and hugs me to his chest. "Please don't ever tell anyone about that. It's our secret, okay?"

"Okay. But I am going to remind you of it every time you get the urge to do home improvement projects."

"Gavin." Henry appears from the kitchen. He walks up to us. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see my girl." He holds me at his side and kisses my cheek. "And see how the restaurant's coming along."

Henry grins. "Looks good, doesn't it?"

"Looks great."

"Thanks to Henry," I say. "If it weren't for him, it wouldn't look this good, and it definitely wouldn't be ready for the opening."

"You give me far too much credit," he says. "So are you two heading out for the night?"

"That's the plan," Gavin says. "You think you can handle things here while I steal her away?"

"Of course." He waves us away. "Get out of here. Go have some fun."

"I have some things to do before we go," I say.

"They can wait until tomorrow." Henry goes to the door and opens it. "Go. It's an order."

"I have to get my purse. I'll be right back." I hurry to the kitchen and get my purse from the drawer. One of the painters stops me with a question. I give him an answer, then tell him Henry's in charge while I'm gone.

When I get back to the dining room, I see Henry and Gavin talking. They both look serious. Gavin must've told him about Niles cheating on Celeste.

Gavin smiles when he sees me. "Ready to go?"

He takes me to a restaurant we went to when we were first dating. It's nothing fancy but the food is good and it reminds of the early months of our relationship, back when everything felt easy and uncomplicated and we spent hours talking and having sex. Now things seem harder, more complicated, and we haven't had sex in over a week. We almost never talk anymore, and when we do I feel like Gavin isn't telling me everything. I feel like he's keeping secrets from me. I can't prove it but my gut tells me he's hiding something.

This isn't us. We don't keep secrets. We tell each other everything. Having to keep this secret about his dad's involvement with that group is killing me. I'm only doing it because my dad's convinced me that telling Gavin could get him, or both of us, hurt.

"What'd you think?" Gavin asks when we're back at the apartment.

"About dinner? It was great! It's fun to go back to our old hangouts."

"Last year seems like forever ago."

"I know." I drop my purse on the kitchen counter. "We were just kids back then. Now we're fully functioning adults, with jobs and a business and our own apartment."

He smiles. "Yeah. We're so old now."

I laugh. "You know what I mean."

He pulls me toward him and kisses me. "I've missed you," he whispers over my mouth.

"I've missed you too," I whisper back.

He kisses the side of my neck up to my ear. "I want you so bad right now."

"Then what are you waiting for?" I ask.

"I'm trying to take it slow." He slides his lips back down my neck. "I don't want it to be over quick."

"I don't think I can wait for slow." I rub my hand over the front of his pants. "I don't think you can either."

He groans as I continue to touch him. "You're right. I can't."

He lifts me up and I curl my arms and legs around him, laughing as he races us down the hall to our room. We peel off our clothes and get into bed. Gavin is over me, holding my wrists above my head, pinning me to the mattress as he kisses my neck, then down my chest. When he reaches my breast, I arch back, moaning in pleasure. It feels like forever since he's touched me like this, kissed me, been inside me.

I feel his erection against my inner thigh and try to get it closer to where I want it.

"Kate," he scolds in a deep voice.

"C'mon. Stop teasing me."

His muscular legs stay firmly in place, preventing me from moving. "You can have it when I say so."

I huff. "You're mean."

He chuckles. "I'm not mean. I'm making sure it's good for you."

"It's always good."

"Then I'm making sure it's great." He kisses me. "Unbelievable. Amazing." He continues to tease me, getting closer and closer to my opening.

"Stop teasing," I whisper, smiling.

"Why would I stop?" he breathes into my ear, "when I know how much you love it?"

My eyes are closed, my hands still held captive above my head. I try to lift my hips but I can't. His body has me pinned to the bed. I have no control. Gavin's the one in charge and I like it. After weeks of directing people and planning and making decisions, it feels good to just let everything go and let someone else take over, especially when that someone is Gavin.

He finally moves into place and I let out a sigh of relief as he slides inside me.

"God, you feel good," he says as he sinks deeper. His warm body presses against mine and I run my hands along his backside, feeling his tight ass. I love his body. Before Gavin, I dated guys with big muscles, and guys who were lean but not really muscular. Gavin's in-between. The perfect mix of muscular and lean.

He moves in a slow and steady rhythm and I can tell he's working hard to hold back.

"You better hurry up," I tell him. "I want to do this a few more times."

"Yeah, okay," he says with a laugh.

"I'm serious." I wait for him to look at me. "It's early, and we haven't done it for over a week. I was hoping to do this at least two more times tonight."

"We haven't done it that much in months."

"Since before we moved into together," I remind him, because I think we both forgot what we used to be like. But going to that restaurant tonight reminded me, and now I want it to be like that again. I want the passion back in our relationship. I want to want Gavin so bad that I'm willing to miss sleep over it, no matter how tired I am.

"God, I love you," he says as he thrusts in and out of me, faster this time.

I smile and close my eyes, preparing for the release. I can feel it building. It's been building this whole time, my body desperate to let go. When it finally comes, it's more powerful than I remember, probably because Gavin teased me for so long.

He comes shortly after, and then I lie in his arms, stroking his chest as he runs his hand up and down my back.

"I miss this," I say.

"I do too." He kisses my head.

"Something has to change. We can't keep doing this. Not seeing each other. Not talking. It isn't right, Gavin. That's not us."

"I know. I just don't know how to change it right now. I'm busy with work and you're busy at the restaurant. I think we just need to give it time. Things will calm down eventually."

"But what if they don't? What if they give you more responsibility at your job and you end up working even more? And what if the restaurant takes off and I have to spend all my time there?"

"If that happens, then we'll talk about it and find a solution."

"Or we'll get so into our work that we won't take time to talk and we'll grow apart."

"That's not gonna happen. We're talking about it now, right? So that's good. Other couples would do as you said and not take time to talk about it. But we both recognized there's a problem and now we're talking about it."

"Talking about it isn't fixing it."

"There's nothing to fix. We just need to get through the next few weeks and then things will get better. I have to adjust to working two different jobs and you have to adjust to running a business. As long as we continue to support each other and check in with each other, we'll make it through this." He tugs me closer. "Let's not worry about it. Let's take a quick nap and do it again."

I lift my head up and kiss him. "Could we skip the nap?"

He smiles. "I love you. And yes, we can skip the nap."

***

The next morning, I wake up at six and smile when I realize Gavin is still here. I can hear him in the kitchen. I get up and slip on one of his t-shirts and follow my nose to the smell of coffee and cinnamon rolls.

"Are you baking?" I ask as I come up behind him and hug him. He's dressed for work in his shirt and tie.

He turns around and kisses me. "I'm not sure if it's considered baking. The cinnamon rolls are from a can. I went out and got them this morning, along with some milk. We were out. We need to get groceries tonight."

"I know. I've been eating at the restaurant and you haven't been home so I haven't bothered going to the store."

The oven buzzes and he takes the rolls out.

"I'll do the frosting," I say, taking a spatula from the drawer. "It's nice having you here in the morning. I've missed having breakfast with you."

"Unfortunately I can't do it every day." He gets a mug from the cabinet and pours me some coffee. "With the commute, I'd never get to work on time if I slept this late every day."

"Are you going to get in trouble for being late today?"

"Probably not. My boss is still out of the office." He sits down next to me. "So what's new in your life?"

I laugh as I hand him a cinnamon roll. "Well, the restaurant is opening soon, but you already know that." I pause to think. "Oh. These men stopped by yesterday. They were older men in suits so I assumed they were investors but they weren't."

"Who were they?"

"I'm not sure. They said they were acquaintances of Mr. Walcott, but they never explained what that meant."

"Did they say why they stopped by?"

"They said they wanted to see how the restaurant was coming along. But if they're not investors, I don't know why they'd care. It was weird."

"Why'd you let them inside?"

"I didn't. They just let themselves in. One of the workers must've left the door open."

Gavin's phone alarm dings. "Shit, it's getting late. I gotta go. I have a meeting this morning." He gives me a kiss. "Have a good day."

"I will." I watch him walk to the door. "I'm afraid to ask what time you'll be home."

"I'll call you later and let you know," he says as he leaves.

That's not the answer I wanted. I was hoping he'd say he'd be home at six, which is when he used to get home. Saying he'll call means he'll be home late again.

After the talk we had, I thought Gavin would try to stop working so much but it sounds like that's not going to happen. I guess I'll work late too then.

Last night I was feeling hopeful, but now I feel like we're going back to where we were before, working so much we never seeing each other.

My phone rings. It's Mr. Walcott, probably calling to see if the restaurant will be opening on time. He hasn't checked in with me for over a week, which is surprising, given how much money he's invested in the place.

"Hello, Mr. Walcott. We haven't talked for a while. How are you?"

"Hello, Kate. I'm sorry I haven't called. I was out of the country on business. I got back late last night. So how is the restaurant coming along?"

"Great! Everything's on schedule. We might even finish early, thanks to Gavin's grandfather. He's been helping out the past couple weeks."

"It's good to have family around when you need them."

Henry's technically not my family but I don't want to correct Walcott so I say, "Yeah. Henry's been great."

"So, Kate, I was calling because I wanted to let you know I enrolled you in a class at Moorhurst. The one you requested. The entrepreneur course."

"You did? But I thought it was too late to register."

"Not if you have the right connections, which I do, given my involvement there. And of course my generous donations make it rather easy for them to bend the rules when needed. Anyway, classes start the first week of September. You'll be getting an email from the college with more details."

I'm surprised he did this. He must really want me to take that class. Maybe he doesn't trust that I can run the restaurant without taking at least a few business classes.

"Thanks for your help," I tell him.

"I was happy to. And as promised, I'll pay for the class and any related expenses."

"That's very generous of you."

"It's all part of my investment in you, Kate. I truly believe you'll be a success."

"Speaking of investments, did you send some of your investors over to the check out restaurant yesterday?"

"Are you referring to the men who stopped by?"

"Yes. I didn't know who they were."

"They're not investors. Well, not directly. They're acquaintances of mine. In fact, you might know some of them. They've been to many of the parties that Carol has catered. Having worked for her, I'm sure you encountered those men at least a few times. Perhaps you just don't remember them."

Now that he said that, I think I do remember them. They did look familiar, but I thought that was because I'd seen them in Walcott's office.

"I don't remember meeting them before," I say, "but if they were at parties catered by Carol, then yes, I've probably seen them before."

"They didn't give you any trouble, did they?"

Trouble? What does he mean by that? What trouble would they give me?

"No. No trouble."

"Very good. Well, I should be going. I have a meeting to get to."

"Thanks again for enrolling me in that class."

"It was my pleasure. I'll check in with you again before the opening."

"Okay. Goodbye, Mr. Walcott."

I set my phone down, pick up my coffee, and take a sip.

Mr. Walcott makes me nervous, and not just because he's rich. He makes me nervous because I always feel like he's up to something but I don't know what. Like just now, he signed me up for that class without even telling me. What if I'd changed my mind? What if I decided I didn't have time?

Now I don't have a choice. I have to take that class. Mr. Walcott is expecting me to. He's practically making me do it. He was only supposed to be involved with the restaurant, but now I feel like he's encroaching on my personal life. I don't like that. I wanted to get some distance from Walcott but instead I feel like he's trying to get more involved in my life. A place he doesn't belong.