Chapter Seventeen

"Your reward for meeting the parents," Gavin jokes as we walk into the lobby of the fancy, five-star hotel he booked for tonight. "And I'll take you anywhere you want for dinner." He turns me toward him and kisses me.

"Maybe we'll just stay in the room. Order room service."

He smiles. "I like how you think."

"Mr. Bishop?" A young woman wearing a suit, her hair in a tight bun, walks up to Gavin. "I'm Elsa Skiles, the hotel manager."

"Hi. We were just about to check in."

"About that. I'm terribly sorry but the room you booked was accidentally given to someone else. To correct our error, we've booked you in one of our penthouse suites."

"Oh. Okay. Sounds good."

"Your luggage is already up there. And here are your keys." She hands him a small envelope.

"Thanks," he tells her.

"Certainly." She smiles. "Enjoy your stay."

As she walks away, I say, "How did she know you?"

"She's probably seen me on TV at campaign events. Or maybe in the papers. I get photographed a lot."

"Your dad hasn't even been elected yet, and you still get all that press?"

"Yeah, but most people don't know me unless they follow politics. Or she might have looked me up online when I booked the room. Sometimes these fancy hotels do that so they know their guests before they arrive. It's all about personal service at places like this." He takes my hand. "C'mon. Let's go upstairs. Check out our suite."

"I'm surprised they'd give us a suite. They could've just given us a different room."

"I specifically requested a room that overlooks Central Park. I paid extra for it. I think that's why they were so accommodating. Or like I said, it could be because they know my dad."

"Well, it works out well for us."

We go up the elevator to the top floor. The room is gorgeous with big windows that look out at the city and the park. A king-sized bed covered in white linens sits in the middle of the room, and off to the side is a sitting area with a white sofa and glass and chrome tables. It's sophisticated and elegant. Just what you'd expect from a five-star Manhattan hotel.

"What do you think?" Gavin asks, coming up behind me and wrapping his arms around me.

"I think it's gorgeous."

"I think YOU'RE gorgeous." He kisses the side of my neck, sending a tingle through me. "I say we go get something to eat, then come back here and make use of that bed. And then maybe the shower."

I flip around to face him. "We just had lunch."

"That was just an appetizer. I'm starving. I need to fuel up. We've got a busy afternoon."

"I thought you said we're coming back here after we eat."

"I did. When I said we'd make use of the bed, you didn't think I meant to sleep, did you?"

"Let's go." I smile as I grab his hand and drag him to the door. "I wasn't going to eat again but I have a feeling I'll need the energy."

He drags me back to him. "On second thought, I don't think I can wait." His lips crash against mine as his hands get to work on my dress, untying the fabric belt. Completely turned on by his sudden change of plans, I fumble with his pants, hurrying to get them off.

Our kisses hot and frantic, we back up toward the bed. He pulls my dress up and over my head. With a flick of his fingers, he unhooks the front clasp of my bra and I take my hands off him just long enough to toss it aside. In that short time, he frees himself from his pants and yanks off his shirt.

His hands secure around my waist and he lifts me up on the bed. I try to scoot back but he stops me and slides my panties off. I reach up and pull down his boxers. He leans forward and I fall back on the soft, white comforter.

His mouth closes over mine as his hand goes between my thighs, stroking me.

"You're soaked," he groans against my mouth.

"I've been waiting for this all day."

"I've been waiting for it since I dropped you off last night."

"Then stop waiting." I smile, then grab his face and kiss him.

He lowers over me and I feel the tip of him enter me, followed by short teasing thrusts. He knows this drives me wild.

"Gavin," I urge.

He chuckles and I feel the vibration against my chest. He thrusts all the way in and I moan in relief.

After our frantic foreplay, I thought he'd continue his fast pace and make this a quickie but instead he rocks in and out, slow and deep.

"Oh, shit," he says and suddenly pulls out.

"What?" I sit up on my elbows.

"Condom." He gets off the bed and starts searching for his pants.

"I'm on the pill," I tell him.

He stops searching. "You really don't want to use one?"

"Are you clean?"

"Yeah."

"Then get over here." I reach for him and he gives me a sexy grin as he walks back to the bed. He lowers over me again and immediately slides inside me, continuing where we left off.

"No wonder this felt so damn good," he says. "I've never done it without one."

"Me either."

His lips brush against mine and I catch his bottom lip with my teeth and gently tug. He pushes deeper inside me, his hands sliding under me, gripping my ass. I free his lip and he kisses me, then thrusts harder and faster. I'm almost there, the pressure building, my body craving the release. When it comes, I can't keep from voicing my pleasure, loudly, but I don't care. Gavin and I are finally alone. No roommates. No dorms with thin walls. I can be as loud as I want. Even Gavin's loud when he follows moments later.

We lie there, catching our breath, Gavin softly kissing my neck.

"I'm glad we didn't wait," I tell him.

"Same here. But now I'm even more starving."

"I'm hungry too. Let's clean up and go find some food."

"In a minute. I'm still recovering." He rests his head on my shoulder.

I laugh and run my fingers through his hair.

Once his breathing is back to normal, he lifts up on his forearms and looks at me. "I've never felt this way."

"What way? You mean about the sex?"

"I mean about you. I've never felt this way about a girl. Like I can't get enough of her. Can't stop thinking of her. Want to be with her all the time. But that's how I feel about you."

I smile. "Since when?"

"Since I met you. I know it sounds crazy but when I saw you at my parents' house that night it was like there was something drawing me to you. I don't know what it was or why I felt it." He grins. "Maybe love at first sight really does exist."

"Maybe not love but...attraction, maybe."

Gavin moves off me and lays on his side. "You ever been in love?"

"No. I mean, I thought I was with guys I dated in the past, but looking back I think it was more lust than love." I turn to face him. "How about you? Ever been in love?"

"I'm not sure yet. I think the answer is yes but since it hasn't happened before now, I might need another week or two to confirm it."

Is he talking about me? Is he saying he might be in love with me? Am I in love with him? I find myself constantly wanting to be with him, missing him when he's not around, thinking about him. Is that love? I think it's too soon for that but I guess it's possible.

"What about Leighton?" I ask. "You talked about marrying her, but you weren't in love with her?"

"I thought I was, but there was always this feeling that something wasn't right between us. I wanted to love her, and I tried to, but part of me knew I didn't. I just didn't want to admit that to myself." 

"It's a good thing you didn't marry her."

He smiles slightly. "We shouldn't be talking about our exes, especially when we're in bed together."

"You're right."

 He takes my hand in his. "So how are you feeling about this? Us?"

"Better than I felt about any of my past relationships." I pause to think. "I feel...I'm not sure of the right words...maybe calm? Secure? In the past I was always waiting for something to go wrong, always thinking the relationship's about to end. It's not like I'm a pessimist or anything. It's just that the guys I've dated tend to be immature, always looking for a good time. They'd get bored easily so when they'd had enough of me, they'd move on. And then I got hurt. But it's my own fault for dating those guys. I tend to be drawn to bad boys."

"So why are you dating me?"

I lean over and kiss him. "Because you're hot. And sexy. A gentleman. You're mature but have a bad boy side I find irresistible." I run my hand down the center of his muscular chest.

"You think I'm a bad boy, huh?" he asks in a flirty tone as he grabs my ass and pulls me against him.

"You are in the bedroom," I say, my eyes going to his. I see how turned on he is. I can feel it, his erection pressing against me.

"I'm feeling the need to be bad right now." He shoves the sheet back and kisses his way down my body.

I smile. "We're never going out, are we?"

He doesn't answer, his mouth too busy pleasuring me.

We eventually do leave the room, but not until eight that night when we finally go out to eat. He takes me to a hip, trendy restaurant that has live music and a small dance floor. We end up hanging out there until one in the morning, having drinks, listening to music, and people-watching. It's a great night, and not just because we're in New York. It's great because I'm with Gavin. I have so much fun with him, more fun than I've ever had with a guy.

***

The next day, we head home and get back to my apartment just after lunch. Megan is there with Decker and the two of them are snuggled on the couch, watching TV. Megan jumps up to standing as we walk in.

"What are you doing here?" she asks, her hair a mess, her t-shirt inside out. "I thought you weren't coming back until tonight."

"Gavin had to get back early to work on a paper for class." I smile at her. "Did we interrupt something?"

"No." She smooths her hair. "We were just watching TV."

"Hey." Decker stands up next to Megan. His plaid shorts are wrinkled and his white button-up shirt isn't buttoned right.

"Hey, Decker. Megan," Gavin says to them. He leans down and gives me a kiss. "I'll call you later, okay?"

"Yeah." I wish he could stay but it's probably good we have some time apart. We can't be together all the time.

He leaves and I'm left with Megan and Decker, feeling awkward, like maybe I really did interrupt something. Given the state of their clothes, I would've thought they've already done it but maybe they were just getting started when I walked in.

"I think I'll go for a run," I say. "Maybe stop at the grocery store when I'm done." I check the clock. "I'll probably be back in a couple hours."

"Yeah, okay," Megan says, like she's urging me to hurry up.

I go in my room and change clothes. My phone dings with a text from Gavin.

Think we got there at just the wrong time?

Definitely. I think they'd just started something when we walked in. I'm going for a run. Give them some alone time.

You want to run to Moorhurst? I heard there's a guy there who really wants to see you.

I think that guy just spent the weekend with me.

And yet he still wants to see you.

Then maybe I'll stop by later.

You can always hang out in my room while I write my paper.

I don't want to bother you. Besides I feel like I should work out.

You didn't get enough of a workout this weekend?

Different kind of workout.

How about dinner? Pick you up at seven?

Sounds good. See you then.

We hadn't planned to have dinner but we can't seem to stay apart for longer than a few hours. That's probably not a good thing. We both need our space, but we get plenty of space during the week when I have work and he has class.

As I'm out on my run, my dad calls. I haven't talked to him since I left his house.

"Hey, Dad."

"Hi, honey. Are you still in New York?"

"No, we got back around noon. Gavin had to work on a paper."

"Did you have lunch with his parents yesterday?"

"Yeah."

"And? How'd it go?"

I stop running and sit on a large rock that's just off the trail. "It went okay."

"Which means it didn't go well."

My dad is always reading between the lines. That's the cop in him, always trying to find out what's really going on.

"It was fine. His mom didn't seem to like me, but I don't think she likes anyone. She's kind of strange."

"And what about his father?"

"He was friendly. A lot friendlier than he was at the party I catered at his house a few weeks ago."

"What do you mean?"

"He was really serious that night. Not very friendly. But he had some kind of meeting he was in charge of so his mind was probably on that."

"Meeting? I thought you said it was a party."

"It was a dinner party but they had some kind of meeting during the dinner."

A guy runs past me with a dog and it barks at me.

"What was that?" my dad asks.

"A dog. I'm on the trail."

"Kate, I've told you a million times not to run alone."

"I'm not alone. There's people out here, like the guy who just ran by."

"So it's you and some strange man. That's not what I want to hear."

"Dad, you're being too protective. People run on this trail all the time."

"Doesn't matter. Crimes can happen anytime, anywhere. And a trail in the woods is not a safe place for a young, attractive woman. You know how many cases I've seen of—"

"Yeah, I know," I say, stopping him before he gives me the gruesome details of a girl who was killed in the woods. I've already heard these stories many times and they always freak me out, which is why my dad keeps telling them to me. He's hoping they'll eventually scare me enough to make me stop running alone.

"I'll be careful. I promise."

"Do you have your pepper spray?"

"Yes, and my phone is fully charged."

"That doesn't make me feel better."

"Dad, I'm fine. Nothing's going to happen."

"Why don't you have Gavin run with you? I'm sure if you asked, he'd agree to go."

"He's writing his paper for class. But yes, if I asked, I'm sure he'd go with me."

"Then go home and run later when Gavin's done with his paper."

I roll my eyes. "I should go. Can we talk later?"

"Is it getting serious?"

"What?"

"You and Gavin?"

"I don't know yet. We haven't dated that long."

"It seemed serious when you two were here. Just the fact that you brought him here to meet me says a lot."

"I just wanted someone in the car with me on the drive there."

"It was more than that. You wanted me to meet him."

He's right but I don't want to admit it.

"Can we talk later? Like maybe later this week?"

"Sure. Call me whenever you can. We need to start talking more, Kate. It's been too long."

"I know."

"Call me soon."

"I will. Bye, Dad."

"Bye, honey."

As I continue my run, I think about what he said about my relationship with Gavin becoming serious. It's already serious, and getting more serious every time we're together. We've even started talking about a future together. But do I want that? I definitely want to keep dating him. I can even see myself marrying him someday. But being part of a wealthy family? A political family? I don't know about that. Just having lunch with his parents had me on edge, so how would it feel to be part of his family?

It's too soon to worry about that. Marriage, or even an engagement, is way off in the future. For now, I'm just going to focus on how happy I am when I'm with Gavin. He really does make me happy. And for now, that's all that matters.