As Gavin drove them to his parents’ home in his truck, Ella thought about what he’d said about why he’d made her his emergency contact and how he’d known he could count on her. It was humbling to think that while she’d been nursing her broken heart, he’d been clinging to her like a life raft in a storm.
Ella wanted to be his safe harbor, to lead him from the darkness back into the light. She burned with love for him—the forever kind of love that wouldn’t end until the heart inside her chest stopped beating. Even then, well into her next life, Ella would still love Gavin. It was just an irrefutable fact of her life.
They pulled into the driveway at his parents’ well-kept home, and an attack of nerves assailed her. Of course she knew Bob and Amelia Guthrie well and had for years, but she was coming here tonight as Gavin’s girlfriend or whatever she was now. It was different.
She hadn’t been here since the awful weeks that followed Caleb’s death when she and her mother and Charley had cooked for Bob and Amelia, delivering food weekly for a few months. It had seemed like a small thing to do in the face of such utter devastation.
Gavin’s hand squeezing hers drew her out of her contemplation. Ella sent him a small smile.
“What’s wrong?”
“I feel a little nervous, which is silly in light of how long I’ve known your parents.”
“No need to be nervous. You know they love you, and they’ll be thrilled to see us together.”
“You really think so?”
“I know so.”
His assurances went a long way toward allaying her nerves.
“Wait for me.” He got out of the truck and came around to the passenger side, opening the door and extending his hand to her.
Ella took his hand, loving the smile on his face, the happiness that danced in his tired eyes and the excitement he seemed to feel at bringing her here.
He helped her out of the truck and kept his grip on her hand as they walked into the house and as his parents came out to greet them, only letting go so he could help her remove her coat.
“What a wonderful, wonderful surprise,” Amelia Guthrie said, blinking rapidly as if trying not to cry. She hugged Ella. “This makes me so happy.”
“Thank you,” Ella said softly, relieved by the warm welcome and the obvious joy her presence had brought to Amelia.
Amelia released Ella and went on to hug her son. “You know how to keep some big secrets,” she said.
Gavin’s smile stretched from ear to ear when he looked at Ella. “It’s something we’ve both wanted for a long time. We finally seem to have gotten the timing right.”
“Nice to see you, Ella,” Bob said when he hugged her. “And nice to see you smiling, son. It’s been a while.”
“Yes,” Gavin said with a sigh, “it has.”
Ella took hold of his hand and gave it a squeeze, hoping to keep the bad from invading the good. The bad would probably always be right there, lurking below the surface trying to get out, but Ella would do everything in her power to keep the bad where it belonged. In the past.
They enjoyed a delicious dinner of barbecued ribs, mashed potatoes, homemade coleslaw and corn bread. Gavin ate like he hadn’t seen food in a year, something his mother said happened every time she made ribs for him.
After dinner, Amelia suggested they take their dessert into the den to enjoy the fire.
“I need to bring in some more wood,” Bob said. “Give me a hand, son?”
“Happy to.” Gavin squeezed Ella’s shoulder on his way out the door behind his father.
“I just have to say,” Amelia whispered, the second they were alone, “this makes me so, so happy. I haven’t seen him smiling like he has tonight since before . . .” She didn’t have to finish that sentence. Ella knew what she meant. “You’re perfect for him, Ella. You’re just what he needs.”
“I hope so. There’ve been a lot of stops and starts along the way, but we’ve agreed to give it a real try.”
“I’ll be keeping my fingers and toes crossed for both of you.”
“Thanks, Amelia.” Ella glanced over her shoulder to make sure Gavin was still outside with his father. “Could I ask your advice on something?”
“Of course. Anything.”
Ella told her about Dylan’s wedding, how Gavin planned to decline the invitation because of work and her idea about surprising him with the trip.
“Do it,” Amelia said without hesitation. “It’s exactly what he needs—time with his friends, time with you, time away from work. He pushes himself so hard and I know why, but he can’t keep up that pace forever. No one can.”
“You don’t think he’ll be mad that I’m forcing him to do something he said he doesn’t want to do?”
“He wants to go, but it’s easier for him not to. He needs to stop doing the easy thing and get back to living. This, with you, is an important first step.”
“Thanks for the advice. I think I’m going to do it.”
“Good. Bob and I are going, so maybe we’ll see you there.”
“I hope so.”
Gavin and his dad returned, both carrying armloads of wood that they took directly to the cozy family room that included a wall devoted to Caleb’s army service. The picture of him in his uniform, looking fierce and strong and so vitally alive put a lump in her throat. The same image now hung in the foyer of the inn that bore his name and was a stark reminder of what these three wonderful people had lost.
Ella noticed that Gavin sat with his back to Caleb’s wall, as if it was too painful to face. She sat next to him on the love seat and reached for his hand.
He smiled at her, seeming relaxed and at ease even if he looked exhausted.
They spent another hour with his parents before Gavin began yawning his head off. “I had an early day today,” he said, nearly making Ella laugh as he helped her up and then led her into the mudroom to get their coats. They’d had an early day all right. “Got to hit the hay before I fall over. Thanks for dinner, Mom.”
“Yes, Amelia, thank you. It was delicious.”
“You’re so welcome.” She hugged them. “I hope we’ll see both of you again soon.”
“You will,” Gavin said, shaking hands with his dad, who hugged and kissed Ella. Gavin held the door for her and let her go out ahead of him. He helped her into the truck, and she could tell he was dying to kiss her but held off because his parents were standing in the doorway to wave them off.
He backed his big truck out of the driveway and beeped to his parents before turning off their street and pulling over to the side of the road.
“What’s wrong?” Ella asked.
He reached across the center console for her, releasing the buckle on her seatbelt. “Kiss me.”
She barely had time to protest or to remind him they’d be back to her place in minutes before his lips were devouring hers. He rendered her useless with the wet slide of his lips, the plunging thrusts of his tongue and the heat of his body drawing her in as close as she could get with the console in the way.
Groaning in frustration, he pulled away abruptly, threw the truck into drive and said, “Put your seatbelt back on.”
Left reeling by his abrupt withdrawal, Ella fumbled with the seatbelt and managed to click it into place. Her lips were tingling from his fierce kiss, and she couldn’t wait to be alone with him again.
This was crazy. They’d played cat-and-mouse games for months, and now that they’d agreed to be together, they couldn’t keep their hands off each other. Not that Ella was complaining. She felt like she was seeing a whole new side of him, and she loved it.
He didn’t say a single other word on the ten-minute ride to her place.
Ella didn’t wait for him to come around to get her. When she met him at the front of the truck, he urged her forward with his hand on her lower back. On the way upstairs, he pulled at her coat from behind until she got the hint and unzipped it. He tugged it off her shoulders and went to work on her sweater next, easing it up and over her head while they were still in the hallway.
“Gavin,” she whispered, shocked to be standing outside her door in only her bra. “I’m not the only one who lives here.”
“Hurry up,” he said in a low growl that left no doubt in her mind what he wanted.
Her nipples tightened in anticipation, setting off an insistent throb between her legs. She wanted him every bit as badly as he wanted her.
The door closed behind them and he dropped his coat on the floor. He pulled his button-down shirt right up and over his head and then pulled on the button to his jeans.
Ella was frozen in place, watching him reveal his muscular body to her.
“You’re not hurrying,” he said.
She removed her jeans, bra and panties and reached for him at the same second he reached for her. Before she knew what hit her, he had lifted her against the door and was entering her in one swift thrust that set off a shocking bolt of pain that made her grimace.
“Oh God, babe. I’m sorry. You’re sore from last night.”
“I’m okay. Just go slow.”
He withdrew almost completely. “Shit. Condom.”
Ella tightened her legs around him to keep him from getting away. “I’m on birth control. If you’re safe, so am I.”
“Oh my God, are you serious? Sex without a condom? What’s that like?”
Despite the full-on assault on her senses, he made her laugh. “Want to find out?”
“You have no idea how badly. I’m safe, baby. I haven’t had sex in a long time, and never without a condom.” He pushed back into her, going slowly this time. “This is gonna be fast.”
Her heart soared at hearing it had been a long time for him, too. She’d had far too much time to picture him with other women while she nursed her broken heart. “I’m good with fast.”
“Does it hurt?”
“Not anymore.” This, this, this, Ella thought as he drove into her over and over again, is why I waited for him. It had never been like this with anyone else. She’d never had a man tear her clothes off her body and take her against her door like a madman because he couldn’t bear to wait the two minutes it would take to reach her bed.
In truth, she wouldn’t have wanted that with the other guys she’d been with. She wouldn’t have trusted them enough to let go so completely. With Gavin, she had no choice. He swept her up in a sea of sensation and pleasure that left her gasping and panting and coming harder than she’d ever thought possible.
And then someone was knocking on her door. “Ella? Are you all right in there? I heard something banging from the vestibule and didn’t know what to make of it.”
“Oh my God,” she whispered. “It’s Mrs. Abernathy.”
Gavin snorted through his nose. They’d both had her for high school math.
“I-I’m fine, Mrs. Abernathy,” Ella called through the door. “Sorry, just dropped something.”
“If you’re sure . . .”
“I’m sure.”
“Did I see Gavin Guthrie’s truck outside?”
“Yes, he’s helping me with . . . We’re hanging some pictures.”
Gavin shook with silent laughter, his tears wetting her neck.
“All right then. Good night, dear.”
“Good night.”
While their bodies continued to throb from what they were doing before they were so rudely interrupted, Ella listened to the sound of Mrs. Abernathy’s sensible shoes scuffing against the treads on the stairs.
Gavin laughed so hard, he made no sound. His laughter sparked hers, and before long, they were clinging to each other, tears rolling down their faces.
When he got himself under control, he grasped her bottom, lifted her off the door, and carried her to the bedroom, coming down on top of her. “I’ll never be able to look Mrs. Abernathy in the eye again.”
“How do you think I feel? I have to see her every day!”
“You need to stop banging in your apartment.”
“It’s that Guthrie boy. He’s bad news.”
He smiled at her, and she loved that look on him. “Yes, he is. I tried to tell you that.”
“I’d like to finish banging now, please.”
“Oh, so polite.” Gavin kissed her and began moving inside her, starting slowly on the way to picking up where they’d left off. He had her so primed and ready from the session against the door, that it didn’t take much to take her right back up again.
She clung to him, her arms wrapped around his neck, her knees snug against his hips, rocking into his every thrust.
“Ella, babe . . . Come with me. Come with me.” He threw his head back as the orgasm overtook him. His release triggered hers, and she had to smother the urge to scream from the exquisite pleasure they generated together. “Feels so good, baby. So good.”
She held him close as his body rocked with aftershocks.
“Holy shit,” he muttered. “What a difference no condom makes.”
“I take it you liked it?”
“If I loved it any more, I’d be dead.”
“Don’t joke about that, please.”
He raised his head and kissed her softly, gently. “Sorry.”
Ella brushed the sweaty hair off his forehead and took a moment to just look at him. She never, ever got tired of looking at him. He was so damned beautiful.
Kissing her again, he said, “I should probably go. We’ve been outed by Mrs. Abernathy.”
“Don’t go. I want to sleep with you.”
“I’d hate to make you the subject of gossip, El.”
“I don’t care if people talk. I want them to know we’re together. What do I care what people say?”
“I care,” he said. “I don’t want them talking about you.”
“Then let’s go to your place.”
“Right now?”
“Right now.” She pushed at his shoulder, and he withdrew from her, flopping onto his back to watch her as she got busy packing an overnight bag. “Get up before you fall asleep.”
He groaned as he pulled himself out of bed and went into the bathroom to clean up and then to get his clothes in the other room. By the time he was dressed, Ella was ready. “Leave your car here,” he said. “I’ll bring you home in the morning.”
“That’s crazy. You don’t need to make a special trip.”
Cupping her face in his hands, he kissed her. “I want to make a special trip, and I’ll bring you home.”
“Okay.” Her insides quaked when he looked at her that way, when he held her face in his hands and made her feel so cherished.
They packed up some of the groceries they’d bought for breakfast and rode to his house in contented silence, his hand wrapped around hers the entire way. He never once let go. Ella loved that. She loved every single thing about being with him this way—except for the nagging, gnawing fear that something would happen to mess it up.
After having even this small taste of what was possible between them, she wouldn’t be able to handle something going wrong. And that made her feel madly vulnerable, like a live nerve ending walking around outside her body subject to severe pain at any given moment.
She’d gone into this with her eyes wide open, knowing what—and who—she was taking on. But that didn’t make it any easier to picture a cataclysmic ending to their fairy tale.
That wouldn’t happen. It couldn’t. She’d make sure of it.
Gavin drove onto the grounds of Guthrie Logging after a short ride through town and into the foothills of Butler Mountain. He pulled up to his cabin and cut the motor. “Let me come around for you since the outside lights aren’t on.”
When he shut off the headlights, the darkness surrounded them, and Ella was glad he was coming to get her. The passenger door opened, and he held her hand to help her down from the truck. He kept a firm hold on her hand until they were inside the cozy cabin.
The door shut behind him and the lock clicked into place. Then he gave a gentle tug on her hand and once again had her pressed against a door before she could begin to gauge his intentions.
“No one to hear us hanging pictures here,” he said with a sexy grin that lit up his gorgeous eyes.
“Good to know.” She reached up to caress his face. “But you need sleep more than you need to hang more pictures.”
“I hate to admit you might be right.” He kissed her and then pulled himself off her, leading her into the bedroom. “You can have the bathroom first.”
“I’ll be quick.” In the bathroom, Ella brushed her teeth and changed into lightweight pajama pants and a tank. When she returned to the bedroom, she found Gavin stripped down to boxers and was once again struck by the fact that she now got to look at him—all of him—any time she wanted to. “Your turn.”
“Get the bed warm for me.”
“You got it.” Snuggled under the warm down comforter and soft flannel sheets, she listened to the water running in the bathroom and waited for him with breathless anticipation. She was in big trouble where he was concerned, and the trouble got bigger with every minute she spent with him.