Chapter
TWELVE
During the day, Gavin had a laser-sharp focus on finalizing the security for Luke and Polly’s wedding. Nothing, not even Mia Donovan in pink fleece cupcake pajamas, could distract him when he was working.
Then there was a point when he stopped working. And she flooded his thoughts like a waterfall breaking through a cliff.
On Saturday, he paid another visit to Asante and a few other downtown bars, interrogating the bartenders and servers about a kid who fit “Danny’s” description, but came up empty. A search through his online resources revealed dozens of “Dannys” and “Daniels” in the area. Though he had no official reason to have the kid arrested, he wasn’t above issuing a warning and scaring him.
He set one of his men to further searching before he left the Knight Security offices. Unless he was coordinating his team at a venue or event, he was accustomed to working until seven or eight, even on weekends, then heading home to cook dinner before trying to wind down with a hot shower or TV. Invariably he ended up working most of the night, in between sporadic sleep.
He closed the front door and set his keys and briefcase down. His phone buzzed with a text from Luke—Don’t forget BBQ tomorrow at Dad’s. 5pm.
Gavin texted back: Thanks, but working late.
He could almost hear the exasperation in Luke’s tone with the reply: Tomorrow is Saturday.
He punched out another text. And the wedding is in a week.
No reply came after that. Not even Luke could argue with the timeline of his own wedding.
Gavin told himself his distance from the Stones was due to professional reasons; he’d spent the past five years setting up his business and reworking the entire Sugar Rush security system. Didn’t matter that it was finished now—maintaining security and keeping all protocols up to date was a major part of his job.
He unknotted his tie, poured a glass of scotch, and checked his mail and messages. There was another thick envelope with his name scrawled in black ink. He opened it and dumped out the contents.
His blood iced. Photos of wedding preparations spilled onto the counter—the decorator leaving her shop, the villa manager, two women sitting at a table at Wild Child. Polly and… Mia.
Anger bubbled inside him. How the fuck…?
He opened the single sheet of paper. The black ink read: Are you ready? Because I am.
Gavin smothered his anger. He set the note and photographs aside. He had to stay dispassionate. Letting his personal feelings take over could only lead to mistakes. He’d promised Polly her wedding would be perfect. And he’d vowed to protect Mia to the fullest extent of his abilities. He’d keep his promises, even if it meant shutting off everything he was starting to feel for her.
He’d be an idiot to underestimate his adversary. This could be a diversion—that another area could be a target while the wedding was in progress. He already had a stronger security presence and police at Sugar Rush and the Stones’ private residences, both now and on the day of the event.
He took a hot shower, changed into pajama bottoms and a T-shirt, and sat down to both finish his scotch and review the rest of the security measures. He logged in to the map of the Sugar Rush campus. The doorbell rang.
His guard shot up. He peered through the peephole and yanked the door open.
“What are you doing here?” he snapped.
Mia blinked her green eyes at him. “Hello to you too.”
“It’s almost eleven.”
“I know. You showed up on my doorstep at almost eleven, remember?” She pushed past him in a waft of cheese and pepperoni, her arms laden with a large pizza box and a paper bag. “I decided it was about time I brought dinner to you. Pizza and a special treat from this little hole-in-the-wall bakery up in Santa Cruz. They just made fresh batch about an hour ago.”
He frowned. “You drove all the way up to Santa Cruz alone just to get dessert?”
“See how much I like you?” She gave him a sweet smile. He hardened his heart against its potent effect.
“I don’t like you driving alone so late.” He closed the door and followed her into the kitchen. “Much less going forty miles away to some hole-in-the-wall.”
“I have my cell, Gavin.” She narrowed her eyes and took two plates from the cupboard. “And it’s not like you cared last week what I did or didn’t do alone. Or at what time.”
“That was before we were…” Shit. What?
Mia lifted an eyebrow. “Before we were what?”
“Before we were a thing,” he retorted.
“Oh my.” She pressed a hand to her heart, her eyes widening. “Are we really a thing, Mr. Knight? Why, I just might swoon.”
He crossed his arms and scowled. “You know what I mean.”
“Yes, my Roman emperor.” She put her hand on his arm, stood on tiptoe, and kissed his nose. “I know what you mean.”
She bustled around the kitchen, getting out napkins and glasses, taking romaine lettuce from the fridge to make a salad. In a red mini-dress, sheer stockings, and red flats, she was a valentine come to life. One who was starting to fold into his heart at the worst possible time.
He tilted his head back and swallowed the last of his scotch. He shouldn’t have crossed the line. He’d known that even when he was stepping over it.
And that wasn’t how he operated. Ever. So why was he taking risks for this little flowers-and-lace girl? Yeah, she fucked like a dream, but he could get some action anywhere. Instead he’d let his dick rule his head, and now he’d likely put her at a level of danger that made his blood freeze.
“Sit down before it gets cold.” Mia waved him to the table.
She poured herself a glass of wine from the bottle he’d left on the counter the other night and sat across from him.
Tell her to go.
The order snapped into his head, but his voice refused to issue the words. All he could do was try to smother the pleasure at the realization that he only needed to look up to see her sitting across from him.
What if it could always be like that? What if she snuggled up against him every night and he woke to the all-encompassing scent and feel of her? What if she walked sleepy-eyed into the kitchen every morning, pressing a soft kiss against his jaw before asking for coffee? What if she texted him little notes throughout the day, asked him to join her for lunch, gave him little glances that only they understood? What if he could take care of her forev—
Christ. He was turning into a sappy, lovesick asshole. One who had no idea how he was going to extricate himself from this young woman who’d made his heart beat again.
“I had my final fitting for my dress this afternoon.” Mia lifted a slice of pizza to her mouth, oblivious of his inner commotion. “And I confirmed all the changes with Polly, who is fine with everything. She’s scheduled the rehearsal dinner for two nights before so we all get enough sleep before the main event. She’s all excited because Luke is surprising her with the honeymoon, so she has no idea where they’re going. If I had to guess, it’s probably Spain because I overheard him talking to Hannah about Barcelona.”
Gavin was accustomed to dead silence when he came home from work, but Mia’s chatter was like music. At Wild Child, he’d always enjoyed the sound of her voice and her silvery laugh. He didn’t dare imagine what it would be like to have the sound of her filling his house all the time.
“So what did you do today?” she asked.
“Worked.”
She nibbled on a pizza crust. “Do you ever do anything besides work?”
“Not really. Though that’s changed somewhat over the past few days.”
Her eyebrows drew together slightly. “But before we were a thing. Don’t you have any hobbies?”
“I work out at the gym. Used to do a lot of running, but on my last tour I blew out my knees.”
“Is that why you were medically discharged?”
He nodded.
She glanced at her plate, fidgeting with the edge of her napkin. “Can I ask you what happened?”
His jaw tightened. He didn’t want anything staining her beauty, but this was his reality. It always would be. At some point, she needed to know the truth.
“A nasty surprise.” He pushed back the black fog encroaching on his mind. “We were on a recon mission in a town outside of Fallujah. We’d pulled up near an abandoned building for the night. I was on the roof when the mortar blast hit. The building crumbled like a house of cards. The floor went out from under me. Broke both legs, shattered my knees. I was sent back for replacement surgery.”
“And the PTSD?”
“Yeah.” He dragged a hand down his face. “That was from everything else.”
Shit. He hated the despair in her green eyes, the lines of sorrow on her forehead. He no longer wanted to keep her in a tower—he wanted her out in the world, charming people with her smile and helping them celebrate their lives. She belonged in a dream land, a place with cotton-candy clouds and an endless supply of ice cream. Not his world. Not a world where she was a potential target for a psychopath.
A psychopath who knew Gavin’s fucking home address.
He shoved off the stool and took his plate to the sink. “Come on. I’ll drive you home.”
She blinked. “I don’t want to go home.”
“Too bad.” He picked up his keys from the counter.
Mia frowned, a mutinous glint appearing in her eyes. “I came to spend the night.”
“You’re not spending the night.”
“Why not?”
“Because I need to be at work early tomorrow.”
“So I’ll make you chocolate-chip pancakes before you leave.”
Goddammit.
He could see it. Mia in his kitchen, wearing one of his T-shirts, her hair loose and tangled down her back, that little furrow between her eyes as she studied the frying pancakes and lifted a corner of one to see if it was ready to flip. Turning to smile at him when he walked in, lifting her face for his kiss, her eyes bright and happy. His sunrise.
His bones almost cracked with the desperate force of wanting that scenario more than he wanted to breathe.
He tightened his fist on his keys. “You’re going home.”
“I am not.” She crossed her arms and glared.
“Do I need to pick you up and carry you out to my car?” he snapped.
“No, you big bully, because I’m not leaving.”
He dropped the keys and moved toward her so fast he didn’t have time to think. Mia gave a little shriek and jumped off her stool, racing around to the other side of the central island to put it between them. She lifted her brows in challenge, color rising to her cheeks.
“Ha.” The word escaped her on a breath. “All the times you ignored me when I would have leapt right into whatever net you held out. Now you can’t catch me, can you, Mr. Knight?”
Gavin stopped and gripped the edge of the granite counter. “I’m not playing with you, Mia.”
“You’re not?” Her eyes widened in mock innocence. “You mean all this fucking and flirting we’ve been doing is serious?”
She was killing him. Wresting control from him. Weakening him.
“Get your pretty ass into the car,” he ordered.
“Make me.”
“I don’t have time for games.” He flexed and unflexed his fingers on the counter’s edge.
“Then you shouldn’t have started one.” She tossed her golden hair and stuck her tongue out at him.
“Brat.” He started around the central island toward her.
Mia gasped, her eyes glittering with excitement as they circled the island like a cat and mouse. She darted away from him every time he moved, her escapes punctuated by little laughs of triumph.
Though he wasn’t exerting himself physically, Gavin’s breath increased. He stopped again, his jaw clenching. A twisted combination of anger and lust brewed inside him.
“Enough,” he said. “You either get in the car or you sleep on the sofa. Your choice.”
“I came here to sleep with you.” Mia pursed her lips into a pout. “Why are you fighting the chance to sink your big cock into my tight wet pussy?”
“That is it, little girl.” Gavin rushed around the counter, grabbing her by the waist before she could escape.
He hauled her back against his chest. Mia shrieked, trying to pull away. She was no match for his size and strength, but she struggled like a hellion, clawing at his arms and kicking her legs. Gavin ignored both the writhing of her body and his own lust-fueled reaction. He tightened his hold, lifting her off the floor and striding toward the living room.
“Let me go, you jerk.” Panting, Mia wiggled and twisted in his grip. “I came here with pizza and romantic intentions, and you have the nerve to snap at me and order me to get in the fucking car. Why are you being so mean?”
“I’m not being mean,” he replied evenly. “I don’t like that you came here alone so late at night. I also don’t like that you’re refusing to listen.”
He couldn’t tell her about the goddamned letter and photos that intensified his fear a hundredfold. If anything happened to anyone under his watch, he’d never be able to live with the guilt.
But if anything happened to Mia, he’d lose his fucking mind.
He sank onto the sofa, his arms still wrapped around her from behind, and waited for her to calm down. But his girl was revved up to fight, her body tense with frustration and her breathing hard.
“Let me go,” she snapped, straining against the circle of his arms.
“Stop fighting.”
“No!” She dug her fingernails into his arm, hard enough to sting.
Gavin’s spine tensed. He wrestled her around and took hold of her chin, forcing her to look at him. Her green eyes blazed with rage and hurt.
“Stop,” he commanded.
“Fuck you.”
Steel infused his veins. “You just made a big mistake.”
“Yeah, hooking up with a control freak security asshole who thinks he can order people around like army soldiers.”
“Marines,” he corrected.
“Whatever. Let me go!”
She wiggled on his lap, a movement that made her skirt ride up on her thighs. His dick reacted predictably, though his brain was more focused on both teaching her that he didn’t tolerate disrespect and showing her what kind of man he really was. Then she’d run away from him as fast as she could.
He maneuvered her around so she was lying facedown across his lap, his growing erection pushing against her soft belly.
“What are you…” Mia gasped, bucking her hips upward.
He clamped one arm around her waist to hold her in place and gathered her skirt in his other fist. She struggled, bracing her hands on the floor, her long hair falling forward to veil her face.
“Don’t move,” he ordered, pinching her thigh.
“You’re not going to…” Mia stopped, a sudden trepidation replacing her anger, her body tensing.
“I’m going to do whatever I want, honey.”
He pulled her skirt up to reveal her perfect, round ass clad in sheer white stockings. Curling his fingers into the waistband, he pulled them down her thighs.
Holy fucking Christ. His cock jerked into full hardness at the sight of her tight full-lace panties. The red lace hugged her hips and disappeared between her soft thighs, a heart-shaped cutout at the back exposing the pale curves of her ass and tempting cleft. Straps crisscrossed the opening and plumped up her cheeks, making him want to sink his teeth into the tantalizing stripes of skin.
Mia had gone still when he pulled up her skirt. Now she twisted to look at him, a small smile on her lips and her eyes darkening with heat.
“Surprise,” she murmured.
Gavin let out his breath in a long rush. His cock was throbbing hard enough now that it was impossible to ignore. He was quickly losing control of this situation, if he’d ever had any to begin with.
“You little tease,” he said roughly.
“Told you I came here to spend the night. I just bought these today so I could wear them for you.” Mia wiggled again, her belly pressing against his dick. She sucked in a breath. “My god, Gavin. You’re… you get hard so fast…”
He didn’t have to touch her cunt to know she was already wet, but he did anyway. He slid his fingers underneath the lace and found her slick heat, the tight little button of her clit. Lust fired through him.
Mia moaned, wiggling her hips like she wanted him to put his fingers inside her. He took his hand away and rested his palm on her ass. She stilled again.
“What… what are you going to do?” she asked, her voice infused with wariness.
“This.” He lifted his hand, landing it on her rear with a spank hard enough to sting.
“Ow.” Mia flipped her hair away from her face, turning to glower at him. “That hurt.”
“No, it didn’t. But this one will.”
He spanked her again, harder. Mia gasped, her body jerking forward.
“Ow!” she snapped.
“I can make it hurt worse,” Gavin said mildly, admiring the pink stain already spreading over the heart-shaped expanse of skin revealed by her panties.
“I believe you,” Mia retorted. “You don’t have to prove… ouch! Son of a…”
She bit off the words, her teeth coming down on her lower lip. He tugged her panties down around her thighs, his blood pulsing in reaction to her naked ass and the secret, glistening folds of her cunt. He stroked one finger over her slit before lifting his hand to land another blow on her rear.
“Look, I’m sorry, okay?” Mia squirmed from side to side, trying to escape his hold. “I won’t do it again.”
“Won’t do what again?” He landed another blow, his hand leaving a red imprint on her white cheeks. She yelped.
“Argue with you.” Her fingers curled into the carpet, seeking a hold.
Spank.
“What else?”
“Call you names.”
Spank.
“What else?”
Mia groaned. “Do things you say are unsafe.”
“Good girl.”
He stroked his hand over her ass before gripping her waist and lifting her to a sitting position. Her face was flushed with anger, her chest heaving with the force of her breath. She glowered at him, but made no move to either escape his grip or snap at him.
Her stockings and panties were still down around her thighs. He stroked his hand between her legs, dipping one finger into her cunt, damp and swollen with arousal. Mia’s breath escaped on a moan as she fisted her hand in his shirt. His erection pushed against her warm, reddened ass, separated only by the thin cotton of his pajama bottoms.
“So that’s what happens when I don’t do what you say, huh?” She settled against his chest with a sigh, parting her legs as far as she could with the constriction of her panties.
“Does it scare you?” He needed her to say yes.
“Not at all.” She pressed her lips to his neck, a smile in her voice. “It made me nervous, but I figured you were into that kind of control thing. I like it, too.”
His chest tightened. “You deserve better.”
“Oh, stop.” She lifted her head to look at him, a trace of frustration rising to her green eyes. “I want to be with you, Gavin. I’ve been wanting it desperately for over a year. And you’re proving to be so much more than I ever could have imagined. Not to mention, you finger my pussy like it’s your favorite job.”
“It is.”
Mia laughed and slid her mouth to his jaw, her body arching against his chest.
“I need you,” she whispered, working her hand downward to find the ridge of his cock. “That spanking made me so hot. Please fuck me now.”
Nothing in the world could have made him resist that plea. Lifting her into his arms, he strode into the bedroom and lowered her to the bed. With a groan of surrender, he grabbed her hair in his fist, tilted her head back, and brought his mouth down on hers.
Lust and light exploded through him, pooling heat in his groin. Her lips parted, her tongue swept against his, her body quivered. She arched against him as if he were her only secure element, and she moved her hands up to grip his shoulders.
He broke the kiss only so he could move back to pull off her stockings and those ridiculous, sexy little panties. He dropped them to the floor and parted her legs, his dick throbbing at the sight of her spread, pink folds glistening with arousal.
“Hurry.” She sat up long enough to pull her dress over her head, revealing a red lace bra with little heart-shaped holes at the front exposing her stiff pink nipples.
“Fuck.” He couldn’t think of another word past the lust fogging his brain. He sat back to stare at her, his dick so hard it hurt.
“Also for you.” Mia smiled and twisted her nipples through the holes. “I’m on a mission to make you like surprises.”
“Best surprise of my life,” he muttered, bracing his hands on either side of her head as he leaned in to kiss her.
She made a noise in the back of her throat, skimming her fingers over the bulge in his pants. He drove his tongue into her mouth, a hard possessive desire to own her rising like a tidal wave.
Part of him was aware that despite his display of control, he’d lost the battle. He was smothering every single instinct for her safety—from him, from any threat, from the whole damned world—because he was a selfish bastard who couldn’t get enough of her. He wanted to drown in her sweetness, fill himself up with her until she’d obliterated all his darkness.
She sat up, pressing back on his shoulders to encourage him to lie back. He didn’t like being the passive one, but she was looking at him with such simmering heat and anticipation that he couldn’t disappoint her. He rolled to stretch out on his back. She knelt beside him, smiling as she pulled off his T-shirt and stroked her hands all over his chest.
“You’re so hard everywhere,” she murmured in wonder, her fingers tracing the ridges of his abdomen before slipping lower to his groin. “Hard, controlling, rigid, authoritarian. Everything I’m not. That’s just one of the things I love about us together. Being opposites is what makes us so good.”
Love. Good.
No other words in the English language came close to describing all that Mia was. He drove his hand into her hair, brushed his fingers against her soft cheek. He didn’t know what to do with everything she made him feel.
She pressed kisses up his neck to his mouth, leaving a trail of fire. He took a breath, restraining himself from rolling her over and plundering her mouth with his. She hooked her fingers into his pants and pulled them off, tossing them to the floor before closing her fingers around his shaft. Heat bolted through him.
“Tell me how you like it,” she whispered, swiping her thumb over the head of his cock.
“You’re doing it exactly right.” He shifted with a wince, pressure tightening his groin. “You can’t do anything wrong.”
Her laugh was muffled against his chest. “You just spanked me for doing something wrong. But I liked it so much I might want to do something wrong again. Except this I want to get exactly right.”
He reached down to still her hand. “You have it right, honey. So right I’ll shoot all over unless you slow down.”
A smile curved her mouth. She stretched one leg over him and straddled his waist. With her nipples poking out of her bra, her skin flushed and her hair a waterfall of gold, he could have stared at her for hours if he weren’t about to implode with lust. He pinched her rosy nipples and twisted the strap of her bra.
“Take this off,” he ordered. “I want you naked.”
She shed her bra, revealing her perfect round breasts. She braced her hands on the mattress and leaned in to kiss him deeply, her tongue tracing the line of his lips. He slid his hands down to grasp her ass, working one finger between her cheeks. She inhaled sharply, but didn’t protest, arching her back like she wanted more.
He’d give her more. And despite her willingness, it might be more than she could handle. More than she could take.
“Wait,” she whispered, wiggling back so she was straddling his thighs. “Where are the condoms?”
“Drawer in the nightstand.”
She reached over to retrieve one and took her sweet time sheathing his dick. By the time she was done, his teeth were clenched from the light, tickling touch of her fingers.
He grasped her hips. “Ride me.”
Mia bit her lip, a flush rising to her cheekbones. For a second he thought she’d decline, but she lifted herself up, her hand circling the base of his cock as she positioned herself.
Then she sank onto him, and the world exploded into the hot, tight clench of her pussy, the sound of her low groan, the clench of her knees around his hips. A flash of pain crossed her face before it was replaced with heavy lust. Heat sizzled through the air. She curled her fingers into his chest and started to move.
“Oh my God.” Her breath grew fast, her astonished gaze still holding his. “I feel you so deep, all the way up here.”
She pressed one hand to her belly and shifted again, working her gorgeous body up and down on his cock. He dug his fingers into her hips. His jaw clenched to the point of pain. He fought the urge to thrust, to drive them both to the edge. She was a fucking goddess, her tits bouncing, her body flexing and writhing, sweat glistening on her skin.
“Faster.” He bit out the order, his blood on fire.
She leaned forward, her hair falling in curtains on either side of her face, her little panting breaths puffing against his neck. Her eyes darkened with hunger and urgency.
“I need it, Gavin,” she whispered, her teeth capturing her lower lip again. “I need to come with you inside me, hard and deep and… oh God…”
“That’s right.” He grabbed her waist and thrust upward, needing to be inside her as far as he could. “Get yourself off… Christ, you’re incredible, all soft tight heat… you’re going to jerk me off, cover your little pussy with my come…”
A shudder rocked through her. She braced her hands on his chest and moved faster. Breathy cries came from her parted lips.
“I want you to do it first,” she gasped, sliding up and down his cock like a well-oiled piston. “Mark me.”
She moved off him before he could stop her, her chest heaving as she slid back to sit on his thighs. She rolled the condom off his erection and stroked, her tapered fingers moving up and down his aching shaft, her thumb caressing the swollen crown.
“Do it, Gavin.” Her voice was husky and threaded with anticipation. “Come on my pussy. Give me everything you have.”
“Ah, shit.” Every part of him tensed. Fiery pressure built. He gripped her smooth thighs and thrust into her fist. “So goddamned close… harder… now… fuck.”
Heat exploded through him, jets of come splashing over her belly, onto her cunt. She gasped, her fist still working his dick until the sensations ebbed. He groaned, sinking against the pillows.
“That’s so fucking sexy,” she whispered, releasing him only to slide her fingers through the mess coating her skin. “I love how you feel on me.”
“Get yourself off for me.” He stroked his hands up and down her smooth, damp thighs. “I want to watch you.”
Shivering, she slipped one hand between her legs and brought the other to her breasts. She twisted her pink nipple and worked her fingers on her clit. Much as he wanted to delve his fingers into her slippery heat again, he restrained himself from reaching for her.
He couldn’t take his eyes off the sight of her touching herself, her body sleek and soft. She threw her head back, her hair spilling over her shoulders. Moaning, she moved her fingers more frantically, her body tensing with need.
“Gavin,” she gasped. “I feel it… I still feel you… oh God, I’m going to… ah!”
A high, keening cry broke from her throat as her body shook, her hand still rubbing her clit. Fucking gorgeous sight, spearing him with fresh lust.
“Oh fuck.” She groaned, collapsing on top of him in a hot, sweet bundle of softness. “That was amazing. My ass is still sore from your hand, and I swear that made me come even harder.”
He gave a short laugh. Yeah, he’d lost the battle all right. He was about to lose the whole fucking war. And never before had he wanted to surrender.