It's Only Love(29)

“Can I ask you something that’s none of my business?”

“Sure.”

“Why aren’t you going to Dylan’s wedding?”

The question took him by surprise, and he had no idea how to reply in a way that she would understand. “Work is so busy. It’s hard for me to get away.”

“Surely you have someone you could leave in charge for a few days.”

“I suppose, but I’d be stressed out worrying about it the whole time I was gone, so why bother going?”

“Because your good friend is getting married, and he wants you there?”

Gavin already felt guilty enough about declining the invitation to Dylan’s wedding. How could he explain that Dylan was really Caleb’s friend, and the only reason he’d been invited was because he was Caleb’s brother? “I’d love to be there.” He said what she needed to hear, because the truth was too painful to discuss, especially when he was feeling so damned good for a change. “Dylan understands about the business and how hard it is for me to get away.”

“Hmm.”

“What does that mean?”

“Nothing, I’m just listening.”

“Why do I feel like there’s so much more you want to say?”

She didn’t say anything for a long time. And then . . . “It’s just, I wonder . . .”

“What do you wonder?”

“What’s the point of being self-employed if you can’t do what you want once in a while?”

“You’re self-employed. Do you get to do whatever you want?”

“For the most part. We try to respect the fact that we have nice jobs and are fortunate to work for ourselves. We don’t take advantage, but no one is hanging over our shoulders making sure we do our jobs. Hunter wants us there on time in the morning because it sets the right example for the sales force, and we agree with that. As much as we love the store and working for the family business, we have lives outside of work that we love just as much. It’s called balance. You need to get some if you feel like you can’t take a week off once in a while.”

She made good points, and they were things he’d certainly thought of himself. However, work brought a rhythm to his days that he badly needed to stay on track. The thought of a week without work made him twitchy and nervous. If he hadn’t had his business to focus on over the last seven years, he’d probably be institutionalized by now.

As much as he loved the way he felt when he was around her, especially now that they’d made love, she was the one mirror he couldn’t avoid. She saw him so clearly. His bullshit didn’t stand a chance against those insightful brown eyes that studied him so knowingly.

Grasping the base of the condom, he withdrew from her carefully.

“Bathroom’s in there,” she said, pointing to a closed door.

“Thanks.” He went into the bathroom, disposed of the condom and washed up, avoiding the mirror over the sink. Her insightfulness unsettled him and made him aware of how tuned into him she really was. It was becoming painfully obvious to him that if they were going to do this, really give it an honest chance, he wasn’t going to be able to get away with the old tricks. His artful dodger routine wasn’t going to fly with Ella.

He wet a washcloth and brought it back to the bedroom. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he let his gaze take a perusing journey from her long legs to her flat abdomen to her small but perky breasts to her gorgeous face and the eyes that watched him so closely.

Gavin held up the washcloth. “May I?”

In a move so sexy, so innocent and so utterly captivating, she inched her feet apart, exposing herself to him. He forced himself to stay focused on the task at hand, even though he was already hard again for her. She was so damned gorgeous and sexy and the way she cared about him was a huge turn-on, even if it forced him to confront his deepest demons.

When he was done, he tossed the washcloth aside and climbed back into bed with her, wanting her close to him.

Apparently she wanted the same thing. Wrapped up in her, with her arms and legs around him, he felt himself falling into the soft, safe place she’d given him to land. “Ella . . .”

“Hmm . . .”

“You, this . . . It feels so good.”

“Yes, it does. I want you to feel good, Gavin.” She kissed him, and without breaking the kiss, he brought her with him when he moved to his back, loving the feel of her on top of him. The squeeze of her flat belly against his hard cock made him breathless with the need for more of her.

She broke the kiss and shifted ever so slightly on top of him, kissing his face, jaw, neck and throat, biting down on a tendon in his neck that made him want to howl from the jolt of pure pleasure that ripped through him. Then her tongue found his nipple, and he nearly levitated right out of bed when she brought her teeth into the act.

God, he was never going to survive her.

She continued a path downward, giving each muscle in his abdomen individual attention that had him clinging to his sanity. By the time she wrapped her hand around his cock he was prepared to beg her for relief. No begging was needed, however, when she dragged her tongue around the head, cleaning up the moisture that had formed during her slow, sexy seduction.

As she licked and sucked and stroked him exactly the right way, it occurred to Gavin that she’d obviously done this before—a thought that made him see red from the rage of imagining her touching another man the way she touched him. It was irrational, he knew, to think he was first, but God, the thought of her with any other guy was unbearable.