Right Where We Belong (Silver Springs #4)(65)

Her fingers slipped into his hair, pulling out the tie that was falling out, anyway, and he heard her groan as he kissed her neck. “I don’t have any birth control on me,” he admitted, although that was probably obvious, since he had no way of hiding anything, including his raging hard-on.

“I went back on the pill after...after we were together,” she said.

He lifted his head. “You did?”

“I hoped you’d be interested in more than one night.”

“I am interested.” He peeled off her sweater and lifted her T-shirt over her head before tossing both onto the grass nearby.

“I don’t know how long it takes before it’s effective, though,” she said with some caution.

“Hopefully, it’s already kicked in. I’ll pull out, just in case.”

“Okay, but...wouldn’t you rather go in the house?”

He wouldn’t. He wanted to feel her close around him immediately. Wanted to drive into her as if there wasn’t any reason he couldn’t have her. “No. I need you now,” he said, and it was true. He needed her to help him forget what lay ahead...

She didn’t seem opposed to that idea. When her hand slipped into his boxers and her fingers curled around him, he felt his knees go weak.

She was wearing a pair of high-waisted cutoffs. They showed off her legs, which he loved, but he wanted to see everything. He helped her shimmy out of them and removed the thong she wore underneath. Then, lifting her in his arms, he pressed her up against the door of his truck and buried himself inside her.

Wrapping her legs around his waist, she clung to him as he began to thrust. Making love while standing took strength. Soon, he was too breathless to kiss her with any skill, so he buried his face in her neck. And that was when everything besides her ceased to exist. All worries. All cares. Even the stars. Nothing could wrest his attention from the softness of her breasts, the scent of her skin, the warm wetness he loved most and the little sounds she occasionally made as he drove into her. He knew he wasn’t being as gentle as he probably should, but he could feel her abandoning all restraint, and that encouraged him to do the same.

When he felt that sweet upwelling of pleasure, he didn’t want to pull out. But he had no choice. With a curse for the self-mastery it required, he withdrew at the last second.

The whole thing hadn’t lasted long, but it had been particularly momentous. They stared at each other for several seconds as if they were both surprised by the intensity of the experience and the connection they felt because of it.

“I should get back inside. Would you like to come over and spend the rest of the night?” she asked softly.

He got the impression she was testing him to see if he’d react as he had before—by distancing himself. And his heart sank as he watched her dress, because he had no choice. “I’m coming over to make sure Dorothy doesn’t return and cause you any trouble. But...”

“But?” She paused to look up at him. Obviously, she’d heard the reservation in his voice.

He raked his fingers through his tangled hair. “Before I touch you again, I’ve got to tell you something.”

*

“She’s pregnant?” After the passionate encounter they’d just shared, Savanna didn’t know how to react. She felt numb as she sat in her kitchen, staring across the table at Gavin, who’d gone back to his place to get dressed before showing up at her door.

The regret she saw in his body language helped a little, but it couldn’t do much to soften the blow, because what he’d told her changed everything. She’d believed she wasn’t ready for another relationship, and yet she’d done nothing except fantasize about her new neighbor ever since she met him. He made her feel good, and after Gordon had made her feel bad, for so long, that was a powerful thing. She’d even had the crazy thought that perhaps she’d been meant to come to Silver Springs, that maybe her father was acting as some sort of guardian angel, guiding her to a better man, someone with whom she could be truly happy.

Now that she’d heard about Heather, however, that just seemed silly...

“Yes,” he said.

“And it could be your child.”

“We broke up a little over two months ago, and I haven’t been with her since, but...she’s about that far along.”

“When did you learn about it?”

A sheepish expression claimed his face. “Last Saturday. After I got home from my gig that night, she was waiting for me.”

“So...before we slept together the first time.”

He winced. “Yeah. I’m sorry about that. I should’ve said something sooner, but...I don’t know. I didn’t want to face it myself, didn’t want to voice it because that would only make it more real.”

“That’s why you backed off so fast. Because of Heather.”

“Because of the situation, yes.”

She cradled a glass of water between both hands. “And...what were you thinking tonight?”

“I have no excuse for tonight. I knew I shouldn’t touch you. I just couldn’t help myself.”

“I see.” She cleared her throat in order to fill the silence, to give herself some time to think. “I saw Heather in front of your house when I went out to get my mail yesterday. She seemed quite curious about who I was, when I’d arrived and whether I was married.”