Right Where We Belong (Silver Springs #4)(79)

She stopped the moment she saw him, and he opened his mouth to tell her he was sorry for behaving like a jealous ass. But then he saw the tears glistening in her eyes. “What’s wrong?” he asked. “Is it Gordon?”

“Gordon?” she echoed.

“Has something happened?”

“Other than the fact that I have to fly to Utah on Tuesday and visit him on Wednesday morning, no. I’m not looking forward to that, but I had been looking forward to this.”

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“You tell me we’re friends but you won’t even look at me,” she responded.

“Because I’m struggling! I need to keep our relationship within certain boundaries, but I can’t seem to do it. I’m trying—God knows I’m trying. But, for a change, friendship isn’t enough for me. I want you so badly it makes me frustrated and angry that I can’t have you.” He gripped her by the upper arms. He’d merely wanted to get her to look at him, really look at him and believe him, but touching her turned out to be a mistake, because the next thing he knew, they weren’t talking anymore. He’d ducked his head and found her lips, was communicating in a way that felt far more natural when it came to her.

They couldn’t be seen from the front door, but if someone climbed the stairs, they’d be right in plain sight. Despite the sudden deluge of testosterone and the relief of getting what he really wanted, that thought dimly occurred to Gavin. He tugged her into his old bedroom, but that was a mistake, too, because he couldn’t resist pulling down the top of her swimsuit so he could touch and taste her breasts.

“This is why I can’t even look at you,” he muttered as his mouth moved over her soft skin. “This is what I want to do when I see you.”

She lifted his head as though she’d stop him, take on the voice of his conscience. She looked unsure of what they were doing, maybe even a little frightened by the sudden intensity. They were at a barbecue with his family and her kids, after all. But once she saw his face, she must’ve changed her mind, because she guided his mouth back to hers and kissed him every bit as hungrily as he’d been kissing her.

*

“Mom? Mo-om?”

Branson was wandering through the house, calling for her. The last thing Savanna wanted was to be interrupted. She had Gavin’s hands and mouth on her again, was feeling all the wonderful things he could make her feel. When she was with him, there was such a sense of belonging, of having come home, which was strange considering she’d never known anyone like him in the past. The past ten days, she’d missed him more than she cared to admit. She wanted to stay right where she was, get even closer to him, and with a bed so close at hand, they’d been heading in that direction.

It was disappointing not to get what they both craved, but her son’s voice finally cut through the sexual frenzy, reminding her of her responsibility as a mother and that she was a guest in Aiyana’s house.

“That’s Branson,” she gasped, and felt everything come to a stop as Gavin pulled back, looking as overcome and disheveled as she knew she must. She’d removed the tie from his hair almost the moment he’d started kissing her so that she could bury her fingers in the thick mass of it, and she’d pulled off his T-shirt, which lay, probably stretched out at the neck, somewhere on the floor at their feet.

“Mom?” Branson called again.

She and Gavin were both breathing hard as they stared at each other. She swallowed, hoping to steady her voice before she responded. But Gavin put a finger to her lips to indicate silence. Evidently, he’d heard something she’d missed—someone else coming into the house—because a second later, she could hear Eli telling Branson to come back outside, that he’d watch him and Alia while they swam.

“We can’t get in the water until we check with our mom,” Branson insisted.

Savanna had made it clear that they weren’t to go near the pool if she wasn’t around. She would’ve been proud of him for his obedience, except his determination to find her put her in the awkward position of having to come out of an upstairs bedroom with her hair mussed, her face flushed and her heart racing. She was already trying to right her swimsuit, and Gavin was doing what he could to help.

“She must still be in the bathroom,” Eli said. “Let’s give her a minute, okay?”

“Eli’s got it,” Gavin whispered, attempting to calm her.

Sure enough, that seemed to be the case. “There are Popsicles in the fridge,” she heard Eli say. “I’ll get one for you and your sister, and by the time you eat that, you’ll be able to ask your mom if you can go swimming again.”

“Okay!” Branson seemed pleased by that solution, which made Savanna breathe a bit easier.

They heard some rustling below. Then the door slammed.

Eli and Branson had gone out.

“I have to get down there,” she said, and since she had her swimsuit tied again, Gavin opened the bedroom door for her.

Savanna found Eli sitting with her kids in the barbecue area, both of whom had red lips from the dye in their cherry Popsicles.

“There you are!” Branson cried when he saw her. “I was looking all over for you. Where’d you go?”

“To the bathroom.” She hoped the party would just move on, that no one else would remark on her prolonged absence or look closely enough to see how ruffled she was, and that seemed to happen. But Gavin never came out. She realized later, when she was helping to clean up and had a legitimate excuse to go back inside, that he must’ve left shortly after their encounter, because the dishes had only piled up from the point where she’d interrupted him.