Watch Over Me (Danvers #7)(31)
Reaching a hand between them to grip his steely length, she moaned, “You sure do—and I’m ready for it.”
He made a sound that was somewhere between a laugh and a groan. “Not that, Red, although it’s all yours as well.” He pulled back, dislodging her wandering hand and picked up a bag that she hadn’t noticed from the floor. “This is the first part of your surprise.”
She blinked like an owl before taking the bag that he thrust into her hand. She recognized the name of a popular store in the mall and wondered what he could have possibly bought for her there. “Why are you giving me anything?” she managed to get out before she opened the bag and began pulling out the contents.
“It’s a belated birthday gift. Don’t get me wrong,” he said, grinning, “I love how we celebrated your big day the night of your first . . . visit to my apartment, but you did most of the gift giving. I think it’s my turn to do something for my girl today.”
Her mouth dropped as she pulled out a new pair of boot-cut jeans, a white tank top, which looked about a size too small, a black leather jacket, and finally a pair of black boots that resembled the ones he was wearing. Bemused, she looked at the items now lying on the entryway table and then back at Dominic. “What’s all of this for?”
Gwen couldn’t help but think that he looked like an excited little boy as he rubbed his hands together. “I want us to take a trip on my bike today. I’ve been using the truck because I didn’t know if it was safe for you to ride on the bike until we knew if you were pregnant or not. So, yesterday I called my brother-in-law and asked him.”
“Er . . . isn’t your brother-in-law a veterinarian?” Gwen pointed out. “There are probably different rules for animals versus people.” Although she was touched that he had put that much thought into watching over her. She had never felt as cared for as she did with him. He treated her like a fragile piece of glass, and instead of it being annoying, she found that she quite liked it. It was a nice change from the men in her past who didn’t even open doors for her. She had felt like the man in most of those relationships.
Dominic tweaked her nose before dropping a kiss onto it. “Yes, smarty pants, but he’s quite knowledgeable. Plus, his best friend is a . . . you know, a doctor who deals with women and their . . . issues, so he asked him to confirm.”
Quirking a smile, Gwen couldn’t resist teasing him. “What kind of ‘issues’ does this doctor handle exactly?”
She was utterly charmed to see his face flush as he began to stammer. “Well . . . I . . . you know—stuff below the belt, I guess.”
Oh, this was just too good to stop, so acting deliberately obtuse, Gwen wrinkled her nose and asked, “Below the belt? You mean a woman’s legs or feet?”
Her confident, alpha male’s face was now full-on flaming as he struggled to find the words. “No, babe, like your private business.” He pointed to the area between her legs before looking quickly away.
“Ohhh, you mean my vagina!” Popping a hand to her forehead dramatically, she said, “Duh, I’m slow today.”
He studied her for a moment, seeming to comprehend that he’d been played. Prowling toward her, he shook his head, saying, “Oh, I don’t think you’re slow at all, baby. I believe you were having a blast yanking my chain, weren’t you?”
Shaking with laughter, Gwen took a step back for every one he took forward. “Of course not, honey, I just didn’t know what you were talking about. I’d never try to intentionally embarrass you, now would I?” As she suddenly sprinted down the hallway, she yelled over her shoulder, “Vagina, vagina, vagina!”
She gave a squeal of surprise when he swung her up into his arms inside her bedroom door. He turned to absorb the impact of their fall as they tumbled onto her disheveled bedcovers. She felt his chest move against her head as he rumbled with laughter. “You’re a little minx this morning, aren’t you?” he said against the top of her head.
She lifted her head to give him a lopsided grin. “Aw, come on. You’ve been below my belt quite a few times now. I can’t believe you’d have a hard time talking about a female body part. You seem to know your way around them very well.” Instead of responding to her teasing, his hands began to roam her body. He pushed inside the elastic band of her sleep shorts, palming her ass and kneading it. The skin-on-skin contact had her quickly squirming against him. Her moan was swallowed by his mouth as he crushed his lips to hers.
Gwen was busy trying to unbuckle his belt to release the bulge that was driving her crazy when Dominic removed his hands from her shorts and clamped them onto her wrists. “No, no, baby, that’s not part of your birthday surprise. If you’re a good girl, I’ll let you unwrap that present later, though. Right now we need to get going.” He sat up, pulling her with him. “Now, go dress that gorgeous body of yours in what I brought you.”
Gwen let out a huff of frustration as she stood. Scowling, she said, “Do we have to be somewhere at a certain time or something?”
Dominic left the room, only to return with the clothing he had bought for her. “Nope, we aren’t on a set schedule for today. We’ll just relax and enjoy ourselves.”
She looked from the bed to the front of his jeans where the evidence of his arousal was still pressing against his zipper. “Oookayyy.” Pointing to the bed, she snapped, “Well, if that’s the case, then why can’t we finish what we started there?”