Sugar on the Edge (Last Call #3)(69)
“Filthy boy,” I say gently. “My heart is sure. My body is sure. Don’t be mad that I’m nervous. It’s not that I doubt you, but I doubt my friends and that they won’t see clearly. I just desperately want them to see the same thing that we see. I want the validation that what I’m thinking is the best thing to have ever happened to me isn’t a figment of my imagination.”
Letting out a deep breath, Gavin murmurs to me, “I’m sorry. You’re the best thing to have happened to me too, and I don’t want you to ever doubt my feelings on that.”
“I don’t. I couldn’t. You’ve shown me otherwise, too many times and in too many ways.”
We’ve been back from St. Lucia for just over a week, and I’m still riding on the high of the time I spent alone with Gavin. We had no worries, no obligations, only each other. The things he did to me… the words he spoke. It piled up, all on top of the other, until I was smothered in a blanket of care and devotion. I left St. Lucia knowing that I had found my other half, and I want to shout it out to the world.
I’m just terrified the world is going to shout back at me, Sucker!
The front doorbell rings, and I pull back to look up at Gavin. He takes my face in his hands, and peers down at me with searing intensity. “Just remember this, and this is the only thing you need to take away from this conversation. After tonight is over, and all your friends unanimously give their blessing on our relationship, I’m going to f*ck you so hard that you’re going to pass out from the pleasure. In fact, I’m thinking there might be some rope involved. You tied to the bed… legs raised high… my mouth on your *, until you come over and over and over again. I can’t f*cking wait.”
My eyes practically roll into the back my head, and my panties go damp at the thought. Gavin did that on purpose… gave me a dose of my Filthy so my worries would go out the window. So I’d have something to look forward to, and so I wouldn’t forget that while the words between us seem to abound, we also have amazing combustion in the sack, which is further testament to the “rightness” of what we have.
“Oh, Filthy.” I sigh heavily. “You always know what to say to get my knickers wet.”
“Knickers?”
“Yeah… I’ve heard you say that a time or two.”
“I know… but it sounds weird coming from a Yank.”
I grin at him, he beams at me, and all of our doubts and misgivings are forgotten. He gives me a quick kiss and then pushes me toward the door to greet out guests.
“Girl… you don’t waste any time, do you?” Casey says to me with a wink as she leans her elbows on the kitchen counter and smirks at me. “From employee to live-in lover in a month’s time. Nice.”
“Leave her alone,” Gabby snaps as she dips a piece of celery into the buffalo chicken dip. She takes a bite, groans, and looks at me with praise in her eyes. “Oh my God, Savannah. This is so good. I have to have this recipe.”
“Yeah, leave our sweet Savannah alone, Case,” Alyssa says in agreement.
“What?” Casey says with her arms outstretched in mock surprise. “I’m just saying… our girl hasn’t looked at a man twice since we’ve known her and now she’s shacked up with a wealthy, famous author, who is smokin’ hot by the way. Well done. My point is… I’m totally f*cking jealous of her.”
We all laugh, lift our glasses, and clink them together. Sliding my eyes over to the living room, I see all the guys standing around talking with plates of foot in their hands and one eye on the hockey game that Gavin put on when Hunter requested it. As if he can sense me staring, Gavin turns his head to me and his eyes are tender. He gives me a private smile and turns back to something Brody is saying.
“Well… I think it’s wonderful,” Alyssa says. “From the time of my first kiss with Brody to the time we started shacking up with each other was only a few weeks.”
Gabby nods her head. “The heart knows what the heart wants.”
“Wait? We’re talking hearts here?” Casey asks in bewilderment. “I just thought this was sex. If hearts are involved, I am so not jealous.”
Laughing at Casey, I throw a grape at her head and miss. “You’re so jaded, Casey. One day, love is going to hit you so hard that I’m going to just snicker at you while you stumble around all drunk from it.”
Leaning in closer, Gabby whispers, “So… is it love then?”
The other girls all lean in to hear my answer. A quick glance at Gavin and my heart starts to pound… as if it’s calling out to his. Turning to face the girls, I whisper back. “It is for me. I just haven’t said it out loud yet.”
“What about him?” Alyssa asks, voice hushed.
“I don’t know… I think so. I mean, we’ve opened up a lot with each other about our feelings, but we just haven’t come out and formally said we love each other.”
Alyssa snickers. “There’s nothing formal about love, Savannah. It’s hot, messy, and totally disjointed. My guess is you’ll say it at exactly the right moment, without any planning.”
“And if he doesn’t say it back?” I ask fearfully, because all along, I’ve thought that Amanda must have surely killed Gavin’s ability to love another woman again.