Chapter Twelve
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Capacity inside the large conference room was at standing room only by the end of the final session of the first day. Up at the front, Autumn’s boss finished up his remarks and received a warm round of applause from the attendees. As everyone stood and began filing out the back of the room, he waved her over.
“I’ll be honest, I haven’t had time to look at the financials in your presentation,” he said by way of apology.
Ugh. She’d sent them over a week ago and nudged him twice in the past few days because she needed his opinion before she presented.
“That’s fine,” she said, putting on a smile. “Will you be able to look at it tonight? I still have time to make changes if necessary.” Not how she wanted to spend her night, but it was what it was.
He grimaced. “Can’t promise anything. I’ve got a dinner engagement and then a meeting with some clients for drinks afterward. But I’ll try.” He gave her upper arm a friendly pat. “I’m not at all concerned. You’re always on top of everything, and I’m sure what you have is perfect.”
“I would really prefer not to present it without you checking it over first.”
He blinked, as if he was surprised that she’d pushed back. “Oh. Well, yeah. All right, can you email it to me again? I’ll look at it on my phone before dinner.”
So he didn’t have it saved? Or he had it on his laptop and didn’t want to have to go get it? “Sure.”
“Great. Have a good night.”
“You too.” She withheld a sigh as he walked away and got busy sending him the presentation again.
She liked Ross. He was fair and treated his people well, and a lot of CEOs weren’t that way. The handful of times she’d met him in person over the past three years rather than over video or conference call hadn’t changed that opinion. But asking her to present the pitch she and her team had been working on for the past seven months to their biggest client tomorrow without looking over everything made her angry.
It was she who risked looking like an idiot up there if something wasn’t right, and while she supposed she should be grateful that he trusted her and had total faith in her ability, he needed to deliver on his promises and protect the reputation of the firm too.
“Uh-oh, what’s that frown mean?”
It means I’m stressed , she thought with a mental sigh.
She glanced over at Jonas as he approached up an aisle then went back to finishing her email with a mental groan. The last thing she wanted was to have to fend him off again right now while her mental energy was running low. “Just some last-minute hiccups that need ironing out.”
“What kind of hiccups?”
Work, social, and personal. But who was counting? Good times. “It’s fine. All under control.” He wasn’t going away, so she slid her phone into the pocket of her suit jacket and faced him with a polite smile. “Conference going well for you?”
“Great.”
He wasn’t a bad-looking guy. Five-ten, brown hair, brown eyes, glasses. Nice enough, had always been kind to her.
But there were no butterflies when he looked at her. No hint of attraction. Only a mild annoyance that he kept trying. That was partly her fault though, as she hadn’t come straight out and said it was pointless to spare him hurt feelings or embarrassment.
“The restaurants in the area are all booked up or closed due to the protests, but I managed to get a reservation at the steakhouse here at eight. Would you like to join me?”
She had to give him a few grudging points for perseverance. “I’ve got my daughter here with me.”
“I can change the reservation to three people. Does she like steak?”
He really was trying hard. Including Carly would feel ultra creepy with a lot of guys, but she didn’t get that vibe from him. “That’s so sweet of you, but I promised her a quiet girl’s night with room service and a movie.”
“Ah.” He did a decent job of masking his disappointment. “Another time then.”
It was the perfect opportunity to shut him down completely, but they were coworkers, and she didn’t need any awkwardness or hard feelings in the middle of the conference on top of everything else she was wrestling with. “Okay, well, I’d better get upstairs and finish my work so I can get to spending quality girl time with her.”
“Okay. Want me to save you guys a seat at breakfast? The dining room filled up really fast this morning.”
“That’s all right, we’ll just grab something when we’re ready in the morning. Have a good night.”
This time he wasn’t as good at covering his disappointment. “You too.”
The elevator banks were crammed. She took the stairs instead and heard the TV on when she walked into their suite.
She found Carly stretched out on her stomach on the bed watching TV with her laptop open beside her. “What are you watching?”
“The news.” Her gaze stayed glued to the screen, where a reporter was covering the growing number of protesters gathering in the city center. Local officials bracing for possible violence , the headline read. “Is that really happening close to here?”
“Sweetheart.” Autumn picked up the remote and switched the channel. A cooking show came on, and she waited for Carly to look at her. “The protests are blocks away from here, and the city has taken precautions. They have a lot of extra police here to help keep everyone safe.”
“But Gavvy and Trissy are right there.” Worry colored her voice.
She crossed the room, sat down on the bed beside Carly and stroked a hand over the crown of her head. Her situation with Gavin was unbelievably complicated, but she and Carly both loved them. “They’re okay, baby. Their hotel and the conference center have police and other special security all around the building, plus their own team, who all have special training. And don’t forget, Gavvy and Trissy were both Marines.” Marley and Decker too.
“Still are Marines,” Carly corrected her. “Once a Marine, always a Marine.”
Autumn grinned at the protective note in her tone. “Yes, exactly. So they know how to look out for themselves, and the building they’re in is very safe.” The protests made her uneasy, but she didn’t want to show that and make Carly even more anxious.
Carly seemed slightly mollified. “Okay. Will we get to see them this weekend do you think?”
“They’re going to be really busy working, so I doubt it. But we’ll see them before we go to the airport, promise.”
Autumn kissed the top of her head. “Now, what do you feel like ordering for dinner?”
Forty minutes later, they were propped up against Carly’s headboard, wearing matching terrycloth hotel bathrobes and slippers, watching a comedy movie while eating their room service dinner.
“This is the best vacation ever ,” Carly declared in between bites of her double hot fudge sundae.
Autumn laughed and took a spoonful of her own. To hell with the calories, she deserved this. “It doesn’t suck, that’s for sure.”
Near the end of the movie Carly started to visibly fade, cracking several eye-watering yawns. Autumn gathered up the dishes and organized them on the delivery cart. “Bedtime for you, young lady. Go brush your teeth.”
Carly grumbled but dutifully slid out of bed and went to do as she was told, evidence enough of how exhausted she was. Autumn turned off the lights, tucked her in and kissed her on the forehead. “Sleep tight. See you in the morning.”
She closed the door to Carly’s room and returned to her own where her laptop was waiting on her king-size bed. If her boss still hadn’t looked at the numbers, she could at least go over everything one last time before crashing herself.
Sighing, she sat cross-legged with her computer in her lap and grabbed her phone where she’d left it charging on the nightstand. There was a message from her boss detailing one minor change. Along with three messages from Gavin.
Call me when you get a minute. It’s important , the first one said.
He’d left it hours ago, right after she’d come upstairs from the final session. The most recent one had come in while she’d been watching the movie.
Part of her was dreading his response in case it had something to do with them, but she texted him back anyway. That kiss had changed things. A line had been crossed, and she had narrowly avoided obliterating it entirely.
Sorry. Was having girls’ night with Carly. What’s up? She hit send.
The message had barely been delivered when someone knocked on the door. She got up and pushed the room service trolley over to it, but when she checked the peephole, her pulse jumped.
She unlocked the door and pulled it open, staring up at Gavin in a dress shirt and slacks, the breadth of his shoulders and chest straining the crisp, white fabric.
“Hi,” she said in surprise while her nervous system went haywire. “What’re you doing here—”
“I can’t stay long.” He edged past her into the room. “You didn’t answer my texts, so I came to talk in person.” He glanced at the closed door between the bedrooms. “Carly asleep?”
“Yes.” She closed the door and stayed beside it, afraid to get closer to him. Not trusting herself and feeling weird about being alone in the room with him wearing nothing but a robe. “Is something wrong?”
“Yeah.” He turned to face her, and his serious expression made her heartrate kick up a notch. “I missed you.”
Before she could get out another word, he gathered her up in his arms and pulled her against him. A deep groan rumbled in his chest as he held her close and rocked her slightly, his nose buried in her hair.
Every one of her senses sharpened acutely. She was hyperaware of the size and power of him, the clean, woodsy smell of his cologne that made her want to bury her nose in his neck and breathe him in. The feel of all those hard muscles surrounding her. Turning her on and making her feel so unbelievably safe at the same time.
This was a totally new side of Gavin, the one she’d secretly dreamed about for so many years, his intense, masculine energy and protectiveness focused completely on her. She’d wanted to keep an emotional and physical distance from him, but the hug undid her.
There was no point even trying to fight it. She had no defense against this genuine show of affection, the way he held her as though he’d been dying to all day and she was the most precious thing in the world to him.
Giving in, she looped her arms around his back and leaned into him, struck by the sense of safety and security on top of the punch of stark arousal that streaked through her. Was this a bad idea?
Maybe, but it was hard to care at the moment. He made her want to crawl inside him and stay there.
“How bad is it out there?” she managed to ask, making use of her few remaining functional brain cells. Protests could shift suddenly and turn violent, and she had Carly here.
He nuzzled her hair, pressed a kiss to the crown of her head, the pressure of his arms still tight around her, as though he couldn’t bring himself to let her go. “Latest intel says the protest could triple by tomorrow afternoon. It’s peaceful so far and they have barriers in place all around the conference center and hotel, but the security’s pretty thin down here. Tris and I talked. Do you want me to have Marley and Warwick come take Carly back to Crimson Point?”
She lifted her head to look up at him, concern puncturing the warm, secure cocoon she’d been floating in. “Is that necessary?”
“Not at the moment. Just giving you the option in case it would make you feel better. I know you’ve got a lot on your mind right now.”
More than he knew.
His expression was absorbed as he ran that intense green gaze over the length of her in a way that made her feel naked despite the robe. “To be honest, I just wanted an excuse to come see you.”
He met her gaze again, and the breath stalled in her lungs, his closeness and raw masculinity making her feel lightheaded. For so long she’d only allowed herself to think of him as her friend. Now that he had suddenly changed the ground rules with their kiss, there was no way she could make herself believe the lie anymore.
“I can’t stay,” he said, his voice heavy with regret. “I’m on call twenty-four-seven and should still be at my hotel, but I had to see you. Had to just...”
Her skin began to tingle all over, a breathless anticipation gripping her as he lifted a hand and trailed his fingertips down the side of her face. A light, almost ticklish caress that raised goosebumps across her skin and made her nipples bead tight.
“Gav,” she whispered, and it sounded like a plea. A plea for him to stop this now before they went to a place of no return, or to keep going and put out the fire he’d lit inside her. She wasn’t sure.
One big, warm hand cupped her cheek, and he rubbed the pad of his thumb across her lips. “Yeah.” He leaned in, his pupils dilating until they obliterated the green irises.
She swallowed, fingers tightening on his back as she fought the urge to grab his face and kiss him until he couldn’t see straight. She was weak where he was concerned, always had been, and was already teetering on the verge of doing something stupid. One more seductive touch from him, and the tenuous hold on her control would slip.
“I thought you said you can’t stay,” she blurted out in a breathy voice as anticipation curled through her, making her heart thud as liquid heat rushed between her legs.
“I can’t,” he murmured, his lips only a breath away from hers. “But I have enough time for this.” He tipped her head back and lowered his mouth to hers in an all-consuming kiss that made her mind go instantly blank.
A wave of heat engulfed her, years of pent-up longing and empty fantasies fueling a need that bordered on desperation. She ignored the voice of protest screaming warnings in the back of her head.
There were so many reasons why she should stop this. The sane thing to do—the responsible thing—was to end this right now.
But she couldn’t. Even if this was just temporary, even if they only had this one night together and her upcoming confession on Monday tore them apart for good, she would at least have this.
She wanted him. Needed him. Only him.
He suddenly broke the kiss, breathing faster, and caught her hand. “C’mere,” he whispered, tugging her toward him. He led her backward, paused only long enough to quietly turn the lock on Carly’s door, then drew her to her bed.
A half-dozen feeble protests formed in her brain, but she couldn’t get a single word out, the tidal wave of need inside her inescapable.
She expected him to push her down on the bed and climb on top of her, but he sat on the edge of it instead and drew her into his lap. One hand cradled the side of her face, guiding her lips to his.
This time, he kissed her slow and tender, his tongue teasing hers, coaxing, melting her, and making the ache between her legs worse. The kiss was beyond anything she’d imagined, so erotic that all her most intense fantasies paled in comparison with reality. Her toes curled when his free hand moved up and down her back, up her shoulder to the side of her throat.
His long fingers found the neckline of her robe and pulled it aside, opening a path for his mouth. Her head fell back as his lips and tongue caressed every sensitive spot on the side of her neck. Delicious shivers rippled through her, amplifying the heavy throb between her thighs.
Don’t stop , she willed him silently, her fingers digging harder into the back of his neck.
He tipped her backward slightly, the strong arm around her back holding her upright, his other hand sliding down to cup her bared breast. His head dipped down.
The first touch of his tongue on her hardened nipple made her gasp. He stroked it harder, lips parting to close around the sensitive flesh.
She pressed her lips together to stifle a shaky moan, a thread of sanity still cognizant of Carly in the next room, the level of need he created in her skyrocketing. He held her steady while he pleasured her, sucking with slow, steady pressure, flicking his tongue across the tip until she was squirming in his lap, desperate to feel his hand between her legs.
He shifted her slightly and moved his mouth to the other nipple, wrenching another stifled moan from her. His fingers stroked a slow path down her midline, over her belly.
Her muscles tensed, her breathing suspended when he ran the pads of his fingers across the top of her mound, oh so close to where she was slick and aching. “Next time I’m gonna do this properly.”
“Properly?”
He made a low affirmative sound. “Stretch you out so I can touch and lick you all over, watch your face while I make you come on my tongue.”
Oh, holy shit. She made a garbled sound and hung on to his shoulders for dear life, her whole body taut, dying of anticipation, the image he painted pushing her to the verge of begging.
His hand eased deeper between her thighs and his big, warm palm cupped her, long fingers parting her slick folds. She arched, bit her lip to keep from crying out as he eased a finger just inside her, igniting hidden nerve endings that sizzled at the slightest contact.
“Baby, look at you,” he whispered, his fingertips skimming up, up until they slid along the edge of her aching, swollen clit.
“ There ,” she demanded. Or maybe she begged, she wasn’t sure. Both.
He made a quiet sound of agreement and repeated the caress, watching her. His touch was scarily skillful, the pad of one finger gliding over the exact spot that made her mindless. “This is what it should’ve been like the first time,” he murmured against her lips an instant before kissing her again.
She didn’t care about that now. Only cared that he didn’t stop, that he relieved this insane, almost painful need he’d ignited.
He groaned and broke the kiss, then dipped his finger back an inch inside her, making her back arch. “I’ve imagined you like this so many times.”
He had? She brought his mouth back down to hers. Their tongues twined together, the kiss muffling the soft mewls and cries she couldn’t stifle as his sure, skillful fingers stroked and explored, drowning her in pleasure.
He pushed her steadily higher, higher, until he had her trembling all over, balanced on the precipice of release. With a pleading sound, she grabbed his wrist to anchor his hand in exactly the right spot and rocked shamelessly against it, riding the fingers buried inside her while his thumb rubbed her clit.
Stars exploded behind her closed eyelids when the orgasm hit. She clenched around his fingers and cried out into his mouth, caught in the vortex of pleasure.
He slowed the movement of his hand, drawing it out, coaxing every second from it possible until gradually it faded into gentle ripples. Breathless and weak in the aftermath, she pulled her mouth from his and dropped her head onto his shoulder, shaken.
Oh, God. That had been even better than she’d dreamed of. But now the ache inside her had moved to her heart.
Gavin made a low, guttural sound and wrapped both arms around her, squeezing her tight. “Goddamn, Autumn.”
She was suddenly acutely aware of the rigid length of his erection pressed hard into her bottom, wanted to rub against him like a cat.
“I wish I could stay. I’d give goddamn near anything to lay you back on this bed and hear you scream my name while I’m inside you.”
A tremor ran through her, her temporarily sated body already wanting seconds. And thirds.
He sat her up to kiss her one more time, gentler now, then ran his gaze over her, still splayed across his lap, robe gaping open to reveal her breasts and the flushed, slick folds between her legs that still pulsed with aftershocks. “Do you really have to go?” she whispered.
He groaned. “Yes. Fuck.” He gave her one last swift kiss, pulled the halves of her robe back together and slid her off his lap onto the bed before heading to the sink in the bathroom.
She drank in the sight of him standing there, all broad-shouldered and powerful, a flush of arousal across his cheekbones, the solid ridge of his erection straining the front of his pants. In that moment, all she wanted was to sink to her knees in front of him, unzip his pants, and treat him to the same level of pleasure he’d just given her.
He turned to face her and stopped in the bathroom doorway. She lifted her gaze to his, the deep, masculine sound of hunger he made along with the mix of lust and tenderness on his face making her heart and belly do a sudden cartwheel.
“I would just about kill to feel your mouth on me. But if I don’t leave in the next five seconds, I won’t make it back to my hotel tonight, and I’ll get my ass fired. So hold that thought, sweet thing.” He stalked toward her, paused to tip her chin up and give her one more fierce, sizzling kiss, then pulled away. “I’ll call you tomorrow when I can. Message me if you need anything.”
You. I just need you. “Okay. Be safe.”
He paused in the act of opening the door. One side of his mouth tipped up, making him so damned sexy she had to restrain herself from leaping up to drag him back to the bed. “Always.”
Then he was gone.
She flopped onto her back and threw her forearm over her eyes. “Oh, shit ,” she whispered into the empty room, shaken.
He was doing and saying everything she’d dreamed of for years, and now she was terrified. Because it could all be taken away just as fast on Monday night when she told him he was Carly’s father.