Life Should Be Beautiful (Summer Lake Silver #12)

Chapter Ten

Davin opened his eyes and tried to move his arm; it was numb. He tensed, trying to figure out why – what was the weight leaning against him? Why was his arm pinned …? And then it came back to him. He was on the sofa with Alexis. After their ice cream, they’d watched a movie – some romantic comedy that he hadn’t thought he’d enjoy but had made him laugh.

They must have fallen asleep before it ended. He looked at Alexis; she was gorgeous. Sure, there were little crow’s feet around her eyes, but that only added to her beauty in his mind. He didn’t like to compare, but Zoe wasn’t in the same league. She was pretty, and obviously, much younger but there was just something about Alexis that did it for him.

Her eyes popped open, and she smiled. “Oh! Hi!” She struggled to sit up, and he helped. “Crap, I fell asleep watching the movie?”

“We both did.”

She checked her watch, and he shifted uncomfortably – maybe she wanted him to leave?

He started to get to his feet. “I can …”

She tugged his hand, and he sat back down beside her. “Please don’t say that you’re going?”

He met her gaze.

“I’d hate that. I know the moment’s passed, but … would you stay?”

He leaned closer and she rested her head against his shoulder. The way she looked up into his eyes gave him all the reassurance he hadn’t realized he needed. “I’d love to.”

She led him upstairs, and they took turns in the bathroom. It was strange to strip down to his underwear and climb into bed beside her. It wasn’t all that long since he’d shared a bed with a woman, but this felt more … domestic. The word took him by surprise when it came to him. In a good way. There was a level of comfort with Alexis and a familiarity that he hadn’t felt with Zoe, or with any woman since his divorce.

She turned onto her side to face him. The covers were up around her shoulder, leaving only her head peeking out. She looked uncertain, vulnerable maybe, and that hit him straight in the heart.

“I’m sorry. I imagine that this is a far tamer way of getting into bed with a woman than you’re used to.”

He curled his arm around her waist and drew her closer, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “You want to know the truth?”

She chuckled. “Probably not but go ahead.”

“The truth is, this is far more intimate than anything I’ve experienced in a long time.”

A rush of warmth filled his chest when she snuggled closer. “Me too. I like it. A lot.”

He lowered his head, and she reached up to meet him. When she kissed his chin instead of his lips, that feeling in his chest intensified.

“Will you be totally offended if I go to sleep?” she asked.

“I won’t. In fact, I’ll be kind of relieved. Not that I’m saying that I don’t want to … Just that …”

She chuckled, and he loved the feel of her body moving against his. “Just that it’s almost three in the morning, and we’re not spring chickens.”

“Exactly,” he said with a smile.

“Don’t think that this will get you off the hook in the future, though. I might need you to swing from the chandelier tomorrow night to prove that you’ve still got it.”

“I’ll see what I can do. Although, you don’t actually have a chandelier.”

“Nitpicker.”

He ran his hand over her hair. “I’ll think of something to prove to you that I’m more than some tired old man.”

She looked up into his eyes. “You don’t need to; I already know that. I just don’t want you to think of me as some tired old lady.”

He pressed a kiss to her lips. “I don’t, because you’re not. If you want the truth, I think I like this even better – spending our first night together this way.”

“But don’t you think …”

He put a finger to her lips. “Do you really need to ask whatever you’re about to ask?”

Her eyes shone with amusement as she shook her head.

“So how about you stop talking and go to sleep?”

She let out an indignant little sound, but he just winked. “You’re the one who said you were tired.”

He held her close, listening to her breathe, and he could tell when she drifted off. He lay awake like that for a long time, with a big smile on his face.

~ ~ ~

The next time Alexis woke up it was morning. She was immediately aware of Davin’s presence – it was hard not to be, given that she was wrapped around him. Her leg was over his, her arm was around his waist, and her chin was on his shoulder. The moment she opened her eyes she smiled at the sight of stubble on his cheek. He was still sleeping, his face relaxed, he even looked like he was smiling slightly. She couldn’t help comparing that with the sullen expression that Gordon’s features settled into when he slept. Her lip curled at the memory of the way he tended to drool too. That thought brought her hand up to her face to check. She bit back a laugh of relief. Nope, she was safe – no drool!

Davin turned his head and greeted her with a sleepy smile.

“Are you laughing at me over there? Was I snoring?”

“You weren’t. I was laughing at myself – because I just had to check to see if I was drooling in my sleep!”

Davin’s hand came up to his face, making her laugh out loud.

“Was I …?”

“No. You have nothing to worry about. I was thinking how handsome you looked while you slept, and then I wondered whether I …”

He rolled onto his side to face her and pressed a kiss to her lips. “You’re beautiful.”

“You really think so?” She surprised herself by asking, but it suddenly felt important to know that he found her attractive.

His arm curled around her waist, and she eagerly snuggled up against his warm, hard chest. There was something else warm and hard inside his underwear, and she couldn’t resist pressing closer to that too.

He gave her a rueful smile as he rocked his hips. “There’s part of my answer, but I think it’s important that you hear the part that comes in words as well. Yes, I really do think you’re beautiful. When you fell asleep last night, I lay here watching you for a while, thinking just how beautiful you are.”

“I don’t want to sound insecure – I don’t think I am – but I am a realist, and I know that the last woman you were with was much younger than me.”

He rested his forehead against hers and looked into her eyes. “I’m not sure that I should admit this, but she did cross my mind while I was lying here looking at you.”

Alexis’s heart thudded to a halt. She should have kept her mouth shut. She’d given him an opening to tell her that sure, she was beautiful for her age, but that Zoe was …

“Hey.” He tucked his fingers under her chin. “Stay with me; hear me out. What I was going to say is that I was thinking that she couldn’t hold a candle to you. You’re gorgeous. I know there’s all the societal bullshit about age, but to me, that’s all it is – bullshit! The way I see it, we all have our own very particular tastes. And you? You’re my idea of perfect.” He ran his hand over her hair. “I’m not just saying it – I wouldn’t; I won’t lie to you about anything. Ever since I first saw you in the parking lot at the grocery store …”

“Really?” She’d thought that he was hot when she first laid eyes on him, but he hadn’t seemed particularly attracted to her.

He chuckled. “Okay, I just told you that I wouldn’t lie. I was all caught up my head when I saw you, so maybe it didn’t register at the conscious level. But on my way back out, I was thinking about you, and it hit me just how attractive you were. I was kicking myself that I hadn’t even realized until it was too late –at that point, I figured you were a tourist, and that I’d never see you again.”

She tightened her arm around his waist. “I’m glad you were honest about that – it makes it easier to believe the rest.”

His eyes were a deeper blue as they looked down into hers. “I hope that with time, you’ll find it easy to believe anything I say. I meant it when I said that I won’t lie to you.”

His words seemed to carry more weight than this line of conversation warranted. He continued to hold her gaze and she nodded slowly. She understood – he was talking about more than just telling her what she wanted to hear about her looks. He was setting a standard for whatever their relationship might turn out to be.

“I won’t lie to you either – about anything.”

“Thank you.”

She’d much rather stop talking and finally get around to taking whatever their relationship was going to be to the next level – the physical level – and judging by the bulge in his underwear that was pressing into her stomach, she’d guess that he felt the same way, but she needed to make sure he understood something.

He cocked an eyebrow at her. “Are you about to change your mind on the honesty thing?”

She gave him a rueful smile. “You’re sharp.”

“Maybe, or perhaps it’s just that I’ve worked with enough intel officers over the years to know that you guys don’t always perceive honesty as a virtue.”

She chuckled. “I’m glad you put it so gently. A lot of people think of us as sneaky, lying …”

He put a finger to her lips. “I don’t think of you that way.”

“I know. All I was going to say is that giving you my word that I’ll be honest with you isn’t something that I say lightly.”

“I get that – and it means a lot.”

They continued to look into each other’s eyes for a long moment. She didn’t think that she’d ever committed to being completely honest with a guy before. It wasn’t that she was a dishonest person at heart, simply that in her line of work, subterfuge and lies were usually the best policy.

She was grateful that Davin knew enough about her to understand that. As the silence lengthened, she felt as though they said more without words than they could have expressed with them.

He surprised the hell out of her when he chuckled and slapped her ass. “Okay. I think we made ourselves clear.”

She laughed with him. “It would appear so.”

“What do you say, then – is it time to get up?”

She pressed closer against him. “I thought you already were.”

He smiled through pursed lips. “I am, but I’ve been in that state since I watched you undress last night. It’s time to stop tormenting me and …”

She reached in between them and slid her hand inside his boxers. “And?”

He closed his eyes, and his voice was husky when he answered. “And … and I forget what I was about to say.”

“I think it’s time that you stop tormenting me. I might not only be after you for your body, but I do want it, and every time I’ve thought that we were going to …”

She didn’t get to finish. He rolled them so that she was under him, looking up into his eyes. She spread her legs wider so that he nestled between them. The feel of his hot, hard cock straining to get through the flimsy layers of fabric that were keeping him from her made her moan.

“Are you sure?”

She chuckled. “You really need to ask?”

“I do,” he told her solemnly.

“In that case, yes; I’m absolutely sure and I’m in a hurry. So, in the interest of not wasting any more time, I will say that I don’t need a contraceptive and I had my physical before I left D.C. – after Gordon. I’m clean.”

“Okay. I like this efficient honesty,” he said with a smile. “I have condoms in my jeans pocket if you want me to use one. Otherwise, I … If you don’t want me to use one, this will be the first time I’ve gone bare in …” He frowned. “Almost twenty years.”

The way he throbbed between her legs told her that he was as aroused as she was by that idea. “Then I don’t want you to use one. That feels …”

He ducked his head to kiss her. She expected just a peck, but he deepened it, and soon she was writhing under him, bucking her hips, needing to feel him inside.

When they finally broke the kiss, he smiled. “That was my way of telling you that it feels special.”

“It does,” she agreed.

He rolled away from her, and she reached after him. “Where are you going?”

He chuckled. “To get rid of my underwear.”

“Oh!” She laughed with him and pushed her panties down. “See, you’ve got my brain so fuddled with lust that I didn’t even think about that.”

When they were both naked, he settled himself above her again, and she cupped her hands around the back of his head. She pulled him down for another one of his intoxicating kisses and spread her legs wider, hoping that he’d take the hint, and mirror the actions of his tongue with his body.

He lifted his head and looked down into her eyes. She nodded, and he thrust deep and hard, filling her, stretching her in a way that she’d forgotten – if she’d ever known it. She gasped and he held still.

“You okay?”

She nodded rapidly. “I will be if you don’t stop.”

She dug her fingers into his ass and hooked her heels around his legs.

“Alexis,” he breathed as he picked up the pace. “You. Feel. So. Damn. Good!” He punctuated each word with a thrust of his hips.

She was shocked that he had her at the edge already. She’d grown used to having to work for her orgasms over the last few years. She’d thought that it was her body that needed something more than it used to – now she knew that it did – it needed Davin.

He braced his hands on either side of her head, and as he arched his back, she ran her hands up his chest. He let out a sound that could only be described as a growl and thrust harder, over and over and over again until she couldn’t take any more.

“Davin!” she moaned. “I …”

“Say you’re going to come for me.”

“I … I … I … Yes!”

Her orgasm crashed over her, making her thighs quiver as she dug her fingers into his ass.

He drove her higher and higher until she felt as though she might dissolve, then he held deep and let go. She felt as though their bodies melded into one as he pulsated deep inside, giving her everything he had as she clung to him.

When he finally slumped down, he rested his head on the pillow beside her, still breathing hard.

He opened one eye and grinned at her. “Damn!”

She chuckled. “So eloquent!”

“You’re lucky I managed to form a word. I feel more like I want to grunt and beat my chest.”

His words sent a rush of heat through her – not the same pulsing sweaty heat of just a few moments ago, more like a warmth that settled in her chest, right around her heart.

He squeezed his eyes shut. “I made myself sound like a Neanderthal, huh?”

“No! Or if you did, you made me hope that I’ll be the one you want to drag back to your cave.”

He nodded vigorously. “I will. I do. That was … amazing.”

She tightened her arms around him. “Wasn’t it?”

“Oh, yeah! I hope you’re being honest with me that it was as good for you because – damn, lady! I’m going to be back for more – and more and more. Is that going to be okay with you?”

She couldn’t stop smiling. “More than okay.”

“Good, I wouldn’t go as far as beating you over the head with my club so that I can drag you to my cave, but …”

For some reason, the thought that he would even say something like that made her feel even closer to him.

He cocked an eyebrow. “Am I playing with death even mentioning the possibility of overpowering you so that I can have my wicked way with you?”

She grinned. “Quite the opposite in fact.”

He grinned back at her. “How about that?”

“It surprises me, too.”

He rolled to the side and curled his arm around her. “We might have to play with that idea.”

“I’ll look forward to it.”

He held her gaze for a moment, and even though he didn’t speak, she knew what he was thinking.

“I suppose it’s a trust thing, and a respect thing, too.”

“Yeah. It is trust, definitely.” He looked puzzled for a moment. “As weird as it may sound, it only turns me on to think about it because I respect you so much. I hate the idea of a man trying to overpower a woman in any sense. It turns me on with you because I know damn well that you wouldn’t allow it if you didn’t want it.”

She cocked her head to the side. “I think I get it. I think I even know how to say it but it might sound weird.”

“How? Go ahead and say it – please; I feel like I’m messing up here.”

“I think it’s because you’re enough of a man to make to me feel like a woman.”

He nodded happily. “I like that. In fact, you’ve got me wanting to beat my chest again, so we should probably get up now before I make a fool of myself.”

She pressed a quick kiss to his lips. “You’re no fool.”