Chapter Six Gavin
Chapter Six
Gavin
I slid into the back seat of my Range Rover, my driver looking at me through the rearview mirror as I shut the door behind me. I knew that look, I knew just what it meant, and I immediately huffed out a mouthful of air. “What’s up, Denis?”
“Get comfortable.” His silver eyebrows, at least an inch thick, rimmed his dark stare. “The traffic isn’t pretty this evening.”
I sighed, my patience already nonexistent from a night of no sleep and a day at work that wouldn’t fucking end, so this news made my nerves spark like goddamn lightning bolts. “Do the best you can.”
Just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse, my phone rang from my pocket. I checked the screen, swiped my finger across it, placing the call on speaker mode before I groaned, “Jordan, I’m in the car. If you tell me you need me to come back up to the office, the answer is no. I’m going home.”
Denis was waiting for my signal to start driving, since he knew a call from my brother could result in many things. Tonight, the only thing it was triggering was how badly I needed to get out of here. I gave Denis a circling of my finger, telling him to do just that.
“I’m headed home too,” Jordan replied. “I called to talk to you about the Deers.”
Our NFL team.
Even though the season hadn’t begun, we were deep in the planning stages.
I rested my head against the cushion behind me and closed my eyes. “What about them?”
“I was walking to the elevator, on my way to the parking garage, and an idea hit me.”
“I can’t fucking wait to hear this.”
He let out a loud chuckle. “You okay, brother?”
“What’s your idea?”
“You’ve been short-tempered all day. As in a straight-up asshole. Do you want to talk about what’s eating at you?”
“Nothing is eating at me.”
Except for the fact that I’d never be eating Emily’s pussy again. Or that my hands would never roam her body. Or that I’d never get to watch her come.
From my experience, women didn’t know how to keep things light. If you hooked up more than once, feelings would sprout, and I didn’t need feelings in my life. I needed one-night stands where my needs were met and there was zero commitment.
Assuming Emily was like the others, there could never be a repeat of last night.
And that made me angry as hell.
“I don’t believe you,” my brother shot back.
“Believe whatever you want.”
He laughed harder. “It must be a woman . . . That’s the reason you don’t want to talk about it.”
My eyes flicked open, my head lifting from the cushion, and I glanced out the window at the bumper-to-bumper traffic. “Fuck that.”
“Point proven.” He paused. “Who is she?”
“There’s no woman.”
“Are you sure about that?”
Was he testing me? Had Emily said something to Maya, and Jordan already knew what had gone down between his girl’s best friend and me?
I couldn’t tell, only because I couldn’t see his face.
One look at Jordan’s eyes and I always saw the truth and what he was hiding behind them.
But on the phone, I had no way of knowing.
“I’m sure,” I answered.
“Because there’s only two things in this world that can set you off. Ben and a woman—and I don’t get the sense it’s Ben, since you didn’t bring him up once during any of the times I saw you today. Which leaves the other option. A woman.”
I watched Denis shake his head while I said, “You’re wrong. There are three things that set me off.”
“What’s the third?”
“When my brother harps on something I don’t want to fucking talk about.” I ended the call and shoved the phone in my pocket.
I didn’t normally hold back from telling Jordan about the women I slept with. There were times I brought it up and times when the topic went there, and I offered the information.
So why the hell was I such a vault about Emily?
Why didn’t I want to admit that she’d been at my place and things had taken a turn? And that it was one of the best nights I’d had in, shit, I couldn’t even remember how long?
And why the fuck wasn’t I able to get her out of my head?
There hadn’t been a single mention of her today—no one I encountered at the office, over the phone, or through email had the same name as her. Jordan didn’t even bring up Maya, so my mind should have been clear.
But it wasn’t.
I thought of her when I got into the shower, remembering the two times I’d carried her in there, the memories hitting me again when I came into my room and my bedding was twisted like a knot.
Ben and I spoke about her and the button and the consequences of his actions over breakfast. When Ben’s nanny took him to school, the two of them left me alone in the kitchen and, out of nowhere, I got a whiff of pizza, realizing it was still in the oven.
I reached in, taking out the stone, and set the cold pie in the sink.
But my mind wasn’t on my movements, it was taking me straight back to Emily as she was sitting on my island, holding a slice, locking eyes with me as I took a bite of the crust.
What was it about that bite that was so fucking hot?
I adjusted my dick in my suit pants and caught a glimpse of the rearview mirror, Denis’s stare on mine. “I know you were listening to that conversation with my brother . . . Don’t look at me like that.”
“Mr. Worthington, if I may, in all the years I’ve driven for you, never once have you ever had me take a woman home.”
I hissed, “And?”
“When I dropped her off, you gave me specific instructions to message you and let you know she got home safely.”
I chuckled, running my hand over the top of my head. “What are you getting at, Denis?”
“I’m just pointing out my observations. That’s all.”
First Jordan, now him.
I didn’t like even the thought of getting double-teamed, never mind it actually happening.
“And what exactly are you observing?” I pushed.
“When I took you to work this morning, you were in the same mood as you are now.”
“Quite the detective work . . .” I slipped off my suit coat and set it beside me. “I didn’t get any sleep. That would put anyone in a pissed-off mood.”
“Should I point out that you’re not much of a sleeper, Mr. Worthington? For the last few weeks, you’ve been averaging only three or four hours a night.”
He drove me to the office, back, and everywhere in between. That was a lot of hours, and instead of silence, there were times I’d confessed my thoughts and actions. Driver-slash-therapist, but now I regretted ever saying a word to the man.
“You think I’m acting this way because of her. You’ve taken a side, Denis, I get the point.”
“Is Jordan’s side such a bad one to take?”
I went quiet for a moment. “There’s nothing there. The well’s dry. Don’t try to pump it. There’s not a single drip left in that hole.”
Ben’s mother had once filled it. It had sat empty ever since.
“That’s not what her expression told me at four this morning,” he offered.
I pulled at my tie, loosening it from my neck. “You and my brother, forever trying to get me to settle down. I’ll tell you the same thing I’ve been saying for years: Things are good. Ben needs all of me. And that’s not going to change, regardless of who I sleep with.”
“That boy wants his father happy.” He glanced at me through the rearview mirror. “And despite the attitude that’s been steaming off you since this morning, there’s a look in your eyes. I saw it the second you got into the car, and I’ve never seen it before.”
“Daddy!” Ben shouted from his seat at the island as I walked into the kitchen, lugging my briefcase and suit jacket and tie, setting them on top of a barstool. “Want a cupcake?”
There were two vanilla cupcakes, one in front of Ben, the other by his nanny, the icing at least four inches high. Jenny was using a fork to eat hers, but my son was hands-deep, his mouth covered with frosting as well as his shirt.
I held my breath as I took the remaining steps toward Ben and pressed my lips to the top of his head, releasing the air only to ask, “Where did you get those?”
“Emily! The pretty nurse, Dad!”
My eyes squeezed shut, the word I’d been afraid of hearing echoing in my ears. “How did Emily get you cupcakes?”
“She delivered them,” Jenny explained, wiping her mouth first and then pushing up her thick, oversize glasses, the same pair she’d been wearing since I hired her when Ben was only a month old.
“She brought them about an hour ago. Since Ben finished his whole dinner, I allowed him to have one for dessert.”
At least twice a week, I worked late, and on those evenings, Jenny made sure Ben was fed, and she took care of all the nightly duties until I got home.
“Gavin, you have to have one. They might be the best things I’ve ever tasted, and I don’t normally even like vanilla. There’s a whole box of them over there.” She pointed to the section of counter near the coffee machine.
Just as I was about to ask how they knew the cupcakes were from Emily, Ben shouted, “Daddy, she gave me a card too! With dinosaurs on it! And she called Fenway my friend—that doggy was so cute. We need a dog just like Fenway!”
Jenny pushed the card over to me, and I lifted it off the island.
Ben, you were the bravest boy last night, and I’m so, so proud of how well you handled the removal of the button.
(We won’t talk about why it was in your nose, we’ll leave that for your dad to discuss with you.) I was walking by a bakery this morning and saw these and knew someone very special who would love them.
Triple frosting, just like I promised, enjoy!
Your friend,
Emily & Fenway (he says “woof”)
I set the card down, breathing through whatever the hell was happening in my chest, and said, “Did Emily bring them up here?”
“She left them downstairs with security.” Jenny used a napkin to wipe a chunk of cake out of Ben’s hair.
“I wasn’t sure who she was, but security confirmed her identification and assured me she was the same nurse who came here last night and treated Ben.
Don’t worry, without their confirmation, I never would have allowed Ben to eat them. ”
Had that thought even crossed my mind?
Shit, I was so all over the place, I didn’t know what the fuck I was concentrating on.
“It’s all good.” I gave Ben’s head another kiss. “I’ve got to make a phone call. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
As I was making my way out of the kitchen, Ben said, “Daddy, hurry, you need to have a cupcake, and we need to finish the puzzle we started last night before it’s bath time and you make me go to sleep.”
“I won’t be long.” I pulled my phone out of my pocket and walked into my office, shutting the door behind me. As I took a seat at my desk, I found the number I was looking for and held my phone to my ear, listening to it ring.
“My darling grandson, how are you?”
I rocked in the chair, staring at the framed NFL jerseys on the opposite wall. None were mine. They belonged to the players I grew up watching, ones who served as role models for my career as I tried to play even a tenth of how well they did. “Grandma, how are you?”
“I’m hanging in there quite well. I can’t complain. The rehab center is doing everything they possibly can to keep me happy.”
“And your recovery?”
“I miss walking around my townhome, boogying to the beat, and making cookies for my boys. I have faith that I’ll be dancing in no time. But speaking of my boys, how’s my Ben?”
I released some air. “Grandma, he’s trying to give me a heart attack.”
“You know, you and your brother did the same to your mother. My phone would ring almost every day with her telling me the trouble you two got into. Little menaces, that’s what you were. It’s only fitting you’re getting a taste of your own medicine.”
I chuckled. “I think Jordan and I were worse than Ben.”
“Probably so.” She paused. “Is Ben all right?”
I picked up a pen, constantly pressing the top to extend and retract the tip. “He put a button up his nose last night. He wouldn’t let me take it out, so I called Dr. Kaplan, and he sent over a nurse.”
“I see.”
“Ironically, the nurse was Emily, who’s also your nurse.”
“Oh yes. Lovely, lovely gal.”
My thumb paused on the button, and as the room turned silent, the back of my head rested against the seat, my eyes closing. “She isn’t working right now, is she? I want to . . . thank her. For . . . everything.”
“No, darling. Emily only works during the day.”
I looked at my watch. It was almost seven.
That explained the timing of the cupcakes. She probably left work, came here, and went home.
“You should come visit your grandmother, and then whatever you have to say to Emily, you can say it to her in person.”
“I was just there a few evenings ago to visit you.”
“If it were up to me, you’d visit every day.”
Emily, in nursing scrubs, smiling at me as I thanked her for the cupcakes.
Those gorgeous eyes.
Lips.
That goddamn body.
Fuck.
But if Maya and Jordan went on the path I suspected, making Maya my soon-to-be sister-in-law, then I would be seeing more of Emily. And each time, I’d just have to control myself. I’d have to keep my dick in my pants. I’d have to keep my thoughts tame.
I could do that.
No fucking problem.
“I’ll try to swing by in the next couple of days,” I told her.
“Good. Now go give that boy a big kiss for me.”
I shook my head and exhaled. “I will, Grandma.”
I dropped the pen on the desk and got up from the chair, my cock so hard, I had to adjust it. That was all it had taken—those brief thoughts of Emily and I immediately started to ache.
Two days. That was how long it had been since Emily was in my bed, yet every time I walked in my room, I saw her.
Us.
Our bodies intertwined somewhere near the center of the mattress, naked and sweaty. I could still feel her skin. I could smell her in the air. I could taste her on my tongue.
Who was this goddamn woman, and how did she have this hold on me?
All I wanted was to walk in here, like I’d just done, to take a shower before I went to bed, and I stood frozen, halfway between the archway and my bed, staring at the flat comforter and puffy pillows—the way my housekeeper had left things when she cleaned this morning.
What the hell are you doing to me?
I shook my head, forcing myself to look away.
But that only lasted a second before my gaze returned to the mattress, my head filled with memories of that night.
Of each position.
Of every orgasm.
I clenched my fists, knowing the second I got into the shower and the wetness hit my skin and the soap squirted into my hand, I was going to grip those fingers around my cock and pump until I came.
And while I worked myself toward that, I would see her behind my closed eyelids.
The same way I had last night when I’d done the same exact thing.
Her eyes.
Mouth.
Tits.
Pussy.
Details as vivid as though she were here now.
Emily was haunting me in a way I’d never experienced, goading me without even trying to.
What the fuck did that mean?
And how could I make it stop?