Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
Gavin, Austin, and Kari drove into Vail for dinner at a nice restaurant Sunday night. When they returned, it was almost ten. Kari feared that Gavin would just take her back to the lodge, but he drove to his little valley instead and told Austin, “Mama wanted to come over and sing to you.”
Austin grinned and told Kari, “My mama tries to sing and pray with me on the school nights that we don’t read. Then I have good dreams and do good at school.”
“Your mama is the best,” Kari said. She remembered her own mom singing to her and she missed that closeness, but as an adult, she didn’t need it like this little man would.
“Can we come say goodbye in the morning?” Austin asked as Gavin parked next to his house.
“I have to leave at seven to drive to the airport, turn in my rental car, be early for my flight and all of that.” She hated that this time had slipped through her fingers so quickly.
She’d never had so much fun and felt so alive.
Who knew real people were this amazing? She wanted to convince herself that if she got out more, she’d find someone just like Gavin closer to home, but she knew she was lying.
The draw she felt to Gavin was unique, and nobody else would have a little Austin to make every activity include that extra sparkle.
Yet she hadn’t really spent time alone with Gavin.
Maybe he didn’t want her to get too close.
Was it just his natural guarded personality?
Was he hiding something? Or was he not that interested in her?
“We wake up at six to work out,” Austin said. “We’ll run over quick.” He hopped out of the car and yelled, “Bye!”
Gavin waited until the front door opened and Mama waved to them with a broad smile on her face. Austin plowed into her, and Kari watched them hug as Gavin backed up and turned around.
Silence descended, and the air was thick with anticipation. Gavin wanted her alone, right? Was it simply to say goodbye, or to give her the kiss she’d been dreaming of since she’d met him three days ago?
Without speaking, they drove out of his family’s valley and over to the lodge.
Gavin rushed around to get her door and she thanked him, barely noticing the cold air as hope stirred within her.
He gave her half a smile but didn’t touch her as they walked down the sidewalk, up the steps, and into the lobby.
There, they both greeted Julie, a smiley redhead she’d met a few times now, who was manning the front desk.
As they walked to the elevator, she shrugged out of her coat and put it over her arm.
“Hot,” she murmured. She could claim she was getting used to the weather, but she knew it was the effect Gavin had on her that was heating her up, and the hope that she’d get a kiss and didn’t want the coat in the way.
Gavin lifted his eyebrows but didn’t say anything.
They got into the elevator and reached for the button at the same time.
Their fingers brushed, and Kari gave an embarrassed giggle and then let him push the button.
They both faced forward, but she kept darting sidelong glances at him.
He noticed and gave her an embarrassed half grin that was both endearing and a little concerning.
Did he want to be with her or not? Why would he arrange to drop Austin off first if he didn’t?
She took a deep breath and told herself, You’ve got this. Get some confidence, girl.
The elevator door opened, and they walked slowly down the hallway.
There was a lump in her throat, but she didn’t want to clear it, because that would be awkward.
She just kept trying to discreetly swallow her nervousness, moisten her lips, and hope it wasn’t completely obvious how inexperienced she was at any real relations with the opposite sex.
She wanted to kiss him, she wanted to stay with him, but she had no clue how to make either happen.
They reached her door, and he glanced at her. “Thanks for being with us today,” he said.
“Of course. Thanks for making my vacation amazing.”
He smiled slightly at that, but he didn’t tug her in and kiss her like she’d been dreaming of every night. Dang it. What was she going to do to get him to kiss her? “I guess we’ll see you in the morning.” He frowned. “Is that okay? Austin will be okay if you’re going to be … busy.”
“No, that’s great. I want to say goodbye to the little man.”
Earlier today, Gavin had mentioned her coming back, but now he said nothing of the sort as he gave her a manly chin lift and started to pivot. No!
“I need some help,” she threw out into the air, desperate to prolong their time together and make something happen. She prayed Gavin would snatch up the words and do something with them.
“Help?” He turned back to her.
Her mind scrambled. Help? Help with what?
An idea sparked in her mind from one of her online writing groups.
One of the ladies had been teasing about making her husband act out her kissing scenes, saying how fun it was to tease with him and then walk away.
Yes. Perfect idea. She wouldn’t walk away, but how to ask him to do it?
She swiped her keycard and pushed the door open.
Gavin held it for her, and she gestured him into the room.
“Come in.” Her palms were sweaty. How did she present this idea without him thinking she was insane?
At the same time, what did she have to lose?
She checked out in the morning, and unless he issued a solid invite, rather than just throwing out that he’d like her to come back, she wouldn’t know if she was truly welcome.
If he wanted her like she wanted him. This was her chance to hopefully get him to kiss her and—if dreams came true—get an invite back.
Gavin walked into the room, thankfully, but he didn’t seem completely comfortable. His shoulders were kind of hunched around his ears.
She pushed the door closed and stood against it.
“What can I help with?” Gavin asked. His eyes darted around the room as if looking for a water leak. “Everything’s okay with the room?”
“Yes.” She licked her lips, squared her shoulders, and vowed to make her friends in her head proud of her. “I’m working on a scene, and I need to know if it’s going to work.”
“A scene?” His brow furrowed. “What kind of scene?”
“Well …” She stepped toward him. “It involves some … touching. Are you okay with that?” Shoot, what was she doing, giving him a way out? Yet she didn’t want to force him to kiss her. She wanted him to kiss her like the man he was.
Gavin’s dark eyes looked conflicted. He’d held her hand, brushed against her, returned her hug, but not much more. Maybe he wasn’t okay with touch. Maybe he wasn’t okay with touching her.
A few long seconds passed, and her hopes started to deflate.
This wasn’t going to work. She still had tomorrow morning, but Austin would be right there.
Yet maybe she needed to back down so she didn’t scare him away.
She could tell him she was kidding, thank him, maybe try for another hug like she had impulsively done a few nights ago.
“Yeah, I …” He cleared his throat and then started again. “I’m okay with that,” he said in a gravelly tone.
Kari got the impression that he was being brave too, which seemed silly since he was such a big, tough guy, but she knew as well as anyone, having lived through so many characters’ heartbreaks and healing, that not all scars or fears could be seen. “Thank you,” she whispered.
He nodded. “Sure. So …”
Her stomach pitched in anticipation, and she tried to discreetly wipe her palms on her pants. “So.” She set her coat on a chair.
He shrugged out of his coat too, and she caught a meaningful, longing look in his dark eyes.
He was interested. She knew it as well as she knew that all of her characters were going to end up with a happily ever after, no matter how vicious their path to get there.
Could she and Gavin have a happily ever after?
She needed to play her cards right in the next few minutes, or there would be nothing beyond this chapter.
She eased in close to him. “Can you wrap your hands around my hips?”
“Your hips?” His eyebrows went up. “S-sure.” His hands circled her waist. “Like that?” His voice had dropped lower and was so awe-inspiring, she wanted to write down all the ways it affected her.
Her heart was beating faster, her stomach was full of butterflies, and heat rushed through her that would’ve kept her warm outside on a Colorado winter’s night.
Kari bit at her lip and murmured, “That’s more my waist, which I like, but I wanted to see if the hips felt different.” Though Gavin’s large palms on her waist felt amazing, better than anything she had felt in her life.
“So … lower?” he grunted out.
“Yes, please.” She focused on his eyes as he ran his palms slowly down to her hips. She let out a moan before she could rein it in. “Oh yes, I can see how a character might like that.”
His eyebrows went up.
Kari bit at her lip and was able to get out, “Now can you please pull me in … closer?” Her voice pitched up on the last word, betraying the nerves and excitement racing through her.
Gavin did as instructed, firmly pulling her in tight to his chest.
Kari’s hands went to his shoulders instinctively. “Oh, perfect. Yes.” She gave him what she hoped was a confident smile. “That’s exactly how I’d write it.”
Gavin’s brow furrowed again, but he didn’t move away.
Kari’s heart was beating hard and fast, and she thought the tension rising between them was as beautiful as anything she’d ever imagined. “Now can you run your hands from my hips along my back and then bring them around to frame my face?”