Chapter 25
TWENTY-FIVE
GAVIN
I hadn’t meant to follow her. I told myself I just needed a minute.
A walk. A breath of fresh air after the tension that had been coiling tighter in my chest with every second I sat beside Harry, trying to carry on a conversation like I wasn’t seconds away from hauling his daughter out of this damn bar and making her scream my name.
But instead of the exit, I found myself drifting toward the hallway behind the dance floor, where the neon sign marked the bathrooms. I told myself I just wanted to make sure she was okay. That was it.
Then I ran into Teagan.
She’d stepped out of the hallway like a ghost, shoulder-checking me before I even realized who it was. My daughter. Prowling a bar two towns over, wearing leather and clearly sporting a large dose of attitude.
“Teagan?”
She stopped mid-stride and looked up. That same twist of her mouth. Her mother’s chin. My eyes.
“Dad,” she said flatly.
“Haven’t seen you at the house in a few days. What are you up to tonight?”
She shrugged, arms crossed tightly over her chest. “What, do I need to check in with you now?”
Her tone was sharp. Not new—but it still cut. “I just didn’t expect to see you here, that’s all.”
She let out a humorless breath. “Well. Surprise.”
“Teagan—” I reached out gently, just a hand to her arm, but she stepped back like I’d burned her.
“Don’t,” she said. “Not tonight.”
And then she was gone—vanishing back into the crowd before I could say anything else. I was left with nothing but that same cold distance that had stretched between us for too long now.
Now I stood at the edge of the booth where Rose’s father sat nursing the same beer he’d had for half an hour. I cleared my throat and ran a hand through my hair as I approached.
“Harry,” I said, keeping my tone steady, “I think I’m going to call it a night.”
He looked up at me with a little surprise. “Everything alright?”
“Yeah. Just been a long day. We’ve made some good progress. I’ll take care of the check.”
“You sure?”
I nodded. “Absolutely. I’ll follow up on Monday with what the budget and timeline might look like.”
Harry stood and clapped a hand on my shoulder. “Appreciate your time tonight, Gavin. Hell of a place for business.”
I gave him a half-smile. “Yeah, well. The beer isn’t half bad.”
We shook hands and he disappeared into the crowd, completely unaware that the man he’d just been doing business with had his hands on his daughter’s bare skin just a few minutes ago.
I dropped back into the booth, exhaling through my nose and pressing my fingers to my temples. The remnants of our beer pitcher sat untouched.
I pulled out my phone and thumbed open our thread. My thumb hovered over the screen for a second before I typed.
ME
You’re not wearing underwear, and all I can think about is dragging that dress up around your hips the second I get you alone.
Tell Elodie goodnight, sweetheart. I’m ready to take you home.
I hit send and leaned back, my fingers drumming against the table. Waiting. Wanting. Wondering if I could keep my hands off her long enough to get her to the damn truck.
My phone lit up on the table beside me, screen glowing with one perfectly chosen emoji.
ROSE
I dragged my thumb across the screen, smiling like a goddamn teenager. No words. Just that little red bloom. Bold. Sweet. She was a fucking weapon in the wrong hands—and in mine? She was lethal.
I signed the check for the bill, leaving a generous tip. Harry always insisted on paying, but I told him I’d take care of it tonight. It was the least I could do after what I just pulled—chasing after his daughter like a man thinking with the wrong head.
As I stood, I scanned the bar, eyes catching on the familiar golden hair I’d already memorized in far too much detail.
Rose was back at the bar, locked in a hug with Elodie.
I couldn’t hear them from where I was, but I’d bet good money on the fact that Elodie was issuing some kind of warning or lecture.
Rose smiled, ducking her head a little, and even from across the room I could see the flush that crept up her cheeks. That damn green dress still clung to her body like a second skin. I shifted where I stood, jaw clenching.
Elodie pressed a quick kiss to Rose’s cheek, and it hit me in a place I didn’t expect. Something about seeing them like that—so open, so affectionate—punched through some of the heavy load-bearing walls I’d built over the years.
Teagan and Elodie used to be like that. Back before everything broke apart.
I remembered the way they’d laugh until they cried, sneaking around job sites swiping my hard hats just so they could whack each other with sticks like a pair of feral kids. Elodie was always the bold one, but Teagan kept up—hell, sometimes she led the charge. They were thick as thieves.
But then everything quieted. Elodie stopped coming around. I asked Teagan if something happened. She shrugged. Said people drift. That was the end of it.
But she stopped smiling after all of that. Stopped letting me in. Losing her mother and her best friend so close changed her.
Before I could spiral too far down that road, a warm featherlight touch grazed my forearm. I looked down and met the brown eyes I’d been thinking about all night.
“Hey,” Rose said, soft as a sigh.
Christ. I am the luckiest bastard alive.
“Hey, sweetheart,” I hummed, letting the comfort of being near her settle between us as I guided her toward the exit. My hand pressed to the small of her back, possessive and protective. She leaned into it, letting me steer her like she’d always belonged right there under my hand.
Outside, the night air was cooler, cleaner. My truck was parked just a few rows away, and I walked her to the passenger side, opening the door and giving a mock bow and gesture.
She blushed as she stepped up into the truck seat.
I reached in with full intent of buckling her seatbelt, but my knuckles grazed her chest. She shuddered as my thumb brushed the curve of her breast, catching the tight peak of her nipple.
No bra. I already knew that because of the low back of her dress, but the confirmation was its own kind of torture.
I let my eyes drag up her body slowly until they found hers. She was watching me, breath caught and lips parted.
I clicked the seatbelt into place and let my palm rest for just a second on her bare thigh.
“You drive me insane,” I growled.
She exhaled shakily. “You’re not exactly doing great things for my sanity, either.”
I shut the door and moved around to the driver’s side, adrenaline sharp in my veins, desire crackling under my skin.
Once we were on the road, silence stretched for a moment, broken only by the soft hum of the engine and the city lights flickering past.
“You look good tonight,” I couldn’t help but say.
“You’ve mentioned that a couple times,” she replied, her voice almost too steady.
“Doesn’t make it any less true.”
A beat of silence.
Then—“Did my dad see us? Talking at the bar?”
“I don’t think so.” I glanced over. “He would have mentioned it if he did. Maybe even tossed the pitcher of beer on me.”
She let out a breathy laugh. “That’d be a scene.”
I shifted gears, keeping one hand on the wheel while placing the other across the seat, pushing the bottom of her dress up just enough to trail my fingers along the inside of her thigh. The heat of her skin had my pulse racing.
“I’ve been thinking about you all night,” I confessed. “The way you look in that dress. The way your lips tasted in the bathroom.”
“Gavin,” she breathed.
I glanced at her again. Her cheeks were flushed. Her eyes were wide and her chest rose and fell quicker than before.
“I don’t want to wait anymore, Rose. You tell me when to stop and we will. Otherwise, I’m not stopping tonight.”
She didn’t say a word. Just placed her hand on top of mine and inched it closer up her thigh, until I could feel the heat of her bare pussy that I knew was hiding beneath that dress.
“I won’t say stop. Not tonight.”
Silence settled around us. The drive to my place never felt this long, but tonight it seemed slower. Every red light, every turn was a fucking test of patience.
Her silence was loud. Her breath was uneven. Her thighs kept pressing together, closing on our hands, like she was trying to resist the urge to climb over and jump me. I wouldn’t stop her if she did.
But I wasn’t about to take her in the truck like she was just some fling I couldn’t keep my hands off of. She wasn’t that. Well, she was something I couldn’t keep my hands off, but she certainly wasn’t a fling.
She was Rose.
We pulled into my driveway, headlights slicing through the dark as the house came into view. I killed the engine and sat for a moment. She didn’t move.
“Second thoughts?” I asked, voice low.
She turned to face me, her brown eyes soft and full of heat. “Not one.”
I got out and walked around to open her door. She took my hand, stepping down carefully from the truck. The porch light cast us in a glow as I unlocked the door and pushed it open. She stepped inside, pausing just past the threshold.
She turned just as I closed the door and locked it. And then I moved in.
I pressed her gently back into the wall beside the door, letting my hand trail from her hip to her ribs, just under the rise of her breast. Her breath hitched.
“I’ve pictured this moment for so long,” I murmured, voice rough in my throat. “And now you’re here in my house again, and I swear to God, Rose, if you asked me for anything—anything at all—I’d give it to you.”
She swallowed hard and stood taller. I could sense the shift in her, from being the timid girl most knew her as to the strong and empowered woman I knew she could be. “Then kiss me.”
I did. I took my time savoring her.
Her lips parted under mine as her arms went around my neck, pulling me closer. I let my hands explore every dip and curve the dress didn’t hide. She was warm and soft and so goddamn willing.
When I lifted her by the back of her thighs to wrap her legs around my waist, she gasped into my mouth.
I pressed her harder into the wall, grinding against her, knowing she could feel how rock hard I was for her based on the shiver that racked through her body. Her nails dug into the back of my neck. I released a low grumble against her mouth.
“Bedroom,” she begged. “Please.”
I didn’t say a word—just pressed one last kiss to her jaw while moving one of my arms to wrap around her lower back, keeping the other hand on the back of her thigh. My fingertips dug into her perfect ass.
She clung to me, lips exploring my throat as I carried her down the hallway. The house was quiet except for the sound of her breathing and the soft shuffle of my boots on the hardwood down the hallway.
I kicked the door open with my foot and carried her straight to the bed. My bed. The mattress dipped under her weight as I laid her down like she was the most delicate flower.
She looked up at me from the middle of my bed, hair wild, lips kiss-swollen, that dress riding high on her thighs.
I reached behind my head and yanked my shirt off, tossing it to the floor.
Her breath caught. “Gavin …”
I settled on the edge of the bed, hand skimming up her leg, my fingers catching the hem of that damn green satin.
“You tell me to stop, I stop. Understand?”
She nodded, but then leveled me with a serious look. “I said I don’t want you to stop … Daddy.”
Her voice was quiet but solidly certain.
I nudged her legs apart enough so that I could kneel between what had become my favorite place to worship.
“Then I’m not stopping.”
Not tonight.