Gone Country (37 page)

He didn’t take her on a tour of his office building until after his employees were gone for the day. Partially because he didn’t relish getting stopped a million times about business issues. But he also wanted her to see the city lights from his office window. Wanted her to know how many nights he’d spent up here alone. Working. Wondering if he’d ever have a life beyond the walls of this room.

Gavin had an almost desperate need for her—needing to meld his past and his future. He’d taken her against the glass window, looking down on the urban sprawl, her feet straddling the floor air conditioner vent. Cool air blew over the hot tissues as his cock slowly tunneled in and out of her wet pussy. Rielle was always ready for him, always eager. She had no idea what a turn-on that was, so he told her. Showed her. Shared his life and thoughts with her in ways he hadn’t known he was capable of.

She requested they stay in their last night, cooking together and dining outside. He’d scrounged up candles, placing them everywhere in the backyard, including floating some in the pool.

They hadn’t made love, but it was still the most romantic night he could remember.

Early January…

“Gavin.”

Come on, come on
. “Dammit. It’s not working. Try a different play. God. I cannot believe they called that one twice in a row.”

“Gavin.”

“Hang on. This is third down.” The quarterback faked a handoff and then passed for six yards for first down. “Yes! That’s what I’m talking about.” He tossed a handful of popcorn in his mouth, eyes on the game. “What the fuck? Why are you putting him in? He can’t block for shit.”

“Gavin. Sierra’s not here.”

“I know. She comes home tomorrow.” He watched the handoff and the running back bobbled the ball. It bounced downfield until someone took his head out of his ass and covered it. “Lucky save.”

“Gavin.”

“Yeah, honey, just a sec.” It’s a wonder they won
any
games with the lousy plays they’d been calling this season. They didn’t have a running game, so it made zero sense why they’d tried that one—

“Gavin, I’m naked.”

Okay. That got his attention. He turned around.

A naked Rielle leaned against the door to his bedroom.

Man, he loved her body. Small and compact, with sculpted arms and shoulders. Her muscular torso flowed into flared hips and strong thighs. And those tits. He couldn’t get enough of those.

A whistle blew on the screen and he turned around to see what’d happened. The camera zoomed in on the ref. “Intentional grounding. Five yard penalty.”

The calls in this game had been lousy.

The quarterback threw a long pass only to get picked off at the twenty-yard line. “Fuck.” He took a long pull of his beer.

Rielle sauntered in front of the TV. Naked. “So. You wanna score with me?”

He glanced at the clock. Three minutes remained in the third quarter. If he could hold her off that long, then he could give her the kind of hard, fast fuck she liked. Tons of commercials and sportscaster bullshit played between quarters anyway so he wouldn’t miss much of the fourth quarter.

“I saw that! For just a split second you were torn between staying on the couch and watching football or taking me to bed.”

“Hey, I always want to take you to bed. Always. But Ree. Honey. It’s the last game before playoffs.”

“And your team is winning?”

“Ah, no. But there’s a chance they can come back…” He angled his head, trying to see around her. What the hell was that penalty flag about? Jesus. Was it on the damn defense? Were they seeing the signals at all?

Rielle walked off. The door to his bedroom slammed.

No misinterpreting that signal.

Why the hell did she have to pick right
now
for a tumble? Couldn’t she wait another seventeen minutes and twelve seconds until the game ended?

Really? A stupid football game is more important than hot and dirty sex with the woman you love? You’re an asshole.

Fuck.

Gavin scrambled off the couch and paused in front of his bedroom door, opening it cautiously in case Rielle decided to throw some shit at him—which he deserved. But the bedroom was dark and quiet and he didn’t see her. “Rielle?”

“Go away,” came from beneath the covers.

He sat on the edge of the bed and reached for the blanket-covered lump, but he jerked his hand back at the last minute when he heard a muffled sound. He heard it again. Sounded like a…sob.

Shit. Was she crying?

Gavin pulled the covers back and she curled into a little ball, further away from him.

You’re an asshole.

“Ree. I’m sorry.”

“Go away.”

“I’m here now.” He put his hand on her butt and rubbed. “We could—”

“No! I will not be a quick fuck during a break in your stupid football game.”

Tell her it’s not the end of the quarter yet.

He should’ve earned some points for walking away from a game in progress, right?

You’re an asshole.

“Please talk to me.”

Rielle pushed up and glared at him. “I don’t do this seduction stuff. And whenever I try, I feel like a total idiot because it doesn’t have any effect on you and I’m never doing it again. So go away.”

His gaze dipped to her chest. Damn. She’d already put on her nightgown.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.
Now
you’re staring at my tits when they’re covered up, but you couldn’t be bothered when they were bouncing right in front of your face? Get. Out.”

Man. He’d fucked this up. “Look. I’m sorry. I’ve spent a lot of years by myself, watching football games uninterrupted. And I didn’t handle…you wanting my attention, in the best way.”

“Ya think?”

Anything he said would likely piss her off, so he kept his stupid mouth shut.

“Do you know why I’m upset?”

Do not say because I didn’t drop everything and fuck you.

Luckily, she jumped right in and answered. “You are so smooth. Seducing me with words. You’ve got all the hot sex moves and you know a hundred ways to turn me inside out. You intimidate me sometimes, Gavin.”

That brought him up short. “I intimidate you…sexually?”

Rielle blushed but she didn’t look away. “Yes. You know I don’t have—didn’t have—much experience before we got together.”

“Why would you think I did?”

“Because you’re amazing in bed!”

Gavin felt cocky even when he wanted to laugh. Time to come clean. From the bottom drawer of his armoire he took out the four books he’d hidden. “You have no idea how happy it makes me that you think I’m amazing in bed. Despite what you think, that’s not because I have some type of…McKay sexual history.”

“You don’t?”

“No. I knew from the first time I kissed you we’d end up in bed. And I wanted to make it good for you, Ree. I wanted you to think I was amazing in bed and I might be the same kind of sex stud my brothers and cousins are rumored to be.” Gavin tossed the four how-to sex books on the bed. “So I bought these. I read them cover to cover and hoped like hell I could remember anything when I finally got you naked with me.”

Rielle stared at the books, frowned and looked at him. “I don’t understand.”

Gavin blushed. “I had to read up on how to be a good lover. Because before you? I didn’t have a clue.”

“Did these books help?”

“Some. But being with you…my instincts took over. Your body, your eyes, every sexy little moan you made taught me what I needed to do to be the lover you want. The lover you deserve. The lover I’ve always wanted to be, but I’ve only ever been with you.”

Silence.

Way to throw it all out there, loser.

“Oh my God, Gavin Daniels, I love you.”

He froze. “For real?”

She nodded.

“Because I wasn’t some macho stud in bed before I met you?”

She nodded again.

That made no sense…and yet perfect sense because this was Rielle. “You are one weird-ass woman, but I’ll take it.” Grinning, he said, “So…you love me, huh?”

“Yes. Even though you are a pain in the ass sports fanatic. Who ignores a naked woman for football.”

“I’m here now, aren’t I?” He kissed her. “And just so we’re clear. I’m in love with you too.”

He stripped, ripped away the covers completely and crawled on top of her.

“Gavin. Don’t you want to—”

“Nope.” He smoothed his hands up the insides of her bare thighs. “Goddamn. I’m already hard. You—” his mouth meandered down her throat, “—have cast a spell on me.”

“Same.” She groaned. “Yes, put your mouth right there.”

“You do like that,” he murmured, teasing the spot with his teeth and tongue.

“I love that.” Rielle moaned again. “It’s another one of those hot spots I wasn’t even aware I had.”

Gavin mouthed the tip of her breast through the thin fabric of her nightgown.

Rielle hissed and arched back, thrusting more of her breast into his hot mouth.

He sucked her nipple through the sheer fabric. Then switched sides, lost in the way she clung to him and how much he loved having her nails digging into his back.

But he wanted her naked.

“Lift up so I can take this off.”

She kissed him with sweet fire. Then she pushed him away with a smirk.

“What?”

“Go watch your game.”

“What?
Now
?”

“Yes, now.”

“But…”
I’m as hard as a fucking two by four.

“I know you wanna watch it. And from now on, I won’t seduce you on game day, at least until the game is over.”

He grinned. “Rielle Wetzler, you are the perfect woman.”

“You know it.”

Gavin slipped on his sweat pants. “You really don’t mind?”

“I’ll be right here, waiting. I’ve got some good reading material. Who knows what new things I’ll learn when I’m flipping through your sex books?”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Late January…

Freedom could be spelled one way: C-A-R.

God. Her life had gotten so much better in the last month since she could drive.

No more begging rides.

No more sitting around doing nothing.

No more waiting for Marin to toss her a few scraps of friendship. She made her own fun and her own friends.

She’d met a lot of people at house parties the last four weekends, when she, a lowly sophomore, became the undisputed beer pong champion. She preened at the comments about living up to the McKay reputation.

Sierra Daniels had arrived.

Her transformation had started during Christmas break, when her mom had lifted her curfew, handed her the keys to her Escalade and told her to have fun. Wasn’t it proof of how awesome she was that so many people from her old school wanted to hang out with her?

Amazing how many friends you have when you’ve got wheels and booze, isn’t it?

She shoved that bullshit thought aside. People liked her. And she liked herself.

Her dad hadn’t wanted her to go out tonight, but that was too bad. After all the times she’d sat at home by herself since they’d moved to Wyoming, it served him right to spend a night or two alone. Besides, if Rielle had been around this weekend, he wouldn’t have even noticed she was gone.

“Sierra!” Kara yelled from across the room. “Come here, there’s someone I want you to meet.”

Sierra weaved through the crowd, saying hi to some people, hugging others. She’d heard the buzz around school after she’d started going to parties that she wasn’t the stuck-up rich girl that people thought.

“This is the one I was telling you about,” Kara said to the guy sitting next to her, who was probably five or six years older than her. “Sierra, Tyler. Tyler goes to Vo-Tech in Gillette.”

A college guy. A cute college guy. Although he did appear a little rough around the edges. “Hey.”

“You were right, Kara. She is hot.” Tyler lifted a bottle and drank.

“Sierra just moved here from Arizona,” Kara added.

“No shit. A buddy of mine is working construction down there.”

“Really? Is that what you’re going to school for?”

“Nope. I’m in auto mechanics.” He cocked his head and his brown-eyed gaze flicked over her, from her boots to her eyes. “I like things that go fast.”

Cheesy line, but he was obviously interested. She’d flirt. No harm in that.

Kara mouthed, “Later,” and ditched her.

“So, ah, Tyler, how’d you hear about the party?”

“Around.” He eyed her cup. “Whatcha drinkin’?”

“Beer. Why?”

He waggled a bottle of Jack Daniels. “I’m willing to share.”

“Yeah? What’s the catch?”

Tyler grinned. “Smart girl. Why don’t you do a couple shots with me and we’ll figure something out.”