Terms of Service (26 page)

She had spent some time imagining her life.  Hannah was all about family.  In so many ways, she couldn’t imagine what she would have to give up to be a single mother running a foundation.  She knew she wouldn’t be able to drop everything to be with the girls if she took the foundation position.  She knew there would be fundraisers, which would mean long hours and many nights away from them.  She knew this wasn’t what she wanted.  Her time with the girls was far too precious.

As she talked to Rick, the decision seemed easier and easier to make.  It made more sense.  It didn’t hurt her heart to turn him down at all.  In fact, she did so without an ounce of regret, which had really told her everything she needed to know.

Her only concern now was what if Gavin wasn’t willing to alter his dream to include her and the girls?  Sailing around was a great life for a single guy, but a family with school age kids would need a few more roots than this lifestyle plan provided.

“So, what did you decide?”  Gavin asked, interrupting her reverie.  He looked down the beach at Rory and Zoe.  “Or is this a discussion we need to have tonight?”

Hannah smiled weakly at him.  “Tonight would be better.”

***

The hours passed excruciatingly slowly.  Gavin spent most of it torturing himself while Hannah tried to soothe him in small ways like a sweet smile or a gentle touch.  It wasn’t nearly enough.  For the first time ever, they were both a little tightly wound at the end of the night. Hannah had tucked the girls in like normal with a book and cuddles.  Apparently the excitement or tension was too much for them.  When Zoe asked about another glass of water ten minutes later, Hannah snapped, and Gavin ordered her back to bed.  They looked at each other and sighed.

“Come here.” He opened his arms to her.  “I’m sorry.  Can we just get the talk over with?”  He frowned while waiting for her response.

With a sigh, Hannah nodded.  “Yeah.  We probably should.”  She slid onto the bench beside and let her wrap her in his embrace.  For a moment they were quiet, then Gavin stood and urged her to get up.

Holding out a hand, Gavin brought her down to their berth.  “Let me fix those shoulders.”  He sat her in front of him on the bed.  She had a sarong tied around her chest over the bikini she had been wearing all day.  Reaching around, he untied it and let it fall.  He studied every inch of her in case this time might be the last.  As he ran a hand over her smooth, soft skin, he admired her beautiful back.  There was something so attractive about the way her hips flared out, the way her waist sloped inward.  Recalling her heart shaped ass always made him hard.  He sighed as he worked the tension out of her shoulders.

Hannah suddenly turned to face him and he jerked his hands away from her, unsure where to put them.  Without hesitation, she grabbed his fingers and wrapped them around her hips.  Then she pushed him back onto the pillows.

“Hannah?” There were so many questions he wanted answered.

Instead, she silenced him with a kiss.  The moment her warm lips grazed his, nothing else mattered.  Slowly, she tortured him with light, fluttering touches as their lips connected.  Though he wanted to be more aggressive, capture her mouth and kiss her raw, he practiced the patience she had been teaching him for the last few months.  It was soon rewarded as she moved to straddle him.  His shorts were doing nothing to hide his excitement.  Clearly she had noticed.  She wore the look of a woman feeling wildly empowered.  The confidence emboldened her.  Smiling, she pressed her hips forward until they touched his.  She rubbed up and down the length of him.

Gavin had to remember to breathe.  He had never wanted anyone so badly in his life.  He wrapped her hair around his hand and pulled until her neck was exposed.  Burying his face there, he inhaled the scent of her before kissing and licking his way to her earlobe.  He nipped and nibbled, slowly making his way to her lips.  He paused for a moment, cupping her face to study her response.  Her eyes were half closed, full of desire, and he vowed not to disappoint.

Kissing her lips hungrily, her mouth opened for his greedy tongue.  It was incredible, the way her body was responding to his.  Everything felt so natural and so right.  Before long, he had untied her bikini top, flung it to the side and he had found her breasts.  “Perfection,” he murmured appreciatively as one hand cupped each breast. Then he turned his head expertly toward one nipple at a time, biting and sucking, while his thumb manipulated the other.  Time sailing had made his skin slightly rougher, a little callused, and could tell it only added to her excitement.

Gavin kissed his way down her body and gently slid her bikini bottoms off.  Immediately, he buried his head between her thighs while her back arched in surprise and pleasure.  

Suddenly, Hannah moaned.  “In me, Gavin,” she pleaded.  “I need you in me right now.”

Before he could respond, she had moved, whipping around until she could touch his waist, then she yanked down his swim shorts.  Smiling triumphantly, she licked her lips as she grabbed his hard, throbbing cock with both hands.  She sliding her tongue up and down the length of him to lubricate, Hannah then took him into her mouth while continuing to run her hands up and down him.  She stopped long enough to look him in the eyes.  “Lay back,” she commanded.  He hesitated and she merely climbed onto his lap and pushed him back into the pillows once more.

“No. Wait.”  He knew there were condoms in his bag, just in case.  He had to make sure he didn’t send her home with a souvenir, but she shook her head vehemently.  His brow furrowed in confusion.

As if they had done this a million times, Hannah straddled him and slid him into her, all of him.  Then she grabbed his hands and placed them on her breasts.  “No more waiting,” she whispered.

What did she mean?
  His eyes widened at her actions.  She felt so warm and inviting.  Having her body wrapped around him made it almost impossible to think.  All he wanted to do was feel, soak it all in, and savor this amazing moment between them.  Treasure it.

They moved together, crashing into each other like stormy waves hitting the shore.  Gavin finally opened his eyes.  He was smiling.  He hoped she felt this, felt it like he did.  He wanted her to understand this was right and perfect between them.  Only when he looked at her face, her eyes were filled to overflowing with tears
.  Was he hurting her?  Was she suddenly filled with regret?
  He stopped, determined to hold back until he had the answers he sought.

***

“Oh, Hannah!”  Obviously alarmed, Gavin had ceased thrusting into her like his very life depended on it, and even seemed ready to pull out.

“No, this is just so…intense.”  As soon as she spoke the words, the salty water poured down her cheeks.  She sniffled as she swiped at her cheeks.  Being with Gavin had been more than she had ever expected.  She never knew sex could be like this.  How could she ever think she could give that up?  Finally she smiled.  She couldn’t.  She never would.  Somehow, she and Gavin would have to work through all of this.

I love you.
  The words were right there, as ready to spill from her mouth as the tears had leaked from her eyes.  Still, she couldn’t say them.  It was too cliché.  He deserved better than a sex confession.  “More,” she murmured in his ear as she began urging him on with her hips.  It was the closest she could come to admitting her feelings at the moment.

“Are you sure?”  He cupped her face and studied her eyes while she rode him.

“Oh yes.”  She bit her lip and then grinned.

Carefully, he slid one hand around to the back of her head, the other, held her pelvis against his as he rolled them over.  “Allow me,” he whispered as though afraid to break the mood.

He shouldn’t have worried.  Everything he did made her weak, hit her in the heart, left her longing for forever and more with him.  Hannah shut her eyes so she wouldn’t see him studying her, a feeble attempt at hiding her emotions from the man who ruled her heart.  She didn’t need her eyes to know he was cupping her ass.  She could feel his hand raking gently down her skin.  Inside, she could feel it building.  So close.  Almost there.  Then it happened.  Everything came together just right, the way he touched, teased, kissed, and filled her.  Her eyes shot open as her thighs tightened around his waist, her pelvis rose to meet him, and finally she came undone in waves around him.

***

The moment he felt her, tightening, contracting around him, he knew he no longer had to hold back.  As he looked into her sweet face, one hand knotted ruthlessly in her hair, he willed her to know how he felt. 
Mine.  Forever mine. 
Somehow, he had to make her his, forever.  He had a plan, but recent events had proven they could be rendered meaningless wherever she was concerned.  It felt like he had been filling her for minutes, rather than seconds.  When it finally stopped, he still didn’t want it to end.  There was a feeling as he slowly pulled out, increasing the distance between them.  Bereft.  He was utterly bereft even as she still gripped his biceps. 

Minutes passed as they lay on their sides facing each other, tangled together.  Gavin placed a kiss on her forehead, then the very tip of her nose.  “What was that?” He asked quietly against her lips, unwilling to break the silence but desperate for answers.  Even now he feared releasing her, as if the very next minute she could disappear.

“Oh, that was me telling you I’m staying,” Hannah replied casually, without breaking physical contact, but refusing to meet his eyes.

“What?” Gavin was shocked and amazed.  He rolled her onto her back and separated her legs, until he was poised at her slick entrance.   Without uttering another word, he slid back into her welcome folds.

Hannah smiled.  “And what is this?” She sputtered, as if barely able to speak.  

Burying his head in her neck, he grazed the skin with his teeth.  Lazily he lifted his head.  “Oh, this is me, showing my gratitude.”

He pinned her wrists on either side of her head before he ducked down and captured a nipple and sucked heavily on it.  Her head rolled to one side and she let out a moan.

“Yes.”  This time a whimper escaped her throat.  “Yes yes yes!  So much yes.”

“But, baby,” he laughed.  “I haven’t even asked you yet.”

“Asked me what?”  Hannah questioned, barely able to think.

They crossed the finish line much faster the second time.  When they had, Gavin held Hannah in his arms.  “So did you mean it?”  He questioned her quietly as he stroked her arm.

“About staying?  Pretty much.”  She spoke softly, almost as if in a trance.

He hated to break the spell, wreck the post sex euphoria.  Still, their time was so limited, and their alone time even more so.  Tonight, he wasn’t even sure he wanted to waste time sleeping.  She had to know how he felt, and then maybe she’d share her emotions in return.  “Listen, I want you to stay.  You must know this.”  He sighed.  There was an all too familiar ache as he prepared to pour out his heart.

“Yeah, I know.”  She held him tighter.

“Please let me finish.”  His voice cracked and he cleared his throat.  “I also know how much you want to be independent. The foundation would give you that opportunity.”  He exhaled, blowing air slowly through his pursed lips.  She had turned her head some to see him.  “Just know…I love you enough to let you go.”  He said it, but he couldn’t stand seeing her pained face staring up at him, so he drew her forehead near and planted a kiss on it.

“Hey.”  She struggled against him, pushing back, forcing him to meet her gaze.  “Just so you know, I love you enough to stay.”  Hannah beamed.  He could almost believe her.

“You love me?  After everything, how could you possibly love someone like me?”  He released her and sat up.

Hannah sighed, then sat up and faced him.  “What?  Are you trying to talk me out of it?  Too late.  I’m staying.  We’re staying.  I really do love you, Gavin Meyers.”  She took his hands in hers and stared at him as though willing him to believe her.

Oh, he wanted to believe her, about every bit of it.  “Can this be enough for you, Hannah?  Can you be happy here, with me?”  He had to be sure.

Hannah rolled her eyes.  “I don’t know.  There would be so many demands of me.”

Gavin growled.  “Like what?”

Hannah’s eyes sparkled.  “You’re helpless.  You couldn’t do this without me.  Hell, you have a history of failure, even.”  She crossed her arms over her chest.

No one had ever suggested he might be a failure before.  “How do you figure?”  He was practically spluttering as he struggled to control his anger.

“Look.  You couldn’t even complete your revenge plot against a helpless woman.  I’m taking a huge risk sticking around.”  She smirked at him.

For the first time, Gavin realized she was teasing him.  He started to laugh, but decided instead to keep playing along.  “Well, you have a bit of a history of running and falling off the grid.  How do I know you’ll stick it out?”

“I guess that’s just the risk you’ll have to take,” Hannah said with a raised eyebrow.

Shaking his head, he realized the timing was perfect.  If he were still a businessman, he’d be going in for the kill.  It was time to seal the deal.  “I don’t know.  I think I’d feel better if we had some kind of agreement.”  He watched her roll her eyes so hard her entire head bobbed.  “I mean it, I want strings, lots of them.  Or maybe in our case, it would be more fitting to have rope.”  Reaching under his pillow, he felt around before pulling out a closed fist.  Holding it out in front of her face, he opened his hand.