After a few seconds, she pulled her hand back. “Thank you. It was delicious.”
“You can take the leftovers home to your family, if you’re not afraid they’ll turn their noses up at your regular pizza from now on.”
She laughed as they pushed back their chairs. “I don’t know if it wasthatgood, but I feel like we should do some laps around the parking lot because I’m so full.”
It felt natural to take her hand when they got outside, and she laced her fingers through his. They didn’t do any laps, but they did take their time walking back to his truck. It wasn’t a warm day, by any means, but it wasn’t bitterly cold. Or maybe it was just the heat of hopeful anticipation keeping him warm.
And the closer they got to his apartment—and her car—the more intense that hopeful anticipation got, until he would have been drumming his fingers on the wheel if he wasn’t holding her hand.
Once he’d found a place to park and killed the engine, he tried to come up with something smooth to say. The truck was parked between his building and her vehicle, so he’d either be walking her to her car or walking with her to his front door. He knew which direction he wanted to go, but he was inexplicably nervous and his brain couldn’t come up with anything that sounded charming or casual.
“You want to come up for a while?”Please say yes. Please say yes.
She said yes.
Chapter Ten
Cait had no idea why she was nervous all of a sudden. She wanted Gavin and he wanted her. And while she sometimes wished she could lose a few pounds without making much of an effort—especially after stuffing her face with pizza—she wasn’t particularly self-conscious about being naked.
But for some reason, the thought of being naked with Gavin made her feel jittery and anxious, and she told him she was going to use his bathroom while he put the leftover pizza in his fridge.
After using his bathroom and stealing some of his mouthwash, Cait rested her hands on his vanity and looked at herself in the mirror. She looked so serious, and she didn’t want to be. She was going to be fun and free and enjoy the hell out of this night.
When she walked out of the bathroom, Gavin was leaning against his kitchen counter, drinking from a bottle of water. He set it down when he saw her and smiled. “You’re not going to eat the leftover pizza while I’m in the bathroom, are you?”
“Maybe,” she said, even though she couldn’t eat another bite, and then she tilted her head and gave him a suggestive smile. “I guess you better be quick.”
He was only gone a few minutes, but it was plenty of time for the anticipation to start dancing in her stomach again. It had been a while since she’d spent any time in a man’s bed and the last one hadn’t affected her nearly as strongly as Gavin did.
When he walked out of the bathroom, he took his sweet time until he got about halfway to her and then seemed to hesitate. “So, do you want to hang out and watch TV or have a beer or...”
“I’ll take whatever comes after theor,” she said when his sentence trailed off.
He started moving again, at the same lazy pace. “Just to be clear, what came after theorinvolved you naked in my bed.”
“Does it also involveyounaked in your bed at the same time?”
“Absolutely.”
She put her hands up as he reached her, running her hands over his chest. The muscles were firm under her palms, and she was looking forward to not having his shirt between them. “Then, yes, we’re clear on that being why I’m here.”
Gavin moved quickly then, his mouth covering hers. She moaned when his hand fisted in her hair and pulled her head back to give him more access. Her lips parted and his tongue slid over hers.
His other hand tugged at the hem of her shirt until he could slide it up under the fabric. The first touch of his fingers against her skin was a shock and she sucked in a breath.
Gavin chuckled against her lips. “Ticklish?”
“Not really, but a little bit in a couple of places.”
He pulled back to look at her while his fingertips skimmed up over her rib cage. “What places might those be?”
“I’ll never tell.”
“I bet I can find them.” He pressed his mouth to her jawline, then began kissing his way down her neck.
She tilted her head, sighing as the fingers still buried in her hair massaged the back of her skull, working their way toward the base. When Gavin’s mouth reached the collar of her shirt, he made a low, growling sound of frustration.
“How about we fast-forward through this part,” she suggested.
