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Just remembering the scrape of his voice when he’d said that word made a flock of birds take off in her belly. Tawny thought back to her most prevalent fantasies and realized there was a recurring theme in every single one of them. They started one of two ways. Either Gavin was proud of her for doing well on an exam, hugged her, eventually started petting her and made slow, intimate love to her. Or. Or he was disappointed in her for doing bad on an exam, grounded her and wouldn’t absolve her of that punishment unless she let him have sex with her. Both of those scenarios had Gavin behaving in a fatherly capacity. With atwist.
Calling him Daddy had felt nice. Very nice in some southern regions of her body, actually. Almost like saying the word out loud had turned a key in the lock of her belly and let loose a flood of possibilities. Where would theylead?
Tawny fanned herself discreetly, wondering how much longer they would be in the truck. They’d left the dirt road and were now trundling through a thick copse of trees. How Gavin could even follow the road was beyond Tawny, but she trusted him. That trust was how she knew he would make sense of this unexpected facet of their relationship. That he would make it right. She couldn’t wait for them to make it right.Together.
After all, she’d been in love with Gavin since the day he’d walked into the church in full Army dress, enveloped her in a hug and told her everything would be fine. There. Now that she nearing the end of her sexual frustration, she could set aside her pride and admit it to herself. This man had been the center of her universe for years. Was she the center of his? Getting him to give in to his attraction had been so hard. What if he regretted itafterward?
What if he’d tried to keep her at arm’s length because he didn’t love her the same way she loved him? That would be just like Gavin to be noble, refusing to act on his urges out of fear of hurting her when he didn’t want to make her his everything. The way she dreamedof.
Tawny was distracted from her thoughts when Gavin brought the truck to a screeching halt. She barely had time to register the cabin, before Gavin had pried open the passenger side door, drawn her out into his strong arms and begun striding for the smallstructure.
She laid her head against his chest, letting her legs swing in delight over being held by this hero of a man. “Where arewe?”
“Might as well be honest with you now,” he rumbled, sending her a narrow look. “This is where I come when I’m getting to the end of mypatience.”
A furious dance of hormones took place in her belly inspired by his gruff words. “What do you dohere?”
Gavin didn’t answer. They reached the front door and Gavin took out a key, turning it in the lock and shouldering open the door. Just inside, he set Tawny down on her feet. She could feel him behind her as she advanced further, inch by inch, into the giant main room. A single light bulb hung from the ceiling, swaying in the breeze they’d let in by opening the door. There was a narrow bed to her right, a small kitchen to the left. A picture window straight ahead showing off the vibrant greens of the forest. So very sparse. There was an energy in the room that sent electricity racing up her arms, though. It was almost frenetic, which made no sense since everything in the room was still. In a state of suspendedanimation.
“Stay here.” He issued the order right above Tawny’s head, and the lowest muscles of her belly twisted deliciously. “I need to go turn on thewater.”
“Okay,” she breathed, as if she would leave now that she was getting exactly what she’d wanted all along. Hearing Gavin stomp out of the cabin, Tawny turned in a circle and caught sight of a door hidden behind an empty bookshelf. A closet? Frowning, she moved closer and nudged the rickety wood furniture out of the way in order to open thedoor.
It was dark inside the small room, but a familiar smell hit her immediately. It was her own perfume. With a swallow, Tawny stepped inside the room, her hand reaching up to pull the chain belonging to yet another single lightbulb.
When the room was illuminated, her jaw fellopen.
There were pictures of her everywhere. Taped to every inch of the walls. Pictures of her in her bathing suit. Laughing in her pajamas. Doing a puzzle on the living room floor. Making a smoothie in the kitchen. There were pictures of her sleeping, too, her backside peeking up out of the sheets, her hair in a mess on the pillow. For some reason, those pictures made her pulse race fastest of all. How often did he watchher?
“You weren’t supposed to see this,” Gavin rasped behindher.
Tawny turned with a gasp, adrenaline colliding with excitement inside of her. “If I’d been murdered at the motel and the police found this place, they would have come straight toyou.”
“Funny.”
“I thought so,” Tawny grumbled. “Where did you get these?” She dried her perspiring palms on her shorts, noting that his sharp eyes followed the movement. “You come here and look at photos ofme?”
“I do more than look at them.” Gavin’s boot steps creaked on the floor as he came closer, his hand tangling in her hair, tipping her head back. “I imagine what I’d like to do to you in each of thesepictures.”
Her nipples beaded against the thin cotton of her shirt, her eyes fluttering to half-mast. She reached out and brushed her fingers over the picture of her sleeping. “Whatabout—”
“Don’t ask me about thatone.”
“I wantto.”
“Stubborn little girl.” His hand left her hair, joining the other to smooth down the sides of her hips in a cherishing touch that left goose bumps on her skin, head to toe. “You think I don’t stay awake at night, making sure you don’t have nightmares? They might have gotten better, but I don’t worry about you any less. You’re mine to worry about.” His wet, open mouth dropped to her neck, breathing heavily, and the flesh between her legs clenched hard. “While standing guard, I’ve wanted to tug your pretty panties down and watch my come slide down the crack between those little cheeks. You probably wouldn’t even have woken up, wouldyou?”
“No,” she managed, swaying to the left. “I’m a hardsleeper.”
“I know.” He trailed his teeth up to her ear and bit gently. “You’re the sweetest thing on the planet and I know every fucking thing aboutyou.”
Tawny’s knees shook, her heart lifting in her chest like it weighed nothing. “Do you know how badly I’ve wanted you to climb into bed with me? Holdme?”
Gavin surged forward, his body flattening her against the wall. “I’m an old bastard compared to you, baby.Why?”
You’re beautiful. A hero. My hero. I love you.She was afraid to make those declarations out loud, though, for fear her love only went one way. Yes, he had a serious attraction to her. After all, they were standing in a shrine he’d made in her honor. But what if it was only physical? What if he rejected her, told her she was too young and naïve to be his partner? Tawny opened her mouth to say…what? She didn’t know. A small pile of clothes brushing her ankle distracted her, though. “What’sthis?”
He stood very still, almost turning wooden as Tawny stooped down and picked up a familiar set of clothes. It was her old Catholic school uniform. Her pulse skipped, blood heating. Memories came back to her in flashes. Gavin watching her climb out of the car in her uniform with a clenched jaw. That low sound that used to leave him when she sat on his lap after school, gossiping about her classmates without a care in the world. One day her uniform had gone missing and she didn’t question it, since she’d graduated and no longer needed it. What had he been doing with her uniform in this room? Had he been touching himself withit?
