Page 37 of Shielding his Legacy
The energy in the room reminded him of the moment when they’d first entered that hotel suite in Phoenix and turned to face each other—both knowing exactly why they were there. But their connection had been so much deeper than sex, no matter how hard he’d worked to deny it. They fit together in every way, the ebb and flow of their conversation drawing him in even more than the rise and fall of her lithe, eager body.
Walking away from her had been one of the hardest things he’d ever done. Her words to him in the truck today echoed in his mind.You felt like home.
His throat worked at the mere idea of saying the words aloud.Me too, Baby. You felt like home to me too.
She laughed lightly, the sound musical on the air. “I think it gets hotter if you light it,” she joked.
“Right.” He patted his pockets for his lighter. He bent and lit the smallest piece of kindling, which was so dry it instantly burst into flames. They’d be toasty warm in no time, though he barely noticed the frigid air with Eva in the room.
He rubbed the scruff on his cheek and chin, thinking he’d lost the ability to have a conversation with her the moment he’d walked in here. Primal. That was the word for what he was feeling. It was a primal need to have her.
His phone buzzed and he reached for it in his pocket.
She cocked her head. “I haven’t been able to get a signal for over an hour.”
“Satellite receiver on the roof.” He looked at it and saw it was Sloan. “Hey, Dvorak.”
“We just landed. Want us to come to you?”
Gavin glanced at Eva. “Yeah, I don’t think the baby’s ready for her first snowmobile ride just yet.”
“Is she yours?”
“Who?”
“The baby. Is she yours? I can’t ask in front of the mom, and we’ve got some serious money riding on the answer over here.”
He narrowed his eyes. “How much money?”
“Champion and I are in the affirmative for fifty bucks each. Trace says pigs would fly circles around our chopper before you let yourself get ‘trapped in a fatherly way.’”
“Is that so?” Gavin had no doubt the guys had a hundred bucks riding on this, any more than he doubted Trace had said what Sloan repeated verbatim.
“Yep. He says you were an Eagle Scout and know the value of—and I quote—‘carrying anoilclothjacket in case ofa sudden rain shower,’” Sloan said, affecting a thick southern drawl.
Gavin squeezed his eyes shut. “Just get your asses over here.”
“Be there in ten, Daddy-oh.”
Gavin hung up and pocketed the phone with a shake of his head. “They’re on their way.”
She got up and put the baby over her shoulder, then wrapped them both in the quilt like a vampire cape and stood up from the bed. She moved in front of the fire.
He moved to the sofa behind her and sat down, watching, mesmerized, as her hand rhythmically patted Abby’s back. “Are you burping her?”
“Yes.” She turned to face him. “Do you want to try?”
“I don’t know how to burp a baby.”
“There isn’t some secret to it. Here, take her.”
Before he could protest, she was settling Abby onto his shoulder, his hands coming up to hold her there. He lightly patted her back just as he’d seen Eva do. “Like this?”
“A little harder, like you’re quietly playing a drum.”
He patted her more forcefully, surprised to hear the sound reverberate in the baby’s tiny chest like a percussion instrument. A minute later, Abby rewarded him with a burp which was loud enough to make him laugh out loud.
“You’re a master,” Eva said sweetly, and he felt a childish swelling of pride in his chest at the compliment. The muffled roar of approaching snowmobiles could be heard faintly in the distance.
