Page 32 of Hot Response
He knew she’d relax once he was gone. If she felt the sexual tension crackling between them as strongly as he did, she knew the two of them being within falling distance of his bed at the same time could derail their plans.
Or her plans, anyway. His only plan for the night was to hang out at Grant’s and think about Cait sleeping in his bed. Maybe after she soaked in his tub, full of hot water and good-smelling bubbles.
And things might have gotten even more tense if she hadn’t walked over to the TV at that moment. It gave him a second to give the front of his jeans a quick adjustment, while trying to think unsexy things.
Then she bent over to look at the front of the TV—the sweatshirt riding up to show off her ass in that stretchy fabric—and he knew the only way he was going to cool off was to literally stick his head in the freezer. And even that wouldn’t do much for below the waist.
“Do you want me to show you how to work that?” he asked, hoping to distract himself with a task. Any task, even if it was explaining his remote control.
“Nope. It’s the same model my mom has. I’m just going to plug my iPad into the HDMI port and catch up on my Netflix queue.”
So much for tasks. He was going to ask what she had lined up to watch, but he really needed to get out of there. Promising her she could have alone time and then putting the moves on her when she took him up on his offer would be a douche move.
“You can always text me if you have any questions or can’t find something.” He’d already put his duffel bag in his Jeep, so he grabbed his coat out of the closet and slid it on. Then he retrieved his keys from the end of the counter. “There’s a spare key here so you can get back in if you decide to go out somewhere. The plastic card’s for the main door, then the key opens this one.”
“Got it.”
“I guess that’s it, then.”
Then she moved close, coming in for a hug, and Gavin braced himself.Just a hug.Her arms slid around him, just above his waist, and he wrapped his arms around her shoulders. Breathing in the scent of her hair, he tightened his hold just for a few seconds.
Her hands were pressed against his coat, and he cursed himself for not anticipating the hug—for missing the opportunity to feel her embrace through the thin fabric of his shirt instead of the bulky coat.
“Thank you for this,” she said, pulling back as he reluctantly let her go.
She was still close enough for him to kiss. He wouldn’t have to take but one step and her mouth could be his. But if he kissed her once, he was going to try to stay, so he gave her a smile. “No problem. Enjoy your night.”
Then he turned around and walked out the door before he—or she—could change his mind.
* * *
She should have asked him to stay. The words were simple.You don’t have to go.But she couldn’t bring herself to say them.
Gavin had been a perfect gentleman, although she’d been aware of the heat simmering between them. It would have been impossible to miss the way he got perfectly still when she touched his arm, or the way he was trying too hard to be casual when he was leading her toward his bedroom.
She wished she’d hugged himbeforehe put his coat on, though. The bulky fabric had blocked the warmth of his body and the feel of his back under her palms. The temptation had been strong to slide her hands up under the jacket so only the T-shirt separated them from his skin, but she hadn’t worked up the nerve before she had to pull away or make it awkward.
Now that she was alone, though, in a silent apartment with zero people looking to her for help or support, she knew letting him go without exploring whatever was going on between them was the right thing to do.
Once enough time had passed so she knew he was on the road and not running back upstairs for something he’d forgotten, she went into his bedroom. She’d made up her mind she was going to crash on the couch, but as soon as she saw the king-size bed with its black wooden sleigh-bed-style headboard and footboard, she wavered. It was wide and covered in simple, crisp tan bedding with a few jumbo pillows.
Hehadtold her to treat it like a hotel room, and it seemed like such a shame to let a bed like that go to waste.
Before she could dwell on what she’d rather be doing in that bed, and with whom, she went through the door into the bathroom. This, she thought, is where she would be spending most of the evening.
There was no cheap, combination bath-and-shower unit from the 1980s in this bathroom. The shower was wide and deep, with two glass walls and dual shower heads. But the tub...
The tub was made for soaking in, with a glass of wine and a good book, held high so the fragrant bubbles didn’t touch it. She would have guessed Gavin was a quick in-and-out-of-the-shower kind of guy, but the jar and the bottle of body wash on the rack near the tub said different. Leaning closer, she could see the label on the old-fashioned mason jar saidEpsom salts, which made sense. There were probably days Gavin needed to soak away the aches and pains and tension that came with a physically demanding job.
Two would fit in that tub.
And on that note, she went back to the living room and plugged her iPad into the television. She figured she’d watch an episode or two from the series she was behind on while she ate a microwaved pizza, and then take the iPad into the bathroom. A movie while she soaked in that tub sounded like heaven.
A few hours of blissful peace later, Cait stood next to Gavin’s bed and made her decision. The couch plan had gone out the window hours ago, but she still had to work up the nerve to pull back his covers and slide between his sheets. They were crisp and clean, and surprisingly soft. She was wearing panties and an oversize tee, unable to bring herself to sleep naked in his bed. She wore sleep pants with the tee at home because she could run into her brother during middle-of-the-night bathroom runs, but now she ran her freshly shaved legs over his sheets as if they were made of satin.
While she appreciated the effort he’d gone to to make her comfortable, a part of her wished he hadn’t put freshly laundered sheets on his bed. They smelled like fabric softener instead of Gavin, and she could picture herself pressing her face into his pillow and inhaling the scent of him.
Instead, she had to smell the fresh breeze or whatever it was and try to put him out of her mind so she could sleep. A hotel room, she told herself.
