Lovell, Cooper - Tessa's Highlander (Siren Publishing Classic) (17 page)

“But, I’ve hurt you.”

She stopped him by putting her hand over his mouth. “I’m on a roll here. I got two sentences out that made sense so don’t stop me now.”

He closed his mouth and she grasped his hand again.

“And second of all, yeah, I’m sore.
Very
sore. I’ve never felt this kind of pain in my life. And by this kind of pain, I mean
this
kind of pain,” she said, accentuating her meaning by moving her free hand back and forth between their respective private parts.

He still looked concerned so she leaned forward and kissed him.

“I love feeling like this. It’s
exquisite
. That’s the only word for it, and I should know. I manipulate words for a living.

“Gavan, I have been loved. Thoroughly. By a great big, beautiful Scottish stud who really knows what he’s doing. I’ll be fine. I might just need a little break.”

Gavan choked out the breath he was holding and she could see the combination of cocky male pride in his expression. “Then a break it is. This final, very ingenious idea comes just in time then.”

He stood up, lifted Tessa off the stool, and carried her to the tub.

He lowered them both into the steamy water and leaning back, he pulled her against his chest.

Handing her a glass of wine, he said as he noticed the bottle of bubble bath, “This is where the lavender comes from? It’s truly a wonderful aroma. It clings tae you. You’re meant tae wear it.”

She flicked some bubbles. “
Mmmm
. I love lavender. It’s really hard to find products that smell like real lavender and not some perfumed crap they call lavender.”

He nodded. “The Highlands are covered in it. It’s said that lavender is calming, refreshing, uplifting, and soothing. It suits you.”

She quietly basked in her remarkable luck at finding a man who noticed and appreciated subtle things. She leaned her head back against his shoulder and let herself sink into her perfect new world.

* * * *

It wouldn’t be the exact reenactment of the fantasy he’d conjured when he stood in the room before. It was better. In a short time, he’d fallen head over heels in love. Imagining his life without her now was impossible. A touch of anxiety over whether or not she had the same intentions for the future crept in despite their earlier conversation, but he put it away to be mulled over another time.

He looked at the shelf and saw one of the brightly colored ball things made of netting that his sisters always had hanging in the bath. He grabbed it and submerged it to get it covered in bubbles. Using light, caressing strokes, he moved the puff over Tessa’s skin. He moved it up and down her arms, across her belly, around her breasts, sat her up so he could do her back. She moaned through the whole treatment. When he finished she turned to take the puff to reciprocate, but he tossed it over his shoulder.

“Nope. You can do me another time.” He waggled his eyebrows up and down suggestively to accentuate his point. She rolled her eyes at him, turned, and leaned back against his chest. They sipped their wine, trailed their fingers over one another’s skin, languishing in each other’s company, verbal communication completely unnecessary.

Glasses emptied, water temperature dropped to lukewarm, Gavan extracted himself from behind Tessa and climbed out of the tub. Opening the small closet door, he found he’d guessed right and pulled out two big, fluffy bath towels. He quickly dried himself with one, then held the other up for Tessa to stand and be wrapped in it. He helped her out of the tub and she stood her on the thick bath mat as he dried her with soft pats from head to toe. Seeing her robe on a hook near the shower, he grabbed it and held it out for her to slip into. Once belted, he picked her up and carried her back to the vanity and sat her on the stool, facing the mirror this time.

* * * *

Confused, Tessa said, “What are we doing?”

Gavan didn’t answer her, but reached for her brush.

He held her hair in his hands while he brushed through the ends so that any tangles he encountered wouldn’t pull. After working through that he began to brush with long strokes from her scalp to the ends. Tessa wanted to close her eyes and relish in the feeling of someone brushing her hair so lovingly, but the image in the mirror of his naked torso, thighs, and arms, muscles flexing and rippling with every movement, made this act so sensuous, so erotic that she was nearly mesmerized. The twitch she felt in her pussy surprised her. She’d been certain that that part of her had shut down for the night. But the throbbing between her legs was undeniable and wetness was slipping from her, dampening the seat of her robe. Shifting a little, she squeezed her thighs together and a jolt ran to her clit. She continued to watch him pulling the brush through her hair with long strokes, his other hand following the brush, smoothing it. His brown-pink nipples were like little
BBs
. He moved to the left a little and she saw that he was hard again. She swallowed audibly. His body was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. Every part of him was worthy of worship. The sight of his flexing muscles combined with his big, beautiful cock, erect again, while he cared for her so tenderly, stirred the beginnings of another orgasm.

Modesty long gone, she slid her hand across her leg, into the opening of her robe. Resting it on her lower abdomen, she lightly stroked only her pinky finger across her swollen, aching clit. The immediate, intense reaction told her that it wouldn’t take much to reach climax. She wiggled her pinky and brushed over her button again and drew in a quick breath. Two more flicks and the rumbling began in her thighs. Her eyes were fast upon the side of Gavan’s strong, tan thigh, the curve of his tight ass, and his dick, hard and pointing at the ceiling. Before she could stroke her little finger across her throbbing bud one more time, Gavan’s hand slid into the robe next to hers. His finger swiped lightly across her clit and she came, shuddering. She leaned back into him and she felt his hard cock pressing against her shoulder as he leaned over her, his hand holding her mound lightly, soothing her down from yet another orgasm.

Bending her neck back, she looked up at him and smiled. He leaned in and kissed her, his lips lingering on hers for a moment before he pulled back.

“Aye, you had one more in you,
dinna
you?”

She nodded, her soft gray eyes sleepy. “
Mmm
hmm.”

Suddenly aware of the hardness pressing into her shoulder, she looked at him. “Oh, Gavan.”

He shook his head. “
Is’na
worry. Seeing you like that got me excited. It’ll go down. Believe me, love, I am a more than satisfied man.”

She blinked. “You’re sure?”

Standing her up, he took both of her hands in his, raised them to his mouth, and kissed her palms.

“I’m
verra
,
verra
sure. Now let’s go tae bed.”

He picked her up, carried her to the big, fluffy bed, and climbed in. With a click, he turned on the ornate corner fireplace, removed Tessa’s robe, and wrapped his arms around her to pull her body against his.

Completely spent, they slept like spoons without moving all night.

Chapter Fourteen

Tessa woke up, a smile already plastered on her face. Gavan’s arms were still wrapped tightly around her, her back against his chest. His breath was warm on her shoulder and she relished the feeling. She turned her body to his and nuzzled her face into his chest, tickling her nose against the crisp hair that dusted his golden skin. Just as she was about to lose herself in deliciously fuzzy sleep in the strong arms of her man, it occurred to her that it was Sunday.

Oh crap!
she thought, snapping her eyes open.
Alex!
He’s home now He’ll be over this morning, just like every Sunday.
Carefully, she untangled herself from Gavan’s grasp and slid out of bed. She winced as every muscle in her body screamed in sweet agony, but with effort, she found she was capable of walking. She silently padded around the room, pulling what she needed from various drawers, and went into the bathroom to shower. A glance at the clock on her way in told her she could afford to linger under the hot water for few extra minutes in order to soothe her muscles.

Pulling on low-rise yoga pants and a T-shirt, she happily noted that the shower had helped with some of the stiffness she’d felt in her body. Just to be sure, she swallowed some ibuprofen to help the cause. At the vanity, she dragged the brush through her hair and she thought of Gavan brushing her hair for her last night. The butterflies clocked in right on time and went to work with enthusiasm and vigor. She shook her head and stuck out her tongue at the idiotic grin on the image looking back at her in the mirror. She gave up, as usual, on trying to tame her hair, brushed her teeth, and opened the bathroom door.

Slippers in hand, she tiptoed across the room. She heard Gavan snore softly and slipped out the door to go downstairs.

In the kitchen, she clicked on the fireplace and readied a pot of coffee. Once it was brewing, she set the breakfast table. She was on her way from the fridge with cream when Alex, box of pastries tucked under his arm, sauntered in. He looked her up and down as she stiffly moved to the table, making a squinty face as he appraised her.

“Oh my God, girl. You got laid!”

Blushing, she spun around. “What?”

Alex waved his finger up and down the length of her body. “Look at you. You can barely walk. You’re moving like you’re carrying a log between your thighs.”

Tessa was about to deny it when Alex grabbed her hand, his eyes bugging.

“Wait! That’s it, isn’t it? You
did
have a log between your thighs. You had that big, gorgeous man between your thighs, didn’t you?”

Tessa could only smile, despite her friend’s vulgarity. After all, she was in love and part of her wanted to let everybody know about it.

Alex smiled at her. “Oh, baby love, he moved you, didn’t he? You are positively radiant.”

He took the cream from her and picked up the sugar on his way to the breakfast nook. “Grab that coffeepot. We’ve got some talking to do.”

Seated in their usual chairs, Alex put his mug down after taking his first sip and said, “Okay, I can see that this isn’t one of those ‘give me all the details’ times, but you absolutely must give me my Five Questions.”

Tessa nodded. “Okay, but one-word answers only.”

Alex said, “Fair enough,” and started to think about his five very important questions.

Five Questions had always been the way that Alex and Tessa treated life events that they wanted to let each other in on, but somehow full disclosure seemed too personal or new. Five Questions worked whenever Alex had a new lover, when Tessa had boyfriends in college, and when Tessa finally submitted her first manuscript to a publisher but didn’t want to jinx things by talking about it. It even helped in times of tragedy when words failed.

After several minutes, Alex said, “Okay, you ready?”

Tessa nodded.

“First question. When was the first time you did it?”

Without having to think, Tessa said, “Two nights ago. I know that’s not really a one word answer, but I think that’s okay.”

He mulled over her answer then leaned in. “Second question. Do you still think relationships are a load of crap?”

She really didn’t want to hear his “I told you so,” but she had to be honest. “Nope.”

He thought for a moment. “Third question. Should I make nice with him?”

It seemed like a light question but it, in fact, held great importance.

“Definitely.”

The look of shock on Alex’s face made Tessa laugh.

“Okay, girlie. Number four.”

Knowing that question four was generally where Alex either started to get ridiculous or remained serious, Tessa braced herself.