He came down over her with that sexy grin she loved and a wicked look in his eyes. “You want me to hurry, huh?” He aligned their bodies and slid just the tip of his cock in, hissing at the tight fit.
“Gavin,” she pleaded, pushing down on his hips while rising up beneath him.
He pulsed his hips, taking her an inch at a time, then withdrawing painfully slowly and going in deeper. She pulled his mouth to hers, sucking hard, and dug her fingernails into the back of his neck the way she knew drove him mad. His hips pistoned hard, burying him to the hilt.
“Fuuck,” he growled.
She grinned up at him and slapped his ass. “You’ve had your fun driving me crazy. Now it’s my turn…”
Chapter Twenty-Five
THE NEXT MORNING Harper cuddled closer to Gavin beneath the blanket on the lounge chair as the sun rose higher into the sky. They’d woken up before everyone else and had come outside to watch the sunrise. Harper had fallen asleep within minutes of coming outside, and it reminded him of the night of their first date.
He heard the front door close and kissed Harper’s cheek. “I think my parents are up. That’s probably my dad grabbing the newspaper.”
“Mm.” She wrapped her arms around his neck, snuggling against him. “I really like your parents. I’ll be sad when they leave.”
“Me too. Thank you for arranging their trip and the party. And, sweetheart, thank you for coming back, for trusting me. I’m sorry for hurting you.”
She pressed her lips to his, silencing his heartache, and then her lips curved up. “That’s in the past, and I’m looking forward to our future.”
“Me too,” he said. “Everyone’s going out on Rick and Drake’s boat today.”
“I know. Desiree told me. Do you want to go?”
“If you do. I think my parents would enjoy it.”
“Let me think about that. Spend the day lying in the sun with my girlfriends while my boyfriend and his wonderful family enjoy themselves? Or…”
He nuzzled against her cheek. “Or?”
“There is no or. There’s only us. It sounds perfect.”
The patio door opened, and his mother peered out. “Oh,” she said with surprise. “Good morning. I didn’t know you two were up. I was just going to let some fresh air in.”
Harper and Gavin climbed from the lounger, the scent of bacon making him hungry.
“It’s okay, Mom. We were just about to head inside.” He draped the blanket around Harper, who looked adorable in cute cotton sleeping shorts and one of his sweatshirts.
“Your father is scouring the paper for Harper’s latest article.” She looked thoughtfully at them and said, “I’m glad you two talked things out.”
As they went inside, Harper said, “I’m sorry for leaving last night. That was rude, and I wasn’t thinking clearly.”
“No need to apologize, honey,” his mother said.
His father manned the stove in a pair of jeans and a button-down, watching over bacon, eggs, and pancakes as they cooked, which brought fond memories of his dad cooking breakfasts on the weekends when he was a kid.
“Last night was quite a blow for all of us, Gavin included. But Lord knows life isn’t always easy.” His mother reached for his father’s hand and said, “I know a little something about needing space from a Wheeler man.”
“That goes both ways, darlin’,” his father said as he transferred a pile of bacon to a plate. “My mother always said marriages that float away with water as it passes under the bridge are marriages that were never meant to be. People aren’t perfect, and true love takes strong, forgiving hearts.” He looked at Harper and Gavin and said, “Sometimes you have to swim against the tide to make it to calmer waters. But it’s those tougher times that make relationships stronger. Now, who’s brave enough to wake Beckett?”
“Not me,” his mother said. “That boy’s a grump in the morning.”
Gavin held his hands up in surrender and said, “Count me out.”
His father arched a brow in Harper’s direction. “Feeling brave?”
“No, she’s not.” Gavin pulled Harper into his arms. “Dad, Beckett sleeps commando.”
His father snickered.
Beckett’s bedroom door opened, and he shuffled out wearing only a pair of jeans. His hair was sticking up all over. He stretched and said, “I smell bacon.”
They all laughed.
Beckett put a hand on his father’s shoulder as he stole a piece of bacon.
His father shook his head. “Take the plate to the table, son, and try to leave some for the rest of us.”
Harper folded the blanket and set it on the couch, and they all helped bring breakfast to the table and settled in to eat.
“Now that Mom showed Harper how to cook your favorite dinner, you can keep her barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen,” Beckett teased.
“I have a much better room for Harper to excel in.” Gavin squeezed Harper’s leg.
“Gavin!” she chided him as Beckett laughed loudly.
“I meant the office,” Gavin said with a wink and a chuckle. “Although I would have said the bedroom if we weren’t in the company of my parents.”
Harper covered her face. “Ohmygod!”
Beckett snickered again.
“It’s okay, honey,” his mother said. “We know that everything Gavin says comes from his heart.”
“You keep believing that, Mom,” Beckett said under his breath.
Gavin punched him in the arm.
His father pointed his fork at Beckett and said, “If you ever slow down long enough to hear your heart, you’ll lead with yours, too. It’s who you are, Beckett. Don’t fool yourself into thinking all that other nonsense is anything more than a distraction. A precursor to the real thing.”
“We can always hope,” his mother said.
“Dude, trust me on this,” Gavin said. “When that particular organ speaks, you won’t be able to ignore it.” He hugged Harper against his side and kissed her temple. “True love is the most powerful thing on earth.”
Harper mouthed, I love you.
Beckett scoffed, grumbling as he grabbed the last of the bacon. “I’m pretty sure my stomach and my”—he glanced at his parents—“other hungry body part are loud enough to drown out anything else.”
They talked and joked, finishing breakfast in great moods. Gavin counted himself lucky to have such a wonderful family, and even luckier to have found a woman who seemed to enjoy them as much as he did.
As they cleared the table, Gavin said, “Rick and Drake are taking their boat out to do some fishing today with a bunch of our friends. What do you think? Want to join them?”
“Better ask your mother,” his father said. “Fishing sounds great, and we really enjoyed getting to know your friends, but we don’t want to miss our flight.”
“We’ve got plenty of time,” Beckett said. “Right, Mom?”
“We do,” she said. “We don’t leave until six.”
“Then we’d better get this stuff cleaned up and head out so we don’t miss them.” Gavin started collecting dishes.