Before I can ask if I’ve done something wrong, I’m airborne as he lifts me from the ground and tosses me effortlessly onto the bed.
I giggle at the fierce expression he wears while glaring down at me.
“Think you’re funny do you?” His dimple dents his cheek when he smiles and I grin lazily up at him.
“Now we both have a craving.”
The moment burns between us, a lit fuse taking its time.
“Lie back,” he commands, and all the playfulness is gone. “Spread your legs apart.”
I do as I’m told, swallowing hard and struggling to breathe as my entire body is exposed to him.
“Tell me about this.” He crawls onto the bed, hovering above me and his fingers graze lightly over the wild vine on my right side.
“Us,” I say softly. “The band.”
It’s a fairly large but simple display—three flowers on a vine that wraps from my hip to my rib cage. A blue thriving bloom in the center for Dallas, a pink succulent with tattered petals for me just above my hip, and closest to my heart, a black rose growing amid thorns.
“This me?” The pad of his thumb rubs across the rose just below my breast, creating delicious friction on my skin.
I nod.
“Why the thorns?”
I bite my lip and take a much-needed breath. “Because you survived the harshest conditions. You’re the strongest.”
I can’t read the emotions on his face, but they’re powerful.
“I’m not,” he chokes out while shaking his head, his eyes retreating from mine. “If I was, I wouldn’t be here.”
Sitting up, I use both hands to pull his face back to mine. “Gavin. Look at me.” His eyes meet mine and I rub my nose against his. “You are the strongest person I know. Being here tonight isn’t about being strong or weak. It isn’t about breaking promises you never should’ve made. It’s about us. Come back to me. It’s just us.”
My lips brush against his once, twice, and a third time before he finally kisses me back.
“And these?” he asks, catching my wrist on the side of his face.
“My parents,” I answer, nodding at the two larger swallows taking flight inked in black on my wrist. “Me and D,” I add, when he moves to the smaller ones left behind.
I shiver as he places a kiss on them before lowering my back onto the mattress.
His grins up at me, a mischievous gleam in his eyes as he dips his fingers beneath the waist of my panties. “What are you thinking about, beautiful girl?”
“Ice cream,” I answer immediately.
“Was I the first? To—”
“Yes.”
“Fuck. It’s killing me knowing I was the first one to taste you. Give me a second.” He closes his eyes and takes a steadying breath. I know he can probably feel my body trembling beneath him, but I can’t do much to stop it.
His fingers press hard into my sides as he holds me down. I whimper loudly when he takes my right nipple into his mouth and sucks. My body bucks hard against him when he repeats his torment on the left.
“Feel good, baby?”
“Mm-hm,” is all I can manage.
His mouth continues placing erratic kisses down my stomach until he reaches what I knew might end up being our deal breaker. His fingers lower the top edge of my underwear and he stares openly, his eyes darting back and forth from my face to my tattoo.
“What’s this?” I can’t tell if he’s angry or not. Mostly all I can identify is shock.
“A bluebird,” I whisper. It’s small, on a low enough branch on the vine that it’s hidden even in a skimpy bathing suit. Its body is a treble clef and music notes fly from its wings.
“Why do you have this?”
Because I love you.