“When will you return?” He asked as he studied her. She was shifting nervously and it couldn’t be entirely from his gaze. Something about her made something in him want to walk over and pull her close, calm her concerns, soothe her nerves. He wanted an excuse to kiss her silky skin once more, inhale her scent deeply until it was imprinted on his brain. His jaw clenched as he realized the direction his thoughts were turning.
Hannah glanced at her watch. It was four now, allowing just enough time for traffic she should make it to the girls on time. “I don’t know. Maybe six? And I’ll still need to feed the girls.” She thought a moment. She was exhausted. No way was she going to suddenly turn into Betty Crocker and whip up a meal when she hadn’t even had a chance to study the contents of the kitchen. “And I guess we’ll have to eat out or pick something up…”
Walking across the foyer, Gavin opened the closet door even as Hannah watched confused, and grabbed his coat. “Let’s take my car. I’ll drive; we’ll grab some food, and then be back here in time for the girls to check out the place before they go to bed.”
She cocked her head to one side. “That’s a really nice offer, but I hate to pull you away from all your work.” She gestured to the study. “I saw all the files piled in there.”
He could tell that she would continue to argue and he wasn’t sure why. “Is there a reason you don’t want me to come along? I have to meet the girls some time.”
She was biting her lip in the most endearing manner. “It isn’t the girls,” she mumbled.
“Part of our deal was that I cover room and board. Dinner comes under the ‘board’ part, you know?” His eyes were twinkling right now. Part of him was enjoying her discomfort, the way that he was playing with her.
“It isn’t entirely dinner,” Hannah said slowly. Part of it was. She wasn’t sure she was ready to sit down with the man and her kids. It was so personal. She should be glad he wanted to contribute financially, keep up his end of the bargain. So far he was more involved in her life than Brett had been all five years of their marriage. Even more than how personal this drive was, she couldn’t help but think of where they were going, and who would be there when they arrived.
Feeling too tired and unable to explain, Hannah sighed. “Okay. Let’s go.”
Watching her out of the corner of his eye, Gavin couldn’t help but notice how ill at ease she seemed. Would she be this way if she were alone? Was it he making her so nervous? A few moments would pass and Hannah would emit a sad little sigh. Past experience had taught him that was how women sometimes let the men in their lives know that they had something to say. When he turned to Hannah expectantly, he discovered that her sigh was subconscious. After she sighed a few more times and he sensed they were closing in on their destination, he knew he had to discover their source.
“Hannah,” he began slowly, carefully selecting his words, “would you like to tell me what’s bothering you or should I guess?”
Her legs hurt from balancing on her tiptoes so they wouldn’t flatten out on the seat and make her feel any larger than she actually was. Gavin struck her as a man used to traveling with arm candy, gorgeous, waif thin model types. And as far as she could tell, she didn’t even come close to fitting that bill. To make matters worse, Krystal would be there when they arrived, probably wearing something skimpy to make her feel all the more self-conscious. What if he was attracted to her? She had just settled in. He hadn’t even had a chance to get to know her. And she had seen that hussy in action. It was, after all, how she lost her husband. She sighed.
Without even considering the ramifications of his actions, Gavin reached over and grabbed her hand out of her lap, tucked it against his chest, and then slowly kissed her fingers before releasing it rather hastily. Hannah was staring at him wide-eyed. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled. He had never really considered how she might respond, but what was it he had seen in her eyes? It was more than standard shock. Longing, maybe? Desire? He would have time to examine that at his leisure now that they were cohabitating.
“I guess I just wanted to comfort you,” he said with a little more confidence. “You seem nervous and a little sad?” Hannah’s eyes were downcast. “I know it isn’t that you don’t want to pick up the girls. Is it having me along?”
“Not…exactly,” she replied vaguely.
“Is it that you dread seeing your ex?” Gavin would continue to pry until he had a satisfactory answer. That was his way.
Twisting against the leather seat molded to her back, she turned to face him. “I can handle Brett.” She swallowed hard. “It’s Krystal that I’m dreading, if you must know.”
There it was, that spunky side making another appearance. He liked her better that way, full of vim and vigor. He hated seeing her sad and broken. Doing a mental head slap, he groaned. This was going to put a serious crimp in his plan. Then he brightened. This was the honeymoon period. After living together for a few months she would most certainly be on his last nerve. He could get back on course then. Now, he should just work on cataloging her weaknesses, finding her flaws. He smiled and thought back on what she had just said.
Hannah was bracing herself for the next question. “Aren’t you going to ask who Krystal is?”
Clearing his throat to cover up that he was lost in thought, Gavin replied, “I was. Will you tell me?”
She bit her bottom lip for a moment, and then said, “She’s the stripper Brett left me for.” And then she shut down and stared out the window for the rest of the trip.
It was the most humiliating experience of her life and he had nothing to say. Maybe he didn’t know what to say. She really should give him the benefit of the doubt. Over the years, Hannah had learned that the doubting part was easy; it was the rest that challenged her good nature. At worst, she would use this as an opportunity to get to know Gavin, see another side of him. Watching him interact with Krystal would be revealing.
She scowled. They had just pulled into the driveway and Krystal was sitting on the steps while the girls ran around in the front yard. Revealing? Definitely, since Krystal apparently didn’t see the need to wear undergarments under her tiny shirt or skirt.
“Great,” she muttered, as she released the seat belt and opened the door. Before she could vacate the vehicle, Gavin grabbed her arm.
“I’m not sure what you’re used to,” he said seriously, “but I open the door for women in my company.” Hannah’s eyes widened and she opened her mouth to speak, but he finished his thought. “Now sit there patiently while I walk around and help you out of the vehicle.”
Numbly, she managed to nod as Gavin climbed out of the luxury sedan, shut his door, and without even so much as a glance at the half naked woman on the steps twenty feet away, walked directly to Hannah, grasped her hand, and gracefully helped her emerge from the vehicle with more than a shred of her dignity intact.
They hadn’t even walked three feet before the girls came squealing over to their mother. “Mommy!” They yelled in unison as they threw themselves into her arms. Hannah winced and struggled to maintain her balance, but it was as though Gavin had anticipated this response. He merely stood there silently, supporting her with his hands on her lower back while she greeted her children.
Looking at him with unmasked appreciation, Hannah beamed, “Thank you,” she whispered. Or maybe it only seemed like a whisper because she was afraid her voice might just crack if she spoke any louder.
A sultry voice broke the moment. “I’m Krystal,” she gushed, grasping Gavin’s arm and leaning against him provocatively. She had his bicep in between her enormous breasts and was batting her eyelashes at him as alluringly as she could muster.
Hannah watched Gavin, a lump forming in her throat and her stomach clenching nervously. Without so much as a word, Gavin glanced at how Krystal’s body was positioned and extricated his arm from her grasp, took one step further from her and closer to Hannah, then wrapped an arm around Hannah’s waist.
“Do the girls have bags or anything here that I should grab?” He directed the question to Hannah.
She was so stunned from his reaction to Krystal that she could merely nod, wide-eyed in response.
“In the house?” He queried as he gestured to the front door.
Again she nodded. As she glanced that way, she visibly winced. Krystal, unused to being ignored and eager to soothe her wounded ego, was wrapped around Brett, who stood holding the girl’s backpacks on the stoop.
“Okay, girls,” Gavin began brightly. “Hop in and hook those seat belts. I’ll grab your bags and we’ll be off.” The girls clamored into the back seat without even giving their father a backward glance or meager goodbye and the door was closed behind them. “I didn’t think they needed to see that,” he commented to Hannah. She was standing there numbly, arms wrapped around her body and he immediately felt that all too familiar tug on his heart. Closing his eyes and inhaling deeply, he tried in vain to control his urge to gather her in his arms and comfort her. And as soon as he opened his eyes and saw her once more, he knew it wasn’t possible.
“Come here,” he murmured, drawing Hannah into his outstretched arms and cradling her against his chest. “It’s going to be fine. We’re going to go have a lovely dinner then I have a surprise for you at home.”
Letting his warmth wash over her, Hannah closed her eyes and drew in his strength. Before she knew it, her arms were wrapped around his back, her hands hooked over his shoulders. Somehow, it felt right, but the newness of it forced her to reluctantly draw away. “Shall I introduce you?” She asked smiling a bit.
“I’d expect nothing less of you,” Gavin said. Then looping her hand through the crook of his arm, he led her to where her ex stood with the stripper and watched.
It was just after seven when they arrived home. Hannah loved the sound of the word. With a little money and a lot of work the place would even start to look and feel like a home. She smiled as she thought about the changes she planned on instituting as they pulled up to the front door. Once again, Gavin stopped her as she tried to get out of the car without waiting for him.
“Stop,” he said in mock exasperation.
“I thought that was only in public,” she apologized.
Shaking his head seriously he said, “No. Always.” He paused as he tried to figure out how to explain it to her. “It isn’t about you being weak, or me trying to take away your independence. It’s about me showing you my respect. Let me, okay?”
Hannah had accepted the hand he offered her. As she stepped out onto the cobbled drive, she looked into his eyes. He was staring at her so intently that it made her shiver.
“Are you cold?” He asked, as he wrapped an arm around her.
“We’re ten feet from the door,” she commented. Then her eyebrow arched wickedly. “But if I claim to be cold will you give me your jacket?”
Gavin threw his head back and laughed. “Normally, I would, but for now I was thinking that I might start a fire in the study.” He glanced at his watch. “Can you have the girls in bed and meet me there in about forty-five minutes?”
She quirked her head to the side to examine him for a moment, wondering what he wanted, gave up, and acquiesced. “Sure, plenty of time.” Then, walking as briskly as her body would allow, she herded the girls up to their room.
Half an hour later, after Rory and Zoe had bathed in her enormous tub and been dried in thick towels warmed on her heated towel bar, brushed teeth, combed hair, and put on the palest of pink pajamas, they climbed onto their mother’s bed to hear a story. That was where Gavin found them. He had paced impatiently, watching the clock, wondering what was taking so long before finally breaking down and rushing up the stairs two at a time.
He had paused first outside of their bedroom door, half expecting to hear screaming children objecting to going to bed. To his considerable surprise, the room was vacant. With a great deal of trepidation, he managed to drag himself down the hall to her room. The double doors were flung wide open and they were all on Hannah’s bed, nestled amongst the pillows as she read them a story.
At first he thought he would just slink back down the stairs, but he was quickly enthralled by the sound of Hannah’s voice as she read a story to her girls. It was a story he had never read before, though he was more than a little familiar with the title:
The Little Prince.
As he neared the door, he realized that she was just beginning the story; he had missed nothing more than the dedication.
“
Once when I was a little boy,”
she began.
That was all it took. He was hooked. She read with…passion. And as spellbound as he was, he forgot why he had come. All he knew was that he needed to listen to her read this story. It was as though his very life depended on it. Before he realized it, she was done for the night.