Wayward Son (Jensen Family #3) (32 page)

“Hang on, I’ll come with you
,
”
she said following him.
“This room’s even bigger than your one
in Kingston
,
” she gasped
as she entered.

“I have a balcony too
,
” he added
.
“Go and check out the bathr
oom
,
” Gavin dumped
his bag on the bed as Angel wondered through his living room, bathroom and
bedroom, stopping at the doors that lead to the balcony, she turned to face
him.

“Your family are seriously wealthy aren’t they?” she asked.

Gavin nodded
.
“Dad ha
sn’t been off the rich list since his early twenties
,
” he moved closer to her
.
“Does it bother you?”

“No. Yeah, well, kinda
,
” she stammered,
blushing
.
“People will
think I’m
with
you for your money
.
”

“Are you? With me, I mean.” He looked into her eyes, wai
ting for her to finally say what he needed to hear.

Made breathless by the intense way he held her gaze, she could only nod.

 “
If you’re with me, I don’t care what
people think,” he told her as he pulled her close to him, placing a chaste kiss
on her
cheek. “Besides, t
he only money I have is what I earn, Dad says it’s the only way I will
learn the true value of it. Sure my family is wealthy and there isn’t a single
material thing that I want but it doesn’t change who I am and I really don’t
care if peo
ple think you are after me for my money,
you and I know different and s
o will those who
really matter.
”

“You’ve been raised this way, you don’t know any different
,
” she protested.

“I was raised in a
n ordinary
house by a
proud
single mother.
Dad supported u
s
,
but
I would have to do chores for my Mum in order to get the things I wanted
and when I started getting into fights and getting arrested regularly, I had to
keep out of trouble to get stuff, which was harder than it sounds. Things
aren’t just handed to
me on a silver platter, I have
to work for them, that’s the way I was raised and how I believe it should be
.
”

“Ok, ok, I get it, you’
re only a slightly spoiled brat
,
” she laughed.

“Yeah
,
” he agreed
.
“Come on, I’ll show you the rest of the
house
.
”

The guide
d tour of the voluminous house took
quite some time, not helped by the impromptu jam session when the boys laid
eyes on the fully equipped music room complete with a gleaming black grand
piano and full drum kit that led to all six of them doing a murderous
rendition of Cold Play’s Clocks amidst much laughter.
Gavin finally got to show his friends around the garden, the indoor and outdoor
pools as well as the hot tub, sauna, gym, tennis courts and the private cinema
that resided in the basement of the house.

Thoughts eventually turned to food making them pile into two cars, the
Supra for once being left at home, they headed for the local supermarket to
stock the house for the rest of the week, the poor checkout girl exhausted from
the volume of alcohol she ha
d to drag over the
scanner and hugely embarrassed by the copious amounts of condoms going through
her till.

Leaving James, Kiera and Gabby to put the shopping in the gaping empty
cupboards, Gavin, Novak and Angel headed outside, the boys carefully removing
the cover from the gigantic swimming pool while Angel
supervised to make sure the cover was rolled back evenly. She helped Novak to
secure the cover while Gavin went to the plant room to turn on the heaters.

“How’s things Angel?” Novak asked, moving close
r
so that he could talk quietly.

“Things are good
,
” she replied,
slightly intimidated by the size of the man next to her.

“Don’t give anything away will you?” Novak frowned.

“What do you want to know?” she asked, hands on hips.

“You and Gavin, are you two
ok? Things seem a
little subdued
.
” Novak
questioned.

“We’re fine, taking things slow
I guess. I
think
he
’s
afraid to touch
me
,
” she shrugged.

“He doesn’t want to rush you
,
” Novak
countered.

“I know
,
” she paused
.
“I wish he’d get over it though
, he wasn’t
afraid to touch me before.” She
looked at Novak trying to form his expression into one of surprise and smiled.
“It’s ok, I know he told you about when he picked me up and I was drunk and the
things we did.”

 
Novak
grinned.

“I want him to go back to that, I
just don’t
know how to go about it without him saying I should take my time.”

 
“He’s trying to be a gentleman about
this
Angel
.
Trust me,
h
e’s as
frustrated as hell but doesn’t want to freak you out.
”

“Will you talk to him?”

Novak nodded, “I’ll have a wo
rd with him. But
be patient with him Angel, since his mum died, he’s very guarded with his
feelings, it’ll be easy for you to hurt him.”

“I’m not going to hurt him, quite the opposite in fact
.”

“You’re falling for him.” Novak observed.

Angel gave a slight
nod, “I am
and that’s scary when
I have no idea if he feels the same.
”

“I’m sure he does. Leave it with me Angel
.
” Novak grinned and briefly squeezed her
hand
.
“Go inside, I’ll tackle him now
.
”

Gavin emerged from the plant room just moments after Angel had
vanished into the house.

“Where’d Angel go?” he asked.

“She went to unpack
,
” Novak told him
.
“What’s next?”

“We need to uncover the gym equipment
,
” Gavin replied heading beneath the
house
.

“So
,
” Novak started
, following him.
“I talked to Angel
.
”

“Oh God,
what did you say?”

“That I’d talk to you
,
” Novak looked
Gavin in the eye
.
“She doesn’t
understand why you’ve gone hands off all of a sudden
.
”

“I don’t want to pressure her
,
” he shrugged.

“I get it Gav, I really do
,
but she wants
you, she’s not as fragile a
s you think she is
.
S
he’s sending you fuck me signals left, right and centre bu
t you seem impervious and you’
re going the
right way about screwing this up totally
.
”

“I’m just trying to give her some space so that she can make sure it’s
what she wants. If i
t was up to me, I’d slam her
against the wall and probably put her off for life
,
” he smiled ruefully
.
“She has my head spinning like crazy
.
”

“She’s so up for it, it’s scary. If I can impart a little Novak wisdom to
you mate, before you get busy with her, c
lean the
pipes, it’ll save you popping like a choir boy at confession
,
” he reached out and ruffled Gavin’s
hair.

“Arsehole
,
”
Gavin laughed, dodging away fro
m the large
hands messing up his hair.

After their evening meal, James and Gabby headed down to the
tennis courts while the remaining four selected one of the
latest, newly released films and fired up the cinema.

Sitting three rows back from Novak and Kiera, Angel couldn’t help but be
a little envious of the attention her friend received from the big blo
nd male. She snuck a look at Gavin, hunched down in his
large leather seat, hands firmly in pockets, eyes glued to the screen. She
sighed, shifted in her seat and slid her hand under his arm, forcing it into
his pocket with his hand. Gavin looked at her, r
emoved
both their hands from his pocket and entwined his fingers in hers before
lifting her hand to his lips. She shuffled closer and used her free hand to
trace circles on the inside of his arm, her head resting on his shoulder.

As soon as her nails began
their gentle circles
on his arm, he felt his skin begin to tingle, goose bumps shot across his body
in waves and the familiar heat of arousal ignited in his groin.

She lifted her face, tightening her grip on his shoulder as he tried to
pull away
, grazing
her
lips against his, her free hand stroking his jaw before sliding beneath the
neck of his t-shirt to caress the soft skin over the firm muscles of his
shoulder. Her heart beat faster as he increased the pressure of his lips on
hers. She tightened her gri
p on his shoulder as he
tried to pull away
and parted
her lips beneath his
trying to deepen the kiss. W
hen the tip of his tongue began to dance with hers
, she pulled him closer, pleased
he
had
responded,
but
wishing he would take his other hand
from his po
cket and pull her into him
. W
hat did she have to do to get this boy
to make the first move? A soft groan escaped through her lips as he moved away.
Digging her nails into his shoulder, she dragged him back into the kiss,
thrilled when his free hand finally
came up to cup
her face, livid when he gently but firmly pushed her away. Throwing him a look
that could kill at ten paces, Angel unfurled her legs, jumped to her feet and
stormed out of the cinema.