To Love Again: A Sweet Romance (Forty and Free Book 1) (11 page)

“Horseback riding?”
 

“Not if you expect me to walk later.” He laughed. “How about wine tasting?”
 

“I’m afraid that might be a little out of my element.”
 

“Hm.” He tapped a finger against the counter.
 

“If I might interject.” Tony stepped behind the front desk and leaned forward.

Gavin glanced over at him.
 

“Sure. What do you suggest?” Nicole peered at the list of activities in her hand again.
 

“There is this fun activity that is starting right now. It’s a paint-by-number, paired with wine.”
 

“Painting?” She leaned her head from side-to-side. “That could be fun. What do you think, Gavin?”
 

“I’m up for it, if you are. Though I can’t promise I will create anything recognizable. Artistic skills aren’t really my thing.”

“It’s paint-by-number.” Tony raised an eyebrow. “Really, no one is expecting Picasso.”
 

“See, listen to Tony.” Nicole smiled and tugged at his hand. “Let’s hurry before it starts.”
 

“Down the hall, third door on your left.” Tony waved to them as she hurried down the hall with Gavin’s hand firmly in hers.

When she pushed the door open, the smell of paint hit her first. There were several easels set up, back to back in pairs. There was a seat in front of each one.
 

“Look, there’s one empty one.” Nicole guided Gavin inside.

Once they settled on either side of the easel Nicole wondered if Gavin even wanted to paint, or if she’d forced him into it. She peered around the side of the easel at him and grinned as she watched him organize his paints in the exact order he wanted them.

He looked up and caught her watching him. “Are you ready for this?” He raised an eyebrow.
 

“I think so. It will probably be a bowl of fruit, right?”
 

“We’re about to find out.” He pointed toward the front of the room.

A woman walked in with a stack of canvases. She set them down on a table in the front of the room. As she held one up, Nicole saw exactly what the paint-by-number was. It was an image of two lovers engaged in an embrace, with several trees around them. For a moment she wondered if somehow the staff knew what had happened between her and Gavin in the woods. But she was sure that was absurd.
 

“Hello, everyone. Welcome to paint-by-number. The goal here is to have fun. So please don’t concern yourself with coloring in the lines or making an exact replica of our example piece. If you want to get really creative and go outside the lines, then feel free. If you have any questions, I’ll be right here to assist you. Now if each of you would like to come up and collect your canvas, then we can get started.”

Gavin leaned toward Nicole.
 

“That is not a fruit bowl.”
 

“You’re right.” Nicole grimaced. “Do you want to leave?”
 

“No way. I’ll go get two.”

As he walked up to the front of the room to get the canvases, Nicole couldn’t help but admire the way his body moved. He was confident in the way that he did everything.

He returned and set them both up on their easels. “All set.”
 

“Thank you. Now let’s see if I can do this without giggling.”
 

“Just pretend they’re us.” Gavin smirked. “That’s my plan.”
 

“Oh really?” She blushed. The thought of him imagining the figures in the painting as the two of them left her feeling nervous.

She tried to distract herself by painting. As her brush traveled across the canvas she was reminded of the amount of walls she’d painted in her lifetime—apartment walls, nursery walls, bedroom makeovers. She’d painted over the scuffs, spackled in the holes, erased the damage that life and love could do, but that wasn’t so easy to do when it came to her own heart. No matter how she tried to paint over the fears that Jack had left her with, her insecurities constantly reared their ugly head. You’re here with Gavin, not back there with him, she reminded herself.

As she painted the male’s body in the portrait she paid special attention to the subtle rises of Gavin’s muscular frame. There was something very intimate about painting his form in such intricate detail.

Chapter 23
 

Gavin struggled with the cap on one of the paints until it finally unscrewed. He wasn’t quite sure how he’d ended up in such a ridiculous situation. Paint-by-number? He glanced around at the other people in the small room. No one else appeared to find the situation as strange as he did.

When he looked back at the canvas in front of him, his mind shifted. It was far too easy to envision himself and Nicole in the picture. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to paint after all.

When he peeked over at Nicole, he saw her hard at work. Her lips were parted, her body leaned toward the painting. She seemed to be very focused on what she was doing. Tiny flecks of paint speckled the ends of her hair. The sight of her inspired him to continue with his own painting. He couldn’t help but wonder what she might be thinking about as she painted.

When the session was over he stood up from the stool and took a look at her painting. She put down her paintbrush and sat back to look at it as well. The details she’d etched into the skin of the male’s back and chest made him wonder.
 

“It’s beautiful.”
 

“Thanks.” She rinsed her paintbrush and avoided his eyes. “I enjoyed painting it.”
 

“I did too. I’m glad that we did this.”

“Can I see yours?” She stood up and walked around the side of the easel.

When he heard a subtle intake of breath, he knew that she recognized herself in the painting.
 

“This is amazing. I thought you said you had no artistic skills?”
 

“I guess you inspire me.” He slid an arm around her waist and pulled her back against him. “In fact, I know you do.” He buried his lips in the tendrils of her hair to steal a quick kiss along the slope of her neck.

Her body stiffened in reaction to his caress.
 

“Too much?” He drew away from her and met her eyes.
 

“Why don’t we go for another walk?”
 

“Actually, there’s a place I want to show you. I think you’ll like it.”
 

“Okay.” She smiled.
 

“You can’t go dressed like that.” He lifted an eyebrow. “Did you bring a swimsuit?”
 

“Don’t you think it’s a little chilly for that?”
 

“Trust me. I’ll meet you on the deck in fifteen minutes, okay?”
 

“I’ll be there.”
 

He watched as she walked away.
 

After he changed he met her on the deck. Tony had slipped him a suggestion earlier about a certain romantic spot. Gavin was hesitant to take his advice at first, but he thought it might be an opportunity for them both to relax.

Just after he stepped out onto the deck, Nicole stepped out behind him. She wore a long white cover-up that drew his attention.
 

“I still say it’s a bit chilly for this.”
 

“You won’t be cold long, I promise.” He curled his arm around her shoulders and led her down a marked path.
 

“Are you going to tell me what we’re doing yet?”
 

“You’ll see soon.” He was quite pleased with himself as he steered her in another direction.

The narrow path led to a wide-open view of a hot spring. He could see the steam as it rose from the water. It was surrounded by large rocks and leafy foliage. On one side, a flow of water cascaded down the face of the mountain. It was the type of beauty that he’d only seen in movies, and he was a bit shocked at how much he was savoring the whole experience.

“Gavin, this is amazing.” She wrapped her arm around his waist. “I’m so glad that you left it a surprise.”
 

“I didn’t really have a choice. I don’t think there are any words to describe this. So are you ready to go for a swim?”
 

“Absolutely.” She tugged off her cover-up and headed straight for the water.

He paused to admire her as she put a toe in the warm liquid, then tossed off his shirt and caught up to her in time to help her over the large rocks. As soon as the heat hit his body he was relieved of the slight chill that was in the air.
 

“Oh, this is nice.” He sighed, just in time to receive a faceful of water. He blinked the water from his eyes. She splashed him again. “Hey!”
 

Nicole started to swim to the other side of the small pool. He chased after her, the water smooth and soothing against his body. When he caught her around the waist she laughed so hard that her body shook. He nuzzled his lips into the curve of her neck.
 

“That wasn’t very nice. Now how am I going to get you back?”
 

She looked over her shoulder at him with wide eyes. “I don’t know. How?”
 

“Like this.” He scooped her up in his arms, ignoring her squeal as he dropped her down into the water. When she surfaced she sent another spray of water into his face. He wrapped his arms around her as his laughter faded.

The heat and the moisture made strands of her hair curl along her bright pink cheeks. With a gentle touch he brushed each one away. She stared into his eyes as he did. The silence grew thick, and the anticipation of what might come next buzzed between them. He sought her lips in a light playful kiss.

She returned it, but turned her cheek toward him before he could deepen it. He kissed her cheek instead.
 

“Uh oh, I think you might be getting some sunburn.”
 

“I brought some sunscreen in my bag.” She headed out of the pool.

He followed after her. “Can I borrow some?” He sat down on the end of one of the lounge chairs set up around the spring.
 

“Only if you let me put it on.” She quirked an eyebrow and winked at him.
 

“Oh, now who’s the charmer? I thought you’d make me beg.”
 

“No begging necessary.” She sat down beside him and made a pool of lotion in the palm of her hand.
 

“Show me how you painted me.” He met her eyes with a knowing smirk.
 

“What?” Her eyes widened, which allowed the sunlight to brighten them even more.
 

“In class today. I saw your canvas. You barely paid any attention to the female body, but the male body—you took your time. I thought maybe you were painting me.” He reached up and took her hand with the pile of suntan lotion in it. Then he dipped his fingertip into it. He trailed a line of lotion along the curve of her already bright red cheek. “Don’t be embarrassed, I painted you too.”
 

She tilted her head to the side and welcomed the next stroke of his finger.

Emboldened by her invitation, he traced a path from the line of her chin down along the slope of her neck. “I thought of every part of you as I painted. I thought of your shapes, your curves, your rises.” He swallowed hard as he looked back into her eyes.
 

“No wonder you were so distracted.” She smiled, squeezing a little more lotion into her palm.
 

“Don’t tease me.” He grinned at her. “I know I wasn’t the only one.”

She didn’t answer. Instead, she dipped her fingertip into the lotion. He watched as her finger neared the top of his chest. The mixture of the cool of the lotion and the heat of her touch against his sun-warmed skin was doing something to him that he could never put into words.
 

“Are you insinuating that I imagined you just like this? That I thought of the spread of your chest, and the grooves and slopes of your muscles?” She added a bit more lotion and ran a fingertip down his chest until she stopped just above the waistband of his trunks. “That I could barely hear the teacher because my thoughts were so focused on creating every detail of your body?”
 

He closed his eyes. His chest heaved with a slow but forceful breath. Never had he experienced such seduction with just a few words and touches. Were it not for his promise to take things slow, he wouldn’t have been able to resist pulling her down onto the lounge chair with him.

When he opened his eyes again, her lips neared his. He barely had a chance to realize how lucky he was, before he was swept into a kiss. He considered himself a strong man, but her warmth made him weak. He curled his arms around her and pulled her down on top of him.

She broke the kiss to draw a gasp of surprise but settled right back into it.

Their bodies intertwined, with arms wrapped around one another and legs tangled up. It was the kind of moment that in the past would have sent Gavin into a frenzy, with only one goal in mind.

But with Nicole it was different.

He guided their kiss into a slow sultry dance. He kept his body still beneath hers and savored the weight, the pressure of her on top of him. His fingertips traced lazy patterns along the rise of her upper arms and then wandered back through her hair. He memorized the sensation of her lips on his.

Each time she broke the kiss his heart dropped, and each time her lips returned to his, it soared again. It was more than a physical need being satisfied, it was a deep knowing of the most amazing woman he’d ever met.

She turned her mouth from his and rested her head against his chest. He didn’t try to coax her back. Instead, he brushed her hair back from her face, the sun warming them both as he held her.

Chapter 24

Curled up against Gavin had become Nicole’s new favorite place to be. To her surprise, she didn’t feel insecure—even in her bathing suit. He had a way of making her feel beautiful just by the way he looked at her.

As she savored the pattern of his breathing, she thought about the way that things had been going so far with Gavin. She was quite certain that he was more to her than a vacation romp. She was even beginning to feel that she was more than that to him.