and buried her.”
Layla could almost see steam coming out of Gavin’s ears. He was breathing deeply. The hand holding hers tightened in fury.
“What about the car?” Roy asked. Maybe the sheriff figured the best thing to do was keep the conversation going. Otherwise the deathly silence might put crazy ideas into Gavin’s head. Like crossing the room and breaking Sherman Lott’s neck with his bare hands.
“I drove the car into my lake,” Lott said.
“You bastard!” Gavin roared. He would have moved closer but Bane and Coop blocked him. “You buried my mother in a hole not knowing if she was alive or dead? And then you drove her car into the lake?”
Lott had the nerve to glare at Gavin. “Why do you think I wouldn’t let anyone swim or fish in my lake? Why I kept it off-limits to you or anyone? Especially to you. I knew how well you could swim and figured one day you might dive too far down and see the car.”
Layla saw fierce rage on Gavin’s face and she felt it in his entire body. The thought of him being that enraged scared her. She glanced over at Bane and Coop. They looked just as enraged as Gavin.
Coop then said in a menacingly calm voice, speaking directly to Gavin but not taking his eyes off Lott. “Now you know why he tried keeping anyone from digging in the south pasture, Viper. Let Roy take him in.”
“No!” Gavin roared. “That bastard killed my mother.”
“We know,” Bane said in a chilling tone, giving Lott one hell of a lethal stare. “We all heard. And although we want to get a damn machete and chop his ass into little pieces, we won’t. Let the law take care of him, Viper. In the end he’s going to get exactly what he deserves.”
The room got quiet and all eyes shifted to Gavin. Even Lott looked petrified upon seeing the deadly glint in Gavin’s eyes. There was no doubt in Layla’s mind that everyone in that room remembered that, when he needed to be, Gavin Blake could become a killing machine.
Then suddenly Gavin pulled his hand free of hers, shoved both of his hands into the pockets of his jeans and began slowly backing up, not taking his eyes off Lott. It was as if he was trying to pull himself together. As if he knew that staying in that room with Lott one more second meant he would lose control and do the man bodily harm. Gavin kept backing up until his back touched the door. He turned to open it and then stopped. He paused before turning back around.
Layla held her breath, not knowing what Gavin intended to do next. From the tension in the room, she knew his SEAL friends were poised, anticipating his next move. Then his gaze shifted from Lott to her. She saw both pain and anger in his features and her heart hurt for him. The man she loved. She wanted to think he needed her, but would he shut her out of the emotions he was feeling?
The room was deathly still as he continued to stare at her. Then he moved forward...toward her. When he stood right in front of her, he took her hand in his again. Then, without saying a single word, he led her out the door.
Gavin wanted to pull his truck to the side of the road and catch his breath. But he couldn’t. Something propelled him to keep driving until he reached the party house. He needed Layla as much as he needed to breathe. She wasn’t saying anything. Just sitting in the bench seat beside him and staring straight ahead. It was as if she knew he needed complete silence. His mind was in a state of shock and he was fighting to keep control. Fearful that at any moment he might lose it.
Every time he thought about what Lott had confessed to doing, his mind would spin. Become filled with deadly thoughts and tempt him to turn the truck around and go back to the shack and beat the hell out of the man. How could anyone do what Lott had done and live with himself all these years? And to think no one had suspected a thing until Layla had shown up wanting to dig on their property.
Gavin released a deep breath when he turned into the driveway. Moments later he brought the truck to a stop beside Layla’s rental car. Then he was out of the vehicle and moving to the passenger side of the truck. He was there when she opened the door.
Sweeping her into his arms, he headed for the porch, taking the steps two at a time. Grateful that in their rush to leave they’d left the door unlocked, he pushed it open and went inside. Barely taking time to close it behind him, he put Layla on her feet and began ripping off his clothes. She followed his lead and quickly removed hers.
He needed to be inside her. Now.
Taking hold of her waist, he lifted her up and released a throaty growl while pressing her body against the door, spreading her legs wide in the process. Then he was at her entrance, filled with an adrenaline high so potent he could feel blood rushing through his veins, especially the thick ones at the head of his shaft. Desire, as intense as it could get, became a throbbing need pulsating within him.
He thrust hard into her. Over and over again. Needing the release that only her body could give him. Leaning in, he captured her lips with his as sensations, too overpowering to be controlled, rammed through him. When she wrapped her legs around him, she propelled him to make his strokes harder and longer.
Their kiss was so sexually charged he wasn’t sure how much longer he could last. He was being robbed of any logical thought except becoming a part of this woman’s body. This woman, who had come to mean so much to him. This woman, who made him feel things he’d never felt before with anyone else.
And when she tore her mouth away from his just seconds before her body detonated, her spiraling climax triggered his own and he stroked her with hard and steady thrusts. He hollered her name, drowning in emotions so powerful they seemed to rock his world. A world that a short while ago had been torn apart. He couldn’t stop his heart from racing at the magnitude of what he felt. At the magnitude of all he desired.
He knew then that if he’d had any doubt before regarding what Layla had come to mean to him, there was none now.
* * *
“Sorry. I should not have taken you that way. But I needed you so damn much, Layla.”
They lay together in bed. After making love against the door, Gavin had picked her up and carried her into the bedroom. Then they’d slid beneath the covers and he had held her. She had held him. Layla knew that sleep wasn’t an option.
She snuggled closer, needing his heat. Needing a reminder of how much she had been desired. “No apology needed. I liked it.”
“I was rough.”
“You were good as usual.” He had needed her, just like he’d said. Layla had felt that need with every stroke.
“I lost control,” he admitted in a low voice. “That’s never happened to me before. Hell, Layla, I didn’t even take time to put on a condom.”
She’d noticed. Had exhilarated in the feeling of being skin to skin with him. Had loved the moment he had blasted off inside of her. The feel of his hot release had felt so right. How could she tell him that? But she knew she had to.
She lifted her face from his chest, met the dark eyes staring down at her. “I liked the feel of you inside me without a condom, Gavin. And don’t worry about me getting pregnant. Although I was never sexually active, I decided to get the birth control implant anyway. Better
