Beautifully Broken

He pulls me into him. “There’s nothing to be sorry about. I get that you’re out of your element but you need to trust me. I would’ve never brought you here if you had any reason to worry. Okay?”

I nod and force a smile. “Okay.” Gavin lightly pokes my ribs where I’m ticklish, making me laugh. “Hey!”

“There’s a real smile!” He taps the end of my nose. “You ready to go up?”

I smirk. “Yeah, let’s do this.”

He picks up our bags and leads me to the gate, punching in a code to unlock it. He gestures for me to go through first.

“After you, milady.”

“Always such a gentleman.”

He swings me around and places his hands on my ass. “Not always.”

He punctuates his statement by pulling me into his growing erection. My bag falls to the ground as I wrap my arms around his neck and get lost in a deep kiss. As I’m trying to climb him like a tree trunk, a deep voice crackles through the air.

“Dude…I can’t say I blame you, but you’d better tone it down before Mom walks in here and sees you trying to hump your girlfriend in the garage.”

I pull away, breathless. “What the hell was that?”

Gavin groans and reaches behind me. Pressing a button on an intercom that I’m just now noticing, he says, “If you don’t want to see it, don’t look at the monitor, you perv.”

“Hey, buddy, I’m enjoying the show. I’m just saying Mom wouldn’t. I’m sure she’d still like to think her precious Gavie’s virtue is intact.”

“What is going on?” I whisper. “Who is that?”

Gavin jerks his head to the video camera perched above the elevator and presses the talk button again. “Kiss my ass, Jack.”

A smooching sound comes through the speakers. “Bend over, baby.”

Gavin throws his hands in the air and laughs. “And that, ladies and gentlemen, is my brother, Jack. Ignore him; he’s an idiot.”

I wiggle my fingers at the camera and smile. “Hi, Jack.” I didn’t press the intercom button but I’m hoping it was simple enough for him to read my lips.

?

?Get up here and say that in person, Gorgeous,” he says through the speaker. “And bring the dumbass standing next to you up too.”

I laugh and give him a thumbs up in reply. Gavin pushes the call button and the elevator doors slide open a moment later. He takes my hand as we ride up to the level marked, S.

“Street level,” Gavin explains.

I hold my breath as the doors open to a covered walkway. We only take two steps onto the brick pavers when the door in front of us opens and a beautiful, petite blonde runs out with her arms open.

“Oh, my baby’s finally here,” she shrieks as she pulls him into a hug.

Gavin blushes, which is quite possibly the cutest thing ever. “Mom, it hasn’t been that long since I’ve been home. You’re acting like it’s been years.”

She pulls back a little and smooths out the imaginary wrinkles on his shirt. “Oh, hush,” she admonishes. “Any amount of time is too long. I don’t like you being so far away. We miss you.”

“I miss you too, Mom.”

I’m smiling like a fool as I watch them interact. Every bit of anxiety I had about meeting Gavin’s family has been erased within seconds. These people clearly love each other and don’t have a pretentious bone in their bodies. His mom steps out of their embrace and turns her twinkling eyes in my direction.

“You must be Kat,” she says while covering my hands with her own. “It’s so nice to finally meet you, dear.”

I smile shyly. “It’s nice to meet you too, Mrs. Cooper. Gavin says such wonderful things about all of you.”