Gavin's Greed (Sinful 3)

Humming Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, Linda stepped from the shower and toweled dry. Gavin had gone into the bedroom and Linda hoped it was to lie on the bed naked and clean and warm, as he did lots of times after a shower. She wanted to join him there and lie against him until time for her to go to work. She’d missed these tender times with him and wanted to get back to them before he thought to take his caresses and kisses to someone else.

They’d been together for two years and she didn’t really think he would do that to her; Gavin was greedy with his money, but he wasn’t a cheater.

Pushing the thoughts aside before they could take her down a dark path, Linda pushed the door to the bedroom open and stepped in wearing only a smile.

The room was empty and Gavin’s boots were missing from under the foot of the bed. They were not his work boots but the ones he liked to wear when he played pool, which meant tonight was the beginning of the local pool tourney. She’d forgotten or she would’ve wished him luck. He didn’t really need luck, she knew but it was the thought that counted.

Grabbing her wrap, she pulled it on as she walked toward the living room and the den. As she stepped into the dimly lit den, Gavin’s Chevelle started up outside and growled out of the driveway as she ran to the front door.

Flinging the door wide, she yelled at him from the stoop. “Gavin!” She waved, hoping he would see her in the side or rearview mirror, but the car turned right and drove out of sight.

Grunting in displeasure, she went back inside and pulled the door closed hard.

Why hadn’t he said anything? Why had he just left without a word? Was he really that anxious to get to the pool tournament?

Joan’s words came back to haunt her, but she wouldn’t dwell on it. She had to get ready for work, after all.

Back in the bathroom, Linda fixed her hair up into a messy bun and applied very light makeup. For the first time since she graduated high school, Linda leaned close to the mirror and inspected her reflection.

Other than the dark smudges under her eyes—surely what Joan had noticed when she had admonished Linda for working too much—her reflection looked amazingly like it had for the last decade. There were no wrinkles and no blemishes.

Pointing at her reflection, Linda said, half-jokingly, “You see that you stay that way, too. And do something about those dark circles, Lin; get some more rest or something.” She turned away, satisfied that Gavin surely wouldn’t lose interest in her if she still looked as good as she had when they’d moved in together.

Gavin’s clothes were in the hamper. Linda put hers on top of his and took the basket to the washer. As she loaded them into the washer, she saw a rosy blush on the shoulder of one of his work shirts he’d worn days earlier.

Refusing to look too closely at it, she hurriedly threw other clothes in the washer on top of that shirt. It was just a smudge of dirt, or rust from some of the iron he works around, she thought.

Hesitantly, she turned on the water and dumped powders in the wash. The temptation to yank up the shirt and inspect it closely was nearly all-consuming, but Linda had never been the suspicious type; she’d never been the jealous hag who constantly accused and nagged at her man. Her mother had be

en that woman and Linda was sure that it had finally driven her father insane just before he disappeared when she was fifteen.

The lid banged. It was the sound of certainty to her. She was certain Gavin was not cheating on her.

She went into the kitchen and heated a bowl of soup; her appetite had suddenly taken a nosedive, but she knew it was unwise to go to work without something in her stomach.

After cleaning her bowl and spoon and placing them in the drainer, Linda dried her hands and looked out the window at her little flower garden on the other side of the front yard with thoughts of Gavin’s behavior plaguing her mind.

The vibration mingled with the sound of a foghorn made her jump and reach for her cell phone in her back pocket. That notification sound never failed to make her grin, though.

It was Gavin. He texted: Bye babe have a good night at work…I’ll be late…tourney night. I love you

She read the text and then read it again. Sighing, she smiled at her flowers out there in the warm fall afternoon sun. He wasn’t cheating on her or even thinking about cheating on her. If he was, he wouldn’t have sent a text like that, would he? He had just been anxious to get to the pool hall after all.

Linda replied: Sorry I missed you before you left. Good luck with tourn! I love you more!!!

Sliding the phone into her back pocket, her mind eased, Linda headed to her car. A little bounce had returned to her step and the easy smile to her face.

Although she had a long shift at the store tonight, she thought it would go by quick enough if she could hold onto the warm and sexy feeling from her and Gavin’s shower earlier.

Once she clocked in, she found out how wrong she had been in that assumption. The troubles with work began when the boss met her with an entire reset sheet for the whole of the women’s clothing department.

Soon, Joan’s words began to haunt Linda’s thoughts and they continued to plague her good mood for the rest of her shift.

Chapter 4

(Gavin)

Though he knew he should have hung around and waited to say bye to Linda after her shower, Gavin found it impossible to stick around and go through the touchy-feely moments that he knew were coming after her shower. Not that he didn’t like these moments with Linda, but tonight he simply didn’t have the time or patience for it. He had a tournament to go to and Patty would be waiting.