“Unit seven eight nine, Officer two two four five, Crisp, possible four five six, need backup to…” He gave an address and the person on the other end responded.
Shelby couldn’t hear what was going on but could feel the tension in the air. She watched Gavin strut—yes, strut—into the crowd, and although she couldn’t make out the words, she could tell he was yelling. Whatever Gavin said had the group backing off some, but it didn’t disperse, which Shelby had hoped it would.
Sitting in the car, she felt helpless but didn’t know what else to do. She would be of little assistance to Gavin if she got out and feared getting in the way. Wrapping her arms around herself, she watched helplessly and prayed Gavin would be all right.
Even though she hadn’t known him very long, she felt there was something more there. It wasn’t that he was handsome, strong, and kind. She felt an attraction to him like she had never felt to any man. It wasn’t just sexual but something deeper He pulled at her heart. Every time he looked at her, a piece of her melted away. He could be very dangerous to her. This man could steal her heart forever.
The radio crackled to life again. Shelby jumped as units responded to Gavin’s call for assistance. She turned quickly to see what was going on, but Gavin had been swallowed by the crowd and was out of sight. She grabbed for the door handle to get out, remembering they were locked. She could do nothing but watch and wait.
Time seemed to crawl as Shelby sat there waiting. It seemed like forever before she saw several more police cars arrive. The crowd had grown even larger. There were now what looked to be fifty people in the group, and she couldn’t see Gavin.
The other police cars arrived, sounding their sirens, and the crowd began to break up. Shelby watched intently waiting for some sign of Gavin, worrying he might have been hurt. She didn’t know what she would do if something had happened to him.
It wasn’t long before she saw him talking to one of the other officers. They slapped each other on the back. Then Gavin walked quickly toward the car she was sitting in. Shelby let out a sigh of relief.
Sitting back and trying to look relaxed, she didn’t want him to realize how anxious she had been. Gavin opened the door with a big smile on his face.
“Are you okay?” she asked nervously, unable to help herself.
“Sure, darling, all in a day’s work. Come on. Let’s get the rest of your stuff. The tow truck is here.”
They quickly moved the remainder of her things to his trunk. He put Shelby back in the car while he talked to the tow-truck driver. Before she knew it, he was back and they were leaving the truck stop.
Shelby briefly wondered where this next step would take her life but decided not to let it bother her. She couldn’t change it anyway.
Chapter Two
Gavin looked at the girl sitting next to him as he drove to his home. How lucky he was to find her—now to get her in his bed and playroom. She seemed interested in him by the looks she kept sneaking his way while trying to gaze uncaringly out the window. He wondered how interested she was.
They pulled into the garage and Shelby looked over at Gavin. So this was it after she was settled in the house she would have no reason to be near him anymore. She’d have to see what she could do about that.
Gavin got out of the car, walked around to Shelby’s side, and opened her door. “Come on. I’ll show you the house and your room. Then I’ll come back and get your stuff. Is there anything you want to take now?”
Gavin opened the trunk, and Shelby grabbed a box of clothes, she really wanted a shower and to change. Maybe she could do that while he was carrying things in.
Gavin’s house was nice, and her room was larger than she expected it to be. As promised, it had a bathroom with a tub and shower attached.
Shelby looked at the tub longingly, wondering if she dare. The door locked, and she was sure Gavin wouldn’t come in. What could it hurt? After grabbing some clean clothes, she went back in the bathroom and started the tub filling. Making doubly sure the door was locked, she quickly stripped, then lowered herself into the steaming water, laid her head back, and closed her eyes. Luxury. Even at the apartment with Linda, there never seemed to be time to take a hot bath. She couldn’t stay here long, but a few minutes would be wonderful.
Gavin decided to carry Shelby’s things into the laundry room, then up the stairs. Starting up the stairs with boxes, he could hear the bath running and was glad Shelby was making herself comfortable. He hoped she would make her home with him one day. He just needed to figure out how he was going to accomplish it. He set her boxes outside her room. Soon she would be in his room, he hoped.
As he carried the boxes into her room, he gazed at the locked door at the end of the hall, the one room he hadn’t shown her when he brought her up. That room was his playroom, and although he had put a lot of work into it, he had never taken anyone except his best friend, Mike O’Brien to see it. Mike had a similar, less-equipped playroom in his basement. After seeing Gavin’s, Mike wanted his own, so Gavin had helped him put his playroom together. Soon he hoped Shelby would play with him. He had no idea if she was receptive to his way of life, but he was going to find out.
After setting the last of the boxes outside of her door, he knocked. He didn’t just want to walk in on her. Giving it a few seconds he turned the knob and stuck his head in. “Shelby I’m bringing in the boxes now.” He heard a muffled sound from the bathroom and hoped it was her saying, “Okay.”
He carried the lighter boxes first. The last one probably held books or something, as heavy as it was. It dropped on the floor and burst open. One of the books jumped out. Bending to pick it up, he noticed the title Her Unique Submission. Could this be about what he thought it was about?
He settled the rest of the books in the box, and seeing similar titles, he took the book and sat on the edge of the bed, flipping through the pages, stopping to read some here and there. It was the type of book he had assumed it was, but it was terrible, and he felt like laughing at parts. Whoever had written this had never known a Dom, or a sub for that matter. The heroine was way too outgoing to ever be a sub, and the Dom was a wimp. Some of the things he let the sub get away with would never happen with a real Dom. The sex scenes were hot but, again, not very realistic. He had a lot of work to do if this represented her conceptions of the lifestyle.
Shelby heard Gavin call out, answered him, and hurried out of the tub. After quickly drying herself and dressing, she wrapped her hair in a towel and tidied the room before opening the door. She didn’t expect to see Gavin sitting on her bed reading one of her books.
Wait, he was reading one of her books. Oh shit! What would he think of her? As she watched as he smiled. Was he laughing at the book? Curious, she stood in the doorway and watched a few more minutes. Did he think the book was funny?
Looking up, he saw her and patted the bed, indicating for her to sit beside him. Pulling the towel off her head and shaking her hair out, she walked barefoot to the bed, then sat on the edge. She had put on her sweats and a camisole top after her bath, thinking that since it was late, she would just go to bed and read. She hadn’t expected to find Gavin in her room. Sitting cautiously on the side of the bed, carefully making sure to leave several inches between then, she folded the towel she still held for something to do with her hands. Gavin looked at her and frowned, again patting the bed beside him silently asking her to scoot closer.
Shelby moved maybe an inch and wrapped her arms around herself. “Thanks again for letting me stay, and thanks for bringing all my stuff up. I could have helped with that.”
She smiled and laid one hand on his leg just above his knee. Gavin smiled back at her and next thing she knew he was sitting right next to her so they were touching from hip to knee. He still held the book, open to the page he had been reading, in one hand.