All Chapters of Afraid to Love Again: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

He exhales and slowly an enigmatic beautiful smile spreads over his face. He grabs my hand and I follow him to my dimly lit bedroom. The heavenly smells make me pause on the threshold of my bedroom. My breath catches when I see the bouquet of flowers on my dresser, filled with lilacs and daisies. My eyes flicker over to my queen-size bed, covered in red rose petals. There are lit candles on every possible surface and it takes my breath away. "Gavin?" He wraps his arms around me and sweeps my hair away from the back of my neck. He begins tantalizingly kissing and sucking on my skin. I moan, my skin breaking out in delicious goose bumps. "How did you..." He chuckles and begins massaging my shoulders, making me moan again from the feel of his hands on me. "I wanted tonight to be special for us, beautiful. And I had some help." I giggle, now knowing why Kel mysteriously disappeared to Dad’s place tonight. "Kel?" I murmur as he nestles his face into the back of my neck. "Mm hm." I

My eyes flutter open after what seems like days and there is sunlight pouring in through the blinds. I see my gorgeous man lying peacefully next to me, one hand stretched across my stomach, the other arm hugging his pillow. I snuggle closer into Gavin’s chest, enjoying the warmth of his skin. His face is so handsome while he sleeps, and I can’t stop myself from gliding my hands down his happy trail to rest upon his hips. I kiss his jaw softly, rub my lips over the stubble there, and then step out of bed, intent on finding something to make breakfast for us. Once I’m in his spacious kitchen, I pull out a pan from the cabinet and some eggs, milk, grated cheese, and sliced ham from the fridge.I also grab bacon and sausage links to make a grand breakfast for Gavin before he wakes up. I turn on the radio, keeping the volume low and singing to myself along with Carrie Underwood. “Cowboy Casanova” has me dancing around his kitchen in my bare feet. Once the omelets are made, I start on t

"You look gorgeous, by the way." Gavin’s blue-gray eyes are all I see and a shy smile comes to my mouth. He takes my hand and kisses my wrist, pulling back while he looks down at it for a long moment. A pit of fear forms low in my stomach."I wanted to ask you about these, baby. Don’t think I didn’t notice last night." I gasp in response. Hearing his voice so domineering is both exciting and worrying. My eyes drop to the four long cuts along my wrist from when my grief from Jeremy and the rejection and blame of my mother and myself got to be too much. The pain helped at the time, but I’ve never told anyone that. They’re faded now, but they’ll always be there to remind me of my weakness at the worst time in my life. Gavin’s hand gently grasps my chin and lifts my gaze to his clear blue eyes. "Sophia?" I see the concern and maybe anger in his eyes as he gazes down at me, his hand holding my wrist while his other cups my cheek. "Can we talk after? Do you need to get back to work rig

"You can’t do that to me, Sophia. I couldn’t call or text you, you weren’t at your place. Do you have any idea what time it is?"I gape up at him, at a loss for words."It’s almost six, Sophia. I was worried." His voice is filled with anguish and it tears at my heart knowing I caused him to worry. As quickly as I can, I go to him, cup his cheeks in my hands and gaze upinto the wide pools of emotion that are his eyes. My breath catches, seeing concern and possibly love in his eyes."I’m sorry I worried you. Why were you so worried, though? It’s not like we’ve been seeing each other for a long time." That last part just slips out. Crap.His eyes harden at my last statement and abruptly he pulls away from me."I’ve been having one of my security guards detail Bryce Williams and he was seen in the Downtown South End. I thought, Christ, Sophia. I was afraid he got to you!"Bryce? Security detail? Oh, God. It feels like the bottom of my world drops away in those long seconds when I hear his

"I think I’m just in shock, Gavin. I really am excited about it, though."I can tell that he senses something is off with me, but I don’t know what to tell him."Sophia, what’s wrong?" he asks, his voice filled with concern.I exhale, not wanting to do this over the phone."We’ll talk about it tonight, I promise. I have to go, Gavin."I hear a loud screech in the background and then his rough breath across the phone."Okay."***When I hear the three soft knocks coming from the door of my apartment, I glance up from the oven, shutting it with my knee and peeling off the apron I’m wearing. My mind is still spinning, but I realized that Gavin was right. We both have pasts. I just have to trust in what we have. My insecurities got the best of me today and that’s not fair, since Gavin never gave up on me. Even when I told him about my past, my baggage, he still wanted to be with me. So why should Jasmine change anything?“You’re early," I say as I open the door to him. He has on gray slack