Gavin has a gift for fine speech. He doesn't have to practice compliments or think of things to say to impress a date ahead of time, it all just rolls off his tongue spontaneously. When a girl inspires him, he's never at a loss for words. To him, Shay radiates like the sun, she glows with beauty & light & he tells her so.

It might be a little soon, but he thinks he could be falling in love & he tells her that too.

Shay hasn't said much, maybe because he doesn't give her a chance, or maybe it's just her shyness. When he falls silent & puts his arm around her, she tells him, very quietly, almost a whisper, that she thinks she's falling in love with him, too. That was more than he ever got out of Xtina & he was with her for well over a year....

As though she knows he was thinking of Xtina, Shay asks him, "Are you really over her yet?" It's true, Gavin does still think of Xtina occaisionally, wonders how she is, but surely that will pass in time. Before Xtina was Astrid, and he never thinks about her anymore, can't remember her number though he once knew it by heart as he still know's Xtina's. As he's already memorized Shay's..."Shay, you must have some ex-boyfriends in your past that you loved once, that you don't want to talk about.....the past is the past, and what we have is now." And he kisses her.

As they are getting up to leave, Shay's beauty inspires a surging desire in Gavin. And he's not the type to hold back on these urges. Shay at first resists being kissed so passionately in public, but it's not the same kind of resistance Xtina used to put up against him. Shay is just a little shy about public display, something Gavin intends to cure her of completely. Once his lips meet hers, she falls limp in his arms & moans softly as she runs her fingers through his hair. "Take me home," she whispers against his neck & there is no mistaking what she means.

In her own home, Shay's shyness drops from her like her gorgeous gown, tossed aside to reveal her warm & affectionate soul, her passionate heart, and her achigly beautiful body. Gavin has no shyness of his own to discard: what he has left to lay bare for Shay is only the depth of his passion, and when they make love, he gives her all he has, body & soul.

As he curls up gainst her, ready to fall asleep, she asks him "Are you going to stay the night?" "Is that all right, Shay?" he asks, bewildered. Didn't they just make love? Could she possibly kick him out, now? But she snuggles up closer to him & sighs contentedly, "Course it's okay, Gavin," she breathes tiredly, "But, you know, a lot of guys don't like to stay all night." Gavin's heard that, and it's something he's never quite understood. He looks forward to the day when he never has to sleep without a girl again. There's nothing quite like waking up with a warm girl in your arms, nothing like making love first thing in the morning with the woman you've just spent the night with, and any guy who passes up that chance deserves to sleep alone, deserves to have someone like Gavin step in & fill the place he vacated. "A lot of guys are idiots, Shay," he says, kissing her shoulder & holding her tight, and he promises he's going to wake up her before the sun rises & make love to her again.