Chapter Seven

After too many false starts, thinking “there’s Julie” only for his mom to knock on the door or for it to be Niki passing by his room on the way to hers, Gavin didn’t so much as twitch at the sound of footsteps.

Well, he didn’t until Kylo Ren perked up his head. Earlier this evening, the big tomcat had nudged open the unlatched door, jumped onto the bed, and climbed on Gavin’s chest. Tiny pricks of pain accompanied the cat’s kneading, until at long last, he’d deemed the spot comfortable enough—the cat, that was. Gavin had found the movement and extreme focus unnerving. Once the feline flopped down for a nap, though, the warm, purring ball of fluff soothed him into a state of half-sleep as well.

Two soft female voices filtered through. Niki and Julie. As soon as the cat heard his mommy, he abandoned Gavin at record speed, darting out into the hallway as if he’d been held captive for years instead of voluntarily cuddling for half an hour.

So as not to appear overeager about how the night went, Gavin moved more casual-like. Instead of pushing the door all the way open, he rested his hip against the jamb and studied Julie’s appearance, searching for signs that she’d, uh, scored.

“Who’s my handsome boy?” Julie scooped up Kylo Ren and held him like a baby, and Niki rubbed the cat’s belly. “Have you been hanging out with Gavin, handsome boy?”

Her hair was still in loose curls, her dress uncrumpled. The makeup on her face appeared flawless, no smudged eyeliner or mascara.

If I’d kissed her, there wouldn’t be any hiding it.

Gavin swatted away that errant thought, and Julie and Niki both looked at him like he had a few screws loose.

“You okay, big brother? Or did you hit the pain pills too hard? Go toward the light, ight, ight.” Niki’s otherworldly echo morphed into a giggle, and he flicked her ear in that way she hated.

“Very funny. I was just dozing with the cat until he heard there was a better option.”

Julie’s ruby lips accentuated her killer grin, and question after question flashed through his head, a neon sign that buzzed and flickered and bugged the hell out of you.

Did you sleep with him?

Are you going to continue the fling?

With him or someone else?

Do I need to kick his ass?

As casually as he could manage, he raked a hand through his hair and asked, “So? How’d it go?”

“Fine.”

Infuriatingly vague. The date was fine? The sex was fine? What was fucking fine?

Not him, and what was up with that?

“Right, you had your date. How was it?” Niki leaned in conspiratorially but didn’t bother lowering her voice. “Kory’s hot. Is he a good kisser?” Instead of keeping her eyes trained on Julie, his little sister scrutinized him.

“He was a perfect gentleman. We had a nice dinner and he walked me to the door. He mentioned possibly getting together later in the week, so…” Julie shrugged, and that meant there hadn’t been kissing or fucking, and the storm inside Gavin calmed. Something he wasn’t going to analyze right now. He’d have time for that later, when he was standing on the sidelines as the rest of his team continued to condition and train with another quarterback.

Jacob Mann was a good kid and would make a fine QB someday, but he didn’t have the experience Gavin did. Being on the injury list for the upcoming game sucked, especially without a guaranteed chance at the playoffs, but he assured himself the Mustangs could still pull off the win, and then he’d be out on the field the game after that, leading his team to victory once again.

“And you didn’t want that?” Niki asked.

At Kylo Ren’s wiggling, Julie let him go, and Gavin averted his eyes so he wouldn’t do the ogling he’d scolded Jason for attempting to do. “Of course I did. I just…” A disappointed sigh accompanied the dipping of her chin. “Maybe I’m not the kind of girl who guys want to devour. I’m more the type one introduces to their mom. Then, behind my back, they’ll seek out an exciting mistress to fulfill their wildest fantasies.”

Before Gavin could insist that wasn’t true—something he wasn’t entirely sure how to do—Niki spoke up.

“That’s crazy talk. You’re a smart, sexy, lady boss. Lesser men might be intimidated, and ain’t nobody got time for that bullshit.” Niki glanced at him again. Did that mean he should say something? “I bet Kory just doesn’t want to rush it.” His sister’s sharp elbow jabbed him in the side hard enough for the breath to whoosh from his lungs, so all those hours of playing basketball were clearly paying off. “Right, Gav?”

“Yeah. Sure. That’s a…thing men do.” Shit. He was doing the worst job of selling what he was saying. If she’d put out the vibes and let the guy know she’d be into going home with him, Gavin couldn’t imagine any guy asking to slow things down.

Julie’s shoulders sagged, and Niki scowled at him, the wild gleam in her eyes demanding he fix it. After a moment, his sister shook her head and then placed her hand on Julie’s shoulder. “You know what we should do? Let’s get in jammies, put on face masks, have some wine, and watch a girlie movie.”

Every cell in his body shouted a warning, and he took a step backward, his brain shouting retreat, retreat! But Julie caught hold of his bedroom door, stuck her lips out in a pout, and just like that, he was apparently participating in girls’ night.

…

“Just stop being a baby and let me do it,” Julie said. Her own face had been covered in the goopy green cream with the assistance of a hand mirror and Niki.

Gavin’s eyebrow merely arched another fraction of an inch. That was it. He’d asked for it, really. She globbed the concoction onto her fingers, acting as if she were going to add another layer to her skin, and then quickly switched directions and smooshed the mixture against his face.

Lightning fast, his left hand whipped up and snatched her wrist, stopping her from spreading the goo across his cheek.

“It’s good for your pores!”

The next thing she knew, she was on her back on the couch, and Gavin was over her. “You think I can’t take you down one-handed?”

With him pinning her to the cushions, her laugh came out low and strained. “Dude, this is gonna be like the nail polish incident all over again.”

Gavin had hinted at it in the airport, when he’d threatened to tell her mom on her. Long story short, she’d thought it would be funny to paint his nails. He’d jerked away—totally not cooperating and knocking the bottle over in the process. They’d scrubbed and scrubbed with acetone, but it never did quite come out, so they’d simply moved the couch about six inches to the left.

“Well then stop trying to put crap on me.”

“Stop resisting,” she said, attempting to wiggle free, but the dang guy was heavy.

Oh, he thought he was so tough? Which okay, maybe he was, but she had two hands. She scooped up more of the green goop, and the other cheek got the same treatment as the first.

“Seriously?” he asked, his expression unamused, but the corners of his mouth were quivering.

His knee dug into her hip bone, further restraining her movements. Then he dipped his head, his nose a breath away from hers. Her diaphragm forgot how to function, all relax without the requisite contraction. He wasn’t going to kiss her, was he? That’d be…

He dragged his face across hers, leaving some of the goop she’d wiped on his skin, but picking up more at the same time.

Of course he hadn’t been going to kiss her, and thank goodness. Earlier tonight, she’d hinted to Kory they could go back to his place for drinks, but he’d mentioned his parents would still be up, and it wasn’t as if they could have a nightcap at the Frosts’. It harkened back to her days in high school, with the willingness but not always the way, and she’d racked her brain for a solution.

Only Kory headed right to the Frosts, and hadn’t said much else, leaving her feeling like he’d wanted to be rid of her as soon as possible.

Since this was supposed to be a distraction to help her to forget about all that, she focused up.

She dove for the face mask container, but before her fingers could wrap around it, Gavin captured her hand and pulled it above her head. He secured her wrist with his long fingers, a cocky grin on his face as she attempted to wiggle free. “Ugh, jacked muscles and annoying big arms.”

Too late, she realized it sounded like she’d been checking him out when she’d simply been noting his size, and why did her selective filter always choose the wrong things to hold back?

“Nice to know you noticed.”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh my gosh, it’s just a fact that the kind of training you do is conducive to muscle growth. Don’t go turning it into a compliment, or your inflated ego won’t even fit in the room anymore.”

“Tough talk for someone who can’t move.”

Julie stopped wiggling and went perfectly still. She peered up into the familiar golden-brown eyes, bit back a smile at the splotches of face cream drying on his skin, and then bucked with all her might.

He barely wobbled.

“Did you two need me to leave you alone?” Niki asked as she stepped into the room, a bowl of the Christmas Crack Popcorn under one arm and a package of Twizzlers under the other.

Gavin immediately released his grip on her, and they both sat up, quickly rearranging their clothes.

“It wasn’t what it looked like,” Julie said. “I was just trying to get Gavin to join in on the beautifying and rejuvenating, and he…objected. With his whole body. Minus the shoulder, which, by the way, are you okay?”

She grimaced, concerned his week of rest and relaxation wasn’t as filled with it as it should be.

“Hey, I can handle tackling a little thing like you.” Gavin tugged on the end of the ponytail she’d thrown her hair into, and the tingle that zipped across her scalp caused a full-body shiver.

At least her padded bra hid the hardening of her nipples, and dammit, what was her body’s problem? She’d been contemplating having sex with Kory earlier and there hadn’t even been butterflies.

Maybe the ones attempting to spread their wings and fly now were the residual type?

“You cold?” Gavin asked, automatically wrapping his arm around her and rubbing warmth into her skin.

Nope. She wasn’t even a little cold. But she also couldn’t get her tongue unstuck from the roof of her mouth. Not to mention, it felt nice to be snuggled up beside him. It’d been a long time since she’d experienced this sort of attention and affection, and she wanted to bask in it while she could.

Niki started the movie, and Julie kept glancing at Gavin’s face, watching the lights from the TV and the Christmas tree in the corner flicker across his features. One moment his skin would be a dimmer version of its usual warm golden brown, and then there’d be hints of blue, red, and green.

“Can I help you?” Gavin asked, and, since she’d been caught staring, her tongue tripped over the words.

“No. Yes. I mean… Can I just smooth out the face mask? You might as well have it everywhere to get the full effect.”

Gavin exhaled instead of immediately saying no, which meant wiggle room.

“I’ll never tell another soul, and I’m sure Niki won’t, either.” Julie’s entire body complained as she scooted out of Gavin’s embrace—man, was she starved for human contact, and why was tonight so weird? She didn’t normally analyze her moves with Gavin the same way she did with most other people.

It had to be the sexless date. Yeah. That was definitely it.

“I can be bribed into keeping it quiet,” Nikita said, and Gavin tossed popcorn at her.

She gasped and whipped a Twizzler out of the bag, holding it up like a sword she planned on using to slay her brother. With deliciousness, apparently.

Julie used the distraction to even out the goop on Gavin’s face. Her fingertips left smears of green, and she carefully worked around his nose and the scruff that tickled her fingertips.

The way Gavin closely watched each and every move she made caused her heart to beat faster. Within another minute or so, the three of them were relaxing on the couch, faces coated with green clay as they ate enough sugar to power an army of North Pole elves.

It wasn’t until Gavin woke her to tell her the movie was over that she realized she’d fallen asleep on his chest. Crusty pieces of her mask clung to his shirt, but when she began apologizing and picking them off, he folded her hand into his and shushed her.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said, and she glanced around him to address Niki, but she was already gone. “She headed to bed about two thirds of the way through the movie.”

Julie fought the urge to rub her gritty eyes. “Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“You looked so sweet sleeping. Plus, you weren’t talking about slicing open internal organs or attacking me with girlie shit.”

Her jaw dropped, and he chuckled.

“Honestly, it was nice just resting here with you.” His thumb skated over the back of her hand, chasing away the last vestiges of sleep. “Sometimes the large couch in the living room of my condo feels too big and empty.”

“I get that,” she said, and those totally weren’t butterflies in her gut. Unless solidarity had wings now?

“So, what happens if we leave this shit on our faces too long?” Gavin released her hand and scratched at the dried mask with his thumbnail.

“Oh, it stains your face green for about a month.”

Gavin’s eyes bulged, and he sat up so fast, she had to catch herself on the cushion. As hard as she tried, she couldn’t hold back her laughter, and as it exploded from her, he pointed a finger in her face. “You’d better keep your eyes open, Julie O’Neill. Because when you least expect it, I’m gonna get you back for that.”

Julie let her smug grin free. “Can’t wait.”