Chapter Ten

“Why’d you even bring a swimsuit, then?” Gavin asked Julie, since she was hovering her hand over the dangling keys but not turning off the engine. She’d insisted on driving tonight for the sake of his shoulder, and he’d relented to her request only after she pinky swore she’d actually head to the hot springs.

“For daytime soaks if and only if it was warm enough. Which it wasn’t earlier today, so it’s sure as hell not gonna be warm enough for me now.” Her gaze drifted toward the bubbling pools illuminated by the vehicle’s headlights. Snow-covered rocks segmented the springs into dozens of natural hot tubs, and steam rose from the eerily blue water.

This place was often packed to the point people had to take turns. Even in the dead of winter, plenty of townsfolk and tourists soaked in the springs. With it close to the holidays, everyone must be occupied with other festivities.

To him, it didn’t get better than this. Just him and Jules, relaxing in the therapeutic water with no interruptions. “It’ll be plenty warm once we get into the water. Are you saying you can’t handle thirty little seconds of cold?”

“I’ve been in Arizona for the last couple of years. I’ve un-acclimated, and it’ll take more than thirty seconds to walk to the springs and shed multiple layers of clothes.”

“Just strip in the car. That’ll keep everything warm and dry for the ride home anyway.” Figuring she’d take his lead, he removed his shoulder brace and peeled off his shirt. She hadn’t so much as budged, and if anything, her lower lip stuck out farther. “What?”

“You,” she said, gesturing at him with a vague swing of her arm.

“Just me overall? Or is there a specific grievance you’d like to address?”

“Yes.”

He chuckled. Julie was hardly ever grumpy. Occasionally, though, the ice and snow brought it out in her. Without bending, Gavin kicked off one of his sneakers and then used his free toes to kick off the other.

“Are you sure there’s not some other way I can repay you?” Julie wrapped her arms around herself as if the cold had crept into the cab she’d kept plenty toasty by continuing to blast the heater. “A warmer way?”

“We made a deal, and if it takes carrying you over and dumping you into the water to make you fulfill your end, don’t think I won’t do it.”

“You won’t.” A hint of smugness crept into her features. “Because then you’d hurt your shoulder even more, and your team needs you.”

“Sounds like you’d better come of your own volition, then.” The unzipping of his pants echoed through the quiet, and for a few seconds, his fingers froze on the waistband. Silly, given that he and Julie had been in swimsuits together countless times through the years. Not to mention that picture on the beach where neither of them had on a shred of clothing.

You know that’d be a lot different now. He cleared his throat and tugged down his pants. He wasn’t going to overthink and ruin the thing he’d been looking forward to all day long. Not going to ask which swimsuit Julie had chosen, either. “I’ll bring up last night and the movie and face mask you forced upon me if I have to.”

“Grr,” Julie fired back, and then she began shimmying out of her clothes. At the reveled hot-pink bikini top, he barely resisted pumping his fist. She’d gone bold.

With that assessment made, he averted his eyes. Out of respect. And okay, with the weird vibes he’d been experiencing around Jules this trip, he didn’t fully trust himself not to ogle her right now.

At least I get to see her in her sexy swimsuit before Kory does. Evidently, his mind was hell-bent on betraying him tonight. Since he didn’t think losing a toe or two to frostbite would up his game, he shoved his feet into his untied sneakers, and Julie did the same with her snow boots.

“On three…?” she asked, and adrenaline coursed through his veins, similar to being on the field when the center snapped the ball.

“Uh, perhaps I should hold on to the keys.” He’d rather die than admit to the amount of alarm that spiked as she whipped her head in his direction and glared. In high school, she’d lost a set at this very place, and while it was one of those incidents they never talked about to this day—thanks to the huge fight it’d caused—she also spent a considerable amount of time rushing around her place in search of her car and apartment keys.

Over the phone, even with thousands of miles between them, she’d always ask him if he, by chance, knew where she’d left him. “Let’s just call it my insurance policy against you faking me out and leaving me here,” he quickly added.

“Oh.” Her laugh carried across the cab and struck him in the chest. “I didn’t think of that, or I so would’ve done it.”

Phew. Nice save, Frost. More of a redirection and softening the truth as opposed to a total fabrication. He wiggled his fingers, same way she’d done to him earlier in the restaurant. The keys jingled as she placed them in his palm, and he jammed them deep into the zippered pocket of his swim trunks.

“One,” she said, curling her fingers around the door handle.

“Two,” he chimed in.

“Three,” they shouted at the same time, and then they were rushing out into the freezing cold, snow crunching under their shoes as they ran for the closest section of steamy blue water.

…

“See? It’s nice and toasty.”

Julie clenched her teeth so they’d stop chattering. “It’s frickin’ freezing. I’ll never recover, never.”

Gavin rolled his lips inward, fighting a laugh at her expense, and she considered scooping up a snowball and hurling it at his head. Or his perfect ripped torso. Don’t get her started on the pecs or the abs or that V that made women do foolish things.

Never did she ever think she’d be that woman, especially with this particular guy, but here she was. Drooling. Imagining running her fingers over the dips and grooves of his muscles—for scientific purposes, naturally. When else would she be half naked next to a guy so attractive that her corneas literally struggled to process the amount of sexy?

“It’s so unfair. You eat an enormous burrito and chips and queso and still have an eight-pack.” She patted the spot over her belly button. “Whereas my food just sits right here on my tummy. I should’ve grabbed my full-coverage swimsuit.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Gavin said. “You look hot.”

“Well, I’m cold.”

The water rippled as Gavin moved closer, and she lost the ability to swallow. Steam rose off his skin as droplets slid down his body. Another point for water, it plastered his trunks to his thighs and—shit. She’d accidentally glanced at his bulge.

Worse, she seemed to have lost the ability to look away. Why hadn’t anyone warned her that was a possibility? People only spread around that rumor about silly faces getting stuck that way.

What the hell, brain? And eyes, you, too. You’re not getting off the hook.

Between the hot spring, her quickening pulse, and the word stamina somersaulting through her brain, her chilliness faded away.

“I’ve got a brain, too, you know,” Gavin said, and she forced her eyes to his. Mischief and amusement glittered in the deep brown depths.

“Well, if you want people to notice that, you might have to use it once in a while.” It’d popped right out, and it wasn’t until his jaw dropped that she worried it sounded harsher than she’d meant it to. “No, wait. That was supposed to be a joke.”

“Supposed to be?” Gavin swiped a hand through the water, sending a stream her way.

Julie flinched but continued advancing toward him. Call this reason number two hundred and seven she failed at flirting. “I was totally kidding.” She looped her arms around his neck so she could ensure she had his full attention. “I’m just saying that with your body on display, it wasn’t immediately evident that…”

Wow. Not only was the filter between her thoughts and mouth malfunctioning, her lips and libido seemed to be incapable of getting it together as well. She quickly dropped her arms to her sides, since they weren’t behaving or helping matters, either. “But I personally know how smart you are. Is what I’m saying.”

“Really? Because it sounded like you were having trouble concentrating on anything besides my huge muscles.” He flexed, and this time, she splashed him.

After a fairly mild water fight—Gavin was injured, after all—they settled onto the rock ledge that locals referred to as the couch. Yeah, super unique. It had the perfect headrests, though, so it was also the envy of the entire springs.

Julie closed her eyes, breathed in the sulphur-scented air, and let her muscles relax one by one until she couldn’t tell where she ended and the water began. When she fluttered open her lids, she met Gavin’s steady gaze. His eyes dipped slightly before returning to her face.

“In the most respectful way possible, you should know that that swimsuit is”—his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down and his voice came out husky—“dangerous.”

With that word echoing in the heavy air between them, her heart hammered out of control. Enough so that she fought the urge to glance down and see if the erratic beating of it could be seen underneath the surface of her exposed skin. She licked her suddenly dry lips. “Thank you.”

Was that a weird response? She’d ask—for research purposes—but dizziness was setting in and she didn’t want to think about Kory. Or any other faceless men she might or might not consider having a fling with for that matter.

Right now, she wanted to focus on being here with Gavin, in this place with the beautifully desolate winter backdrop, her muscles exceptionally warm and relaxed for the first time in days.

Speaking of, here and there she’d noticed the tiny winces that accompanied moving his right arm. She’d kept it to herself, not wanting to rub in his injury, as if not mentioning it made the truth of it disappear. “How’s the shoulder?”

“Fine.”

“Gavin.” She placed her hand on his biceps. “Fine is such a bullshit word.”

“Well, saying that it’s tight as fuck and I worry it’s not healing doesn’t do any good, so what’s the point?”

“The point is that I might be able to help.” She twisted to face him, one knee resting at his hip and the other against his thigh. Then she prodded his shoulder with her fingers, not on the top where she could see the slight swelling, but an inch or so underneath. “You probably don’t know this about me, but anatomy is kinda my thing.”

“Strange. You never send me pictures or tell me stories indicating as much. Next thing I know, you’ll tell me you’re also a cat lady.”

She squeezed a bit harder, and he grunted. While the timing worked out, she wasn’t intensifying for payback. She could feel the angry knots. She skirted her fingers across the top of the shoulder and rubbed circles up the side of his neck.

Since his trapezius and sternocleidomastoid muscles were holding tight, overcompensating for his injury, she worked them out as well. Following the overly taut line, she moved to work on the front of the shoulder. Only this angle wasn’t making it easy. “I, uh…I’ve got to get a bit up close and personal to loosen your pec muscle, but it should help release some of the tension.”

“Do your worst,” Gavin said, and she stood and took a few seconds to prepare herself to be inches away from the shirtless specimen in front of her. Then she placed her knees on either side of him and straddled his hips.

In spite of reminding herself that this was her best friend, desire unfurled in her gut. An ache pulsed to life between her thighs, as if it thought she required a reminder of how long it’d been. “Let me know if I go too hard,” she said, her voice breathless, and oops, that came out sounding more sexual than it was supposed to.

Gavin’s hands came up on her waist, steadying and unraveling her all at once. Using her knuckle, she dug into the stubborn pectoral muscle. The fingers at her waist tightened, digging into her skin, and she exhaled, exhaled, exhaled.

Then she called upon her iron resolve so she wouldn’t give in to the temptation to lower herself onto his lap and get herself in way over her head.

…

Previous to this very moment, Gavin might’ve insisted he was into pleasure and pain. With Julie’s breasts at eye level, the prodding of her fingers bringing tears to his eyes and his hands wrapped around her hips, his willpower thrashed in the barrage of lust inundating his system.

Somewhere out there, an unseen choir sang hallelujah—Christmas miracle, indeed.

Right as he was about to beg for mercy and ask Julie to stop her kneading, she reached the top of the muscle. She pinched it between her fingers, and a grunt escaped as pain streaked through him.

And then the tightness that’d held his chest and shoulder captive released. A relieved sigh fell from his lips as he melted against the rock.

“Sorry that was so intense. That knot was a fighter, just like you, but I showed it who was boss.” She skimmed her fingertips along the top of his shoulder, the tender touch leaving him dizzy and light, and settled her hand on the side of his neck. “You okay?”

Was he okay? Earlier she’d gotten upset that he’d claimed to be fine. With his fingers gripping the silky soft skin at her hips, it was all he could do not to yank her onto him and crash his mouth to hers. Intense was definitely the right word for the current moment, but he meant it in a different way than she did.

He cleared his throat, and still his words came out on the gruff side. “I can’t believe how much better my shoulder feels. Thank you.”

Pride radiated from her features, and shit, now she was going to move away. How did he stop her, even though he shouldn’t?

And why couldn’t he let her go when he knew he needed to before he did something they’d both later regret?

He swore that her eyebrow arched a mere fraction—a silent question, perhaps? Was it the same one tumbling through his head? In that case, perhaps regret was the wrong word…

But then the roar of an engine filtered through, followed by a flash of blinding light. Their alone time had slipped through his fingers, and like on the field, if you took too long to decide on the play, it ended before you could pull it off.

Gavin forced himself to release his grip on Julie’s hips. Before she could move too far away, though, he snagged her hand and tugged her to sit beside him. Other people or not, he planned on keeping her close.

Like with saying no to substances that led to addiction, if he didn’t resolve to say no, the next time they were in a precarious situation, he wasn’t sure if he’d have the strength to stop himself from tugging her to him and kissing the hell out of her.