Her lips parted, and was she genuinely surprised? That jabbed at him, too.
“Do you have any idea how many times I had to threaten guys in high school to either treat you well or leave you alone? I thought I’d be able to relax once we graduated, but I have to threaten Holt to behave around you on a regular basis. The punk requested photos that I’m absolutely not going to send.”
A tiny smile touched her lips. “You swear? You’re not just saying that?”
“I promise,” he said, doing his best not to get annoyed over how flattered she was by his confession on Holt’s behalf. “When it comes to you and Nikita, I’m overprotective—I can’t help it. In fact, it’s likely gotten in the way of guys hitting on you before.”
“You’re saying you’ve cockblocked me?”
He chuckled. “That’s one way of putting it.”
“Sorry. It was getting too real.” She sat back down, which made it safer for his eyes to drift around the room. “Speaking of real, the problem also involves my mouth.”
Without thinking, his gaze shot there, and a very inappropriate thought about her plump pink lips and things involving her mouth pinged through his brain.
Damn. It’d definitely been too long, and his dry spell was messing with his head.
Or more accurately, his body. It’d be nice to get lost in someone else for a while. If the woman next to him were anyone else, he might even give himself permission to take the edge off. But not with Jules. While he’d like to reassure her she wasn’t bad at sex, there was no way sleeping with her wouldn’t go badly. Some things she’d just have to take his word on.
“Too bad Holt isn’t coming here for the holidays,” Julie said. “I bet he’s an expert at one-night stands, flings, and no strings. Although I’m sure I could still manage to bungle it up with my rambling. I’d tell a work story, and boom, the sexual tension would be sucked right out of the room, and he’d be like, never mind about the sexing you up.”
Sexing you up? That was at least the third or fourth odd reference she’d made, as if she’d read a book called “Ways you shouldn’t refer to hooking up” and thought it was a how-to manual.
Julie ran a hand over her face. “Ugh, I don’t know. Maybe this is a bad idea. While I’ll have an hour cushion in Arizona, what if Kory and I always end up visiting Crystal Springs at the same time and it’s awkward? Especially if I am that bad at sex.”
“You aren’t bad at sex—I swear, I’m going to kill that dude.”
“Kory or Brad?” She tapped a fingernail to her teeth. “Because if it’s the former, can you wait until after we get it on? And as for the latter, how do you feel about stopping at maiming? It’d be a shame for you to waste your killer arm next to, you know, killers in jail.”
“Solid point.” Gavin went to pat her knee, but stopped himself short, dropping it between them on the quilt instead so he wouldn’t go thinking too much about her legs. “See, like I said, you’re right most of the time. But not always, since you believed a guy who couldn’t handle the fact that you were smarter and more successful than him.”
“Ah, yes.” Defeat crept into her words and her posture. “What every guy wants in bed—a stimulating, educational conversation. Plus a reminder of what a boss I am.”
Gavin tilted his head to convey how absurd she was being over this. Then again, if a woman questioned his skills, that’d definitely injure his pride. It’d make him want to up his game—just like he did on the practice field whenever he wasn’t satisfied with the way he’d played—and prove he could deliver a better time, with multiple orgasms.
If Julie was desperate enough to jump into bed with Holt, well, that Kory guy seemed like the lesser of the two players.
“If it’s what you want, I’m here to help.”
At the wild gleam that lit her eyes, a thread of fear stitched its way through him, each stab and subsequent pull leaving him wondering what he’d just gotten himself into.
Chapter Five
Julie had spent the majority of the day with her parents. They’d swung by the house to show her the damage they absolutely hadn’t exaggerated. Her bedroom and bathroom were destroyed, the scent of mildew hung heavy in the air, and it was drafty enough that she’d kept her coat, gloves, and beanie on when they were “inside.” A term that had new meaning when an entire wall had been reduced to warped studs.
After a visit with her grandmother, aunt, uncle, and cousins, she returned to the Frosts to get ready for her date with Kory. She still couldn’t believe she’d talked Gavin into her idea—without pouting, nonetheless. Not that she was super proud of how much desperation she’d both felt and conveyed as she’d laid out her plan.
Kylo Ren sat on a stool, eating some kind of cheese off the granite countertop.
“Looks like someone made himself at home,” Julie said, and Darlene glanced over her shoulder from her spot in front of the stove.
Whirls of steam rose from whatever concoction she was stirring in the pot. “Can I borrow you for a minute?”
“You can borrow me for two or three.”
Darlene smiled and gestured her over. “I need you to spin the bowl as I pour this melted white chocolate over the top. Then we’ll toss in the red and green M&Ms.”
“In that case, I might just set up camp here and eat my body weight in popcorn.”
“You don’t want to spoil your appetite for your dinner date with Kory, though.” The corner of Darlene’s eye twitched, and Julie wasn’t sure what that meant. Mom had also mentioned the date and suggested she dress nice, as if Julie usually wore her ragged yoga pants on dates. When she said as much, Mom reminded her she’d worn them on the airplane, hadn’t she?
Still, they’d been pushing her and Gavin together for as long as she could remember, whether or not they were dating other people at the time. Suddenly they were Team Kory? Suspicious to say the least.
The heavenly butter and sugar aroma filled the air as Darlene poured the sauce and Julie spun the bowl. On the sly, Julie snuck a couple of M&Ms into her mouth—as her second home and second family, she’d been scolded plenty under this very roof before, and Darlene was on the Type A side. She liked things organized and measured out.
Niki strolled in and tossed an entire handful of M&Ms in her mouth, eliciting a screech from Darlene. “Nikita Rosemary Frost. You know better.”
“Let me guess. Julie is your favorite, too. I notice she didn’t get in trouble.”
Darlene spun around, and Julie ceased chewing the M&Ms, doing her best to appear shocked by the accusation.