“Don’t tell me that seriously works,” she said, and Kory lowered his eyebrows.
“What works?”
“Um, nothing. Well, our entire body does. When you think about all the moving parts, it’s amaz—”
“Abort, abort. Jules, you and I need to huddle up real quick. Excuse yourself to go to the bathroom,” Gavin said.
Julie popped to her feet. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to use the restroom.”
“Now meet me there.”
She flipped her hair and gave Kory another flirty smile. “Meet me there.” With that, she quickly strode around the corner, her sights set on the wooden doors of the restroom. Right before she reached them, a hand whipped out from behind a vase tall enough for her to sleep inside, and then she was jerked behind the ceramic monstrosity.
“Do you want to get it on in the bathroom with Kory?” Gavin asked, an odd amount of exasperation in his voice. All the while, she gripped his forearms, doing her best to recover from the whiplash sensation.
“Ew, no. You don’t think he thinks I want that, do you?”
“You just told him to meet you there.”
“I thought that was weird, but you told me to say it, so I did.”
“I meant for you”—he gestured to her, and then himself—“to meet me. Honestly, I’m afraid this plan is going down in flames. Feeding you lines isn’t helping. If anything, having both of us on this date with that dude is making it worse.”
Julie’s shoulders deflated. “Maybe I should cut my losses and forget this whole ridiculous plan.”
Gavin’s eyes softened. “I’m not saying that. We just have to reassess.”
She nodded and nodded some more, her mind whirring. Then her gut sank. “Does it make me boring? Not wanting to do it in the bathroom?” She crinkled her nose. “It’s just all the germs, and people might walk in on us, and surely if the sex is good, both of us would be making too much noise for that.”
She glanced up to get a read on Gavin, afraid she’d find him discounting her as too timid to pull this off.
Instead he cleared his throat. Scrubbed a hand over his face. Glanced in the direction of Kory. “Come on. We can say we ran into each other, and I’ll do a quick drop by. Hopefully, that’ll help you loosen up and we can go from there.”
He slipped his grip from her wrist to her hand, clamping on as he started in the direction she’d come from. She set her feet, putting up resistance, and he cast a confused look over his shoulder.
She did a jig she wasn’t remotely proud of. “Now that we kept talking about the bathroom, I actually need to pee.” Gavin sighed, and she let out a huff. “Don’t make me go into bodily functions and how not answering nature’s call—”
“Okay, go,” Gavin said. “I’ll make sure lover boy doesn’t follow you in.”
“You’re the best.” Julie tipped to her toes, pecked Gavin on the cheek, and then rushed toward the bathroom to take care of business. With any luck, she’d also find the much-needed reset button for her already shaky date.
…
Gavin hesitated a few booths away. Playing spy wasn’t going so well, but he slowed his pace anyway, taking a moment to watch Kory.
He wasn’t making a move for the bathroom. He was furiously texting someone, his entire focus on his phone.
That asshole. If he’s texting another woman, or telling his buddies he needs an out, I’m going to rearrange his preppy features.
In a hazy trance, Gavin lifted his palm to his cheek, placing it over the spot where Julie had dropped a quick kiss.
Right after her comment about good sex and making a lot of noise. It was one thing to help his best friend get laid. It was another to have the constant reminder that the end to his dry spell was nowhere in sight.
And exactly how loud did Julie get?
Undo, undo. Let’s pretend I didn’t ask that question.
Kory did glance back now, and Gavin rubbed at his cheek in case there was any lipstick. Then he went to lift his right hand before remembering that side of his body wasn’t functioning properly at the moment, so waving meant using his left arm instead.
“Hey, fancy seeing you here. Kory, right?” Without waiting for an answer, Gavin popped a squat across from him.
“Oh. Yeah. I’m here with Julie actually.”
“Right. You guys made plans last night. I came to grab some dinner myself.”
Kory’s phone buzzed on the table, and he flipped it over suspiciously fast. Right then and there, Gavin decided he wasn’t a fan. If a fling was Julie’s goal, he supposed it wouldn’t much matter in the long run, but he hated the idea of her having sex with anyone who might not take care of her needs. Anyone who might not take care of her in general.
In his ear, he heard the flush of the toilet, the rush of water, and then Julie’s voice, quiet with a slight echo. “Okay, no more shop talk. My fun facts aren’t fun for most people,” she said, and Gavin stifled a laugh, sure she’d forgotten he was still on the other end of the call. “You can do this.”
Unlike Julie, Gavin understood responding to her aloud would blow his cover, so he didn’t verbally assure her that she could. He’d have to make do with body language once she returned to the table.
Out of the corner of his eyes, he spotted her heading back this way.
An elderly couple he couldn’t quite place stopped her, and she lit up. Her eyes sparkled; her dimples popped. Then she resumed her walk, her hips swaying with each step.
The instant their gazes locked, her smile spread, leaving everything inside of him fuzzy and light. He wished there weren’t so many shallow guys out there. If they would give Julie a chance, they’d be blown away by how smart and sexy she was. Not to mention hilarious. Maybe a bit TMI sometimes, but he’d take that any day over cryptic and complicated.
“Hello, boys.”
Kory beamed, and Gavin fought the urge to kick him under the table. Perhaps he should eat something—his grumpy mood likely stemmed from hunger.
That was his theory and he was sticking to it.
Thanks to his “revelation,” he didn’t immediately notice that the two of them were gaping at him like he was the third wheel on this bicycle meant for two. “Right.” He tapped the top of the table with his hand and then pushed to his feet. “I’ll let you two finish your date.”
As he started into the aisle to switch places with Julie, the Serranos, one of the prominent families in town, happened to be walking by. Add in the hostess showing them to their table, and they suddenly found themselves in a bit of a traffic jam.