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.