Silver lining, after he got in his workout, he’d be able to hang with Jules. Since he’d ended up participating in girls’ night, he was going to dangle that over her head to persuade her to do what he wanted.
Show her that she’s not bad at sex, and neither am I.
Whoa—strike that with an extra sturdy line. The errant thought had rushed forward before he could catch himself. The plan was to talk her into going to the hot springs for a nice long soak, regardless of how hard she tried to insist it would be too cold.
So while there wouldn’t be any sex involved, there would be significantly less clothing…
Chapter Nine
“Here’s the problem,” Julie said as she stormed into his room, and Gavin rearranged the pillows against the headboard and leaned back to await what he’d bet a whole pile of money wasn’t the actual problem. “I’ve always been better in a lab setting.”
Under other circumstances, he might gloat over being right, but that’d be far from helpful, and the goal wasn’t to make her feel bad. Regardless of how very much he’d underestimated the level of assistance Julie would need to get laid. “I don’t think a sex lab is a good idea. For one, they’re usually called fetish clubs.”
“Are you saying I wouldn’t look good in black leather?”
“Are you saying you’d be a dominatrix?” Well, there was his problem. He kept forgetting to edit his words before they burst out of his mouth, and now he was doing his damnedest not to picture her in shiny black pants and a leather corset. Thanks to her outfit last night, he knew she already had the pointy-heeled boots.
The jutting of her lower lip snapped him back to his senses. It wasn’t the pout she used to get her way, but a sullen gesture that caused a tug in the center of his chest.
“You’re right. I’d never be able to pull that off.” The foot of the bed dipped as she plunked herself next to his stockinged feet. “I’m not nearly exciting enough.”
Him and his big mouth. “Not at all what I meant. You don’t have to pour yourself into latex outfits and crack a whip to be exciting. It’s okay to enjoy what you enjoy, no matter where it falls on the racy scale.”
Instead of perking up, she grabbed a stray pillow, smooshed it over her face, and let loose a muffled yell of frustration.
“Come on.” Gavin yanked at the corner of the pillowcase until she reluctantly let go. “Didn’t you see how excited I was to see you when I came home? I bet even Kylo Ren doesn’t get that stoked when he greets you.”
One corner of her mouth turned up, but she fought it back down. “You two don’t count.” At his gasp, she rolled her eyes and added, “I mean you do, but you don’t.”
Julie sighed, the sound on the defeated side. “Admittedly, I don’t want to don skintight outfits that’ll cause chafing. Most likely I’d just get stuck and have to call you like Ross did in that episode of Friends. I might’ve come on too strong with Kory as it is, so ugh.” She flung herself back on the foot of his bed, one arm over her eyes, golden hair fanning around her like a halo.
Which gave him a semi-safe thing to say. “Think more Victoria’s Secret Angel than dominatrix. And before you ask, no, that doesn’t mean you need wings. Trust me, most guys see a bra and panties, and that’s all it takes for them to get excited.”
Julie lifted her arm from her blue eyes and blinked at him. “At this point, I’m not even making it to that part of the evening. I ruin it before then, which makes me think I need to amp up my flirty lines. How do women get your attention? What does it take for one of them to get singled out from the herd?”
Gavin made a sour face. “Singled out from the herd?”
“Is it more like a horde? Probably, considering the fame. How many times do you get hit on in a day?” She sat up so quickly they almost had their second helmet-to-helmet offense. “Including your social media platforms—women send you messages all the time, don’t they?”
His mouth opened and closed and opened again, but he couldn’t get any sound to come out. It was such a loaded question—one that’d caused plenty of fights between him and Kristin, constant reassurance for her that the messages didn’t tempt him notwithstanding.
And they hadn’t at the time, although he’d been shocked at how forward some of them were. Nowadays, he occasionally indulged in the tiniest bit of flirting, depending on his mood and who the messages were from.
With how discouraged Julie seemed, though, he wasn’t sure she wanted the truth.
A crazed gleam hit her eye, and he instinctively lifted his good shoulder to block, sure he wasn’t going to like what came next. “Can I see the messages?” She crawled to the head of his bed to sit right beside him. “That’s exactly what I mean by in the lab. If you show me the come-ons that work and the ones that go too far, I’ll be able to analyze them and get a better grasp on what I’m doing wrong.”
The phone in his pocket burned his thigh, as if it were a nuclear device that’d already been activated. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
“Oh. Are your replies too dirty for me to see? If you’re sending dick pics, I could see why you might not want me to se—”
“Holy shit, Jules. I’m not sending out dick pics on the regular. Do you honestly think I’m the type of guy who sends unsolicited pictures to women?”
“Of course not,” she said, but his tensed muscles didn’t dare relax. “I figured they were solicited. I’m sure lots of women ask to see it.”
Despite his best attempts to stifle a reaction, his skin heated, and he couldn’t stop shifting and fidgeting, and this line of conversation needed to end already.
“Are you actually blushing? Gavin Frost, badass quarterback of the Mustangs, gets embarrassed?” She poked a finger to his cheek, her voice taking on that same higher pitch she used on her kitty. “That’s so cute.”
His face was three shades of red, he could feel it. “It’s not cute.”
“Oh, right. What’s the macho word for cute?” Julie tapped her lip and glanced at the ceiling, as if she’d find the answer there. “Ooh, that’s so ruggedly sexy. You’re such a strong, virile stud. I bet the females of the species can’t wait to procreate with you.”
He did his best to hold a dirty look. “You were doing all right until that procreate part,” he deadpanned. “That stuff usually scares the shit out of dudes, FYI.”
“Solid point.” She lifted her phone and used it like a recording device. “Subject is okay with compliments about his handsomeness but not with the idea of becoming a caregiver for her and their future children. So while those traits are what women are instinctively drawn to, any thoughts regarding them can’t be spoken aloud without scaring the primitive, super-tough caveman, who’s secretly a big ol’ baby when it comes to having babies.”