“One sec.” He gripped both sides of her dress and jerked it until it cleared her hips, slid down her legs, and formed a silky, glittering puddle at her feet. Then he slowly straightened, and she held her breath as his gaze roamed over every exposed inch. “I figured this would be easier on me if you were mostly naked, but no promises on how well I’ll listen because damn, Jules.”
Never before had she felt so confident without clothing, so she went with it, and haughtily flipped her hair over her shoulder. Who could’ve possibly foreseen that it’d take crossing lines with her best friend to feel sexy?
Well, except for their parents and family, but she’d take that admission to the grave just to avoid all the Told you so’s.
Gavin swiped his fingertips across her exposed abdomen, and she smacked his hand away, earning another growl.
Her stomach drifted up to her throat before tumbling down to the floor next to her dress, and she called upon every ounce of her resolve to draw out this game a little longer. “Ah, ah, ah.” She added a chiding finger. “You have to listen to my etiquette lesson before we return to the fondling portion of our evening.”
Gavin crossed his arms, and her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth as she beheld the glorious line of his forearms. “You think you’re pretty smart, wielding your power over me, don’t ya?”
It took her brain a few seconds to process his words, since she’d been imagining that groove in his arm flexing as he put his hands on her. She rewound a few days, to the night in the restaurant when Gavin had been in her ear, playing the expert flirter to her bungling.
She puckered her lips slightly, tapped a fingertip to them, and then slowly dragged her hand down her neck and over the swell of one breast.
“Jules,” Gavin said, his voice gratifyingly low and threatening.
Every ounce of oxygen whooshed out of her at once, and her nipples strained against the lacy cups of her bra. With any luck, he’d be too distracted with other things when she removed the padded strapless bra to recognize her cleavage had been part optical illusion.
Oh no, what if he ends up disappointed? Panic cranked at her lungs, a vise with no mercy.
The other words Gavin had whispered in her ear trickled through her brain. “I’ve got you,” he’d told her. He’d always had her back, as long as she could remember, and her nerves calmed, smoothing out after the tumultuous inner storm.
Which buoyed her enough to resume being the brash woman she could empathically be around him. She stepped just out of his reach and circled, assessing Gavin from each and every delectable angle. He craned his neck to watch her, and once she reached his blind spot, he whipped his head in the other direction.
Her throat worked a swallow at the way he tracked her movements, a predatory gleam in his eye. “When you’re at the dinner table, do you a) discuss gastric mills of lobsters or b) keep the conversation to safer topics?”
“Whatever you want to discuss, I’m always game. You can’t gross me out, and honestly, I find that big brain of yours and all the random facts you fit in there fascinating. But full disclosure, Jules. Right now, your safety is in serious danger.” He reached for her, and she dodged, finding she quite enjoyed playing mouse to his cat.
“Hmm. I expected faster reflexes from a professional athlete.” A squeal escaped as he ducked his head and charged. He scooped her up with his left arm around her middle, as if she had the ball and he was hell-bent on tackling her.
Then all of a sudden, she was weightless and floating through the air.
A giggle escaped as the soft mattress caught her. She flung out her arms, in awe that she was about to experience a lot more than sleep in this very soft bed. Speaking of…
Julie sat up and reached for Gavin so he’d join her already—she was beyond ready to move past the foreplay part of the evening.
But this time, he dodged her. “Haven’t you heard? Turnabout is fair play.”
Julie stuck her lips out in a pout. “But sex. Haven’t we both waited long enough to get laid?” She brought her arms in tight, drawing attention to her amplified cleavage. Then she crossed her fingers that movies had at least gotten the seduction part right, since her former coach on the subject had become her current target.
The cocky arch of an eyebrow accompanied his smug grin. “Trust me, I’m counting down the seconds.” He drifted closer, bracing his left palm close enough to her thigh that she couldn’t help letting her legs fall open another inch, so at least one part of them would touch.
His other hand coasted across the top of her thigh, gravitating toward the spot begging for attention, and her inner walls clenched so tightly, she worried they might get in the way of what they were about to do. “But you can’t go around thinking you can tease me without any punishment whatsoever.”
His knuckle grazed her very center, and she cursed her panties for being in the way. Then she cursed Gavin as he straightened, taking his long fingers with them. Now that she was so fixated on them, she wasn’t sure she’d ever see him hold a football again without getting turned on.
“I’ll be a good girl from now on.” She lifted a finger and traced a giant X over her chest, same way they used to when they were kids. “Cross my heart, hope to die.”
“That’s a nice start, but see, you left me all hot and bothered for minutes.”
“Are you sure? It felt more like ten—twenty seconds tops.”
His sadistic laugh danced across her nerve endings, stirring them into a frenzy. He towered over her, dominating the space and her so effortlessly, and then tapped a finger to her lips. “I’ve let you get away with pouting to get your way for far too long. You’re gonna have to sit there and take your medicine.”
Every inch of her quivered with anticipation as he gripped the tab of his zipper. One torturously slow inch at a time, he lowered it, and her mouth went dry as his slacks fell to the floor.
“Yowza.” Oops. That didn’t stay inside her head, the same way her earlier comment about his growl hadn’t. Since she’d already outed herself, she might as well ogle away. Bronze skin, muscular thighs speckled with dark hair, and it hit her that she was about to get exactly what she wanted for Christmas. “Can the torture be over? I’m ready for the pleasure part of the evening to begin.”
“I think that can be arranged,” he said, nudging her to lie back on the bed and then crawling over her. His lips descended on hers, with his body closely following, the weight of him pushing her deeper and sending her soaring at the same time.
He peppered kisses along her jaw, the line of her neck, across the swells of her breasts. At the whisper of callused fingertips on her back, a shiver ran along the line of her spine. Until she felt its release, she hadn’t realized he’d unhooked her bra. Before her insecurities could spiral too high, he yanked off the bra and flung it aside.