“That lipstick is…bold. It’s just throwing me off a little—not that it looks bad or anything.”
“You used to be a much better liar. But long story short, my mom thought you’d see my naked lips and be like Whoa, she’s really let herself go. She’ll be so thrilled to hear that you also think it makes me look like a streetwalker.”
“I never said that, and if you tell Peggy I did, I’ll be forced to ask her when’s the last time she moved the couch in the living room.”
Julie gasped. “You wouldn’t—you know how she gets about the carpet.”
“Not unless you give me a reason.” He slung his uninjured arm around her shoulders and started toward their families. Naturally, their moms were glowing, thinking their nefarious plan had worked and they were now officially in love after one hug.
The next instant, both sets of parents were surging forward and throwing their arms around him, and there were cheek kisses and bro-hugs with hard pats on the backs.
After giving everyone a few minutes to catch up, they gathered their belongings, pulled on their coats, and headed through the parking lot.
“Just so you know,” Julie said as she inclined her head toward Gavin. “I also got the big signs. Notice how they said ‘Welcome’ and ‘We love you’ without specifying the names? I mean, technically, that means you got the recycled version. Since I’ve literally watched your ego grow bigger and bigger this year, I just wanted to let you know.”
“Thanks for treating me like a normal person.” Gavin bumped his hip into hers, and she stumbled and corrected her balance. “I’m so sick of people treating me like a superstar.”
“Yeah, I’m there for you in a big way with that,” she said with a laugh. After months in a place with two seasons—hot and too hot—the accompanying puff of white air amped up the Home for the Holidays sensation. “Which also reminds me that I should mock you for needing a ginormous suitcase for one week, while I fit two weeks’ worth in a carry-on.”
Not that either of them were hauling their suitcases, as the dads relieved them of their baggage—despite Gavin’s protests that he could roll his own. “Oh, that’s right. You know how to pack a hundred outfits in a suitcase the size of a shoebox.”
“Not quite.” She liked to stick to strictly carry-on size, because along with being overly analytical, she was the tiniest bit of a control freak, but it almost hadn’t worked out this trip. Once she’d tossed in the hot pink bikini, everything else looked like that dreaded word she was really beginning to loathe: “boring.”
So yesterday between work and the game, she’d gone emergency shopping and bought a few sexy bra and panties sets so she’d be ready for fling action at a moment’s notice. She’d also bought a skimpy nightie. Preparation was key, and her ratty T-shirt and cat-print pajama pants didn’t exactly scream do-me-nice-and-hard.
Which again, she couldn’t get away with saying, regardless of it being completely accurate.
Perhaps she should wait and have her fling the next time she visited Gavin in San Antonio, because as she took in his size again, she thought that if anyone could fulfill a request like that, it’d be a guy with his stature and stamina. Obviously not him, but he had about fifty teammates to choose from, and surely one of them wouldn’t mind a night of helping her hit her sexual stride. Whatever it took to prevent being called lackluster ever again.
Her heart knotted, and she automatically rubbed at the aching spot in her chest.
“You okay?” Gavin asked.
“Yeah. I was just thinking about Jason Holt actually.”
Gavin’s whiskey-colored eyes narrowed. “What about him?”
“I’ve enjoyed chatting with him here and there and thought that maybe I should meet him sometime.”
The abruptness with which Gavin snagged her arm and stopped caused a record-screech sound in her head. “Why?”
Julie shrugged a shoulder. “He’s got a good sense of humor, and I like that I can tease him without him getting all hurt. Plus there’s the whole smokin’ hot thing.”
“He’s also a huge player.”
“I know, and that’s okay. Not to mention, someone could say the same thing about you.”
“Considering I haven’t had sex for the better part of a year, I doubt that.”
Julie’s mouth dropped. “You haven’t had sex in a year?” Her voice came out shrill and too loud, and she grimaced as their parents turned around.
Please say they didn’t hear that, please say they didn’t hear that. Given that they’d been having their own conversation and had gained ten yards or so since Gavin had pulled her to a stop, the odds weren’t too high.
“Are you two coming, or what?” Mom hollered, and Julie glanced at Gavin. Their eyes locked, and she couldn’t help herself.
“Apparently not, if you haven’t had sex in a year and I’ve also been in a drought,” she whispered with a snicker. “No coming for us.”
Gavin shook his head, but the corners of his lips twisted up. Then he ran his hand over his mouth and raised his voice. “Yeah, Julie’s just a little, uh, frustrated. Short legs and all, it’s hard for her to keep up with me. Not to mention, she hasn’t had my endurance training.”
“Jackass,” she whispered, and he reached out and tugged on her ponytail.
The rest of her froze as a tingle zipped across her scalp. For the record, the tingles didn’t have anything to do with Gavin. She merely had a sensitive scalp, and she also kinda had this thing about having her hair being pulled.
And he’d pulled her hair, so… She stifled the shiver that attempted to travel down her spine and tucked her fingers into the straps of her cat backpack. Evidently she was so sexually deprived that a little hair pulling sent all the wrong signals through her body. The fact that she never could bring herself to ask for hair play and only knew she liked it because of her college boyfriend had also amped up her reaction.
Yeah, that was definitely it.
The hint of panic led her to do the super mature thing and say, “Beat you there.”
Chapter Three
Gavin assumed the Beat you there comment was intended as a challenge to race him to the car. Without waiting for him to accept, Julie bolted, and Gavin scanned the cars. Once he’d spotted the familiar ski racks on top of the gray 4Runner his dad drove, Gavin sprinted toward it like he had five seconds left in the game, a handful of defenders on his tail, and the only thing that would secure the win was his reaching the end zone first.
He wove around cars, brushing the side mirror on a truck with large profile tires, and sliding across a hood, just to prove a partially torn shoulder ligament wouldn’t slow him down. Only when he’d slammed his hand into the cold metal of the SUV did he fleetingly wonder if Julie meant she’d beat him at having sex.