Page 25 of Hitting the Gap

“My dad?”

“Mmm. He’s worse than mine.”

“What do you mean?”

She grabbed her phone off the counter and pulled up her text thread with Juan and pushed the phone across the island toward Gonzo.

He picked up the phone. “Holy shit, this is all my dad?”

“Mmm-hmm.” Every time Gonzo was mentioned on TV, or anywhere online, Juan sent her a link to make sure she hadn’t missed it. The man must have a Google alert set for every possible name combo, so he didn’t miss something.

“Uh…wow…” Gonzo rubbed a hand across his mouth. “I had no idea he kept track like that.”

“He’s very proud.”

He was quiet for several seconds before finally speaking. “Yeah. I just…” He shook his head. “Sorry he blows up your phone with it.”

“Nothing to be sorry about. As you can see, I send him stuff back.”

Gonzo snorted out a laugh. “Where the hell did you find that meme?”

She stood on tiptoe to glance at the phone screen over the island and grinned at the picture of Gonzo dressed like the easter bunny shaking his ass. “I might have made it.”

“Of course you did.” He chuckled. “Judging by the two full rows of laughing/crying face my dad enjoyed the effort.”

“He does enjoy my creative ventures.” Bailey looked up to find Gonzo staring at her with some weird look on his face. Unable to look away from the intensity of his stare, he held her gaze captive.

“Gonzo,” a whiney woman’s voice called, breaking the hold he had on her.

Bailey glanced over at a petite blonde standing at the edge of the kitchen in a man’s button-up shirt with all the buttons undone. Damn, Bailey wasn’t into girls, but even she could admit the look was sexy. If she thought there was a hope in hell she could have pulled it off herself, she’d be tempted to try it the next time she was with a man.

“Oh hey, did we wake you up?” Gonzo asked.

“Who’s she?” the woman demanded.

“Hi.” Bailey raised her hand. “I’m Bailey. Don’t worry I’m not the girlfriend or anything.”

“Obviously, look at you.” The blonde looked at Bailey and smirked.

“Wow, okay.” Apparently mean girls stayed mean girls into adulthood. Bailey glanced at Gonzo. “I’m just gonna.” She flicked her thumb toward her bedroom.

When she tried to slip past Gonzo to get out of the kitchen, he grabbed her arm. “No. Stay,” Gonzo ordered. He continued to hold her arm so she couldn’t escape. Turning to the blonde, he said, “Now that you’re awake, you can go.”

“Pardon?” Blondie’s eyes widened in shock.

“You need to leave.”

“You can’t be serious,” she snapped.

“Very serious. And leave the shirt.”

The woman pushed open the shirt and dropped it on the floor. “Are you sure you want me to leave?”

Holy confidence, Batman. Bailey couldn’t believe someone would be that self-assured to just stand there in only her panties and all but challenge someone to send her away.

Gonzo sighed and shook his head. “Yeah, you need to go. Now.”

“Ugh,” Blondie huffed and turned on her heel and stormed toward the bedroom.

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