Fear made Judd’s heart stall for a second. He wasn’t the marrying type and had a feeling Abby would love to do the whole white dress and flowers thing for real one day. And nowthey’d moved beyond friendship, she might expect more from this thing they shared than he was willing to give.
“Butt out. And stop being so damn nosy. You’re really starting to piss me off.”
Tom chuckled as he walked away.
So the big guy liked to ask the hard questions? Didn’t mean Judd had to answer them.
Besides, he had better things to do, starting with finding his best buddy and coercing her into spending some qualityone on onetime with him.
Chapter Seventeen
Abby accepted the mango daiquiri from Judd, raised it in his direction, sat back, and propped her feet on the sun-bed.
“Sure you wouldn’t like me to rub some of that sunscreen lotion on you?”
Abby raised an eyebrow and sent him her best ‘not on your life, mister’ look. “Let’s just relax and soak up a bit of sun, okay?”
He grinned and shrugged. “Can’t blame a guy for trying.”
Abby lifted her hair off her neck in a purely feminine gesture designed to drive him wild, enjoying flirting with him when she could see how much he wanted her.
She’d never felt this empowered before, this aware of her allure as a woman, and if she’d enjoyed teasing him when they’d been platonic friends it had nothing on the fun she was having taunting him now they were lovers.
“You’ve spent too much time with primates, that’s your problem.”
“How so?”
“All you’ve got on your mind is monkey business,” she said, taking a healthy slurp of her cocktail as he rolled his eyes at her lame joke.
“In that case, care to keep me as a pet? I play the organ real well.” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and she burst out laughing, knowing he always had to have the last word.
“Don’t you mean organ grinder?”
“That, too.” He clinked glasses with her. “Here’s to us, sweetheart.”
She batted her eyelashes at him. “Us? My, my, and here I thought this was just casual sex.”
He leaned forward and ran a fingertip down her bare arm, setting her skin alight. “How about some not-so-casual sex? Like all night’s worth?”
A shiver of anticipation skittered down her spine and she ran the icy glass along her forehead. “A nice thought…”
“Just nice?”
She placed her frosted glass on the table next to her. “Fine.” She shrugged, toying with the bikini string behind her neck, enjoying the beads of perspiration popping out on his forehead as he tried to refocus on her face. “It’s a great thought, but unless we get plans to thank our co-workers sorted now, we might be hashing out ideas all night and that might put a dent in your romantic aspirations?”
He held up his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay, so what’s the plan?”
Abby laughed at his resigned expression. “I don’t know yet, but we’ve got to do something special for Tom and Tara. They’ve definitely gone above and beyond the call of duty on this shoot.”
“Yeah, the big guy came through on the wedding shoot. And Tara helped too.”
Abby squinted her eyes and tapped her bottom lip with a finger, deep in thought. “I’ve seen a few covert glances between the two of them. Maybe if we give them a gentle push in the right direction, nature will take its course?”
“Gentle push? More like a hard shove. I haven’t noticed Tara reacting much to Tom’s incessant flirting.” Judd stilled her tapping finger, drawing it to his mouth to kiss it, effectively wiping all thought from her mind. “Besides, we’re not here to play matchmaker, we’re here to figure out a way to thank them, remember?”
“You’re right.” Abby picked up her drink and took a sip. “Maybe the four of us get together for a drink? Shout them a meal, or is that too informal? Not enough? What do you think?”
“I think you’re the most incredible woman I’ve ever met.”