Page 20 of The Mistletoe Trap
“You look ridiculously hot, and I just want you to know that if the date goes badly or the guy ends up being a tool, feel free to come cry on my shoulder anytime.”
A stupid pinch went through his gut, and Gavin clenched his jaw. It was one thing to lose Julie to some dude he didn’t know, who lived in the same state she did. But she and Holt? Not. Happening.
“Thank you, Jason.” Julie kissed her fingertips and blew him a kiss, and that pinch turned more to a gut punch. “Good night.”
Before Holt could deliver another cheesy line, Gavin hung up the phone. Being cranky wasn’t an emotional state he often experienced, but as hard as he tried to deny and stifle it, everything inside him felt inordinately agitated.
“All right.” Julie’s voice trembled slightly, but he did the honorable thing and pretended not to notice. “Time for Step One in the Great Fling Experiment.”
…
Julie put her finger up to her ear, where her right ear pod was in but hidden by her hair. “Testing, testing, one, two, three.”
“You don’t have to put your finger on it,” Gavin said in her ear, and she frowned.
“I know, and I’m not going to do it once he gets here, but it makes me feel like a spy.” Julie glanced toward the booth where Gavin had set up. He had in his own ear pods, along with a baseball cap, the brim pulled low so people wouldn’t recognize him as easily. In a perfect world, no one would notice him, but in a town as small as theirs, that was overly hopeful.
“He just walked in the door,” Gavin said, and Julie sat up straighter. “You ready?”
“Does it really matter?”
“Good point. Just remember that I’m here, and I’ve got you.”
Releasing a long exhale didn’t extinguish her anxiety but it did loosen the knot in her chest. If anything, having Gavin in her ear should make this the best date ever. She stood, scanned the dining room, and waved so Kory would spot her.
The moment they made eye contact, her stomach thought it’d be the perfect time to churn as if all the butter-making in the world depended on it. While it was more nerves than butterflies, that didn’t mean it couldn’t eventually transition. People longed for that instant connection and sizzling chemistry like in books and movies, but she wasn’t sure it truly existed. For one thing, it was probably fueled by lust, and why was she getting all analytical? This date wasabout lust, and she needed to remember it.
“Breathe,” Gavin said. “No passing out, or I’ll be made, and the entire plan will fall apart.”
“Right. Breathing is awesome. Gonna do that—hey, Kory.”
He sat opposite her, not bothering with a greeting or to wait for her to sit, which was fine. She slid across the bench, cursing the way the vinyl stuck to her thighs, and should she tell him that sound was the seat and not her?
No, because if he hadn’t heard, that would be a mood ruiner, and it wasn’t that loud, and man, did she want to start waxing poetic about how the small and large intestines worked together. Fun fact: the large intestines were actually shorter than the small intestines, but they called it “large” due to it being wider.
Just keep your anatomical fun facts to yourself, and no one will end up bolting before dinner.She wasn’t sure why people got so icked out about it. What would make them feel super sick was if intestines didn’t exist.
“…good here?”
“Yeah, here’s good.”
A crooked smile lifted the right side of his mouth. “I asked what’s good here—I assume you’ve been before.”
“Tons of times. Well, not tons. I’d say maybe…” She ticked off memories of prom, that one bougie date with the richest kid in school. He came out of the closet the next month, and a few of her classmates had teased her, as if she were the reason. She’d seen him check out the waiter’s ass enough times to realize that he wanted an off-menu item far more than he wanted her, but they’d still had fun.
“It doesn’t matter how many times you’ve been here,” Gavin said in her ear, and she jumped—she’d momentarily forgotten that he was there. “Just tell him the steak or the lobster.”
“Not that how many times matters. The steak here’s the best in town, and a ton of people order the lobster. Did you know that lobsters’ teeth aren’t in their mouths? They actually have them in their stomach. It’s called a gastric mill, which is like three molars, so I’ve never quite been comfortable eating lobster. It’s like, am I eating him or is he eating me?”
Kory blinked.
Gavin half sighed and half groaned in her ear. “Jules, keep it simple. Just say what I tell you to without elaborating.”
She frowned. Yes, she’d asked for help, like a friendship version of Cyrano de Bergerac, without the catfishing part. This way, she could get assistance on what to say until she reached the next level. Win-win, all around. “I still want to be me,” she said through her clamped jaw, doing her best not to move her mouth.
“Uh, yeah. Be you,” Kory said.
Well, that was some flawed logic right there. Whether or not she moved her mouth, naturally he was going to hear the words. This was trickier than she thought it’d be. She picked up her menu, and when the waiter came, Kory didn’t check him out, so bonus. Even though the waiter pushed the lobster, they both ordered the steak.
