Page 21 of The Mistletoe Trap
“Do not, under any circumstances, give any more lobster facts,” Gavin said, and she frowned because she hadn’t been going to. Mostly because she’d already considered it but then immediately vetoed it. Jeez. The guy could give her a little credit.
“Okay,” Gavin said in her ear. “Prop your elbow on the table—and yes, I know I’m teaching you improper etiquette. Then place your cheek on your fist and flash him a smile. Julie did as instructed. “Good. Now, repeat after me… ‘You look a lot like this guy I’m going to hook up with later.’”
“Don’t tell me that seriously works,” she said, and Kory lowered his eyebrows.
“What works?”
“Um, nothing. Well, our entire body does. When you think about all the moving parts, it’s amaz—”
“Abort, abort. Jules, you and I need to huddle up real quick. Excuse yourself to go to the bathroom,” Gavin said.
Julie popped to her feet. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to use the restroom.”
“Now meet me there.”
She flipped her hair and gave Kory another flirty smile. “Meet me there.” With that, she quickly strode around the corner, her sights set on the wooden doors of the restroom. Right before she reached them, a hand whipped out from behind a vase tall enough for her to sleep inside, and then she was jerked behind the ceramic monstrosity.
“Do youwantto get it on in the bathroom with Kory?” Gavin asked, an odd amount of exasperation in his voice. All the while, she gripped his forearms, doing her best to recover from the whiplash sensation.
“Ew, no. You don’t think he thinks I want that, do you?”
“You just told him to meet you there.”
“I thought that was weird, but you told me to say it, so I did.”
“I meant for you”—he gestured to her, and then himself—“to meet me. Honestly, I’m afraid this plan is going down in flames. Feeding you lines isn’t helping. If anything, having both of us on this date with that dude is making it worse.”
Julie’s shoulders deflated. “Maybe I should cut my losses and forget this whole ridiculous plan.”
Gavin’s eyes softened. “I’m not saying that. We just have to reassess.”
She nodded and nodded some more, her mind whirring. Then her gut sank. “Does it make me boring? Not wanting to do it in the bathroom?” She crinkled her nose. “It’s just all the germs, and people might walk in on us, and surely if the sex is good, both of us would be making too much noise for that.”
She glanced up to get a read on Gavin, afraid she’d find him discounting her as too timid to pull this off.
Instead he cleared his throat. Scrubbed a hand over his face. Glanced in the direction of Kory. “Come on. We can say we ran into each other, and I’ll do a quick drop by. Hopefully, that’ll help you loosen up and we can go from there.”
He slipped his grip from her wrist to her hand, clamping on as he started in the direction she’d come from. She set her feet, putting up resistance, and he cast a confused look over his shoulder.
She did a jig she wasn’t remotely proud of. “Now that we kept talking about the bathroom, I actually need to pee.” Gavin sighed, and she let out a huff. “Don’t make me go into bodily functions and how not answering nature’s call—”
“Okay, go,” Gavin said. “I’ll make sure lover boy doesn’t follow you in.”
“You’re the best.” Julie tipped to her toes, pecked Gavin on the cheek, and then rushed toward the bathroom to take care of business. With any luck, she’d also find the much-needed reset button for her already shaky date.
…
Gavin hesitated a few booths away. Playing spy wasn’t going so well, but he slowed his pace anyway, taking a moment to watch Kory.
He wasn’t making a move for the bathroom. He was furiously texting someone, his entire focus on his phone.
That asshole. If he’s texting another woman, or telling his buddies he needs an out, I’m going to rearrange his preppy features.
In a hazy trance, Gavin lifted his palm to his cheek, placing it over the spot where Julie had dropped a quick kiss.
Right after her comment about good sex and making a lot of noise. It was one thing to help his best friend get laid. It was another to have the constant reminder that the end to his dry spell was nowhere in sight.
And exactly how loud did Julie get?
