Page 25 of The Mistletoe Trap
Maybe the ones attempting to spread their wings and fly now were the residual type?
“You cold?” Gavin asked, automatically wrapping his arm around her and rubbing warmth into her skin.
Nope. She wasn’t even a little cold. But she also couldn’t get her tongue unstuck from the roof of her mouth. Not to mention, it felt nice to be snuggled up beside him. It’d been a long time since she’d experienced this sort of attention and affection, and she wanted to bask in it while she could.
Niki started the movie, and Julie kept glancing at Gavin’s face, watching the lights from the TV and the Christmas tree in the corner flicker across his features. One moment his skin would be a dimmer version of its usual warm golden brown, and then there’d be hints of blue, red, and green.
“Can I help you?” Gavin asked, and, since she’d been caught staring, her tongue tripped over the words.
“No. Yes. I mean… Can I just smooth out the face mask? You might as well have it everywhere to get the full effect.”
Gavin exhaled instead of immediately saying no, which meant wiggle room.
“I’ll never tell another soul, and I’m sure Niki won’t, either.” Julie’s entire body complained as she scooted out of Gavin’s embrace—man, was she starved for human contact, and why was tonight so weird? She didn’t normally analyze her moves with Gavin the same way she did with most other people.
It had to be the sexless date. Yeah. That was definitely it.
“I can be bribed into keeping it quiet,” Nikita said, and Gavin tossed popcorn at her.
She gasped and whipped a Twizzler out of the bag, holding it up like a sword she planned on using to slay her brother. With deliciousness, apparently.
Julie used the distraction to even out the goop on Gavin’s face. Her fingertips left smears of green, and she carefully worked around his nose and the scruff that tickled her fingertips.
The way Gavin closely watched each and every move she made caused her heart to beat faster. Within another minute or so, the three of them were relaxing on the couch, faces coated with green clay as they ate enough sugar to power an army of North Pole elves.
It wasn’t until Gavin woke her to tell her the movie was over that she realized she’d fallen asleep on his chest. Crusty pieces of her mask clung to his shirt, but when she began apologizing and picking them off, he folded her hand into his and shushed her.
“Don’t worry about it,” he said, and she glanced around him to address Niki, but she was already gone. “She headed to bed about two thirds of the way through the movie.”
Julie fought the urge to rub her gritty eyes. “Why didn’t you wake me up?”
“You looked so sweet sleeping. Plus, you weren’t talking about slicing open internal organs or attacking me with girlie shit.”
Her jaw dropped, and he chuckled.
“Honestly, it was nice just resting here with you.” His thumb skated over the back of her hand, chasing away the last vestiges of sleep. “Sometimes the large couch in the living room of my condo feels too big and empty.”
“I get that,” she said, and those totally weren’t butterflies in her gut. Unless solidarity had wings now?
“So, what happens if we leave this shit on our faces too long?” Gavin released her hand and scratched at the dried mask with his thumbnail.
“Oh, it stains your face green for about a month.”
Gavin’s eyes bulged, and he sat up so fast, she had to catch herself on the cushion. As hard as she tried, she couldn’t hold back her laughter, and as it exploded from her, he pointed a finger in her face. “You’d better keep your eyes open, Julie O’Neill. Because when you least expect it, I’m gonna get you back for that.”
Julie let her smug grin free. “Can’t wait.”
Chapter Eight
Mom and Darlene were already cooking up a sugary storm by the time Julie wandered downstairs. The Holiday Bazaar was tomorrow night, and that meant the entire population of Crystal Springs would be packed into the high school gym and town square.
There’d be food, a band that played holiday tunes slightly offbeat and occasionally off-key, rides, and reindeer games with headband antlers—although they didn’t allow anyone to get Rudolphed for being different. In fact, red glowing noses were celebrated. Probably because the frigid temperatures left everyone with one, reindeer or not. Santa always showed up near the end, and basically it was the biggest event of the season.
“There you are,” Mom said, as if Julie’s whereabouts had been a mystery. “Can you come stir this fudge while I incorporate the peanut butter?”
Julie knew better than to ask if it could wait until after she had breakfast. She washed her hands and stirred, biceps burning with the effort as the fudge began to harden. Speaking of biceps… “Where’s Gavin?” she asked, and the other two women paused their efforts to beam at her.
Talk about a testament to caffeine. If she’d had a chance to drink a cup of coffee and finish waking up, she would’ve stopped herself from asking that question aloud. She’d fallen asleep on his chest and woken up with a smile on her face as she recalled the face mask and teasing him about it turning his skin green. The sense of happiness and comfort from a few hours chilling on the couch with her bestie left her wondering if she should abandon her Great Fling Experiment to just hang out with Gavin while she could.
