Page 28 of The Mistletoe Trap
Which gave him a semi-safe thing to say. “Think more Victoria’s Secret Angel than dominatrix. And before you ask, no, that doesn’t mean you need wings. Trust me, most guys see a bra and panties, and that’s all it takes for them to get excited.”
Julie lifted her arm from her blue eyes and blinked at him. “At this point, I’m not even making it to that part of the evening. I ruin it before then, which makes me think I need to amp up my flirty lines. How do women get your attention? What does it take for one of them to get singled out from the herd?”
Gavin made a sour face. “Singled out from the herd?”
“Is it more like a horde? Probably, considering the fame. How many times do you get hit on in a day?” She sat up so quickly they almost had their second helmet-to-helmet offense. “Including your social media platforms—women send you messages all the time, don’t they?”
His mouth opened and closed and opened again, but he couldn’t get any sound to come out. It was such a loaded question—one that’d caused plenty of fights between him and Kristin, constant reassurance for her that the messages didn’t tempt him notwithstanding.
And they hadn’t at the time, although he’d been shocked at how forward some of them were. Nowadays, he occasionally indulged in the tiniest bit of flirting, depending on his mood and who the messages were from.
With how discouraged Julie seemed, though, he wasn’t sure she wanted the truth.
A crazed gleam hit her eye, and he instinctively lifted his good shoulder to block, sure he wasn’t going to like what came next. “Can I see the messages?” She crawled to the head of his bed to sit right beside him. “That’s exactly what I mean byin the lab. If you show me the come-ons that work and the ones that go too far, I’ll be able to analyze them and get a better grasp on what I’m doing wrong.”
The phone in his pocket burned his thigh, as if it were a nuclear device that’d already been activated. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
“Oh. Are your replies too dirty for me to see? If you’re sending dick pics, I could see why you might not want me to se—”
“Holy shit, Jules. I’m not sending out dick pics on the regular. Do you honestly think I’m the type of guy who sends unsolicited pictures to women?”
“Of course not,” she said, but his tensed muscles didn’t dare relax. “I figured they were solicited. I’m sure lots of women ask to see it.”
Despite his best attempts to stifle a reaction, his skin heated, and he couldn’t stop shifting and fidgeting, and this line of conversation needed to end already.
“Are you actually blushing? Gavin Frost, badass quarterback of the Mustangs, gets embarrassed?” She poked a finger to his cheek, her voice taking on that same higher pitch she used on her kitty. “That’s so cute.”
His face was three shades of red, he could feel it. “It’s not cute.”
“Oh, right. What’s the macho word for cute?” Julie tapped her lip and glanced at the ceiling, as if she’d find the answer there. “Ooh, that’s so ruggedly sexy. You’re such a strong, virile stud. I bet the females of the species can’t wait to procreate with you.”
He did his best to hold a dirty look. “You were doing all right until that procreate part,” he deadpanned. “That stuff usually scares the shit out of dudes, FYI.”
“Solid point.” She lifted her phone and used it like a recording device. “Subject is okay with compliments about his handsomeness but not with the idea of becoming a caregiver for her and their future children. So while those traits are what women are instinctively drawn to, any thoughts regarding them can’t be spoken aloud without scaring the primitive, super-tough caveman, who’s secretly a big ol’ baby when it comes to having babies.”
Julie swiveled the speaker side of the cell phone toward his mouth. “Would you like to add anything else, Test Subject Seven?”
He gripped her phone over her own hand, tugged it closer to his mouth, and grunted. “Me hungry and big strong muscles sore from PT. Time for dinner. Then you, woman, will go to hot springs with me.” He added another grunt for good measure.
Julie laughed and bit her lip. She leaned closer, and he caught a whiff of vanilla and jasmine. His heart hammered faster, and his throat went dry. “This scientist will concede to the demand for food.”
Gavin swung his legs off the side of the bed, happy for a change of subject and planning his rebuttal in favor of the hot springs once they had food in their bellies.
“If,” Julie continued, and the line of his back snapped into a rigid line. “You agree to show me some of the messages women have sent to you. I’m going to need at least five examples of what doesn’t work, five that fall in the middle ground and can go either way, and five that were successful enough that if the two of you had been in the same place, both of you would’ve gotten lucky.”
Gavin groaned, cursing himself for not lying and declaring women didn’t message him. Not that it would’ve worked. As she’d pointed out at the airport, he wasn’t a very good liar, and he and Jules didn’t lie to each other,ever. Occasionally he softened things for her benefit, butoutright falsehoods—as his mother referred to them—weren’t his style.
Considering his best friend had morphed into Julie the Science Gal who didn’t take no for an answer, she wouldn’t have believed him anyway.
Julie lightly placed her hand on his elbow and, speaking of softening, his internal organs went completely squishy on him. “It’s important to have a varied test group in order to get the most accurate results and, Gavin, I desperately need results. My self-esteem can’t take another hit.”
Dammit. When she put it that way, how could he refuse? Somehow, he was only now realizing how tightly she had him wound around her finger. Because she was his person. That one special someone who was there through the ups and downs, no matter what. She’d been the first one he called when he’d been drafted, and when the offer with the Mustangs came in, he’d discussed it with her before anyone else.
His parents had been numbers two and three, which turned into a bit of a shitshow when a nosy reporter had called his mom and she’d spilled the beans. Both he and Lance Quaid had experienced some heat over the snafu, but luckily, they’d ironed things out and moved on.
All that aside, when he glanced over his shoulder and saw the combination of pleading and longing on her face, he couldn’t say no. “Fine. But before you do any excessive celebrating, it’s gonna come at a price…”
“Wait? I’m getting a penalty when I haven’t even committed the violation yet?”
