Page 27 of The Mistletoe Trap
“I understand, but your muscles also need time to heal before you can start launching those rocket passes of yours.” Maggie gave him a couple of pages with cartoon characters doing the exercises. “Two times a day. Ice it in ten-minute intervals—”
Gavin said the rest of the treatment along with her.
“Obviously you’re still a smartass,” Maggie teased. “If you’ve got someone who can work out those knots, you’ll be surprised by how much your range of motion will improve. Just make sure they know what they’re doing, or they could cause more harm than good.”
Gavin nodded. Not because he had someone like that, but because it was what was done. He’d have to call and see if the one massage place in town could fit him in before he flew back to Texas in four days.
Then again, Julie was staying under his same roof and was honestly better at working out knots than a lot of masseuses. He just wasn’t sure it was a good idea to have her hands on him right now.
For reasons.
Ones he wasn’t going to think about, because obviously there was some short-circuiting going on in his brain or his body. He told himself his emotions were a mess due to his injury, along with worrying about his team and recovering in time for the playoffs, and that’s why he’d spent the last twenty minutes of the movie watching Julie sleep instead of the characters onscreen doing whatever it was they…did. Fell in love in a matter of a week or some shit like that.
Forced into a chick flick, and the two chicks in the room had checked out before the credits rolled.
But that wasn’t enough. No, Julie had trapped him with her head, and he’d been way too content having her there.
It’s just loneliness.With so many teammates, he’d mentally denied it, arguing he didn’t even have the opportunity to be lonely. Truth was, a lot of weight was teetering on his shoulders, and one of those shoulders had gone and become a big wuss on him.
Nothing rubbed that in as well as struggling to carefully put on the sling he’d been hoping to rid himself of each passing day.
“Let me,” Maggie said. “I can get it secured tighter.”
Around the team, he was the glue. The good job/do better/no I in team/rally guy. As a quarterback, that was his job. But he didn’t have anyone to talk to about the harder days, and he hadn’t wanted to look weak ever, much less in front of his teammates. Now someone had to put on his brace and work out his muscles, and ugh. It was messing with his confidence more than he’d expected.
Time to shake himself out of his funk. Speed walking several miles should help, and he’d add in some legwork, and that’d remind him that while one of his shoulders kept whining, the rest of his body was a well-tuned machine.
Silver lining, after he got in his workout, he’d be able to hang with Jules. Since he’d ended up participating in girls’ night, he was going to dangle that over her head to persuade her to do what he wanted.
Show her that she’s not bad at sex, and neither am I.
Whoa—strike that with an extra sturdy line. The errant thought had rushed forward before he could catch himself. The plan was to talk her into going to the hot springs for a nice long soak, regardless of how hard she tried to insist it would be too cold.
So while there wouldn’t be any sex involved, there would be significantly less clothing…
Chapter Nine
“Here’s the problem,” Julie said as she stormed into his room, and Gavin rearranged the pillows against the headboard and leaned back to await what he’d bet a whole pile of moneywasn’tthe actual problem. “I’ve always been better in a lab setting.”
Under other circumstances, he might gloat over being right, but that’d be far from helpful, and the goal wasn’t to make her feel bad. Regardless of how very much he’d underestimated the level of assistance Julie would need to get laid. “I don’t think a sex lab is a good idea. For one, they’re usually called fetish clubs.”
“Are you saying I wouldn’t look good in black leather?”
“Are you saying you’d be a dominatrix?” Well, there washisproblem. He kept forgetting to edit his words before they burst out of his mouth, and now he was doing his damnedest not to picture her in shiny black pants and a leather corset. Thanks to her outfit last night, he knew she already had the pointy-heeled boots.
The jutting of her lower lip snapped him back to his senses. It wasn’t the pout she used to get her way, but a sullen gesture that caused a tug in the center of his chest.
“You’re right. I’d never be able to pull that off.” The foot of the bed dipped as she plunked herself next to his stockinged feet. “I’m not nearly exciting enough.”
Him and his big mouth. “Not at all what I meant. You don’t have to pour yourself into latex outfits and crack a whip to be exciting. It’s okay to enjoy what you enjoy, no matter where it falls on the racy scale.”
Instead of perking up, she grabbed a stray pillow, smooshed it over her face, and let loose a muffled yell of frustration.
“Come on.” Gavin yanked at the corner of the pillowcase until she reluctantly let go. “Didn’t you see how excited I was to see you when I came home? I bet even Kylo Ren doesn’t get that stoked when he greets you.”
One corner of her mouth turned up, but she fought it back down. “You two don’t count.” At his gasp, she rolled her eyes and added, “I mean you do, but you don’t.”
Julie sighed, the sound on the defeated side. “Admittedly, I don’t want to don skintight outfits that’ll cause chafing. Most likely I’d just get stuck and have to call you like Ross did in that episode ofFriends.I might’ve come on too strong with Kory as it is, sough.” She flung herself back on the foot of his bed, one arm over her eyes, golden hair fanning around her like a halo.
