Page 32 of The Mistletoe Trap
Between the hot spring, her quickening pulse, and the wordstaminasomersaulting through her brain, her chilliness faded away.
“I’ve got a brain, too, you know,” Gavin said, and she forced her eyes to his. Mischief and amusement glittered in the deep brown depths.
“Well, if you want people to notice that, you might have to use it once in a while.” It’d popped right out, and it wasn’t until his jaw dropped that she worried it sounded harsher than she’d meant it to. “No, wait. That was supposed to be a joke.”
“Supposed to be?” Gavin swiped a hand through the water, sending a stream her way.
Julie flinched but continued advancing toward him. Call this reason number two hundred and seven she failed at flirting. “I was totally kidding.” She looped her arms around his neck so she could ensure she had his full attention. “I’m just saying that with your body on display, it wasn’t immediately evident that…”
Wow. Not only was the filter between her thoughts and mouth malfunctioning, her lips and libido seemed to be incapable of getting it together as well. She quickly dropped her arms to her sides, since they weren’t behaving or helping matters, either. “But I personally know how smart you are. Is what I’m saying.”
“Really? Because it sounded like you were having trouble concentrating on anything besides my huge muscles.” He flexed, and this time, she splashed him.
After a fairly mild water fight—Gavin was injured, after all—they settled onto the rock ledge that locals referred to as the couch. Yeah, super unique. It had the perfect headrests, though, so it was also the envy of the entire springs.
Julie closed her eyes, breathed in the sulphur-scented air, and let her muscles relax one by one until she couldn’t tell where she ended and the water began. When she fluttered open her lids, she met Gavin’s steady gaze. His eyes dipped slightly before returning to her face.
“In the most respectful way possible, you should know that that swimsuit is”—his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down and his voice came out husky—“dangerous.”
With that word echoing in the heavy air between them, her heart hammered out of control. Enough so that she fought the urge to glance down and see if the erratic beating of it could be seen underneath the surface of her exposed skin. She licked her suddenly dry lips. “Thank you.”
Was that a weird response? She’d ask—for research purposes—but dizziness was setting in and she didn’t want to think about Kory. Or any other faceless men she might or might not consider having a fling with for that matter.
Right now, she wanted to focus on being here with Gavin, in this place with the beautifully desolate winter backdrop, her muscles exceptionally warm and relaxed for the first time in days.
Speaking of, here and there she’d noticed the tiny winces that accompanied moving his right arm. She’d kept it to herself, not wanting to rub in his injury, as if not mentioning it made the truth of it disappear. “How’s the shoulder?”
“Fine.”
“Gavin.” She placed her hand on his biceps. “Fineis such a bullshit word.”
“Well, saying that it’s tight as fuck and I worry it’s not healing doesn’t do any good, so what’s the point?”
“The point is that I might be able to help.” She twisted to face him, one knee resting at his hip and the other against his thigh. Then she prodded his shoulder with her fingers, not on the top where she could see the slight swelling, but an inch or so underneath. “You probably don’t know this about me, but anatomy is kinda my thing.”
“Strange. You never send me pictures or tell me stories indicating as much. Next thing I know, you’ll tell me you’re also a cat lady.”
She squeezed a bit harder, and he grunted. While the timing worked out, she wasn’t intensifying for payback. She could feel the angry knots. She skirted her fingers across the top of the shoulder and rubbed circles up the side of his neck.
Since his trapezius and sternocleidomastoid muscles were holding tight, overcompensating for his injury, she worked them out as well. Following the overly taut line, she moved to work on the front of the shoulder. Only this angle wasn’t making it easy. “I, uh…I’ve got to get a bit up close and personal to loosen your pec muscle, but it should help release some of the tension.”
“Do your worst,” Gavin said, and she stood and took a few seconds to prepare herself to be inches away from the shirtless specimen in front of her. Then she placed her knees on either side of him and straddled his hips.
In spite of reminding herself that this was her best friend, desire unfurled in her gut. An ache pulsed to life between her thighs, as if it thought she required a reminder of how long it’d been. “Let me know if I go too hard,” she said, her voice breathless, and oops, that came out sounding more sexual than it was supposed to.
Gavin’s hands came up on her waist, steadying and unraveling her all at once. Using her knuckle, she dug into the stubborn pectoral muscle. The fingers at her waist tightened, digging into her skin, and she exhaled, exhaled, exhaled.
Then she called upon her iron resolve so she wouldn’t give in to the temptation to lower herself onto his lap and get herself in way over her head.
…
Previous to this very moment, Gavin might’ve insisted he was into pleasure and pain. With Julie’s breasts at eye level, the prodding of her fingers bringing tears to his eyes and his hands wrapped around her hips, his willpower thrashed in the barrage of lust inundating his system.
Somewhere out there, an unseen choir sanghallelujah—Christmas miracle, indeed.
Right as he was about to beg for mercy and ask Julie to stop her kneading, she reached the top of the muscle. She pinched it between her fingers, and a grunt escaped as pain streaked through him.
And then the tightness that’d held his chest and shoulder captive released. A relieved sigh fell from his lips as he melted against the rock.
