Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 93417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
“You just don’t look like the class type,” Wesley says with an easy shrug, like that explains that.
“I went to class. All of them,” I say, because I wanted to make my mom proud and I fucking did—scored mostly A’s. But that is not for them to know. I turn to Gavin, since we need to get down to business. “When you’re done debating TV plotlines and whether you’re tall enough to ride any of these rides, we need to get back to the obstacle course demo.”
Gavin fist-bumps Wesley. “Catch you later.”
“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” Wesley says to Gavin, returning the knock.
“That doesn’t leave much,” Gavin retorts.
“Don’t I know it,” Wesley says with his usual bravado, then takes off.
With the Sea Dog gone, Gavin swings his gaze my way, a crease in his brow. “What’s that all about? You really coming to collect me for the course?”
I’m not surprised he saw through that but I don’t have the time to mince words. I pull him behind the kite-making tent. “We need to talk about Briar.”
His face turns stony. “We talked about her this morning.”
I roll my eyes. “You said jack shit. You were like yeah, I’m gonna help where I can with her column, now let’s go. That was it.”
“Yes, because that is it,” he says.
I might not be able to read his expression, but his tone is not merely emphatic. It’s too emphatic.
“You’re not just helping her out from time to time. The nuances of how to make plans with a girl you like is very, very specific. So…?” I hold out my arms in question. Can I make this any clearer?
Gavin stares at me blankly. “So what?”
He’s going to make me spell it out. Fine. “Are you into her too?”
Gavin’s not a defenseman for nothing. He doesn’t give. Doesn’t bend. “Why are you asking?”
“Why are you not answering?”
His shoulders tense. His eyes are hard. But his jaw ticks as he fires back, “Why do you need to know?”
“I’m asking you a simple question,” I say, standing my ground. I’m strung tight, but it’s not with jealousy. This gnawing in my chest is something different. It’s a need that has surprised me. An insistent need to give Briar everything she wants.
She entrusted me with her bedroom secrets. She made herself vulnerable. If she’s wanting more than Rhys and me, I’ve got to make sure Gavin is going to treat her right. In and out of bed.
He crosses his arms, then sighs heavily. “Why do you want to know?”
“We’re having a game night tonight. We’re all playing vintage games. She wants you there, man,” I say, putting those cards on the table. I might not know all Briar’s answers, but I know that one. She wants him to hang with us, and I’d like to make that happen for her.
His stone facade cracks the slightest bit as his lips twitch in a smile. But he erases it in a second. “She…does?”
He says it like that’s all he wants in the world—to be asked by her.
Good. That’s a start.
But Gavin needs to know that I’ll protect her. If he hurts her, he’ll have to answer to me. “She just got out of a bad relationship. She’s a friend. I don’t want you messing with her head or her heart. Is that clear?”
“One hundred percent. And you don’t have to worry about that. Just because I’m into her doesn’t mean I’m going to let anything happen between us.”
The thing is, I don’t believe him.
34
SURPRISE ME
Gavin
Who invented cat-cow? That yoga pose on all fours is seriously distracting. You’d think I could handle it better since I’ve seen Briar do this pose countless times in her videos.
But nope. Watching her, on all fours, bowing her back like a cow, then arching it like a cat, is frying my brain as I walk to her tent.
I shouldn’t even be heading to see her. This is the last place I should be. But as she demonstrates this pose for an older lady who’s trying it out, too, on an extra mat in the tent, I keep walking.
Like this morning when I couldn’t stay away from the deck, I can’t stay away from her.
At least I have a reason though. That’s what I tell myself as I close the distance between us, coming up behind her. When I reach her, Briar’s saying to the woman, “You just take a deep breath, lift your head, then tilt your pelvis up. Like this.”
Damn, Briar looks good like that. Like she’s offering herself up. Which she isn’t and which I should not be thinking.
“Perfect,” the woman says, still on all fours. “I’m just never sure how deep to go.”
“Listen to your body. Don’t push it,” Briar says. “So often we try to do more than our body wants, but it’s better if we can just listen to it. The body knows what it needs.”