Looking For Trouble (Rogue Series Book 5)
Page 22
“Like I said, let’s just pretend this didn’t happen and move on,” he said. “Get you another beer?” He got to his feet and started toward the kitchen before she could respond.
When he returned to the living room with fresh beers, Julia had shaken off the episode and they resumed their earlier, easy banter until they fell asleep in the early hours of the morning.
Gavin woke first and realized Julia hadn’t really given up. He was sitting on the floor, leaning against the sofa. At some point, she had cuddled up next to him, her head on his chest and her hand resting on his morning erection.
That’s what he told himself it was. He didn’t remember any other stimulus to create this situation. But, knowing how relentless Julia could be, he couldn’t really be sure.
Trying to carefully pull away from her made her reflexively grab him tighter. In response, he put his hand over hers to stop what was becoming not just awkward but painful.
Julia woke and assessed their situation quickly and to her own liking. She clearly read his move as wanting her to stroke him and so she did, adding sleepy kisses to his neck as she continued.
“Jules, stop,” he told her.
“Why? When it feels so good. You feel so good,” she said with a moan.
His body reacted despite what he really wanted. Why did dicks have to be so damn uncontrollable? The thing he could do was remove himself from this situation. He stood hurriedly.
“That was not at all what it seems,” he said with a laugh.
Getting to her knees, Jules reached out to unbuckle his belt.
“Fuck’s sake, I said no,” Gavin told her, pushing her hands away from him.
“I’m confused.” She looked up at him and waited for a response.
“I wasn’t after this with you. I just woke up and we were like that, but it wasn’t what I was trying to make happen, okay?”
She slowly got to her feet and rubbed her face. “If that’s how you want to play it.”
“Truly, I’m not playing any games with you. I meant it last night, about not even going there.”
Wrinkling her brow, she played dumb and said, “What happened last night?”
And he was relieved that she was willing to let this go.
“Listen, I need a shower—”
“I could use one, too.”
“You’re welcome to the downstairs bath. And then maybe you should go? I need to do some prep for the next bit of tour stuff, and—”
“Got it.” She smiled at him and shook her head resignedly.
“Thanks a million, Jules. You did take my mind off things last night. I appreciate that.”
“No problem.”
Gavin took his time in the shower upstairs. He needed to wash away the incident with Jules. It confused him because they had been doing the purely friend thing for years now. How had it so quickly gone back to her wanting him?
He was still pondering the question when he stepped out of the bedroom’s en suite to find Sophie just arrived.
“Darlin’,” he said, “you came back early.” He was so happily surprised to see her that he didn’t register how furious she was.
“Yes, sorry to ruin your plans,” she said, her tone ice-cold.
“Plans?”
“I imagine you had something planned since I came home to find Julia O’Flaherty just out of the shower and cooking you breakfast in my kitchen.”
“Fuck me,” Gavin whispered.
“You got that right.”
“No, no. She was supposed to have left, Sophie. This looks bad, but it’s not what you think.”
Sophie released an incredulous laugh. “I guess it was my mistake, then, right? I suppose me making the effort to come back a day early to surprise you was a terrible idea?”
“What? No, it’s fantastic—”
“I mean, since you’ve already figured out how to replace me. Hope she’s as good as you remembered.”
He knew she had every right to be angry, but it still rubbed him the wrong way that she was jumping to these dramatic conclusions. She knew he had never cheated on her, that he only had eyes for her despite the many temptations he dealt with on a daily basis. But, here she was, eager to cast him as someone who would stray on a whim.
“Is that what you really think, Sophie?” he asked. “Do you you really think she’s here because I just fucked her? Or can you slow down a second and let me give you the truth?”
As she looked up at him, tears rolled down her cheeks.
“There’s really no reason to cry,” he said. “You’ve got it all wrong, my darling wife. Nothing is happening with Julia or any other woman. She did stay the night—downstairs. And she did take a shower in the guest bath. That’s it. We were up late talking, having a laugh. That’s all.”
“Thanks for being so . . . sensitive,” she said. “I guess I was stupid to fear the worst when I came home to find your ex-girlfriend here—especially after the fight we had where you threatened to not even wait for me.”
“I,” he started and stopped. He struggled to come up with the right words to fix this.
His sudden lack of communication abilities was the thing to send Sophie moving toward the door, and it made him panic.
“Where are you going?” he asked, grabbing her hand.
She pulled away from him. “Just don't,” she said softly.
He followed her out into the hallway and grabbed her from behind, wrapping his arms around her tightly. “Sophie, I’m sorry,” he whispered into her ear urgently.
“Let me go,” she said, prying at his hands.
“I can’t do that.”
In desperation, he lifted her in his arms and carried her back to the bedroom, releasing her on the bed.
“What are you doing?” she asked, letting her tears flow.
“I don't want you running out. I just can’t have you leave like this,” he said.
She threw up her hands in defeat. “Fine. I’m here. You tell her to leave, though, or I will.”
“I’ll be right back, then.”
Gavin ran out of the room and down to the kitchen where he found signs of an egg breakfast being started, but did not find Julia. She had clearly, finally, realized she wasn’t wanted there. Back up in the bedroom, he found Sophie at the window seat looking out at the backyard.
“She’s gone,” he said and was disturbed when Sophie kept her eyes away from him. “I swear to you, Sophie, though it may look bad, that’s all it is—appearance. I know you know that in your heart.”
“Were you trying to punish me for taking that work trip?” she asked.
“What? No, of course not. I didn’t have a plan. I didn’t even know you’d be back today.”
Sophie glanced at him with watery eyes. “I wanted to make up with you. I wanted to surprise you.”
Gavin went to her and kneeled by her side. “I’m glad you did, darlin’. Honestly. And I’m sorry about all this. About how I reacted. I was happy to see you and then you got the wrong idea and I just reacted badly. I’d never do anything to jeopardize us. You do know that, right?”
She took a shaky breath and watched him. It seemed she always had the ability to read him, to read what was in his heart. Sophie was the one who could do that, not Julia. Hell, Julia hadn’t even been able to read whether he wanted to fuck her. If she couldn’t understand that, how could she know anything else about him.
“I really hate that she was in my kitchen,” she said with a pitiful laugh.
Gavin smiled as relief coursed through him. “I’ll burn the whole thing down and we’ll start from scratch, yeah?”
She nodded with a weak smile.
Pulling her into his arms, he held her tightly, vowing never to be so petty and stupid again.
End of Excerpt
About the Author
Lara Ward Cosio is the author of the Rogue Series - books that feature complex, flawed, and ultimately redeemable rockers, and the women they love. When not writing, Lara can be found chasing he
r daughters around the house or at the beach, always with music on in the background.
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