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Gavin blinked and watched as Mileena performed a complicated move and knocked Kung Lao on his ass again. Of the three games they’d played, he’d won the first and only because he was in the zone. Once Nia distracted him, all bets were off. Straightening up, Gavin shook his head as Nia did another silly dance and he smiled as he watched her.
“Congratulations.”
“Thank you,” she told him with a wide grin as she stepped into his personal space. “You owe me ice cream.”
Gavin nodded, his arms cautiously winding around Nia’s waist. She didn’t usually show this much affection when they were in public, so when her arms slid around his back, Gavin took that as a sign that she would be okay with more. He slowly dipped his head towards hers and then kissed her. He felt Nia hesitate for a brief moment before she was kissing him back, their lips parting against each other’s as her tongue swiped over his bottom lip and into his mouth. His fingers curled into her back and Gavin resisted the urge to pull her closer, because he didn’t want her to change her mind.
“This is a place to play arcade games, not suck face,” a squeaky voice said from right beside them.
Nia broke the kiss to glare at the kid, a scary smile on her face as she said, “You’re just jealous nobody wants to suck your stupid face. Beat it.”
The kid’s eyes widened and he backed up quickly before running out of sight. Gavin snorted and released Nia, wiping his hand over his mouth. He always got lost when he was kissing Nia, or just anywhere close to her. She was the kind of woman that stole every breath, thought and part of your soul and he was absolutely okay with it.
“Ready for ice cream?” she asked, adjusting her baggy t-shirt and denim cutoffs as she smiled up at him. “Because I’m thinking I want three scoops, all three different flavors.”
“Anything for you, Nia.”
Hand-in-hand, they walked a few blocks down from the arcade to the popular ice cream shop on the promenade. Nia did get three different scoops, but got them in a cup so she wouldn’t struggle to eat them. While Gavin got two scoops of his favorite mint chocolate chip ice cream, knowing that Nia would ask for multiple bites through the course of the evening.
Walking along the promenade, Nia regaled him with stories about the bonfire party from a few nights ago and gave him all the gossip about new summer couples. Because he worked at The Crab Shack, Gavin didn’t always get to attend the parties anymore, especially when his shifts ran long and he was in charge of closing up at the end of the day. Which meant that he missed out on a lot of the fun stuff and he didn’t get to see Nia dressed in skimpy clothes and being the center of attention. But at least he got to have time alone with her like this and he wouldn’t trade that for anything.
“Take a picture,” Nia said, handing her phone over to him. Gavin switched his ice cream into his left hand and waited until Nia was leaning against the railing and then took a few pictures. He held the phone out to her, but instead of taking the device, she grabbed his wrist and pulled him beside her. “Now one together.”
Gavin smiled, hiding how giddy that made him feel because this would be their first picture together and he was going to cherish it. Turning the phone around, he hoped he was lining them up perfectly and he pressed the button. Nia asked for another and he felt her cold lips press against his cheek. When she said one more, he turned his head and captured her mouth with his, the flavors of their cold treats mingling as their tongues swiped and battled for control.
The kiss broke slowly and he felt Nia’s mouth curve into a smile against his. When he pulled away to look at her, her face was flushed and eyes were glazed. She took the phone from him and tucked herself in front of Gavin as she looked at the pictures. The shots of her were pretty clear, but the others were slightly blurry.
And yet, the fact that they looked so good together made Gavin’s heart soar.
* * *
Now
It had been three days since his phone had lit up with the photograph of Ginny and Copper. Well, mostly Copper with her head tilted as she stared at herself and a bit of Ginny’s face. Her dimple was very evident in the picture too, and he’d been staring at it ever since. It reminded him of that one picture they had together from Tybee, the one they’d managed to get printed despite how blurry and pixelated it was. The same picture he destroyed when he got back home after Ginny broke his heart.
There was nothing erotic or romantic about her sending the picture, but Gavin found himself sighing softly and smiling like an idiot whenever he looked at it. He wondered if Ginny meant to send it to someone else, but chose not to question it. In fact, he hadn’t even replied to her text because he didn’t want to alert her to the fact that she’d senthimthe picture.
The photograph kept him company as he did house calls and visits with Spencer. With all this event planning going on, Gavin should have been at the shelter working with Bronte and Ginny to finalize everything. But he also wanted some space from the woman filling his head.Andhe needed to talk to Spencer about this whole Ginny thing. The fact that his brother kept it a secret foryearswas infuriating and Gavin wanted answers.
Also, he was a little conflicted about Ginny. When they talked on the phone or texted, the banter flowed easily. When they were in front of each other, his blood seemed to boil at her presence. Was it because she was frustratingly alluring and distracting him from all the anger—misplaced as it was? Gavin and Ginny had talked, or attempted to, and it had gone badly. There was no hope of it going well again. Mostly because he didn’t want to talk about the past, or deal with the way she hurt him. Reliving all of that was so unnecessary. Or at least that’s what he kept telling himself.
Besides, these house calls were also about making sure that people were treating their pets the right way. Gavin had been to enough homes to know that on the surface everyone looked like good people who loved their pets. But it was only when you were in their house that you noticed just how unhappy their pets were. It was something their dad did when they were kids, taking one or two of the boys with him on house calls. The boys would not only play with the pet, but also report back if something felt off. It was part of their upbringing and Gavin knew that it wasn’t normal, but it was the Rhodes Way, and very few people had an issue with it.
“You seriously do this every week?” Gavin asked his brother as he twisted his hips and stretched his muscles.
“Dad did it, thought I should continue the tradition.”
They’d spent six hours visiting homes and farms, checking in on all the senior citizens who had pets. While most of them were healthy and fine, there were a few that needed medical attention. Spencer handed over prescriptions and Gavin offered chauffeur services if anyone needed to do a follow-up visit. It felt good to help and while it stressed him out to see animals in pain, Gavin knew that what Spencer did was important.
“You boys want your regulars?” Patty, of The Patty Melt fame, asked while peering out of the service window of her food truck. At their thumbs ups, she went back in as Gavin and Spencer settled onto one of the benches set up for customers.
The Patty Melt had once been a restaurant, but when rent started going up and customers stopped coming by, Patty took to the streets. She wasn’t going to give up on her dreams of serving the best and most unique grilled cheese sandwiches in America. Their dad invested in the food truck to help Patty get back on her feet and now she had a following. People from all over the country came to try her creations.
“So,” Gavin started, pulling Spencer’s attention away from his phone. “We need to talk about Ginny.”
“What did you do?”
“Seriously? This is about whatyoudid.”
