AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Despite her plan to get his attention and keep him distracted working, Ginny knew that the chances of Gavin scratching her itch were slim to none. So she hoped the apps would do the trick.Spoiler: they did not.
After another failed date with a cardiologist—they were attractive, charming and well-dressed, but the most boring conversationalist outside of flirty comments and terribly pick-up lines—she reminded herself of how the dating apps had failed her multiple times already. Ginny didn’t think that you needed a person to make your eyes roll back in your head or have multiple orgasms, she had enough toys for that. But every now and then, human touch made a difference. Fingers brushing over naked skin, tangling in her hair, someone saying filthy things to her while they fucked her—who wouldn’t want that?
Sadly, none of the people she met got past that first interaction. However, right then, she just wanted to be fucked and roughed up a little.
Something told her that Gavin Rhodes would be the perfect candidate for it. If only he didn’t leave the room every time she walked in or huff at the sight of her. Sure, he did look her over, eyes tracing every inch of skin she left exposed for him, but that was the most Gavin would do. Ginny thought they were making progress and moving past frustration and into friends territory. Maybe she got that wrong.
At least Bronte made a comment about her clothes regularly—“that color is so good on you” or “damn, I’d give anything for my breasts to look that good in that top!” and “you’ve gotta teach me how you manage to make something so bland look so fucking good”—and it made Ginny’s day. She knew that Bronte was a follower and a fan, but she also believed every compliment that came out of the blonde.
Seduction and attempts to get fucked aside, Ginny had hit a few snags with the event. The caterer they’d finalized had to back out because there was a death in the family, which meant she needed to speak to her back-ups and see if the price still applied. This already made her a little irritable and if that wasn’t enough, she had to discuss seating arrangements with Gavin. They’d put that off because Bronte insisted that “the boss will be the best person to help you with that”, which told Ginny that he might be as infuriating as most brides she worked with.
Nevertheless, she’d put extra effort into her clothes and hair that day. The cream dress with dark brown vertical stripes was one of her newer purchases, and it fit her so perfectly Ginny was tempted to buy more if they had them in different colors. Short bell sleeves covered her biceps, while the deep neck put her cleavage on display. With a tucked in waist and buttons running down the flared bottom half of the dress, Ginny knew she looked good. She’d paired it with sneakers, light makeup and let her freshly washed hair fall down past her shoulders.
Walking into the shelter with Copper in her carrier, Ginny was startled to find pandemonium in the lobby. “What’s going on?”
“Abandoned animal alert,” Bronte announced as she came down the hallway where the offices were located, strapping a backpack on. “I’m sorry I can’t be here to help.”
“Saving that animal is way more important. Is Gavin going with you?”
Bronte shook her head, stuffing a duffel with water and blankets. “Spencer’s on his way to pick me and some of the volunteers up.”
“I bet he’s not pleased,” Ginny murmured. She was pretty sure Gavin tooksaving abandoned animalsvery seriously and to be stuck with her instead of being out there would definitely have annoyed him enough.
“He’ll be fine. Besides, once we pick them up and Spencer takes a look, we’ll bring the animal back here. Gavin can wait until then.”
Ginny knew that between their combined irritable moods, that day was going to be an absolute blast. But she would never tell Bronte that or make her worry about leaving them together alone. She wondered how much Gavin had told his friend, whether she knew all of the sordid details of their past. Because Bronte made it a point to always be around when Ginny was at the shelter, working like a buffer or maybe even a shield to protect both of them from another fight.
“Hey,” Bronte said, putting a hand on Ginny’s arm. “He’s not in a bad mood, just worried. You just need to keep him distracted.” Both their eyes fell to the front of her dress and Ginny snorted when Bronte smirked. “You could wear a paper bag and he’d be distracted by you, but this certainly helps.”
“Thanks, I think.” Ginny shifted Copper’s carrier into her other hand when a loud honk sounded from outside. She peered through the window and watched Spencer hop out of his truck. Bronte released a shaky sigh beside her and then pushed through the main doors. Ginny stepped aside when a few more volunteers hurried out the door, tossing all their things into the back of Spencer’s truck. And then everyone piled in and silence descended around her.
“If you’re done daydreaming, let’s get to work,” a gruff and irritable voice said from behind her and Ginny rolled her eyes. When she turned to look at the offender, he was gone.
Lifting the carrier, she looked at Copper and shook her head. “I don’t know why you like him so much, he’sinfuriating.” Her kitten blinked slowly and then settled back into a ball.
* * *
They’d been working together for a couple hours in absolute silence. Bronte had converted one of the other offices into a large working space with a few big tables that were covered in different piles of papers. Each had a label signifying what part of the event it was for—guest list, food and beverages, animals up for adoption, music, venue, etc—and they’d worked through each one slowly. It soothed Ginny’s organized mind every time she walked into that room, even with the grumpy man sitting at the other end of the table, sorting through invoices.
When she told Gavin about the caterer issue, he’d released a long sigh and then nodded, but didn’t say a single thing. Sure, she’d offered him solutions as well and he seemed to trust that she would it done. Cedar and Copper, who were curled up in a dog bed, made far more noise as they played with each other between rounds of napping. And the silence was starting to get to her.
“Okay,” she said, slapping her hands down on the table. Gavin didn’t even lift his head, he stayed bent over his laptop and notebook. “This is getting out of hand.”
“I thought you were an event master, or whatever. You should have this under control.”
Asshole. “I mean you ignoring me.”
“I’ve got shit to do, in case you forgot all about the invoices you handed me yesterday before you left.”
Ginny tipped her head back, eyes slipping shut as she willed herself to stay calm. Dealing with the caterers was one whole headache, dealing with Gavin was worse. But she couldn’t turn into the asshole when he was being so polite. Passive aggressively polite, but polite. Juniper would be so proud of how civilized he was being.
“Gavin.”
He hummed softly, but still didn’t look at her and Ginny threw a pencil at him. It bounced off the beak of his ball cap and dropped to the table.Then, he lifted his head and those green eyes narrowed at her.Oh fuck, poked the beast.She’d been doing her best to ignore how good Gavin looked, because she wanted to be the one who had all the control. Except he was dressed with the intention of turning on every single person in the vicinity—dark brown t-shirt that hugged every muscle on his body, pecs and biceps in particular, black pants that showed off his toned legs and that damn ball cap.
“Did you throw a pencil at me?”
“Why are you ignoring me?”
