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“Because the last time you went there, you flirted with him and he got nothing done.”
Despite Spencer’s insistence that he and Bronte were justfriends, he knew his brother got flustered around the blonde. She had no filter and said whatever was on her mind, which sometimes sounded more like innuendo than anything else.
“I can’t help that your brother is hot and clearly wants a piece of me, but won’t do anything about it.”
He chuckled and held his hands out for the puppy, which Bronte hesitatingly handed over. The puppy opened her eyes, blinked and yawned and Gavin held his breath. Bronte stood pressed against his side, both of them watching the puppy squirm around before looking up at them. She let out a softyipand Gavin’s heart lurched. Bronte squealed softly and he chuckled, tucking the puppy to his chest when a familiar voice filled the room.
“I’m looking for Gavin Rhodes.”
Gavin and Bronte turned and his heart stalled at the woman standing in his place of work. He heard Bronte whistle softly as Ginny’s eyes swung to him, then down to the puppy. But he couldn’t take his eyes off her. Every curve was on display and Gavin was torn between wanting to kiss that mouth covered in dark red lipstick and bury his face in her beautiful breasts. Dressed in an animal print skirt that fell to her calves and a faded black Jack Daniel’s t-shirt tied at her waist, she was still a wet dream come to life. Her dark hair framed her face and fell to her shoulder in waves. He let his eyes drop to her feet, lips twitching into a small smile at the sight of the well-worn Vans.
When his eyes lifted back to hers, Ginny was watching him with an eyebrow arched and he heard Bronte clear her throat.
“I’m just going to…” she reached for the puppy and then hurried away, leaving the two of them alone.
“Hey.”
“Hi.” Her voice was still deliciously rough, husky, and soothing all at the same time. “Can we talk?”
CHAPTER4
“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.”He nodded, looking over his shoulder where the beautiful blonde had gone, then pointed towards the hallway on the other side of the reception desk.
There was something to be said about being checked out head to toe by an attractive person. Gavin wasn’t the first person to do that, but he might be the only one who did it slowly and appreciatively. That and the fact that he knew what she looked like naked. Speaking of naked…teenage Gavin had been cute and handsome, Gavin from a few weeks ago had been sexy in his Santa printed Hawaiian shirt. This Gavin?Hotwasn’t the right word, he was delicious. Between the backward facing ball cap, the bare muscled arms and the toned body under the damp tank that clung to him—Ginny had to work twice as hard to make sure she was breathing normally.
When she walked into the pet shelter and saw Gavin and the blonde leaning against each other, laughing over the tiny animal in his hands, a surge of jealousy had run through Ginny. She’d been confused by the feeling, because she had no right to beanythingwhen it came to Gavin. Truthfully, she didn’t knowwhatto feel around him—arousal, frustration, irritation, desire were just a few of the things that lit her up.
Ginny followed behind Gavin, eyes drinking in the muscles rippling across his back, down to his thick thighs and strong legs that ended in sneakers.Horny bitch,she silently chastised herself. Ginny wasn’t there to ogle him, she was there for a serious conversation. Getting distracted by how well he’d grown up was not part of the plan. He opened a door and Ginny stepped in, eyes scanning the room that she assumed was his office. It was large and filled withso much. A large L-shaped desk took up most of the room that held an older iMac, mugs and half-drunk water bottles, along with files and stacks of paper that didn’t look like they had been touched in a while.
A beautiful brown dog with a white patch along its forehead and snout lay curled up on the old faded couch pressed against a wall that was covered in photographs. Ginny looked at the pictures closely and smiled at the various shots of the Rhodes family over the years. She’d known these boys through most of those ages and despite the memory of that last summer, she missed them. The dog lifted its head and Ginny smiled at how beautiful it was.
“That’s Cedar,” Gavin said, his deep voice wrapping around her like a warm blanket.
Ginny scratched the top of Cedar’s head and felt her smile widen as the dog’s eyes slipped shut. “Your office is a mess.”
Gavin huffed and Ginny glanced over to find him standing awkwardly as far away from her as possible. His hands were shoved into the pockets of his shorts and his eyes were fixed on the large window that looked out onto a wide-open space. Clearly her being there was as annoying for him as it was for her to be having this conversation, but she needed to do it.
After a night of wild partying with her friends on New Year’s Eve, Ginny had woken up just in time to meet Spencer for coffee the next day. Apparently he’d spent the day with his family and thought it was high time that Ginny and Gavin talked about what happened. Ever since she’d made the decision to move to Wildes to work with Frankie, Spencer would drop these subtle hints about his family and Gavin. Which meant that hekneweverything that had gone down that summer twelve years ago, he just chose not to talk to her about it. She’d asked again during their coffee date and he’d resorted to stuffing his mouth with muffins instead of answering the question.
“What’s the worst that could happen?” he’d finally asked, swiping the last bit of muffin like he hadn’t just asked her the stupidest question.
“I don’t understand why you can’t just tell me what went wrong.”
“Not my story. He’s my brother and I love him, but this is between the two of you.”
Ginny wanted to clobber her best friend over the head with her cup, instead she asked herself,what’s the worst that could happen?
Twelve years ago, she’d been in her ‘exploring my sexuality’ phase of her life and no part of her believed what she and Gavin were doing was anything more than a fling. Especially when he showed up every summer having grown a few inches and musclier than he had been the year before. Plus, Gavin always had something new to try and knew his way around her body better than anyone else. It was fun and lighthearted and, in her mind, it wasn’t serious.
Some of the best sex of her life, yes. But it was never meant to be more than that.
She was there in Gavin’s office because of Stella, who insisted that Ginny couldn’t keep avoiding Gavin now that they’d seen each other. And Frankie, who wanted all her friends to get along and wouldn’t stop annoying Ginny about it. And Spencer, because apparently it was imperative she fix whatever messhisbrother had created.
What’s the worst that could happen, indeed.
* * *
“I won’t take too much of your time. I’m sure your…uh, the blonde from earlier wouldn’t like us being locked away in here.” Ginny stumbled over her words, mentally smacking herself for being so nervous.
