“Might as well. You’re a chick. You probably know how they think.”
She sighed. He could almost hear her counting to ten in her head for patience. “Look, you horndog. From what I hear, you’ve pretty much rolled every available woman in the gym.”
“Hey now.”
“Shut it. You like this woman, you leave off the sex.”
“Hope.” Great, now he felt icked out by his sister saying the s-word. He’d teased Theo about not being a virgin anymore. Was Hope? In this day and age, probably not. And now he wanted to scour out his brain.
“Listen to me. I know how women think. And I know you. If this Zoe has rejected you for months, it’s because she’s not interested in being a notch on the old Gavin bedpost. Say what you want,” she said hurriedly before he could interrupt, “but we all know you had a rough time adjusting when you came back. You did a lot of stupid things—and stupid women—before you realized sex and happiness do not go hand in hand.”
“What? You’re taking shrink lessons from Ava now?”
“Maybe I am. She’s smart, and I can admit I’ve been as bad as you, steering myself in the wrong direction for a long time. Heck, Gavin, you’ve admitted the same thing. You confessed it at the wedding, remember?”
“So?”
“So you can’t have sex with Zoe on the first date. You have to show her you want to be with her for more than that. So no slick moves. No trying to shove your tongue down her throat before she’s out of her car. Do something unexpected. Take her somewhere different. Somewhere fun.”
“Saying my bedroom is both fun and different would be immature at this point.”
She sneered. “Very.”
“Well, where the hell should we go? Dinner and a movie? That’s boring.”
“What does she like to do? Please tell me that you know something about her besides she has a great ass.”
“How did you know?”
“Ew. I was kidding.”
He shrugged. “She teaches software to doctors. She likes to work out, and she looks amazing in pink.”
“Keep trying. I’m sure something will come to you.”
He recalled other things. “She has a big brain. She’s into fitness, but I don’t think a run together will be much fun. She’s the competitive type. Instead of talking, we’ll end up racing to the finish line. Then she’ll get all pissed off ’cause I beat her.” Gavin had his faults, but being slow wasn’t one of them.
“What else?” Hope asked as she placed her dish and his in the dishwasher.
“Hmm. I’ve overheard her talking about plants a lot. She’s way into gardening.”
“There you go.”
“What? We should plant something together?” How lame.
“I know that look. It’s not lame.” Sometimes his sister scared him. “I happen to have access to an amazing garden that needs some tender care.”
“What?”
“I’m house-sitting for a friend.” She shrugged. “One of Cam’s clients. She’s loaded, and she’s into gardening. I’m keeping an eye on her place while she’s in the Caymans, and she told me I can do whatever I want. Part of watching the house means tending her garden. You want to come over and dig in the dirt with your wannabe girlfriend, go for it. Just don’t kill anything.”
“So you’re trying to use my need to impress a date to get me to weed the gardens you’re supposed to be tending.”
“That’s one way of looking at it.” Hope narrowed her gaze, looking uncomfortably like his mother. “Another is I’m doing you a favor by setting you up as a guy with game. Not just a player out to shag the next woman on his Do Me list.”
“Where the hell do you come up with this stuff?”
“Do you want the garden or not?”
