“Ooh. Sessions. As in, plural.” He wiggled his brows, and she saw the old Gavin, all smiles and laughter.
“You okay? I missed you at the gym.”
“I won’t lie. I felt like shit for two days. But I’m better now.” He looked into her eyes again. “Seriously. I’m good.”
“Well, that’s too bad.”
He raised a brow.
“Because I have nothing to do withgoodboys,” she said, all innuendo.
“Oh. Right. No, I’m bad. So bad.” He put her hand between his legs, where she found him growing larger, filling out her palm and then some. “My balls are so blue, baby. You have no idea.” He nipped her throat. “While recuperating, I had a lot of fantasies about tying you up.”
“Me?” came out in a squeak.
He laughed. “Oh yeah. But you have to earn it. Let’s see you dance at my parents.”
“Huh?”
“On my puppet strings.” He held out a small padded shirt.
“What’s this?”
“This is called payback. And a chance for utter annihilation against the enemy.”
“I thought we were going to dinner with your parents.”
“Oh, we are. All of us are. You, me, and Zoe Jr.”
She stared at the padded shirt, realizing it was actually a shirt with a fake pregnant belly. “Huh? Oh no. No way. I can’t meet your parents pretending to be pregnant!”
“Sure you can. Look. I have to win this thing. It’s a point of honor. Besides, they can take a joke. Trust me.”
“No.”
“Honey, you do this, I’ll give you so many orgasms tonight, your legs will fall off.”
She laughed. “Um, I need those legs.” Then she realized she’d have an excuse to spend more time with him without seeming desperate. “Hmm. Well, there’s one thing. If you promise to go with me tomorrow and help, I’m in.”
She’d expected the guarded expression on this face. “Go where? Help with what?”
“A blind yes or no, Smoky. What’s it going to be?”
He narrowed his eyes, but she refused to budge. “Fine. I’m in.”
“Great.” She gave him a wide smile. “We can’t be up too late tonight. We have to be there early tomorrow morning. And I’ll need you for most of the day. Until at least four.”
“Fine. Sure. Put this on. We get one over on my mother, and you will have achieved legendary status. Oh, Theo and Hope will be there tonight too. They’re in on it.”
“Great. How is it I’m the last to know?”
“Come on. Let’s do this.”
After putting on the padded shirt and covering it with her own, now showing off her—oh dear Jesus—baby bump when she shifted just right, they walked to his parents’, taking their time while Gavin told her what to say. Goodness, but the elder Donnigans lived maybe minutes away from her house. She’d had no idea. A large tan-and-black Craftsman with a wide, cozy, wraparound porch, a double garage, and a nicely manicured lawn greeted them.
“They live here?” The house had to be worth more than a solid mil.
“Yep. We grew up here, but my mother’s been updating it for years. The place looks a lot different than it used to. I think I told you Mom sells real estate. She’s friends with a lot of bigwig designer types.” He sighed. “Frankly I liked it more when the floor was covered in Legos, but you’ll probably like it.”
