“How so?”
“In that, I’m not really interested in them,” I confessed. “I tried in the beginning. I asked about all the deals and the startups he was investing in—Istillask about the startups. Some of them are worth it. But then there are ideas I can’t help but laugh at because he and his partner have no clue what they’d have to do to pull them off.”
“Like?”
“Like backing what would have been the next Fyre festival.”
Buoyant laughter left Gavin’s lips. “Seriously?” he asked, and I joined his laugh with another nod.
“Seriously,” I said.
“Wow. Shit, I hope you talked him out of that one,” Gavin said.
“I did, thankfully. I made an entire chart of everything he hadn’t thought about, and he and his partner backed out pretty quickly.”
”Thank fuck for that,” Gavin said. “You don’t ever go on the trips with him?” he asked.
“And what? Sit at the hotel pool while he goes out to fancy dinners, cigar lounges, and meets other rich pricks?” I laughed. “I’d rather sit at home in my sweatpants and watch the home shopping network than think I was getting in his way.”
“Why couldn’t you go with him to the dinners?”
“Tyler says I’d be a distraction,” I said.
Gavin’s brows furrowed as he stared at me. “What?”
“He says the trips are for business, not pleasure, and bringing me would distract him from his job.” I sighed and pushed my hand through my hair, not liking where the conversation had gone. The subject had been a fight I’d once had with Tyler when he’d traveled to a few places I also wanted to visit—namely, New York City. I had argued that I wouldn’t be in his way, that I would take in the city sites myself, and that he would only see me back at the hotel at night. But that wasn’t enough.
He’d promised to take me on a real vacation there one day, though we still hadn’t booked that trip.
“Can we just… can we not talk about this?” I asked, frustrated that talking about it had nearly ruined my happy mood. “It was such a fun day. Let’s not ruin it with things I can’t change.”
Gavin’s grip on the steering wheel was so tight that his knuckles were white. I could feel his energy change, and I knew it was taking everything in him to hold back what he wanted to say. I didn’t know whether I wanted to hear it or not. I almost wanted him to scream at me and tell me to wake up again. I needed that push and pull. I wanted to fight with him, slap him, and have him haul me into his chest and shut my mouth with his kiss.
“Go ahead,” I muttered.
“With what?” he asked.
“Whatever it is you’re thinking,” I replied.
Gavin switched hands on the wheel. “I’m thinking about you sitting at home alone in your sweatpants and a messy bun, ice cream in hand, a cooking show on your television, and I’m thinking that that sounds more interesting than any business trip I could ever plan.”
A smile dared to show itself on my lips. “Really? That’s what you’re thinking about?”
“I’m willing to bet there are stains on the shirt you’re wearing and mascara smudges under your eyes because you forgot to wash your face,” he said, beaming at me.
My mouth dropped. “What—There is—well, not on all of my shirts. And how do you know that I forget to wash my face?”
“Probably take-out strewn on the coffee table,” he kept going.
“I clean up after myself,” I argued.
“I bet you only clean up the day before he gets home,” Gavin said. “Because you get to be yourself when he isn’t there.”
“So says the god with a maid that cleans up his messes,” I said.
“Yeah, she’s hot too.” Gavin grinned, and I couldn’t stop my own.
“Are you trying to make me jealous?”
