The Bromance Book Club - Lyssa Kay Adams Page 0,35
he hadn’t shaved since Monday. Second, she liked it. Which he probably knew, because she used to tell him he was sexy when he hadn’t shaved.
He also wore the kind of outfit he knew she liked—loose-fitting jeans that hung low on his trim hips and a flannel shirt worn open over a snug T-shirt. He had pulled out the big guns. Good thing her heart was made of Kevlar.
“Hi, Daddy!” Amelia yelled.
Gavin’s smile grew as he waved at the girls in the back seat. Nervousness bled into resolve. The girls were happy. That’s what mattered right now. Thea would take this one day at a time for their sake.
Thea followed Gavin with her eyes as he rounded the hood. He stopped by her door, a quizzical pull on his brows.
Oh. Right. She was just sitting there.
Thea took her keys from the ignition and grabbed her purse from the passenger seat. Gavin backed up a step as she opened her door. With a swallow, he shoved his hands in his back pockets. “Hey,” he said, low and sexy.
“Are you growing a beard?” she blurted.
He smiled and dragged one hand down his jaw. “That depends.”
“On what?”
“On whether you like it.”
She shrugged and turned to open Ava’s door. “It’s your face,” she grumbled.
“True, but I would definitely have an opinion if you decided to grow a beard.”
The girls giggled. Bending, she unbuckled Ava’s harness. Gavin walked around to Amelia’s side and did the same with her car seat. Thea avoided his eyes as she pulled Ava from the car and set her on the ground. “Go see Daddy,” she said.
Gavin got Amelia out and hoisted her in his arms, then waited for Ava to slowly round the back of the car. “Hey, squirt,” he said, squatting to hold his other arm open for her. Thea held her breath as Ava hesitated for a moment. But then she exhaled as Ava willingly went to Gavin. He stood, both girls easily in his arms, and met Thea’s eyes over the hood of the car.
“Anything need to be brought in?” he asked.
“The turkey.”
His eyebrows did the quizzical thing again. “You’re taking a turkey to Del’s?”
“Del’s? What do you mean?”
“I just figured that since we canceled on my parents . . .” He shrugged.
“You just figured you’d make plans for us without talking to me?” she finished.
“It’s what we did last year, so yeah, I assumed we’d go again this year.”
“Yeah, Mommy, we want to go to Del’s,” Amelia piped in.
“I want to go to Del’s and play with Jo-Jo,” Ava said.
Resentment prickled her along her spine.
“Is that OK?” Gavin asked.
“No, it’s not OK. I bought a fresh turkey for us to have at home.”
“I guess you should’ve asked me first, huh?” Gavin said.
“Asked you first?” Her voice came out an incredulous squeak as Gavin left her standing in the driveway to carry the girls inside.
Thea whipped around and stormed to the hatchback. Did he really think it was a good idea to spend Thanksgiving with other people this year? And not just other people, but other Legends players and their wives? Right. That’s exactly what she needed.
Thea grabbed two grocery bags and carried them inside. She hoisted the heavy bags onto the kitchen island, wincing as the glass jars inside clunked against the granite countertop. Her eyes focused on a bouquet of fresh daisies that hadn’t been there when she left the house earlier, and she bit back a growl.
She started unloading the bags, pulling out more Thanksgiving ingredients that wouldn’t get used tomorrow, when she heard the door open. Gavin returned a few moments later and set the two other bags on the island.
“Hey,” he said.
Her hands froze inside the bag, fingers wrapped around a bag of fresh cranberries.
“Hey,” she said, resuming her unpacking, nonchalantly sliding sideways to get away from his heat.
“I put up a tarp.”
She looked at him. He pointed at the wall, now covered by a blue plastic sheet.
“Oh.”
“We’ll have to talk at some point about what we’re going to do about that.”
“I am going to finish tearing it down.”
Gavin cleared his throat. “About tomorrow.”
“What about it?”
“I’m confused. You’re the one who said you wanted the girls to have a good holiday. They like going to Del’s, and that’s what we did last year, so I didn’t think it would be a big deal.”
“It’s a big deal.”
“Why?”
“With everything that’s going on with us, do you really think I want to spend tomorrow with a bunch of people who are going to be