One Broke Girl (8 page)

“Okay,” I said as I sat up and smoothed my jeans-clad thighs. “What now? Do we pick out bowling balls?”

Bianca checked her phone then said with a smirk, “We will in a minute. Just wait.”

“For what? Are we supposed to start at a certain time or something?” We already had our lane; it was just waiting for us, the pins at the end seated perfectly on the wooden strip.

“For them,” Natalie said as she waved toward the bowling alley entrance. “Hey, honey! We’re over here.” She whispered to me, “I hope it’s okay that we asked Gavin to hang with us. You’re good with that, right?”

I spun around and saw two guys walking with Gavin, all of them talking among themselves and laughing. My heart slammed against my ribcage, and I tried to fight that attraction that made my senses open up, my lower belly throb.

The guy on the right, a bulky blond dude in the tightest shirt I’d ever seen, did that guy head-nod thing when he saw Natalie.

I disliked him instantly. Something about his smirk, his body language struck me as smarmy and self-focused. Not to mention those absurdly big gym muscles bursting out of his tiny sleeves.

Bianca leaned toward me as the guy came over and received a kiss from Natalie. “That’s West,” she said, obvious scorn in her tone. “Natalie’s boyfriend. He’s a total penis. I can’t stand him, in case you can’t tell.”

“Never would have guessed,” I replied, and she elbowed me in the side.

While the three men went to the counter to get shoes, Bianca asked Natalie, “Hey, who’s the other guy? I haven’t seen him before.” She kept her gaze locked on the jeans-clad backside of the third guy, a shaggy-haired redhead.

“One of West’s gym buddies. His name’s Rich. He’s nice—I’ve met him a couple of times. I figured he’d make things even.”

“Hm.” Bianca scrutinized him then shrugged. “Okay. I’m sure it’ll be fun.”

Ah, crud. Realization hit me—we were all coupled. The girls had set this up as a sort of triple date: Natalie and her boyfriend, Bianca and a blind date, and me with Gavin. My friend.

My very, very hot friend.

The guys returned and donned their bowling shoes. Gavin’s eyes raked over my shirt and jeans, and a flush worked its way across every inch of my flesh. That was not a friendly look.

“Hi, Anna,” he said in a warm voice.

“Hi, Gavin,” I replied. My pulse roared in my ears as he stood and peered down at me. “Are you a bowling fan?”

“Honestly? I suck at it.” He chuckled and shrugged. “But it’s a good excuse to drink a beer and wear these sexy shoes.” He lifted his foot in the air and wiggled it so I could check out his red-and-blue bowling shoes.

“Sorry, but mine are slightly sexier,” I said, pointing at my feet, which were clad in two-toned brown bowling shoes.

Our group moved en masse to the massive rack holding dozens of bowling balls. I must have picked up twenty balls, trying to decide which one would be the perfect weight to use. Then we proceeded back to our lane, and West jumped up before anyone else could start the game.

“Watch this, babe,” he said to Natalie as he walked with swagger to the lane.

“Get ready to be schooled by the master, everyone,” Bianca said under her breath.

Natalie shot her a glare, and Bianca gave a wide-eyed shrug in response. Then she turned to talk to Rich before Natalie could chew her out.

“How are you liking Edgewood Falls so far?” Gavin asked me in a polite conversational tone. From the seat beside me, he leaned back, his long legs stretched out in front of him. His thigh brushed against my knee, and I froze before I could do anything dumb like rub back.

“It’s much more charming than I remember,” I admitted. “When I was a kid, I didn’t appreciate how pretty and homey it was here.”

The background noises faded away as each pairing fell into easy conversation, only broken by our rounds of bowling. I learned about Gavin’s favorite music—rock—and shared with him my favorite food—lasagna. We discussed why cell phones, especially texting, were making society less social and more awkward. We talked about the space program and how we wished there were more funding to explore the universe. Our conversation flew all over the place over the next half hour, and I almost hated to interrupt it with bowling.

Gavin had been right; he was terrible at the game. But so was I. Most of my throws went right into the gutter, and he teased me about it mercilessly.

“Like you have any room to talk, Mr. Two On The Last Round,” I retorted with a smug grin. “You’re only ten points above me.” I sat down and said, “So…can I ask you a semi-nosy question?”

His brow rose. “Nose away.”

“What made you stay here? Why didn’t you ever move?”

He paused and studied my face for a moment. His eyes were completely unveiled before me, and I could practically read the thoughts flickering in his mind. He was trying to decide if I was asking a sincere question or going to make a point about him being a small-town guy. Apparently he settled on the former. “I like it here. Yeah, it’s not the biggest place in the world. But if I’m ever in a hard spot, my neighbors will lend me a hand. I feel like I belong. There’s a sense of community here you don’t find in a big city.”

Hm. Good points. I loved city life. And to some degree, I liked the fact that I was just another anonymous person in New York—that my business was my own and I didn’t need to worry about strangers gossiping about me.

But back in the city, I hadn’t found friends like Natalie or Bianca. And the cost of living was so expensive there that we couldn’t have made it work, even if we could have stayed. I wouldn’t have seen Ohio transition into autumn. Wouldn’t have learned the satisfaction of hard work.

And I wouldn’t have gotten to know Gavin.

“Do you like teaching?” I asked.

“Love it.” His answer was quick, honest. “It wasn’t what I wanted to do as a kid, but I’m glad I found a job I enjoy. I’m lucky.”

Interesting. My curiosity was piqued. “What did you want to do instead?”

“You’re up, Gavin,” Rich said in a sullen voice as he thunked in the seat beside Bianca, whose face quirked with amusement. Apparently his round hadn’t gone well. His score popped up on the screen—yup, only three pins knocked down.

Gavin stood, grabbed his bowling ball and got to the top of the lane. I saw his back muscles flex beneath his shirt and my mouth grew dry. He drew his arm back, released the ball, and it went flying down the center of the lane.

“A strike!” Natalie cried out, clapping. “Kick ass, Gavin! First strike of the night!”

He sent her a warm smile, and then his eyes swept over me in an almost physical caress. “Mr. Two On The Last Round gets a name upgrade,” he murmured.

I swallowed as the searing heat from his thigh poured into mine. Our legs were pressed full-on together now. “You got it, Mr. Big Ball.”

His lips twitched. “Not quite what I had in mind.”

I stood and grabbed my ball. Aimed and flung it. It thunked and bounced but stayed in the lane this time, and I knocked out five pins. “Whoo!” I said as I thrust my arms in the air and wiggled my body. “Suck it, haters. Check out that foxy action.”

Bianca snorted. “Someone’s getting drunk on power.”

“Yeah, yeah. Knock down those other five pins and
then
we’ll talk,” Natalie said with a mock eye roll, but she shot me a smile.

The ball returned to me. I stopped, drew in a slow breath. Tossed it down the lane…and knocked down four.

Hell, that was still nine. I’d take it. I strutted back to the seat.

Gavin’s grin was wide. “Well done.”

“So, you didn’t answer my question,” I said breathlessly, leaning toward him. I allowed myself the momentary luxury of breathing in the scent of his skin, his cologne. Funny how I had grown to crave that particular smell. “What did you want to be when you were a kid?”

“A bull rider.” His delivery was so deadpan I couldn’t tell if he was serious or not.

“For real?”

He nodded, and I had an image of his powerful thighs straddling a massive bull as he gyrated, in command of the wild beast. That totally alpha male image made my sex throb. “That’s quite different than herding five-year-olds,” I said in a hoarse tone. Shit. I cleared my throat.

His gaze raked my face, and his eyes grew hooded. “I have lots of varied interests.”

“Me too.” Including a serious interest in him.

West won the game, and the shit-eating grin on his face was massive.

Bianca stood and stretched. “Okay, I’m done bowling. Let’s go get our drink on.”

Natalie nodded and threaded her arm through West’s, who tugged her closer and pressed a kiss to her forehead. Okay, I might not like the guy but at least he was somewhat affectionate with her. Rich raked his gaze over Bianca. I could almost hear his thought process—a buzzed Bianca would probably be frisky.

“Can you guys drop me off on the way home?” I asked. “I don’t feel like going to the bar tonight.”

“Aw, come on,” Natalie said with a small pout. “I’ll get you a drink if you want.”

I walked over and hugged her. “Thank you,” I whispered in her ear. “I really needed this night out. But I think I’m ready to go home.”

She squeezed me back. “Okay.” Then as she pulled away, she said in a louder voice, “But I don’t think we’ll have time to drop you…” Her eyes roamed to Gavin in a meaningful manner, and I almost groaned out loud at the heavy-handedness.

“Never mind, I can walk—” I started.

“Let me take you home,” Gavin said in a firm tone. “You shouldn’t walk alone this late at night. I was gonna head out anyway.”

“You sure?” I asked in a hesitant tone. My pulse kicked up.

His eyes were serious as he said, “Absolutely. Let’s go.”

Gavin pulled into my driveway. The car rumbled in idle as we sat in the warmth for a moment, both of us quiet.

“Thanks for the ride,” I finally said. “I appreciate it.”

“No problem.” His voice was just as soft as mine.

I pressed my hands to my belly, aware that I was way more nervous than I should have been with a mere friend. Who was I kidding? I wasn’t sexually attracted to any of my friends. Hell, I was pretty sure I’d never been this attracted to Steven. This was so messed up and crazy.

“Well, I guess I should go inside,” I replied. Though I didn’t want to. I wanted to keep on talking to him. Pick his brain more.

“Okay.” I could barely see his eyes in the dim light, but the glow from the dashboard highlighted the lines of his face. The plumpness of his lower lip. The angle of his jaw and bump of his Adam’s apple.

“Wanna go for a walk?” I blurted out.

“Oh. Sounds good.” He turned the car off, and we got out.

I turned left past my duplex, and he walked beside me, our strides in rhythm. The only sounds in the air were the skittering of dry leaves across the street and our feet crunching on the ones on the sidewalk.

“Are you ready for Halloween tomorrow?” I asked him.

He chuckled. “Yeah, I got my orange and black lights out and ready to go. For trick-or-treating, I open my garage and make it into a sort of haunted house, complete with strobe lights and a fog machine. The kids love it.”

“Sounds awesome. That makes me want to come over and see it too,” I admitted.

“If you’re not doing anything, help me hand out candy. We get a ton of traffic on my street, so I could use the assist.”

My regret was stronger than it should have been. “I would, but I have to work in the evening.” The pizza joint had called me earlier and asked if I could deliver tomorrow night instead of tonight. Which meant I didn’t have to spend any of my money on Halloween candy to avoid looking like a cheap putz. But it also meant I was going to miss spending more time with Gavin.

Though with as much sexual attraction I had for him, that was probably not the worst thing ever.

“How many jobs are you working now?” he asked in a light tone.

“Oh. Uh, a few. I do a lot of things here and there.” I gave an awkward chuckle and wrapped my arms tighter around my torso. Warm yellow light from streetlamps lit the sidewalk up in front of us, and we were surrounded by large trees on the yard and tree lawn. Naked branches stretched over our heads and formed an arc.

“I was wrong about you,” Gavin said.

“What do you mean?”

I heard him exhale through his nose. “When I first saw you, in your designer clothes and jewelry and whatever, I thought you were…”

“Were what? Go ahead and say it.” I knew what he was gonna say, but some self-torturing part of me needed to hear it.

“I thought you were a bit of a snob,” he said evenly. “That you would quit the cafeteria job within a few days because you’d think you were too good to do it.”

I didn’t reply, but my chest stabbed with pain. Because frankly, he was right in a way—the old me, before our family’s severe income change, would have laughed at the thought of working as a lunch lady. It would have been far, far below me.

The new me was fully aware that any money was good money. Frankly, I couldn’t afford to be a snob.

Gavin touched my arm and tugged me to a stop. He was inches from me, his mouth tantalizingly close. “I feel bad, Anna. I was wrong about you and I wanted to admit it. You’re not a snob, and you’re not a flake. You work hard.” His breath puffed on my face, and I could smell a hint of mint.

My stomach tightened in response to his proximity. The desire to push up on my toes and close the distance between our lips was so strong.
Don’t forget about Steven,
I reminded myself. I had a boyfriend. Though the thought of him didn’t fill me with emotion the way Gavin did.

Steven had never made my skin tingle this way. I’d never been this hungry to know everything about him.

Gavin’s hand slid down my arm to cup my fingers. The gesture was simple but powerful. He squeezed my hand. “Sorry. I just figured I’d tell you because I felt bad about my assumption and needed to own it. That’ll teach me to be so judgmental.”

“Thank you.” All my feelings were in my voice, and I squeezed his hand back. “I really appreciate your honesty.” I had to admit, his words had a balmy effect on my soul. Instead of feeling embarrassed about the work I was doing, I allowed pride to flit in, fill me. He was right about how hard I worked.