Not that his c**k had noticed, because it grew stiff under her stroking hand.
It was damned hard to concentrate on what he was trying to say to her when she was fondling his balls.
“Yeah. A thing. At my parents’ house.”
“Oh.” She let go of his dick and sat up in bed. “Okay. I’ll take a shower and get out of here.”
He grabbed her hand. “No. Wait.”
He pulled her back down on the bed. “It’s Mick’s birthday. Party at my parents’ house. My mom wants you to come.”
She looked horrified, like he’d just asked her to kill a chicken.
“I don’t think so, Gavin.”
“I told her you wouldn’t want to come . . . for obvious reasons.”
“Uh, yeah.”
He scratched his nose. “She’s kind of insisting. Said it’s time for you and Mick to bury the hatchet.”
She let out a laugh. “Yeah, he’ll bury the hatchet all right. In my back.”
She stood and stretched; her pretty ni**les puckered as her back arched toward him. “Look, Gavin, tell your mother I appreciate the invitation and the sentiment behind it, but no way in hell am I ruining your brother’s birthday party by showing up there.”
He leaned back against the headboard and crossed his arms behind his head. “Not even if I ask you to come?”
“Why would you do that? You know how it will go. Mick will be pissed.”
“We don’t know that.”
She rolled her eyes. “Yes, we do know that. I’m going to get dressed, and then I’m going home. You need to take a shower and head on over to your parents’ house.”
An hour later he stood at his parents’ front door, not at all happy he didn’t have Elizabeth with him. He’d tried to argue with her and did everything short of kidnapping her and tossing her into his SUV to get her to come with him, but she’d refused.
Not that he could blame her. This wouldn’t have been a pleasant event for her.
And that pissed him off. Like it or not, he was seeing Elizabeth, and his brother was just going to have to start dealing with that.
Which meant that he and Elizabeth were a package deal. No Elizabeth, no him. He pivoted and stepped off the porch, wincing when the front door opened.
“Gavin.”
Shit. He turned and smiled at his future sister-in-law. “Hey, Tara.”
“You’re leaving? You just got here.”
“Yeah. I’m leaving.”
She pulled the front door closed and stepped outside.
Damn, she was a beauty, her blonde hair pulled back in a long ponytail, her brown eyes clear and guileless. She was the sweetest woman he’d ever met.
Mick didn’t deserve her.
“What’s wrong, Gavin?”
He took her hands in his. “My brother and I aren’t seeing eye to eye right now, and it’s probably not a good idea for me to go inside.”
She crossed her arms. “What did he do?”
Gavin laughed. “He didn’t do anything. It’s me. I’m seeing Elizabeth.”
“Oh. And Mick has a problem with that?”
“You don’t?”
She laughed. “Do you like her?”
“Yeah, I kind of do. Don’t really know why since she tries my patience, but I’m no picnic, either. So I guess we kind of fit, at least for now. Mom wanted me to bring her tonight.”
“And you didn’t want to because of Mick.”
“Well, I asked Elizabeth to come. She begged off because of . . . well, because of everything that went down before. She didn’t want to ruin Mick’s party.”
Tara drummed her fingers on her arms. “Mick needs to learn to let go. What happened is in the past. Elizabeth fixed it and apologized. My God, he fired her. What more does he want from her? A kidney?”
Gavin laughed. “I think I might have asked him the same thing.”
“Go get her and bring her over here. If Mom wants her here, then she should be here.”
“I can try, but I’m not sure she’ll come.”
“At least try. You won’t get any objection from me, Gavin.”
“You’re a better person than most people I know, Tara.”
She kissed him on the cheek. “You just keep reminding your brother how wonderful I am, okay?”
He laughed. “I’ll do that.”
“I’ll go talk to Mick.”
“I’VE CHANGED MY MIND. I’M NOT GOING IN, GAVIN. THIS has disaster written all over it. Why don’t you just line me up in front of a firing squad instead?”
“Aren’t you being just a little overly dramatic?”
“No, I’m being realistic. They all hate me.”
Gavin rolled his eyes and got out of the car. They’d been sitting in the driveway for fifteen minutes. He was hungry. He came around to Elizabeth’s side and opened the door. “Get out now. If you don’t, I’ll throw you over my shoulder and carry you inside.”
She leveled him with a mutinous glare. “You wouldn’t.”
“Are you challenging me? Because you know I will.”
“Damn you, Gavin Riley.” She got out of the car and stood there. “I can’t believe I agreed to this.”
He took her hand and dragged her stiff body to the front door. “At least try to smile and pretend to be pleasant.”
The front door opened, and his mother greeted them. “I thought you two would never get here.” She folded Elizabeth in her arms. “Lizzie. It’s been way too long.”
Elizabeth’s stiff stance melted when Gavin’s mother hugged her. She put her arms around Gavin’s mother like a life preserver on a sinking ship. “I’ve missed you, Kathleen.”
Gavin never got over how cute the two redheads looked whenever they embraced. They could be mother and daughter, which is probably why his mom had always gravitated toward Liz. Of course Liz was so sweet whenever she was around his mother, something Gavin never could fathom. Her entire personality changed when she was with his family. She loved his father equally as well.
Of course now that he knew her history, he realized maybe she just liked having a warm family to come home to since she’d lacked one of her own.
His mother held on to Elizabeth’s hand as they walked toward the house. “Shame on you for staying away so long. We missed you at the holidays.”