Thrown by a Curve by Jaci Burton Page A

summer, with crowds jammed in, the nearby arena filled with people eager to watch events, then come out here after to drink some brews.
    “This is awesome,” she said as they settled in at a burger joint. They sat at a table with a beautiful view of the water, the sun beaming in on her face and body. She felt warm and good, so she turned to Garrett. “Thank you for this. It’s been a great day, but I feel a little guilty.”
    He took a sip of the iced tea the waitress had brought. “Why?”
    “Because this is your weekend to be with your friends.”
    “This is my weekend to do whatever the hell I want to do. I wanted to take you out so you could do something fun. Did you have fun shopping?”
    She leaned back with her lemonade and grinned like a cat in a window filled with warm sun. “I did have fun.”
    “Okay, then. Let’s eat lunch without you having some guilt meltdown.”
    “Fine.”
    He shook his head. “Women.”
    “Shut up.”
    He lowered his head, but she caught his smile. God, he was sexy when he smiled like that. Everything south of her belly button quivered when he gave her that half-lidded look and wicked smile.
    The giant salad she ate ended up being delicious, as were the fries, and by the time they left, she was full and exhausted.
    “I could use a nap.”
    “Stretch out in the car on the way back and sleep.”
    “No. It’s okay.”
    “You can trust me. I won’t grab you or anything while you’re sleeping.”
    She turned to him and let out a soft laugh. “I didn’t think you would.”
    “I might ogle your boobs if you fall asleep, though.”
    She burst out laughing. “You are so unpredictable, Garrett.”
    “Yeah? Good.”

EIGHT
    GARRETT DROPPED OFF ALICIA—AND HER MOUNTAIN of packages—in her room when they got back to the lodge.
    She said she was tired and she wanted to take a nap. When she woke up, she promised to come find him.
    He made a few business calls, relaxed in front of the television for a while, then went downstairs to the bar and found Gray, Trevor, and Drew, who’d just come in from playing golf since the weather had warmed up.
    “You missed a great game today, Garrett,” Trevor said, motioning for the waiter to bring them all a round of beers.
    “Yeah?” Garrett pulled up a chair at the table. “I suppose you all kicked ass.”
    “We were killer out there,” Drew said, tipping the bottle and draining the last of the beer before answering. “Shot our best games.”
    He knew they were lying. They always lied about their golf games. It was tradition. “Sorry I missed it.”
    “What did you do?” Gray asked.
    “I took Alicia to the outlet mall. Then we went to lunch.”
    Gray arched a brow. “Shopping. How . . . exciting for you.”
    Drew gave him the once-over. “You sure she’s not your girlfriend? Because it seems to me she’s got you pretty well pussy whipped.”
    “Yeah? How so?”
    “She calls, you come running.”
    “In what way?”
    “When she wants you to work out, you go, right?”
    He leaned back in the chair. “Mostly. She does control my professional destiny in that regard.”
    “And you brought her with you this weekend,” Trevor chimed in. “Whose idea was that?”
    “Mine, actually.”
    “Oh.” Trevor took a long swallow from his bottle of beer. “Still, shopping? Dude.”
    “I wanted to get her away from all of you, show her the city and a good time. She was really nice to come along with me for the weekend.”
    “Isn’t that her job?” Gray asked.
    Garrett shrugged.
    “Whipped,” Drew said to the guys. “He’s either already in her pants or wants in them bad enough to kiss her ass.”
    Garrett shook his head. There was no point in arguing with them when they had their minds set in one direction. If they wanted to believe he was sleeping with Alicia or wanted to sleep with her, there was nothing he could do about it.
    “Why don’t we talk about you instead?” he asked, turning his attention to Gray. “What was