After dinner, Nathan had convinced Jason to hit up a sports bar.
“One of the few sucky things about the new house is that we only have a TV in the main room,” Nathan griped good-naturedly. “And I’m assuming you don’t want to cuddle up on my bed and watch the game on my laptop.”
“Well you are getting a bit soft and cuddly up here. They not making you guys do PT every morning?”
“Shut up. I’m going to kick your ass on a ten mile run tomorrow. And then we’re going to cuddle as your punishment.”
Jason snorted and ordered another round of beers. If he got the guy drunk enough, he might have a chance of winning that race.
Two hours later, as they piled out of Jason’s car—driven home by a handy service the bartender had recommended—Nathan was still talking shit about running.
But the second they stepped inside, his buddy’s attitude fell away, because Emme was bent over on the couch, her head between her knees.
“What’s going on?” Nathan asked, one hundred percent concerned partner. As he should be.
Jason hung back and tried not to get in the way as his friend knelt in front of Emme, whispering with her for a minute before they stood up and moved through the living room to the bedrooms at the back of the house.
The blonde woman on the couch stood up. “I’m Nikki, by the way. A friend of Emme’s. She just got hit by a wave of nausea. I’m sure she’s going to be fine…”
He nodded. Should he stick around? He couldn’t drive, but he could cab it back to the hotel.
From the kitchen, another female voice rang out. “I don’t see any ginger ale. Or ginger tea, or ginger root…”
Nikki moved past him and headed for the kitchen, so he followed.
“Not sure it matters, honey. Emme might be down for the count. Nathan’s back and has taken over,” Nikki said.
She might have said a bit more, but Jason had stopped listening. In front of him was a pair of legs that went on for miles.
Bare feet, pressed up on tip-toe, as the woman the legs were attached to looked for something in the cupboard. Tea, right. Or ginger ale, which was no longer needed. He was catching up, but he kept getting distracted by the bare skin. Bare legs, curvy and smooth, and long. So long, his eyes were still dragging up them when they started to turn.
He got to her hands just in time for them to stop their animated wave and get propped on what looked like soft, squeezable hips.
And then she cleared her throat.
Julie was ready to give this random guy a piece of her mind—but when he looked up at her, and she got her first full look at his chiseled jaw and piercing grey eyes, she forgot what she was going to say. Because when he was finally looking at her, those eyes finally where they belonged—not on her ass—she realized he had a solid six inches on her. And he was gorgeous. And still looking at her.
But the height thing was extra impressive, and didn’t hurt in softening her bite, either.
Nobody had six inches on her.
Hello.
So it was kind of shallow to let him eye her legs.
Really shallow.
Whatever.
This guy was hot.
And she was about to do something about that lucky fact when Nikki leapt in front of him, blocking Julie’s view. “Hey, friend, can I talk to you for a second?”
Julie squinted at her. Was she crazy? “Now?”
“Yes. Now. Because I have a mandate, remember?”
Mandate…nope, that wasn’t ringing any bells. She peeked around her friend and winked at the cute guy. He blinked, then gave her a max-relax grin right back when he realized she wasn’t going to snap at him. Hello, Rebound Guy—oh. Right.
She sighed and closed her eyes. “You’re cock-blocking me,” she whispered to Nikki.
“Afraid so, yes.”
“Because I asked you to.”
“Mmm-hmm.”
“That was a terrible plan.”
“Why?”
“Because he’s tall.”
From behind Nikki, Mr. Tall cleared his throat. “I can hear you. Just as an FYI.”
She rolled her eyes at Nikki, then pressed up on her toes and repeated the roll for his benefit. “Well, that’s just awesome. Nice to meet you, tall guy I can’t hit on.”
He laughed and leaned to the side so he could see better around the Nikki-in-the-middle problem they had. “That’s okay, I can do the hitting on for the both of us.”
Nikki shook her head and turned around, so her back was to Julie, who took that opportunity to give Mr. Tall her cutest smile. He laughed at her over the top of his beer bottle, his eyes sparkling. “Your friend here is giving me the evil eye. What should we do about that?”
She wanted to suggest a dozen different blush-inducing ideas, but the truth was, Nikki was probably right. She swallowed hard and shook her head. “Nothing, I’m afraid.” She gave him a look that promised she wished it weren’t how it was. But it was. And she…might be tipsy. “I just got dumped this morning. By text message. I’m not in the right headspace for flirting.”
He gave her a pained expression. “What an ass. I’m sorry.”
She shrugged. “I’ll get over him.”
It was certainly truer now than it had been twelve hours earlier.
He winked again. “And when you do, you ask Emme about me and I’ll call in a rain check on that flirting. In the meantime, I think we need some coffee before we do something foolish?”
Nikki groaned and threw her hands in the air.
“Where are you going?” Julie called after her as her friend headed back to the living room.
“Turns out I’m really terrible at standing in the way of true love!” she hollered back.
Mr. Tall laughed.
A man who wasn’t threatened by a random mention of love, didn’t mind that she wasn’t on the market tonight, and wanted to make her coffee?
She leaned against the counter and nodded. “Coffee sounds great.”
She smiled again as he held out his hand. His grip was sure and strong. His fingers were warm and calloused, and he only held the shake long enough to be polite.
Trying not to be disappointed, she watched as he opened the cupboards, looking for mugs. He found them in the second one he tried, and winked at her again before making first hers, then his, with the single-serve coffee maker on the counter.
“Does your friend want one?”
“No, thank you!” Nikki called out from the living room.
“You’re not the only one with awesome hearing,” Julie whispered over barely restrained laughter. “We’re flight attendants, we’re trained to listen for every little thing.”
“Ah. Me, too, with the listening. Occupational hazard, the paying attention to everything.”
Julie knew that Emme’s fiancé was in the Navy. Special forces, but they weren’t to talk about it. She figured this guy was the same deal. He looked the part—muscle corded almost every visible part of his body, from his forearms, peeking out from rolled up shirt sleeves, to his neck and those drool-worthy calves that stretched endlessly beneath his fitted cargo shorts.
He was like Rambo fell into a GQ photo shoot.
Julie liked everything about that. She took a sip of coffee to keep herself from saying something stupid. But when he turned and leaned against the counter next to her, she let herself enjoy the way her shoulder brushed his upper arm. The way his gaze kept drifting sideways to catch hers, and the confident glint in his dark eyes as he glanced down at her when she smiled back.
Glanced down. At Julie.
Ridiculous happiness fluttered in her stomach at the rare experience of feeling petite next to a man.
“I didn’t catch your name,” he murmured.
“That’s because I didn’t give it yet.”
He grinned at her. “But you will.”
“I will?”
He nodded. “Because you want me to call you.”
“I do?” She returned his smile. She did. “I’m Julie.”
“Jason. I should warn you, though, my job is kind of demanding.”
“Flight attendants know all about that. Makes new…friendships a challenge sometimes.” Although on the other hand, it made it relatively easy to visit someone in another city. Someone tall, and handsome, with an easy grin.
“Well, it just so happens that challenges are my specialty.” He winked as he tapped the edge of his cup against hers.
“Is that so?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Oh, mama. The way he said ma’am was enough to melt the panties off a nun. She was totally done for. “Listen, we’re staying at a hotel tonight, but we’re going out to brunch with Emme in the morning…if you want to come with us?”
He grinned. “Nathan said something about that. I’m at the Hyatt.”
Yep. Totally done for. “How about that? So are we.”