I study Jaeger some more and my gaze catches on full lips, trailing down to a very broad chest, muscled shoulders and arms, and—large hands.The guy has strong, well-formed hands.
A shiver racks my body.I have a weakness for men’s hands… and I’ve veered off course.I’m checking out men forGen,not me.But the only thing I’d complain about on Eric’s body are his long, thin hands.The rest of the package is so good, however, that I happily overlook it.
This is beyond annoying.I swear I know this guy.Did we go to high school together?
I wonder if Gen has noticed Jaeger.If Mason doesn’t work out, Jaeger should be put at the top of Gen’s list of prospects.
“—we worked at Heavenly together,” Mason says, and I tune back in to the conversation.He’s just told Gen how he knows these guys.
I take a seat beside Adam and Jaeger, leaving Gen the chair between Jaeger and Mason.
We order drinks, and I turn and listen in as Adam continues what must have been the conversation Gen and I interrupted when we arrived.
“I don’t know what he was thinking.”Adam shakes his head in disbelief.“Why would he cheat with prostitutes?Groupies, maybe—but prostitutes?Germs, man.Disease.”He mocks a shiver.“Just not right, even for a celebrity.”
Gen and I are entertainment news junkies.I run through my mental Rolodex to ascertain which trashy celeb Adam’s referring to.The pop star?Or the athlete whose prior reputation was as a virgin former choirboy?
It’s a tough call.
I lean closer to catch the details, right as Jaeger eases back in his chair, his shoulder inches away.His body heat crosses the short distance between us, and a pleasant whiff of shaving cream fills my senses, making my heart beat faster.He runs his knuckles down firm thighs, and a ripple of attraction shoots through my belly.
What the hell?I sit up, eyes trained on Adam.I haven’t noticed another guy since before Eric and I got together, and here I am, checking out one of Gen’s prospects, like he’s for me.
My gaze darts to Jaeger’s face and I wonder again how I know him.The more I look, the more familiar he appears.
Jaeger nods as if he’s listening to Adam, but he doesn’t contribute to the conversation.As though he knows Adam will continue talking without input from the others.
Adam’s overly chatty.That’s annoying.It’s a good thing Mason introduced the girl beside Adam as his girlfriend, because I already struck the guy from Gen’s list.
Mason pushes a spear of olives from one side of his martini glass to the other.“Why bother getting married?He should have stayed single.”He lifts the glass and takes a swallow.
Gotta be the athlete.The pop star isn’t married.“You’re talking about that basketball player, right?”I say.
Mason nods.
“He’s a bastard.”
A low rumble escapes from Jaeger.I glance up and catch a faint smile on his mouth.
The conversation slowly turns to skiing and snowboarding, and Jaeger’s shoulder dips closer to me.
“How have you been, Cali?”His deep voice turns my spine limp and spongy.I could melt from the sound of it and happily live as a sticky puddle on the lounge floor.
Wedoknow each other.“I’m sorry—you’re familiar, but I can’t remember how.”
He leans forward, elbows on his knees, head angled toward me without directly looking.“Tyler.”
Tyler’s my older brother.
It all makes sense now.
Images cross my mind of a tall, slender guy with blond, shaggy hair who used to hang out with Tyler during my freshman year in high school.
My gaze rakes Jaeger’s hard, well-defined, and heavily muscled body.Is it possible for a guy to add sixty pounds of muscle and a couple extra inches of height between the ages of eighteen and—?I mentally calculate.He’s gotta be my brother’s age, about twenty-three—no, Tyler skipped a grade—Jaeger must be twenty-four.
His hair is darker, but it was longer and probably sun-bleached when we were in high school.The guy I remember also had an unusual name, though I couldn’t say for sure that it was Jaeger.He was quiet, like this guy, and now that I look closer, the face is similar.
This must be the same person, and if it is, he’s filled out.A lot.
