He nodded. “That’s right.”
“Let me guess,” I said. “You’re the bass player in a folk-rock band, and Snarl is a nickname given to you by your bandmates after a particularly bad gig in Capitol Hill.”
“Stop teasing, Lennon. That’s why you’re still single,” Granny chided.
“Snarl? As in the verb? To snarl?” I continued.
“It’s not my birth name, but it’s the one I go by. Besides, it’s not just a verb. It can also be used as a noun,” he replied. “As in, ‘although she was clearly dressed in the clothes she slept in last night and her hair was in asnarl, Shirley’s granddaughter wasn’t just pretty, she was beautiful.’”
“I knew the two of you would get along,” Granny said, and I knew right then she’d orchestrated this little meeting. The clogged drain, the whole thing.
I also became very aware of the fact that I looked like I’d just been shot out of a cannon. “Will you excuse me, please?” I asked, before casually bolting to the bathroom.
* * *
Snarl
Well, shit. Pretty was one hell of an understatement. And Lennon wasn’t just beautiful either, she was a full-on five alarm goddamned smoke show.
“She moves quick that girl,” Shirley murmured, reminding me she was in the room. “Always flitting about. Here, there, and everywhere.”
“Reminds me of someone else I know,” I said, helping Shirley back into her chair. “Come and sit down, sweetheart.”
“I think your clothes should be done now,” she said, looking like she was going to get up again.
“Oh, no you don’t. I’ll get ’em,” I said. “You just sit right there and take a load off.”
Shirley’s apartment, unlike mine, had an in-unit washer and dryer, so when I arrived earlier to fix her clog, then subsequently found myself with half a pan of frozen lasagna all over me, she immediately offered to wash my clothing for me. An offer I couldn’trefuse.
I made my way down the hall toward the dryer just as Lennon was coming out of the bathroom.
“Hey there,” I said. “I hope I didn’t embarrass you back there, I was just, uh…teasing. I mean, I didn’t want to freak you out or anything.”
“No, it’s okay,” she replied, clearly avoiding eye contact. Her hair, no longer pulled up into a tattered mess, now fell freely below her shoulders, perfectly framing her angelic face. “I shouldn’t have been rude about your name.”
“And that stuff your grandmother said about you—”
“It’s okay. Granny is always trying to fix me up with someone.”
“Oh, so I shouldn’t feel special then?” I said, feigning offense, butsecretly wondering if it was true.
Lennon finally raised her eyes to mine, gave me the slightest smile, and shook her head. “Nope. Sorry. You’re just another unfortunate casualty of Granny’s poor matchmaking.”
That wasit. Right then.
The exact moment the hunt was on for me. That single look from Lennon was all it took for me to know that I had to have her. She’d issued a challenge, and I would respond in kind. My next move had to be deliberate yet casual and executed perfectly.
“That’s okay,” I said, opening the doors of the closet which housed the stacked washer/dryer. “I’m just here to get my clothes out of the dryer.”
I slowly took off the loaner shirtI’d been wearing and casually tossed it into the clothes hamper. That’s when it happened. It was the tiniest little thing. A blink and you would have missed it kind of deal. But, as sure as the day is long, Lennon’s mouth opened. Maybe only by half an inch, but it was enough for me to set my hook.
Lennon
SNARL PEELED OFF the hot pink homage to Granny, revealing his perfectly sculpted, tattooed chest and abs, and for a moment I swear my soul left my body.He had next to no hair on his chest, and I had a sudden urge to run my tongue across his body. Maybe, if God had mercy on me, Snarl didn’t notice my jaw hitting the carpet. Maybe if God had even more mercy on me, he’d ignore just how hot I found this man to be.
I wanted to reach out and touch the tattoos spanning his pecs, but I forced myself not to.
“Can I ask you a question?” I asked.
