“No?” She forked a bite of omelet between her lips, cupped her hand in her chin, and chewed. She was enjoying this conversation more than she’d enjoyed any conversation since… Uh, probably since the last time I met him for lunch.
“No,” he assured her. “My body didn’t catch up with my bones until I was way past high school. At nineteen, I was still gangly. It wasn’t until I’d been in the navy a couple of years that I was able to pack on some pounds. Miraculously, around the same time, my acne cleared up. Throw in some Lasik surgery to get rid of my glasses…and voilà!” He held his arms wide. “That’s right, take it all in.”
Oh, I have been, she thought with a covert leer. All. Night. Long.
“Interesting.” She nodded, crunching a slice of bacon. Her stomach was singing praises to the chef. “I always imagined you were the type to shoot out of the birth canal, make the delivery-room nurses gasp and titter, and then exchange a high five with the obstetrician.”
He laughed. The sound was low and rolling. A good laugh. An honest laugh. The kind of laugh you could listen to for the rest of your life.
Whoa there, Sammie. That’s dangerous thinking.
“I can assure you, that was not the case.”
“So what then?” She cocked her head. “You’ve spent the rest of your adult years making up for the nookie you didn’t get as a teenager?”
“Why do I get the impression you’re calling me a manwhore?”
“Hey.” She lifted her hands. “No judgment here. I fully support playing the field. What’s love got to do with it? Am I right?”
“Tina Turner.” He nodded with satisfaction. “Nice.”
Although, in reality, the thought of all the women in his past made her want to chew nails. Or maybe use nails. Her nails. To scratch out their eyes. Starting with Janie with the really small… Grr.
“So what about you?” he asked.
She frowned. “What do you mean, what about me?”
“Were you always as beautiful as you are now?”
The piece of bacon in her mouth exploded in size and started choking her. She hastily grabbed the glass of orange juice by her right hand and gulped down half the contents. He thinks I’m beautiful? “You think I’m beautiful?” Her voice was wheezy.
“Of course.”
“There’s no of course about it.”
“Sure there is. You own a mirror, right?”
She glanced around, feigning confusion. “Is there an echo in here?”
“No need to rephrase a perfectly good argument.”
When she looked back at him, he was…smoldering at her.
And now he’s whipped out his tough, alpha, testosterone-y goodness!
Then, just like that, the heat in his eyes banked, and his mouth curved into a decidedly chummy grin. “Don’t worry though,” he said conversationally, spearing a piece of omelet with his fork. “I won’t jump your bones. I know you just want to be friends.”
She was pretty sure her mouth was hanging open. She was completely sure she was blinking. Rapidly. The room looked like it was lit by a strobe light. “I do?”
The look he pinned on her then was penetrating. Dark. That terribly intriguing warrior’s gleam was back in his eyes. “Don’t you?”
“No!”
Chapter 8
Ozzie fell off his barstool.
