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So much man-meat. So damned much.
My voice strained as I mumbled, “Wow. Did you pay a football team to show up or something?”
“Del!” Teagan yelled from across the yard, wearing a massive grin with her gigantic blonde ponytail swaying behind her. Tea was a sass-ball, and I hoped she could do all of the talking and socializing so I didn’t have to.
Was that a shitty thing to hope for?
I didn’t know, nor did I care. I could socialize when required, but when not required, I was typically out.
“It’s been ages!” Tea threw her arms around me, and I gave her a less-awkward hug back. Ebony had always been the quieter of the two of them, so Tea was the one who came to chat with me when I had to knock on the door and check in with them.
“How’s that gigantic dog treating you?” I teased Tea, quietly checking the yard for said massive dog. Seriously, that thing was a monster. She said it was a wolf-dog, and I was pretty sure it could’ve eaten her if it tried.
Teagan’s grin grew wicked. “Like a damn queen.”
I fought like hell not to wrinkle my nose at the odd comment.
How would a dog treat you like a queen?
“Because that’s not weird…” My hands were all fidgety, so I tucked a loose strand of my platinum hair up into the messy bun on top of my head and sniffed the air, trying to change the subject away from massive dogs and their strange behavior. “Ooh, is someone cooking steak?”
“Yep.” Teagan looped her arm through mine, grabbing Ebony’s arm with her free hand before she dragged us both over to the grill. I tried not to drag my feet as we moved closer to two of the sexy skyscrapers I was nervous about talking to.
This was why I didn’t date; too much pressure. Talking to hot guys was awkward, or infuriating, or awkward and infuriating, so I tried to avoid it. Why put myself through that, right?
Teagan, of course, introduced me to the freakin’ hot guy cooking steak, of all things. Yeah, I was definitely drooling. “Del, meet Zed Lewis, chef extraordinaire. He pretends not to like you, but then he feeds you so well that you know he cares.” She let go of me to pat her hand over her heart as Zed snorted.
She didn’t give me a chance to introduce myself, luckily, before grabbing me again and turning Ebony and I. Tea swept her hand toward the gigantor sitting at the picnic table, who was still facing the field and hadn’t so much as glanced my way.
Awkward.
Tea either didn’t feel the awkwardness or just plain ignored it as she flashed me a grin and introduced him anyway. “And here’s the world’s hottest history teacher, Rocco Hughes. He’d break hearts if he gave anyone a chance, but—“
He turned around, shooting Teagan a warning look. “Tea.”
Hot freakin’ damn.
The guy…
Shit.
He was the prettiest dude I’d ever seen, on top of being one of the biggest.
Messy honey-blond hair, a scruffy beard, eyes as blue as a damned photoshopped picture of the ocean, muscles I sort of wanted to bite…
Crap.
What if she wanted me to talk to him?
There were dark circles under his eyes that told me he wasn’t sleeping well, and despite the gorgeous color in those sexy blues, his eyes looked dull. Lifeless, almost.
He was still the hottest freakin’ thing I’d ever seen.
“I’m sorry,” Rocco said, finally realizing I was there and flashing a tiny uninterested gaze my way.
Something about the way he smelled—like freakin’ heaven—made me inhale sharply, and my lips parted.
And then his eyes turned red.
