Labor of Love Read Free Page B

understand.”
    â€œYou don’t think guys with girlfriends notice other girls?” Jenna asked.
    â€œOnce you’re with someone, that should be your focus,” Amber said, but she didn’t sound as though she was totally convinced—and she wasstill eyeing the guys at the counter, with almost as much interest as she had for the pralines.
    â€œMy brother says even though he’s ordered the entrée, he can still look over the menu,” Jenna said.
    Her brother—the personal trainer—was five or six years older than she was and living with his girlfriend. If a guy was living with me, I would not want him still looking over the menu.
    â€œYeah, well, sometimes that can make you change your order. Just ask Drew,” I said.
    â€œI guess, but still it seems a shame not to be able to look at all,” Jenna said. “And I’m crushing on actors all the time. Does that count?”
    She’d developed a thing for Nick Simmons. It didn’t hurt that he was six feet seven inches tall. She had every episode of Gene Simmons: Family Jewels still saved on her TiVo.
    â€œThat’s just fantasy,” I said.
    And I didn’t want to admit it, but the guys who’d just walked in were sort of fantasy, too. I mean, I couldn’t see a college guy really being interested in me, and these three were definitelynot in high school. They seemed too confident, cocky almost, but not conceited. Hard to describe.
    I looked toward the counter. With one smooth motion, Red Cap removed his sunglasses. Our eyes met. From this distance, I couldn’t tell the color, but they looked dark. He smiled. He really did have an inviting smile—a smile that promised fun and maybe…more. As though suddenly embarrassed, or maybe he was shy, or not impressed with me, he turned away and said something to one of his friends. The guy he was talking to was amazingly tall.
    â€œHow tall do you think that other guy is?” Jenna asked.
    â€œWhich one specifically?” I asked.
    She glowered, because I was giving her a hard time. It was obvious which one she was referring to.
    â€œOver six feet. Easy,” I said. “Maybe close to six six.”
    I could hear the guys talking in hushed tones, not what they were saying, but I was pretty sure they weren’t discussing the pastryoptions. Maybe I’d picked up some of Saraphina’s psychic abilities.
    â€œI think we should probably go,” I said.
    â€œWhy?” Jenna asked. “We’re not on a schedule.”
    She was making eye contact with the tall guy. He’d removed his sunglasses, and his eyes were definitely a light color, blue or green.
    â€œStop that,” I whispered. “What if they come over?”
    â€œWhat if they do?”
    Okay, this was embarrassing to admit because I had at one time, after all, had a boyfriend, but the truth is, I didn’t have a lot of experience flirting. Drew and I got together pretty soon after Mom gave me permission to start dating, and you don’t flirt with your boyfriend. I mean, I never flirted with Drew.
    I was tutoring him in math after school—part of a program sponsored by the National Honor Society—when he said he was having trouble with a really complicated formula. Then he wrote out Dawn + Drew = x .
    He’d looked at me with those gorgeous blueeyes of his and asked, “Could x equal date?”
    And yep, as corny as it was, I’d fallen for it. Totally. That was the middle of my sophomore year, and we’d been together until our junior prom when I’d realized the answer wasn’t an absolute constant—that the equation contained hidden variables.
    â€œLook, I’m really not ready to deal with this.” I shoved back my chair and stood.
    Jenna rolled her eyes and did the same, while Amber closed up her praline box.
    â€œWhoa! You’re tall.” Tall Guy had walked over and was smiling at Jenna.
    Jenna