he also had a smile that could melt hearts—if her heart hadn’t already been turned to stone by her ex.
Then there was that cock of his brow when she said something that surprised him. And that smirk, when he was being a smart ass.
But cute? No. Cute was for puppies. And they’d already had that discussion that he was no puppy. He was a full-grown military dog.
“Oh well. Too bad,” Shelly said, taking Alicia’s words about Brian’s lack of cuteness at face value.
It was probably better that way. Her friend would never understand her decision to keep things all business with him if she saw him.
Of course, remaining all business, just to support this fake and apparently on-going relationship, meant that the alcohol-fueled thoughts she had about a quick, meaningless, physical fling with him couldn’t happen.
Shame, that. It had been very tempting to invite him inside tonight.
Now that she had some distance from him to dilute the desire—and some water to dilute the alcohol—she realized how bad of an idea it would have been.
But in other circumstances—another time, another place—it sure would have been nice.
Her phone beeped and she didn’t have to look to know it was her sister calling again. She looked anyway and saw her suspicions confirmed by Jen’s name and photo on the display.
“Shell, I gotta go. My sister is calling.” No doubt to grill her about Brian.
Shelly let out a short laugh. “Have fun with that. Talk to you tomorrow.”
“For sure. Bye.” Alicia swiped to connect to the other call. “Yes, Jen?”
“Oh. My. God.”
“Problem?” she asked, playing dumb.
“Yes. You showed up here with a boyfriend—a hot as hell SEAL, no less—and I knew nothing about it.”
“Whoa. I never said he was a SEAL.”
“Jason figured it out. Something Brian said or whatever. I don’t know. Navy stuff. But don’t change the subject.”
“I wasn’t.”
That gave Jen pause, but she quickly recovered. “I guess not, but still. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“It’s still new.” That was the truth. “I didn’t want to jinx it.” That was a lie. “And besides, I get to have some privacy.” That was one-hundred percent fact.
“From your family? No, you don’t.”
And that was the problem. The reason Alicia had to go above and beyond all that was reasonable just to be left alone.
“Well, now you know.”
“Yes, I do. And now that I do know, you can bring Brian over this weekend for dinner.”
“What? No, I don’t think he’s available then.”
“I didn’t even tell you which day,” Jen pointed out.
Shit. She hadn’t.
“The day doesn’t matter. Like you said. He’s a SEAL. He could get called in at any time. To go anywhere. For a long time.”
Even if Brian weren’t a SEAL—he’d never confirmed it in so many words that he was—she was going to add that detail to their fake dating playbook, because it was coming in handy now.
“Fine. But if he’s in town, you two are coming,” Jen said in a flat, no excuses, tone.
“All right. We will.” Oh, no they wouldn’t. “I’ll let you know. Now can I go to bed? It’s late.”
“Ooo. Is he there?” her sister asked.
Privacy was just an illusion in this family.
“No.” And even if he were, she wouldn’t have told Jen.
“Oh well. Too bad.”
“Eww, Jen. Please stop talking about my sex life.”
Her sister sighed. “Fine. Whatever. I have to get to bed myself anyway. Jason bought me a basket full of sexy stuff for Valentine’s—”
“No. Oh my God, Jen. For all that is holy, stop talking. I’m hanging up now. Goodnight.” Alicia punched the phone’s screen to get rid of her sister before she could reveal any other horrors.
It was bad enough her mind had already conjured what might be in the basket full of sexy stuff that her sister and brother-in-law were about to use.
Yuck.
Reaching into the freezer, Alicia grabbed the pint of emergency ice cream she always kept on hand, snagged a spoon from the drawer and headed for her bedroom.
Hopefully there’d be a good movie on to cleanse her brain.
This—ice cream, flannel PJs, a sappy rom com—was the perfect end to Valentine’s Day . . . even if it didn’t involve her fantasies about Brian.
Better, because it didn’t.
Brian—and his muscles, and that jaw strong enough to bench three-fifty, not to mention that dimple in his chin—was a recipe for disaster.
No doubt about it. That man was dangerous. She liked her life just how it was. Nice and safe.
TEN
“Well, well, well. Look who’s just getting home.” The words stopped Brian as he rounded the corner of