tiny conscience acting as the voice of reason, shouting its own twisted version of utter dismay.
They’re complete strangers!
It was too late though, the damage was done. I had a couple of scorching hot guys coming back to my place later, men who were willing to drag my new Christmas tree up to my loft and help set it up.
Hey, there were certainly worse problems.
“Fine,” Brock said, his blue eyes glowing with life. He winked at me before turning away. “We’re coming hungry then.”
Seven
SLOANE
I hadn’t cooked for someone in a very long time, much less multiple someones. Drake enjoyed dining out and ordering in, and sometimes he even dabbled in making meals for us. On the rare occasions I tried returning the favor, he passionately hated everything I made. Worst of all, he made sure I knew it too.
For those reasons I’d sort of fallen out of my cooking game. Now that the asshole was gone however, I was determined to get back in.
I’d spent the rest of the afternoon picking up ingredients and other odds and ends. I bought a new Christmas tree-stand, and even a pretty new ruffled skirt. When I felt a little more in the holiday spirit, I’d go out and buy all new ornaments again to replace the ones crushed by the garbage truck’s compactor. It would be a fresh start. A new beginning.
DING!
A musical chime sounded on my intercom, and I pressed the speaker button. Valerio’s voice came through, loud and clear:
“Big Fucking Tree Delivery Service.”
I laughed out loud, licking marinara sauce off my fingers.
“How big?” I called into the speaker.
“Real big.”
“Big enough to fit my space?” I teased.
“Buzz us in and find out.”
Us…
My stomach did a sexy somersault, just thinking about that one little word. This could almost be a date, really. Girl goes Christmas tree shopping, girl meets a really hot guy. Guy invites himself over. Girl cooks dinner…
Who the hell knew what could happen next in a situation like that?
Yet how much of a ‘date’ could it really be when it wasn’t one-on-one? None of course, and that was the only disappointing part. Having a couple of gorgeous men over was flattering, and I was pretty sure one or even both of them liked me. Maybe they were even waiting for me to pick one of them…
“This thing is heavy, ma’am,” Valerio teased from the lobby. “If you’d like we could deliver it to another address—”
BZZZZT!
I pressed the unlock button, letting them into the lower lobby. Dinner was almost finished. I’d picked up some wine, both red and white, and I’d even stocked the fridge with beer — both light and regular. Drake never drank beer so I was trying to cover all the bases.
Rather than wait for a knock at the door, I propped it open in anticipation of my tree. It came no less than two minutes later, as Brock dragged the very top of the big douglas fir through my doorway and paused to look around.
“Wow,” he said. “You weren’t kidding. This place is big!”
“Can you keep it moving?” I heard Valerio say from the hallway.
They continued onward, feeding the tree into my apartment foot by foot. It seemed like it would never end! The air — previously filled with the heady scent of chicken cutlet and tomato sauce — was now pregnant with the wonderful fragrance of pine needles that I always associated with Christmas.
“Where do you want it?” Valerio asked, smirking like he couldn’t wait to get the line out.
“The corner over there,” I pointed. “I already laid out a tree skirt.”
He pushed on, dragging the tree even further. He wore tight black jeans and a hot red shirt that peeked out beneath his leather jacket. I was checking him out from the rear as he passed by, when suddenly:
“Hey beautiful.”
I whirled in surprise and saw Kade, holding up the back end of the tree. With a mighty flex of his two big arms he pulled the last part inside, then kicked the door shut behind him with the toe of his boot. He smiled at me as he lumbered past, a dark-haired giant with a chiseled, square-set jaw.
“Hope you don’t mind that we brought him,” Brock called back from the other side of the loft. “He insisted though. Especially once he found out there was food involved.”
“No, not at all,” I grinned back. “The more the merrier.”
“Good,” Valerio grunted. “Besides, this is a big job. And it’s gonna take—”
He grunted again as the three of them