spectacular pecs. His hair was a bit disheveled, like he’d just crawled out of bed, and his jawline was perfectly scruffy.
The whole look—along with those soulful dark eyes of his—really worked for her. In fact, drooling wouldn’t be inappropriate at this moment.
“Wow. You look absolutely beautiful,” he said, his gaze slipping warmly over her body. “And I’m suddenly feeling way too underdressed.”
She laughed. “Not at all. You look amazing.”
He surprised her by flushing a little under his tan. Then, as if remembering he had something in his hands—which she didn’t realize herself until he held them out—he flashed her a grin.
“These are for you.”
Bree looked down to see him holding a bottle of red wine in one hand and a bouquet of flowers in the other. She suddenly wondered if this was the universe’s way of making up for all the crappy things Dave had done. Because she couldn’t imagine how Diego could get any better.
“You brought flowers,” she said breathlessly, taking the beautiful arrangement of red, pink, yellow, and orange gerberas as she pointed out the obvious. “I won’t say you shouldn’t have because these are too gorgeous.”
Abruptly realizing she was standing in the doorway, gazing at the colorful flowers like a complete loser, she quickly stepped back, trying to play it cool and praying she didn’t start crying over the fact that a man had brought her flowers.
“Come on in,” she said.
Closing the door behind him, she led the way into the living room, where Beth was waiting with a satisfied smile on her face.
“Diego Martinez, my sister, Beth,” Bree announced as she headed for the kitchen with the bouquet.
As she trimmed the stems on the longer flowers and filled the crystal vase that had been collecting dust in the cabinet above her fridge, she listened to the conversation going on in the living room, praying her sister didn’t say anything to embarrass her. Fortunately, it sounded as if Beth had taken the earlier warning to heart and was behaving herself.
Bree finished up with the flowers as Beth scurried in, a ridiculously big smile on her face.
“You said he was attractive,” her sister whispered, leaning in close. “But you never mentioned he was a smokeshow. He’s unreal!”
No, she hadn’t. And yes, he was, Bree thought.
“Is that your way of saying you want to stay for dinner now?” she asked.
Beth shook her head with a laugh. “No, I’m going. But I expect a full recap of the date.”
Diego wandered into the kitchen as her sister left, lifting his head a little as he sniffed the air. “If my nose isn’t making things up, it smells like you’re making chicken parmesan. If so, the wine should go perfectly with it.”
She smiled as he set the bottle that she’d forgotten to grab from him earlier on the counter. It wasn’t her fault. The flowers had rattled her. He was right, she thought as she glanced at the label. She couldn’t have picked a better vintage if she tried.
“Does your nose ever trick you?” she asked, handing him a corkscrew.
He chuckled as he opened the bottle. Damn, he made something as simple as that sexy. “Not usually. I can smell a cream-filled doughnut a mile away.”
Bree paused in the middle of grabbing two wineglasses from an upper cabinet, wondering if he was messing with her. Then again, Brandon could smell the other werewolves at the SWAT compound yesterday, so maybe not. She was about to ask as the apartment door opened and Brandon came in with a clatter only a teenage boy could make. When she heard him talking to another teen boy a moment later, she realized he wasn’t alone.
Bree knew without looking it was Kevin Lawrence. Brandon and Kevin had been best friends since kindergarten, and he was one of the rocks in her son’s life after her ex had gone postal and killed a man. While she’d been at her son’s side through it all, there were some things boys never wanted to talk to their mother about. Discovering your dad was a murderer and would be in prison for years was one of those things. Kevin had been there for Brandon and supported him through it all.
But as good a friend as Kevin was, there was some stuff Bree didn’t like about him. The biggest one being the fact that Kevin was the reason Brandon had been in that convenience store in the very worst part of Dallas the night he’d been shot. Brandon had insisted they’d only