just point me in the right direction. Come to find out, the selection of beverages were all lined up inside the house and free for the taking. Once inside, I thought I was alone in the kitchen until someone took a deep breath beside my ear. With a squeak, I spun in place to find my nose only inches away from the biggest chest I'd ever seen.
"Can I help you?" I gasped.
The man was in the middle of reaching over my shoulder, not even needing to crowd me as he pulled a glass from one of the cabinets. He paused to suck in another long and rather obvious breath. Yeah, he leaned closer to do it.
"You smell good."
Awkward! "Uh, thank you?"
The sound of footsteps assured me we weren't alone, but I couldn't see anything around this guy's mass. Nicely-defined mass, but still more than I'd ever seen on one person. And he wasn't just broad, but also tall. If I had to guess, the man before me had to stand at least six foot four, maybe more. But like all the others, he had those strange-colored eyes. Unlike most of the people here, his were a lot closer to yellow than brown.
Just as I was about to bolt, the second man in the room pushed around my new friend's bulk, effectively shoving the big guy out of the way. When I recognized Ian, I breathed a sigh of relief.
"Just ignore Lane," he told me. "He was raised by wolves."
"Damn it, I'm sorry." The big guy sighed and headed for the fridge. "I was going to ask what shampoo that is, because it smells nice."
"And you were crowding her to do it," Ian pointed out. "Lane, you're huge, man."
So this was Lane, the giant Ashley's dad had told me about. I let out a relieved breath, trying to regain control of my nerves. Henry certainly got the large part right, but he left off the muscles. I'd expected more fluff and less rock-hard. This guy looked like he was his own construction crew, but a very nice-looking one. Seriously, there had to be something in the water around here, but I didn't want to make this sniffing thing turn weird.
"It's Suave. Strawberry Essence," I said as the last bit of panic dissipated. "You just startled me, Lane."
Ian chuckled. "He scares a lot of people. Even me, some days." He looked up at his friend. "Why are you terrorizing the guests, anyway?"
Lane grabbed a bottle of soda and started filling his cup. "I figured I should probably go talk to people since they're all here, but I was putting it off as long as possible."
Ian lifted his hand, stalling anything else. "You can hide in here all day if you want. Pretty sure most of them won't notice, but since you're here... Have you met Elena yet?"
Lane turned a very sweet smile on me. "I think I just did." Then he held out his hand. "You seem really nice. And you smell amazing."
I accepted it with an awkward bob of my head, thankful that he didn't try to make this any weirder than it already felt. "My pleasure, Lane. You seem really big."
That made him chuckle. "Yeah. I hear that a lot, but if you ever need any heavy lifting, you call me, ok?"
Ian slapped his back. "Considering she's still moving in, that might be an offer she can't refuse, bro."
Lane just shrugged. "I don't mind." Then he stepped back, his eyes hanging on me. "I need to go outside. Um, might as well get this over with."
Ian shooed him off, then turned to me. "I promise he's a good guy. A little different and much too blunt for most people, but you always know where you stand with him."
"Yeah, I just..." I paused to take a breath. "I'm honestly a little overwhelmed. I've never been to a cookout quite this fancy before - and I kinda feel like some spectacle on parade."
"You are." He reached over and grabbed the empty wine glass I'd left forgotten on his counter. "Ashley basically announced you as the person who can kick out anyone in Wolf's Run. Now, they all want to get a closer look and make sure you aren't too uptight."
"Me?" I laughed. "I promise, I'm not uptight."
"No?" He shifted a little closer as he reached for a bottle on my other side. "Red, white, or champagne?"
"White, please."
That got a pleased look, but he didn't move away to fill my glass. Instead, Ian's