No. Candy.
Cinnamon. His breath smelled like cinnamon.
I glanced over at Devi. She and the others were standing in the doorway, staring at us.
Max, ever the opportunist, snuffled into the hand of the hottest guy in the world as I stood there, dazed. I noticed the big, silver rings on his fingers as he stroked Max’s velvety ears, and the tattoo on his wrist, a pair of dark wings wrapped around his strong forearm.
“Come on, Max.” I pulled Max back so he could get by. “Sorry. He, um, likes you.” Normally Max preferred the ladies, but I could hardly fault his taste.
The hottest guy on the planet said nothing. He didn’t really get a chance before the ever-charming Devi intervened and herded all three of them out the door.
I set my tin of mini pies on Devi’s desk, feeling kind of windblown, like I’d just stepped in out of a storm rather than a light Vancouver mist. Really, a girl should be warned before a guy that hot gave her the most thorough eye-fucking of her life.
Did I really offer him pie?
Cherry pie?
Ugh. So fucking smooth.
I tidied Max into an obedient ball on the rug beneath the desk and willed him to stay put as Devi returned, shutting the door behind herself.
“I know,” she gushed. “So fucking hot, right?”
Um, yeah. But I knew better than to answer that honestly. The last time I casually inquired about a hot guy I glimpsed at my best friend’s office, she took it upon herself to hook the two of us up on a blind date. And when a hot male model gets set up with someone he assumes will be some equally hot female model, but turns out to be just some regular girl, things do not go well. For the regular girl.
Luckily, Devi didn’t even wait for my response. “Jesus, Katie.” She strode over, a takeout coffee cup in each hand. “What the hell?”
“I know. Max just bolted for your office—”
“Not that.” She gave me a no-contact air hug, then glanced down at my chest. “You look like a sexy drowned rat. Heard of an umbrella?”
“My hands were full.”
Devi scowled. “Do not tell me you rode your skateboard in the rain. I hate it when you do that.”
I rolled my eyes a little. My glamorous best friend had never understood my love affair with my skateboard. Of course, she drove a luxury SUV her parents bought for her and lived in her own suite in their giant house, so she didn’t exactly relate to my thriftiness. In the case of my preferred mode of transportation, she just saw it as risky behavior. Unfortunately, my big sister agreed with her. “Becca already gave me the lecture when I stopped to pick up the coffees.”
Devi set my cherry-vanilla latte on the desk with a little harrumph and eyed the mini pies with suspicion. “You’ve been baking.”
“Just some pies.” I flopped into one of the chairs facing the desk, which still had hot guy pheromones all over it. I sucked back a deep breath, savoring the lingering scents of cinnamon, leather, and the faint, intoxicating musk of a warm, clean male.
“Katie.”
“What?” I glanced up; Devi was studying me accusingly.
“Just pie?”
“And some scones.”
She raised a slender eyebrow.
“And a few cookies,” I added.
“What flavor?”
“Chocolate chip.”
“Uh-huh.”
“And pecan butter ripple.”
“I knew it. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Bullshit. You look…” Devi looked at me sideways. “Horny.”
“I am not horny,” I lied. Who wouldn’t be after getting eye-fucked like that? My head was still dangerously deprived of blood.
Devi sat down behind her desk. She looked gorgeous, as always, her dark hair smoothed out, flawless cappuccino skin set off with velvety red lipstick, sleeveless black top tricked out with a chunky necklace and leopard-print leggings, all of which she’d probably worn specifically for the meeting she’d just had. Fashion was just one of the many ways Devi built rapport with people.
I, on the other hand, considered myself coordinated if I managed to pull on matching shoes.
“Spill.” She gathered up the slew of model photos that littered the surface of her desk, stuffing them into a file folder. “I’ve got like ten minutes before my next meeting. What’s up?”
“Nothing. We just miss you.” It was true; my best friend had been pulling a lot of overtime, which was great for her career but not so great for me.
“I miss you guys too.” She reached beneath the desk and pet Max. “But that’s not the reason you busted in here.”
“Again, sorry. Just wanted to talk to you. I figured this may be my only chance to do it face-to-face.”
“Talk about…?”
I took a breath and sighed. “I think… I may be ready.”
Devi lit up, then caught herself and cooled her reaction. “Oh?” She was trying really hard not to jump for joy. It was kind of cute.
“I know you’ve been telling me this for a long time. I just had to get there myself.”
“For sure.”
“For so long I just wasn’t ready, you know? And then maybe I was, sort of, but I was scared. And then it just got easy to keep avoiding it. But now…”
“Now?” Devi fluttered her dark eyelashes hopefully.
I sipped my latte. “Are you sure you have time for this?”
“Hell, yes.”
“Okay. I think I need to go on a date.”
“Halle-fucking-lujah!”
“Alright. Ugh. I’m so bad at this.” Just saying it out loud to Devi made me nervous. Especially when she got all sparkly about it.
“What? Dating?” Devi sipped her coffee, waving a manicured hand in the air. “You always say that, but you never date. How do you get good at anything unless you practice?” She waggled her eyebrows, making me grin.
When it came to dating, Devi was a total pro. I, on the other hand, was pretty much a born-again virgin, more or less by default.
“You’re going to meet
