I stare at her, mouth agape.
She giggles. “Heart, Rhodes. A huge heart . . . And to give you a chance, even if you’re a bit awkward to start with.”
“Not sure whether he helped me or not.”
“Oh, he totally scored points.” She tilts her head. “But it also means he doesn’t know we already met, does he?”
I shake my head, my cheeks burning. “Nah. Marco knew because Gio called him as soon as he could, then Marco was in my ear the minute I left the restaurant the other day.”
“I swear you men can be as bad as gossiping women.”
“You have no idea. Especially those Rossi boys.”
“I grew up with Ezra and the Cook brothers next door. They didn’t let us girls get away with anything,” she says, snickering.
“So, my son threw me under the bus in terms of being nervous, possibly awkward, and totally out of practice with this whole dating thing. Good to know.”
“Rhodes, if it helps, I’m in the same boat. I just hide it well.”
I nod and turn to go to the refrigerator before opening the door and checking inside, hiding the pleased—and relieved—smile on my face.
“I’ll have a white wine if there’s any in there. I’ve been kind of wired and a little nervous, so I didn’t want to drink too much before you arrived.”
Not finding any drinks, I close the door and look her way. “You’re refreshingly honest, you know that?”
Dee shrugs. “There’s no other way to be. If you’re always upfront, then no one can ever question your integrity. I’m honest in life, in business, in relationships—all of it.”
“Wow,” I say, impressed at how down-to-earth and open she is. She scrunches her nose and bites her lip, which of course has my eyes dropping to her mouth and my body getting ideas it definitely shouldn’t for a . . . Is it even a blind date if we know each other already?
“Is that a good wow or a ‘shit, she’s a space cadet—abort mission immediately’ kind of wow?”
I nod. “Definitely a good wow. It’s an impressed wow.”
She preens a little at that, and that small show of vulnerability warms my chest and eases my nerves. Dee doesn’t seem to be a woman who fades into the background, and it’s that self-confidence and backbone that draws me to her. But any guy will see a glimpse of a soft spot and want to protect it. It calls to the alpha male in me. “The whole way here I’ve been worried about what kind of woman Marco—and probably the crew, too—would set me up with.”
“Then you saw me.”
I make a point of looking down her body from her face to her toes and back again, memorizing every single curve as I go. My grin deepens when her breath hitches. “Yep. They get an A-plus for setups. I can relax now.”
“Good,” she replies. “Because in the interest of full disclosure, Ezra did ask if he could set me up, and it just happened to be the same day that I’d met you.”
My brows jump. “Did he now?” I ponder that for a second before moving across the room to Cohen’s big icebox, popping the lid open, and looking inside. “And did you know I was the friend?” I ask, my voice echoing a little. When Dee doesn’t answer, I straighten and look over my shoulder. I’m more than pleased to find Dee’s eyes aimed at my ass, and I laugh to myself when her body jolts as she realizes she’s been sprung. “Should I stand up so you can get a good look?” I say with a chuckle.
Thankfully, Dee doesn’t miss a beat, not even acknowledging the red blush tinging her cheeks. She holds her hands in the air, palms out. “Hey, any red-blooded woman would be a fool not to check out a handsome man’s butt.” She shoots me a cheeky smirk. “And to answer your question, Ez said your name, and I agreed straight away.”
My head jerks. Fuck, I like hearing that. “So, you’re a woman who knows what she wants?” I walk over to the island where she stands and pour her a white wine before handing it to her.
As luck would have it, Scotty bellows, “Dinner’s ready,” from the backyard, calling a much earlier end to our stolen time together than I’d have liked.
“Catch up later?” I ask, knowing I’ll track her down regardless. All of my worries about who I was being set up with vanished the moment I realized it was Dee. I just want to take the opportunity to spend more time with her.
She lifts her drink in the air and holds it there until I touch the neck of my beer bottle to her wineglass. “To not-so-blind dates,” she toasts. “And Good Samaritans who look really good in jeans.”
That last comment has me laughing when Jake and Harvey walk into the kitchen looking for us.
“It’s a small world, isn’t it?” Dee takes Jake’s empty seat. It’s the first chance since dinner and speeches that we’ve had to chat.
“It is. I had no idea that you were a Baker.”
I catch a hint of amusement in her eyes. “To be fair, my professional name is different. And it’s not like you know me as Dee Baker, is it?”
I scrub my face with a groan. “Need I ask what you’ve been told about me?”
“Nothing bad. I do know you’ve watched my videos though. It’s good to know you’re a fan.”
“Blame Jake for that. He showed me a few months ago, and I became a fan.”
She tilts her head. “Fan of my content or . . .”
I laugh. “Does it make me a creep to say it’s the videos and the host?”
A knowing smile appears. “It tells me you have good taste. But
