She’d found a niche that paid well, that she enjoyed and that she’d found success in.
Not that anyone knows…
She thought about her mother, about the absolute horror that would show on her face if she ever discovered Jennifer’s real job.
Nope. Let her think I just rent out the rooms of my house.
Whatever it took to keep her family off her back was fine by her. Managing them was a full-time job on its own.
Jennifer’s ringtone had her leaving her newly sealed package on the living room table and rushing to answer her phone.
“I think we should try online dating,” Mandy said, mid-conversation as she always was, as if Jennifer hadn’t really needed to answer for the talk to go exactly the same way.
“I don’t think so.”
“Come on. You haven’t been on a date in, like, a year. Don’t you think it’s time?”
“What’s the point?”
“How about sex? Forever love? Sex? A partner? Did I mention sex?”
Jennifer leaned her hip against the stool at the counter. Love wasn’t something she really believed in anymore, and sex?
That was nothing the thing she’d just packed up couldn’t handle just fine.
Well, maybe not that box.
“Internet dating is for people who want to have a higher-than-average chance of being murdered,” Jennifer pointed out.
“It’s for people who don’t go out enough to meet anyone the old-fashioned way. I’ve tried to get you to go to bars, to go anywhere, and you refuse. At this point you’ve got two options—online or bar hopping with me.”
The thought of bar hopping with Mandy made Jennifer instantly feel older than her twenty-eight years. While her friend might be a bundle of uncontainable energy, Jennifer wasn’t.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Jennifer said, ready to go into her hand-holding, sweet rejection that wouldn’t hurt Mandy’s feelings too much. Despite them being good friends, Mandy required a lot of work.
A ringing doorbell felt like a rescue, especially since it was loud enough that Mandy had to have heard. “Oh, I’m sorry, I’ve got to go.”
“You rang that yourself, didn’t you?”
Jennifer laughed, almost wishing she’d thought of that. “No, I didn’t. My renters are here.”
“Oh, right. You’re at full capacity for this week, aren’t you?”
“Yep. All three rooms booked together.” Jennifer had scanned the information first, as she always did. The three men were veterinarians and had the same hospital listed for employment. She liked hosting groups, because they tended to need her to entertain them less than singles.
“Well, if they’re hot, bring them to my place on Saturday night. I’m having a party.”
Jennifer groaned at the idea, having already decided that there was no way she’d be inviting them. Still, it was easier to smudge the truth. “Sure, if I think it’ll be their sort of thing. Got to go.”
They hung up, with Jennifer putting her phone back on the charger. She rushed to the front door, reaching it just after the doorbell rang a second time.
She expected to find three older men, the sort who wanted to get away for a few days. She’d hosted all sorts of people at her beach house, and much to Mandy’s lament, it was never young, hot guys.
Except this time…
On her porch stood three men who could have walked right out of any LA casting call.
Talk about tall, dark and handsome…
Jennifer stared so long that it took the one in front clearing his throat to bring her brain back online.
She smiled, trying to play it off as if it hadn’t just happened. “Sorry. Lucas, Brandon and Shane, right?”
The man in front nodded, though a soft chuckle said he’d caught her slip-up. “Yeah. I’m Lucas, in the jeans is Brandon and in the shorts is Shane.” He gestured behind him, letting Jennifer connect faces to the names she already knew.
Lucas had dark skin and even darker eyes. Stubble over his jaw had started to gray, but somehow it only made him more attractive. He wore a pair of slacks and a tucked-in white polo shirt. His hair was trimmed short and neat, and his smile could melt an iceberg.
Brandon wore faded blue jeans and a T-shirt, his dark hair short and simple, as if he hated going to the barber so always picked the easiest option. He had brown eyes too, but while Lucas’ were oak, Brandon’s were honey.
Lastly, Shane had pale skin and reminded her of a college kid. He had his hair shaved at the sides and messy on top, and the bluest eyes that held an unusual humor to them. He reminded her of Mandy a bit, with that same frantic energy inside him.
Lucas cleared his throat again, and she didn’t bother to hide her mortification. Jennifer had rented out rooms in her house for the past six years—why was she acting as if these were the first good-looking men she’d ever seen?
Probably because they’re the first you’ve been this close to in a long time.
She could almost hear Mandy piping in, telling her to pick one and make a claim.
“Come on in,” she said, trying for casual and to pretend that she hadn’t been staring at them. “You’re veterinarians, right?”
Work was always a safe conversation.
Lucas caried in his bag, the others behind him. “Yeah. We run an animal hospital. Brandon handles livestock and large animals, Shane does most of the day-to-day visits and treatments and I’m the surgeon.”
Well, that explained a bit of Lucas’ I’ve got things under control attitude. While any sort of medicine took confidence, actually cutting into any living being to fix them required a calmness and steadiness that Jennifer sure didn’t have.
When they followed her into her living room, she realized that her house—which she had always thought of as rather large—was not nearly big enough for men of their size.
She led them into the kitchen, showed them where the coffee maker and fridge were, and explained the things she kept on hand. She went over the remotes to the television in the
