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different. He frowned, trying to figure out what it was.
    He had known her since she was a teenager, and he still remembered the first time he’d met her. He had expected a female version of Quinn and Cal: tall, lean, and blessed with good looks.
    As a horny twenty-year-old, he’d thought he might have the opportunity to break the best friend commandment that said, “Thou shalt not mess around with younger sisters.” But he’d quickly discarded that notion as soon as he received his first glimpse of Teagan.
    He and the O’Brien brothers had been tossing around a football in their expansive backyard when a short, round, young girl ran out of the house to greet them. She’d worn a Catholic school uniform complete with white button-down shirt, navy plaid skirt, and knee socks.
    A lot of guys fantasized about girls in school uniforms, and maybe, just maybe, Nick had been one of them . . . at least until he’d seen Teagan in hers. She definitely had
not
been sexy.
    To say she’d been an awkward teenager was being generous. Truthfully, she had been downright unattractive with her frizzy hair, splotchy skin, and mouthful of braces.
    Teagan placed the remains of her uneaten brownie on the coffee table. She leaned back and pushed up her glasses before flipping her long ponytail over her shoulder.
    Glasses!
That’s what was different. She wore glasses withthick tortoiseshell frames that turned up at the ends like cat’s eyes.
    He gestured toward her face. “Glasses?”
    She touched her glasses, almost as if she’d forgotten them. She shrugged.
    â€œToo much time reading law books and looking at a computer screen.”
    He studied her. Her eyes were a deep, pure blue, and the glasses made them look bigger. They glinted behind the lenses, and when she blinked, he noticed her dark eyelashes. They were long and kind of feathery.
    â€œCute,” he said.
    She cocked her head. “What’s cute?”
    â€œYou. Your glasses.”
    Her eyes widened, and her cheeks turned pink. He stared at Teagan, realizing he hadn’t really looked at her in a long, long time.
    On purpose.
    Her skin wasn’t splotchy anymore. It was smooth and unblemished and reminded him of the whipped cream Letty had put on his mixed berry parfait this morning. And now that he thought about it, Teagan’s mouth was almost the same color as the raspberries that had been in the parfait, and her eyes were a similar shade to the blueberries.
    He licked his lips, remembering how delicious the parfait had been. Then he shook his head a little, trying to dislodge the sexual thoughts about Teagan that had no business being in his mind.
    â€œSchool?” he asked.
    â€œI’m seventy-five percent finished with my program. I like to say it that way so it sounds like I’m almost done. Otherwise, I’d have to say that I have a year left.”
    She smiled, showing her straight white teeth. Those braces she had worn had done their job. Her teeth were perfectly aligned, no gaps to be seen. The essence of her smile was still the same, though. It was just as sweet and engaging as he remembered.
    When they’d met, it had been easy to overlook Teagan’s awkwardness because she had been so friendly and funny. They had established a weird conversational rhythm he’dnever experienced with anyone else. He could say one word, and she’d fill in the blanks, making it easy for him to communicate with her.
    Sometimes he wondered if she even heard his stutter . . . if it even registered in her consciousness. While most people got a pained look on their faces when he spoke, Teagan’s expression never changed.
    Moreover, she’d never mentioned his speech impediment, not even in passing. And that was strange because she wasn’t the kind of person to ignore the elephant in the room—especially when the elephant was as gigantic as his stutter.
    His inability to