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BlueMagick.”
    “Nice to meet you,” J.D. said.
    I stared at his outstretched hand, his forearm and bicep, and smooth unmarked skin over taught muscles. His body was lean but athletic. In my head, King Arthur from Monty Python cried Run away! Run away! My body didn’t listen. Not to me, not to the king. It was totally lust at first sight. Before I knew it, my hand was in his. My heart swelled in my chest, about to burst. Couldn’t everybody hear the pounding?
    His hand covered mine entirely. He was polite enough not to notice I was trembling. Everything in me wanted to move closer, press my chest against his, to feel his arms around me.
    Jeez . I didn’t even know the guy.
    “Hi,” I said. Memorable first word. One for the history books. I literally could not push another sound out of my mouth. If I didn’t get away from him, I was going to melt into the deck. Frank and Lisa headed to the bar, and I pulled my hand away and followed them.
    “Now you’re going to taste a decent martini,” Frank said, opening the vodka.
    I felt warm, and not from the heat of the day. I pulled my hair up, wishing I had a scrunchie to keep it out of the way, and swept it over my shoulder. As a breeze played across the skin on my back, I imagined J.D.’s perfect lips on my neck. Down, girl!
    He was still standing on the deck steps looking at me, his face serious and his arms folded across his chest. If he had any brains in his head, he’d run away. Right now. Yes, I was lonely. Yes, it was months since I broke up with my last boyfriend. And yes, I’d love to meet someone at least half sane to have a relationship with.
    I was also self-aware enough to know no half-sane guy should want anything to do with me.
    Frank poured out five red martinis in plastic glasses, and Lisa squeezed limes in them. I offered a toast. “To Dr. Frank.” I finished all but one swallow of the drink right there. The alcohol was starting to do its job, and I mentally cut myself off.
    Frank grabbed Lisa’s hand and wiggled his eyebrows at me mischievously. “Follow me, people.”
    As Frank and Lisa led the way from the deck, Brad took the fifth martini to J.D., still standing on the grass by the deck steps. J.D. glanced at me and back to Brad before he accepted the drink, shaking his head ever so slightly.
    In a moment of clarity, I understood. Brad had meant to match J.D. up with me—and J.D. obviously wasn’t interested.
    A blind date no one had bothered to tell me about. I was a little bit pissed off. I never asked to be set up with anybody. Suddenly J.D. wasn’t so gorgeous. Hell, I could barely take care of myself and Stacey without taking on a loser who hadn’t worked for three years.
    Okay. That was harsh. But jeez .
    I tried to pass Brad and J.D., but they were standing close together. I turned sideways to get through, facing J.D., and put my palm on his chest. In a bratty fit, I looked up and gave him a flirty smile, letting him get a good view of my bare shoulders and the swell of my breasts under my tank top. I was glad I decided to wash my hair earlier. Let him take in the scent of my rosemary mint shampoo.
    J.D. gave me an amused smile in return—then poured his martini into my near-empty glass.
    Talk about my taunt backfiring. I only succeeded in embarrassing myself. Not to mention getting hot and bothered all over again. There was no way to deny it. J.D. was hot.
    Crap, why did I do that? I hate, hate, hate it when I lose self-control. Still, J.D. gave himself a good look at me, and as I hurried away I was half embarrassed and half happy. I was pretty sure he liked what he saw.
    Ahead of me, Frank exchanged a look with the DJ. He gave her a thumbs-up, and she answered back with a thumbs-up and changed the song. The Beach Boys’ Wouldn’t It Be Nice? started to play.
    I remembered the ring. Oh, Frank. I had the sinking feeling he was going to propose to Lisa in front of everybody. Guys must think that’s romantic, judging from all the