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for dinner. Suddenly, I seem to have developed quite an appetite.”
    Short of slamming the door again, which would put her right back between a rock and a hard place, she had no choice. One way or the other, she was going to have to deal with the man. At this point, all she could hope for was that Cody would take off after they ate. Once he was out of the line of fire, she’d figure out what to do about D.J.
    And didn’t that thought bring a lot of interesting ideas to mind? The man would definitely be in the eye-candy aisle at the store. In an effort to clear her head, she performed the necessary introductions while she dug out one more plate and poured three glasses of iced tea.
    â€œCody, this is D.J., an online acquaintance of mine. D.J., this is Cody.”
    The two men shook hands, obviously sizing each other up, trying to figure out where each of them fit in the scheme of things. Poor Cody, he was seriously outgunned and he knew it. Despite having seen D.J.’s most recent avatar, she would never have guessed that he’d based the character on his actual appearance.
    If she thought the animated version was attractive, it had nothing on the man himself. D.J. was tall, broad shouldered, and had the kind of muscles that came from physical work, not a gym. His dark hair had a definite wave to it and was considerably longer than current fashion. Those dark brown eyes sparkled with a good bit of humor, all part and parcel of a complete rogue.
    Her apartment was plenty big enough for one woman living alone, but it was amazing to see how much room the two men took up. She felt crowded—no, make that cornered. D.J. knew it, too, and clearly thought it was funny. Not that he made any threatening moves. Instead, he seemed completely at home in her tiny kitchen eating dinner with two total strangers.
    He heaped his plate high, deliberately brushing his fingertips against hers as he passed the cartons. When she dropped a piece of chicken on the table, he quickly snapped it up with his chopsticks and held it up to her lips. She’d rather bite his hand but accepted the offering with barely disguised disgust.
    The jerk actually winked at her before turning his attention to her coworker. “So, Cody, Reggie never mentioned you to me. How do you know her?”
    Her friend shot her a hurt look before answering. “We work together. Come to think of it, she’s never mentioned you either.”
    Okay, this could get ugly. “Cody, I only just met D.J. recently. If I’d known he was coming into town today, I would’ve mentioned it.”
    Not.
    The conversation ended there. The two men at her table kept a wary eye on each other as they finished every last scrap of food Cody had ordered. Knowing her young friend had a sweet tooth, she offered him her secret stash of homemade chocolate chip cookies from the freezer. Those didn’t last long either.
    As she finished the final one, she considered her options. Cody probably had studying he should be doing, but it was obvious he wasn’t going to leave until D.J. did. Somehow she doubted the Knightwalker had plans to go anywhere until he was good and ready.
    Fine. She’d kick both of them out at the same time. To give them the hint, she stood up, preparing to clear the table. To her surprise, D.J. refused to surrender his plate.
    â€œLet me. You bought. He fetched. The least I can do is clean up.”
    Not to be outdone, Cody gathered up the empty cartons and tossed them in the trash. Robbed of anything useful to do, Reggie sat back down. She wasn’t quite sure how to react to having two guys banging around her kitchen while she watched. It was hard not to smile at the obvious rivalry between the two. Cody was doing his best to make sure that D.J. realized how at home he was in Reggie’s place.
    D.J. was obviously well aware of what the younger man was doing. She liked the fact that he even conceded the point by asking him