My face goes redder. It’s on the tip of my tongue to apologize for being such a b-word, but I figure that’ll just start another one of those awkward silences again, so I say nothing. Instead, I step into the warehouse and try not to jump as the door starts sliding closed behind me. Damn, that thing is loud.
As the door booms shut, a movement off to the left catches my eye. A giant of a man is emerging from the darkness, and he’s completely wet, his shirt and shorts sticking to every inch of him. Holy smokes. I didn’t know they grew them that big.
This must be the guy my sister has talked about several times. If I recall, he has actually attacked her on more than one occasion, apparently as some sort of test. I think he’s the guy in charge of workouts or something. That would explain the copious amounts of sweat I see pouring off every part of his body.
I narrow my eyes at him as I realize he might be crazy enough to imagine I’m game for those kinds of shenanigans. If he even thinks about attacking me, I’m going to smash him over the head with my laptop and then make him buy me a new one. What’s his name again?
“Dev,” says the guy, as if he’s read my mind. Giant strides that would take a normal guy twice as much effort put him in front of me in seconds. “You must be Jenny. You look just like your sister.”
His smile is disarming, especially with that dimple he has on the right side and those sparkling blue eyes to back it up. And that body . . . damn. Now this guy . . . he’s my type. I can feel my face flush all over again as I realize just how cute he actually is. And big. His hands are huge. They look to be about the size of my dinner plates. The lonely single woman part of my brain takes over and wonders if certain other parts of his body are also proportional to his height, and I strain to keep my eyes above hip-level.
I have to tip my head back to see his face as he stops in front of me, which is way better than staring at his crotch. Holy sexy time. I hold my hand out automatically to shake his, and he responds by rubbing his palm up and down on his leg.
“I’m really sweaty.”
I take my hand back and rest it on my chest. So much for sexy time. “That’s okay. It’s nice to meet you.” Sweaty hands the size of dinner plates? No thank you, not unless I’m also hot and naked.
Crap, did I just really think that? How embarrassing. He’s introducing himself in his place of business, and I’m undressing him with my eyes. Talk about unprofessional. May will never ask me to freelance for her boyfriend’s company again if I don’t get control of myself. Maybe I should buy a dildo.
There are droplets of sweat all over his head, slowly dripping down the side of his face. He’s completely bald, so the effect is pretty impressive; it’s both gross and sexy at the same time. He has sweatbands on his wrists, and he uses one of them to wipe the salty water out of his eyes. It’s then that I notice he doesn’t have eyebrows either. Why I find that even sexier is a mystery to me. Dammit. Dildo it is.
“You here to help us out with the Blue Marine case?” he asks.
I shrug, glad to have someone here thinking about the business at hand and not sex toys. “I have no idea, actually.”
Lucky speaks up. “I haven’t had a chance to give her a briefing yet. She just got here.”
Dev nods. “Gotcha.”
Lucky turns around to look at a staircase at the far end of the warehouse. “Actually, I need to grab the file from upstairs. Do you mind showing her over to the cubicles and getting her hooked up for me?”
Dev smiles again, making my heart go pitter-patter. “No problem.” He starts walking across the warehouse. “Follow me, Jenny. Let’s get you plugged in.”
I hesitate, wondering where I’m going, what I’m doing, and what this is all about. “What’s Blue Marine?” I ask Lucky’s back as he walks away.
His voice echoes around the warehouse as he answers me while running up the metal stairs, taking two at a time. “It’s a case we’re working on. I’m going to grab a non-disclosure for you to sign and a record of the work I’ve done so far. I’m just stuck in this one spot, and May said you could help.”
I nod, accepting his perfectly reasonable explanation and turning to follow the bald man, who is now almost all the way across the warehouse. Finally, things are starting to make sense. My nerves calm just the slightest bit.
Dev pauses, looking over his shoulder at me, smiling with that dimple again. “You coming?”