My eyes flittered over the passing sights; there was so much to take in and not enough time to absorb it all. I couldn’t believe I was here…in New York City. I secretly pinched my thigh just to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. I had been out of Austin before, plenty of times, but I had only traveled from my Texas home to Bradley’s family vacation home in Florida. No sightseeing or spontaneous detours along the way. No life affirming journeys that took me to unexpected places where I might meet unexpected people. I had been far too quiet and reserved to brave anything outside of my normal routine. Now I was in the city, the big city, and it was so…big. It was intimating, like dropping a duck in the middle of the ocean and saying swim for the shore little guy. If the threat of drowning wasn’t enough, there were sharks in that big damn ocean. Big, powerful, greedy sharks with razor sharp teeth. Oh yeah, I was a scared little duck, but there was no way in hell I would let the sharks see my fear. I was, after all, the new Andi Jennings, the girl who tried everything once. I could dance—waltz, street, pole, lap—you name it and I had taken a class in it. I could change a flat tire and plate up the world’s greatest Tiramisu, I could drink most men under the table, and I could throw a mean punch. A real punch too, not some pansy open fisted sissy slap. The awkward loner was gone. In her place was a confident woman embarking on the adventure of a lifetime. I’d survived the gangly teenage years when being a nerdy redhead and wearing glasses was not cool. If I could handle that, I could handle anything. There was no way I was going to let the city intimidate me. You hear that city? You try and screw with me and I will screw with you right back. I sighed as I took in a bunch of women in immaculate suits, their hair in elegant twists and knots, long legs, beautiful high heels finishing the purely feminine look. As the car slowed for a red light, the women glanced to one side and noted my companion. The big damn gorgeous shark sitting beside me, Decker, gave them a charming smile and waved, and they smiled seductively back, filled with a confidence and ease that I always found difficult. Meh, who needed pretty shoes and pencil skirts anyway?
As the car pulled away from the light, I took a deep breath and pushed my shoulders back. I glanced across at Decker. Holy mother of stunning men had he changed. He had always been hot, and I had harbored the most intense crush on this man for more than half of my life. But now, hot didn’t even embody what Decker had become. He was stunning. Even with the pouty scowl and brooding furrowed brow he was sporting, he was still the most handsome man I had ever seen. I had no idea what the moping was all about, that wasn’t the Decker I remembered. That Decker had been cocky, handsome, and full of laughter. This Decker seemed…harder, yet still eye candy on a stick. With a strong jawline covered in a ruggedly handsome growth of hair laced with a few errant stray grays, it was a little on the out of control, wild, caveman side, but I liked it. His eyes were a golden, honey brown that I could get completely and utterly cliché lost in. His hair was long enough to rake your hands through, and his smile, however slight it had been, was still as mischievous and playful as I remembered. And that body. My eyes took a leisurely tour from head to toe: tall, wide shoulders and chest, defined biceps, narrow waist, long legs. It was the kind of body that should never be covered. This was the kind of body that women became a drooling mess of dumb over. As my eyes returned back to his face, my mind snapped back to the here and now with the force of a taut rubber band. The car had stopped for yet another red light, and Decker was watching me with an amused smirk on his face. Yep, Decker was still the arrogant ass I remembered. He might be devilishly handsome, but he had an ego the size of Texas and then some. I had always found Decker to be one hundred percent, Grade A, top shelf, arrogant male, and he knew how to work the charm to get what he wanted. Extra mayo on his sandwich, the MTV channel, the bigger bedroom…girls. As a quiet, awkward teen, I had sat back and watched Decker turn on his charisma while vacationing with Bradley and his family. I had witnessed a seventeen-year-old Decker Steele turn a sixteen-year-old Sarah Worthers into a starry eyed Decker fanatic in less than twenty-four hours. I had watched him kiss and fondle her under the star lit skies of a warm Florida beach, only to spy him doing a whole lot more than kiss and fondle Amanda White two nights before on that very same beach. It’s not like I had been purposefully stalking Decker as a young girl. He was a handsome bad boy who garnered my female appreciation, I’ll admit that, but I would never lower myself to become one of his many.
“Like what you see, Country?” He chuckled, bringing my attention back to the present. I was mortified, but I wasn’t about to let the sinfully wicked shark know that.
“You’ve changed,” I observed.
Decker lifted a brow before throwing the car back into gear and driving onwards once again. “I could say the same about you. Looks like puberty finally caught up and made you a woman.” His eyes raked hungrily over my breasts, and I fought the urge to cross my arms protectively over my girls. I kept my smile plastered on though and shrugged.
“A breast man, figures.” I snorted
Decker’s brow raised. “You’ve been in my presence all of thirty minutes and you already presume to know who I am?”
Ohhhh, sensitive much? “Please,” I scoffed, emphasizing the ‘P’. “The way you checked out those women back there and me just now? Don’t go deluding yourself into thinking you’re different, Decker, you’re simply a male and afflicted with the inability to look beyond breasts and ass at first glance.”
At that he grinned. “Just like you eye fucked me just now? And for the record, I’m a ‘female’ man. Tits, ass, legs, hips, lips, especially lips,” he purred.
“And still crude,” I murmured.
“And still a prude,” was Decker’s retort.
“I’m not a prude,” I balked.
“The jury is still undecided on that. You’re not off to a good start. And the old Andi wouldn’t have eye fucked me just now,” Decker continued.
I shrugged unable to deny I wasn’t checking him out. “The new Andi hopes you enjoyed it; it’s the most a man like you will get out of her.”
Decker snorted. “Country, a sweet little thing like you couldn’t handle a man like me. I think it’s safe to say that eye fucking is as far as you and I will tangle.”