Page 40 of Extreme Romancing in Idaho

Thefrontdoorflewopen, and I snapped my head toward it. I thought it might be Dan, but instead, Blake, Chuck, Pedro, and Remi’s friend, Myles, walked in. I swung around to Remi and raised an eyebrow in question.

True to form, Chuck wiggled his eyebrows at me. He’d been a pest throughout elementary and high school, always on his older brother John’s heels, and he was still a pest. Pedro brushed his mustache and gave me a thumbs-up as he passed. Blake was more stoic than the others, and even though I didn’t know Myles well, he cast me an overdone wink.

Somehow, I’d become this town’s little sister. But did the three mechanic amigos and Myles have to come spy on me on my date? Come on. “Did you have to invite the whole posse?”

“I needed them to make this look like a bros’ night. I couldn’t exactly be in my lane alone, could I?”Remi’s voice cut through the chatter of the guys greeting each other.

“Whatever,” I said, too nervous to come up with anything else.

Tugging my phone from my purse, I flicked the ongoing call with Remi to the corner and texted Lili.

Blake is at the Bearded Axe. Coincidence?

The dotted lines flickered back and forth on my screen as Lili formulated her response.

Someone has to make sure Smoot doesn’t go all Hannibal Lecter on you.

Clicking on the eye-roll emoji, I pressed send. Then texted her again.

He’s not a murderer.

The dots started cycling again. We’d been through this many times before with my other online heartthrobs. Which was probably why I’d stopped telling them whenever I scheduled an in-person date.

Rather be safe than sorry. Have fun!

When Daniel entered the room, my eyes barely skimmed over her text. Although he was shorter than I expected, his fit build made up for it. His button-up, deep-blue shirt tapered into classic khakis, showing off his broad shoulders and narrow waist. Thick-framed glasses rested on the bridge of his nose, giving him the persona of the sexy, smart guy.

I shoved my phone into my bra and wiggled back and forth to make sure it remained secure. My shoulders tensed, and my smile faltered as I walked toward him. All my previous worries rushed to the forefront of my mind. What if I didn’t understand him? What if he grew bored of me? What if he turned out to be a huge disappointment?

With each step, I drew closer to him, and I didn’t know whether to go in for a hug or a solid handshake.

Hug. No. Handshake.

The gap closed, and I lifted my arms to move in for a quick embrace.

“Start off with a handshake.”Remi’s voice came too late to save me.

Still, I shifted and stuck out my hand, but then Daniel went for a hug. I stayed firm in my position until he took my hand in his, almost crushing my fingers in his solid grip.

“That was awkward.”Remi’s mechanical voice sounded in my head once again.

Tempted to yank the earbud free, I flipped Remi the bird behind my back. His soft laughter mixed with Daniel’s voice. I blocked out the masculine chuckle and listened to Daniel.

“Wow. You’re even prettier in person.” His smile grew, yet he remained focused on my face.

I breathed in his spiced cider cologne—it was applied a bit too strongly—and led him to our lane.

“Nice. He’s looking at your ass,”Remi said into my ear.

“Shut up.” I glared over at Remi, who stood surrounded by his cronies, all of them shooting me sly glances.

“What?” Daniel came to my side.

“Tell him you were using shut up as an exclamation. Shut up! We have the same axe,”Remi quickly said.

“I—uh—shut up, we have the same axe.”

“Nice.”

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