Page 39 of Breaking the Ice

He laughed again as he moved along to the grapes and plucked a green one off its bunch and popped it in his mouth.

“Alright Nick, I give in. If I don’t leave here with a date then I’ll do it your way.”

“Oh? How’s that?” He plucked another grape and pushed it toward her.

“Stop looking and hope they’ll find me,” she said, as he presented the grape to her mouth and she absently opened it, sucking in the taut sweet globe.

Her teeth accidentally grazed his skin and she swore his finger lingered a little before sliding from her mouth. Their gazes met and, for a beat of time, everything around them faded to black. The stark white light bathing the aisles in glory, the voice from the sound system calling for a price check at aisle ten, the aroma of nearby supermarket flowers.

Just her and Nick as Samantha’s pulse tapped out a crazy dance at her temple.

Was he looking at her like he wanted to feed her more grapes while she reclined sexily on a chaise lounge or was she just projecting because she really wanted him to feed her more grapes while she reclined sexily on a chaise lounge?

The beat passed and Nick’s gaze flicked left over her shoulder. “Don’t look now,” he murmured, “beefcake at ten o’clock.”

Samantha pulled back from the strange frisson, giving herself a mental shake.Hockey player/boss is not an option, dufus – get your shit together!

Turning slightly, she checked out the beefcake standing at the nearby deli. He was built, there was no denying that. She didn’t think he was gay – although clearly her gaydar was crap – and he certainly didn’t look like he lived with his mother. In fact, he looked like he spent a lot of time at the gym and the rest of it probably fending off hordes of women.

She rolled her eyes at Nick. “That guy is not going to be interested in me.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. He’s in your age bracket and not wearing a ring. He’s perfect.”

Taking her arm, he marched her toward the deli as Samantha dragged her feet. “He doesn’t have a wedding ring because he can’t choose between his harem of gym bunnies.”

“Just talk to him,” he whispered as they came up alongside and Nick bumped her with his hip, causing her to collide with the beefcake.

“Oh, God, sorry,” Samantha apologized, ready to blame Nick but he’d disappeared.

“It’s okay.”

Beefcake’s voice was kind of smug, like this sort of thing happened to him all the time. Well of course, the man was gorgeous. Up close even more so. His bleached blond hair made him look younger but the laughter lines around his mouth and eyes didn’t lie.

Hedefinitelyfit the demographic.

There was a bit of a line up at the deli and Beefcake, who introduced himself as Mike, pulled a ticket out of the dispenser for her.Very chivalrous. They chatted a bit and he actually seemed to be flirting with her.

Okay… it couldn’t bethiseasy, surely?

“So, do you work out?”

Uh-oh… sheknewit couldn’t be that easy. “Sometimes,” she lied. “Semi… regularly.”

“Oh you so should.” He shot her a winning smile. “A gorgeous girl like you would look fantastic minus a few pounds. I’m a personal trainer, I could whip your butt into shape pronto.”

He gave her another smile as Samantha’s heart sunk. Okay that was it. Shesuckedat picking up men.

In less than an hour, she’d picked up a gay man, a mommy’s boy and a guy who would never let her look at a dessert menu, let alone chose from it first. Feigning a phone call, she extricated herself from the deli line and got as far away from Beefcake as possible.

Nick was lurking in the cereal aisle when Samantha marched by. “Psst,” he called, catching her attention and then, “Well?” as she approached. “Did he ask you out?”

“No. But he did offer to whip my butt into shape in a few short months.”

Oh, for fuck’s sake. What was wrong with men? Nick tried not to look as horrified as he felt. “I hope you offered to kick his?”

She laughed but her heart was clearly not in it. “Come on.” She sighed. “Let’s get out of here. And remind me not to listen to Bec again.”

The lines at the checkouts were ridiculous. Resigned to the wait, they joined the queue behind a woman who smiled at them and said, “Hope you’ve got nowhere to be for a while.”

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