“No, nothing bad. Just that…I pictured the evening going very differently. I was supposed to meet him in town, but he said he’d rather come over, that he had a little picnic for us. Well, he didn’t say picnic. I don’t remember his exact words, but I took them to mean picnic. I figured he’d come over, we’d open a bottle of wine, chat for a while. Instead, he brought a six-pack, cracked open a beer, slapped his knee, and said, “Come on, girl. Let’s get this party started.” Her exaggerated southern accent made him smile.

“No wonder you were laughing so hard.”

“Exactly. It was the ridiculousness of the whole night, not just that you walked in on us.”

“If it was so ridiculous, what were you doing rolling around on the couch with him?” Oh, damn, he shouldn’t have said that. It’s none of your business what she does.

“I’ll tell you exactly why. Because no guy in St. Christophe would ever come over, set me on his knee, and start making out with me, and I liked that. It was thrilling…for about five seconds. But, then…” She crinkled her nose.

“What?”

“He didn’t smell right.”

“Body odor?”

She shook her head. “Oh, no. Nothing like that.”

“Wet dog?”

“What? No.”

Her grin, the sparkle in her eyes, made his chest tight. “What then?”

“Like clothes that’ve been worn a couple times in a row.”

“Isn’t that body odor?”

“No, it’s kind of an oily…well, not oil exactly. It’s just a particular smell. And he must’ve had steak for dinner because there was a hint of roasted meat in his shirt. And he just tasted nasty.”

“Bitter? Like tobacco?”

“I don’t know what tobacco tastes like. It was weird because it was mint, which you’d think would be fresh, but it was also bitter.”

“Chew. He tucks a pinch of tobacco between his gums and his mouth.” Brodie would bet the guy had spit it out right when he got out of his truck.

“It was gross. But, also, I didn’t like the way he kissed.”

He kept his mouth shut, because anything he might say would come out wrong. Possessive. She didn’t need that from him. From anyone.

“Fortunately, we’d only just started.”

“He almost got your shirt off.” Which pissed him off. Unless they were swept away by passion, the guy should’ve taken his time with someone as special as Rosie. Made sure she was feeling it.

“I know, but I thought I’d give it another minute to see if it would…you know, ignite or whatever.” She leaned against the counter. “But, now that he’s gone, and I feel so relieved, I realize I was doing it for the wrong reason.”

“And what reason’s that?”