The memory of that moment on the dance floor with Jimmy in sixth grade played out in Julia’s mind in a flash, humiliation churning in her gut as if it had happened yesterday rather than more than half her lifetime ago. She tried to remind herself that it had been a long time ago. This wasn’t junior high, and she wasn’t an embarrassed preteen who was more sweating in peach than pretty in pink.

Pushing the memories aside, she glanced behind her. Andie had already returned to Not-Burt/Curt. In front of Julia, he still hadn’t moved from his spot against the wall. She stepped forward slowly. Giving Luke time to bolt. There were no sidekicks here to grab his arms and force him to talk to her.

Too much of a coward to keep her eyes on his face while she moved closer, her attention shifted, and Julia swallowed hard when she caught sight of rolled sleeves revealing long lean forearms dusted with hair. He wasn’t bulging with muscle—far from it—but there was something very masculine about the way he stood there, leaning against the wall, arms crossed.

She took a deep breath and stepped closer, shifting her gaze back to his. “Hey.”

“Hey.”

Okay, so far so good. It was only a monosyllabic exchange, but he hadn’t tried to escape. Wasn’t desperately looking around for the nearest exit. She moved to lean against the wall next to him. “I see you found a new shirt.”

“Uh, yeah.” He glanced down in surprise, as if he’d forgotten what he was wearing.

“It looks nice.” She let her gaze travel over the soft gray fabric. “It matches your eyes.”

“Thanks.”

“As a bonus, there’s no bird crap on it.” Julia cringed. Had that been too much?

He cracked a smile, little crinkles appearing at the corners of his eyes, which made Julia’s insides go all warm and mushy.

Great. He smiled at her, and she turned into oatmeal.

“You look nice too.” He eyed her up and down. “Very nice.”

Julia flushed. Not because of what he said, but how he said it. Like he wasn’t just politely returning the compliment but really thought it. And suddenly the word nice had never felt so, well … nice.

She turned her attention to the other guests milling around and chatting, introducing themselves. “I’m not sure how this is supposed to work,” she admitted. “Seeing as how we’ve kind of met already.”

Now it was his turn to cringe. “We could pretend that never happened,” he suggested.

“And miss out on one of the most entertaining moments I’ve had in recent memory?”

He grimaced.