Free It's A Wonderfully Sexy Life by Hope Tarr Page A

Suz hooked her arm through Mandy’s and started towing them toward the back of the house.
    Mandy tried digging her heels, her high heels, into the beige wall-to-wall, but it was no use. Her friend was on a mission. They came up on the kitchen alcove, and Suz dropped her voice and said, “See the Italian hunk standing by the beer cooler talking to my brother Joey?”
    Mandy followed the less than subtle head jerk to the beefy bodybuilder sipping from a bottle of Miller and talking to Suz’s younger brother. “Italian hulk , you must mean.”
    Standing at medium height, the man had the tree-trunk neck and wide-legged stance of someone who pumped iron in a serious way. She doubted there was an ounce of fat on him, and yet he looked as though he might split the seams of his black T-shirt and trousers at any minute. At one time, she might have found all that bulky muscle a turn-on, but now she couldn’t help thinking how much sexier Josh’s taller, leaner body had been.
    Leaning in, Suz whispered, “His name’s Danny Romero, and he owns a gym downtown.”
    “A gym, huh?” One look at her and he’d probably tell Suz to lock up the party food. “That’s nice.”
    Suz scowled. “Nice! Show a little more enthusiasm, can’t we? He’s gorgeous, owns his own business and, Mandy, he’s single—never married, in fact.”
    “I guess that makes him almost a relationship virgin, huh?”
    Rather than answer, Suz shoved her through the kitchen door and into the hulk’s granite chest. “Danny, this is my best friend in the world, Mandy Delinski. Mandy, this is Danny Romero, a buddy of Joey’s.”
    Before anyone had the chance to say another word, Suz grabbed her baby brother by the arm and all but dragged him out of the kitchen.
    Stranded, Mandy stepped back from the hard slab of chest and looked up. “Hi.”
    “How you doin’?” His gaze slipped to her breasts, recently flattened against him, and stayed there. “So you’re Suz’s friend, the woman cop?”
    The woman cop. Nice . Teeth gritted, Mandy answered, “Yeah, at least until those sex change hormones kick in.”
    He hesitated and then threw back his head and chuckled, a loud braying that made her want to cover her ears even as she thought how much nicer Josh’s laughter had sounded. “You’re funny. I like that.”
    So glad I have your approval . “Thanks. If this woman cop thing doesn’t work out, I figure I can always fall back on stand-up comedy.”
    He grinned, revealing what had to be professionally whitened teeth. “Want a drink?”
    What the hell, it was a New Year’s Eve party. If she was going to be trapped here until midnight, she might as well partake and, at any rate, she was walking home. Perusing the bank of open wine bottles set out on the kitchen table, she said, “Sure. I’ll have a—”
    She stopped when he reached down into the cooler, pulled out a Miller Lite, and popped the cap without asking her preference. Murmuring a thank-you, she accepted the beer, thinking how politely Josh had treated her on their short but sweet date, opening doors, carrying her coffee to their table along with his, standing around in the cold to make sure she got her car started.
    As the night wore on, the comparisons continued. Whereas Josh had wanted to know about her, it was obvious Danny was more interested in having an audience, a captive audience of one, hear all about him. Knocking back the beers he kept handing her, Mandy listened in silence as he went on about his problems keeping a decent aerobics instructor on staff—they were all “bimbos,” according to him—his plans for expanding the facility to include a juice bar and separate rooms for spinning and yoga classes, his personal diet and weight training program because hey, you don’t get to look like this without workin’ at it. When the latter segued into a bragging fest on how many pounds he could bench press, Mandy decided she’d heard more than enough.
    Alcohol buzzing through