Chapter 1 of The Care and Feeding of Meddling Himbos #2
“Rhett!” I narrowed my eyes and started to follow him. “I do not need anyone to screen my dates.”
“I meant to say okay with waiting for you! He is early. Go, get ready.” Rhett shooed me away, jamming his finger at the button. “Hello?”
My date’s response was muffled, but Rhett must have understood it, because his smile widened. “Sure thing, come on up!” A harsh buzzer sounded from the speaker as he unlocked the main door downstairs.
I eyed both of them for a second before I dashed toward my bedroom. “Stall him!” The elevator in our building was notoriously slow and temperamental. Maybe luck would be on my side.
I threw open my closet and yanked out the first cute top I could find—a cream-colored lacy blouse that showed enough cleavage to be interesting.
I ripped off my t-shirt, pulled on the blouse, and dug through the drawers for my favorite rose-pink lipstick until I located it. No clue how it got into my sock drawer.
A quick swipe, a spritz of dry shampoo, and a fluff of my hair to make it look intentionally messy instead of just messy, and a spritz of perfume later, I looked… well, not as put together as I’d planned, but at least like I’d made an effort.
As I hurried back into the living room, I heard a knock on my door. Rhett opened it before I could reach it, revealing a tall man with dirty-blond hair and a confused expression.
“Um, hi.” His eyes widened as he looked up at Rhett. “I’m Shane. I’m looking for Aimee?”
“You found her place,” Rhett confirmed, stepping back to let him in. “I’m Rhett. This is Troy. We’re friends of the family.”
Shane’s eyes darted between the two massive firefighters as he stepped cautiously into my apartment.
“Hey, Shane!” I called, injecting cheerfulness into my voice as I slipped between Rhett and Troy to greet my date with a hug. “Sorry to keep you waiting. I was recording a podcast and lost track of time, and the guys said they’d entertain you while I got ready.”
“No problem,” he said, leaning in to kiss my cheek. “I’m a fan of your show. I imagine recording all of those episodes can get time-consuming.” Shane’s cologne was overpowering, but he was attractive in a clean-cut, REI-catalog kind of way, with a neatly trimmed beard and dark wash jeans.
“Oh, you listen to ‘The Aimee Position’?” I smiled, pleased.
“Yeah, a few episodes,” he said. “The one about tantric sex was… educational.”
The way he said “educational” made it clear he was thinking less about spiritual awakening and more about the physical aspects I’d discussed.
Troy coughed loudly, drawing our attention back to him. “We brought too much food,” he announced. “You two are welcome to it.”
“Oh, that’s…” Shane paused, looking uncertain. “We have dinner reservations. Will you guys, uh, still be here when we get back?”
The question hung in the air, loaded with implication. Heat rose to my cheeks, though whether from embarrassment or anger, I wasn’t sure.
“Of course not,” I said. “They live across the hall. They stopped by because—”
“Our stove was on the fritz!” Rhett said, looking pleased with his excuse.
“Your stove,” Shane said. “Isn’t that takeout?”
“Yes, Rhett, tell us why we needed her stove,” Troy said, deadpan. Rhett elbowed him.
I stepped between them before they could start brawling again. “They stopped by to see if I wanted dinner.”
“She forgets to eat,” Troy said. “Gets so caught up in her work.”
“Yes, isn’t it sweet how they’re like brothers to me,” I said, putting a hand on each big man’s shoulder, feeling the flex of their hard muscles under my fingertips.
“And they were just leaving.” I gave them a shove toward the door, but neither man moved.
Fuck, they were solid. I forced myself not to think about that weight on top of me as they—
Nope, not going there with my brother’s best friends. I needed to get laid, and not by someone Ryker had told to keep an eye on me. “Well, I’m glad we’ll have the place to ourselves when we get back,” Shane said with a wink.
Rhett’s jaw tightened imperceptibly. “Aimee doesn’t usually bring guys back on the first date.”
I stared at him, floored by his audacity. While I wasn’t the casual hookup queen some of my listeners might imagine, I was a grown woman who sometimes enjoyed first-date sex when the chemistry was right. And it was none of Rhett’s business either way.
“But I thought you ran a sex podcast,” Shane said, looking confused. “Like, you know what I mean.”
“No, what do you mean, Shane?” I asked. “You’re really into sex, right? And I don’t believe in slut shaming. I think it’s great.” The room went silent. I blinked, trying to process what he’d said.
“Excuse me?” I asked. Shane’s eyes widened as he started to backpedal. “I didn’t mean that. Your show is so sex-positive, and you talk about experiences so openly, I thought—”
“You thought what?” Rhett asked, his voice soft but more dangerous than I’d ever heard it as he moved to stand shoulder to shoulder with Troy. “That because she educates people about sex, she’s automatically going to fuck you tonight?”
Shane’s face paled. “No, I didn’t mean—”
“I think you did mean that. And I think you should reconsider your approach to dating.” This protective, stern side of Rhett was one I hadn’t seen before, and it was… kind of sexy.
No, annoying. Annoying was the word I was looking for.
Troy stepped forward, thick muscles flexing as he crossed his arms over his chest. “You know, Rhett is right. I think Aimee’s going to take a rain check on this date.”
“Whoa, hold on,” Shane said, holding up his hands. “There’s been a misunderstanding.”
Shane’s assumption had hit like a bucket of ice water. I’d been looking forward to this date, maybe even hoping it might end with some sexy fun. Now all I felt was disappointment.
“No misunderstanding,” I said calmly, standing shoulder to shoulder with my two would-be bodyguards.
“You’re kidding, right?” Shane looked between all three of us, disbelief on his face. “Because of one comment?”
“One revealing comment. I talk about sex education on my podcast. That doesn’t mean I’m dispensing sexual favors to every man who listens.”
Troy moved toward the door and opened it. “I think the lady said goodnight.”
Shane looked like he wanted to argue, but something in Rhett’s stance must have dissuaded him. With a muttered “whatever,” he stalked out the door, which Troy closed behind him with perhaps a bit more force than necessary.
The three of us stood in silence for a moment.
“You two,” I finally said, “are the biggest cockblocks in the history of cockblocking.”
“You’re welcome,” Rhett said, returning to the kitchen island and reopening a container of pad Thai.
I was furious. Shane wasn’t supposed to be a serious boyfriend, just a chance to date again after the disaster of my failed engagement. I hadn’t even gotten in a practice date. Or sex. “Why are you guys telling my date what I ‘usually’ do? Don’t speak for me.”
Rhett’s ears went red. “Yeah. That was out of line. Sorry, Aims.”
“And Troy, you’re not my bodyguard.”
Troy scratched the back of his neck, grimacing. “I’m sorry. We’re assholes.”
“You are.”
He waved to the food with a flourish. “We got extra spring rolls because we know they’re your favorite, so hopefully that wins us a few points?”
The savory smell of Thai food reminded me I hadn’t eaten since my desk lunch of yogurt and granola six hours ago, and the fight drained out of me like air from a punctured tire. I was tired, I was hungry, and the alternative was sitting alone in an empty apartment replaying Shane’s comment on loop.
“You’re still trespassing.” I grabbed a spring roll and bit into it with more aggression than the innocent appetizer deserved, trying to figure out how I’d missed Shane’s douchebag vibes when he’d first flirted with me at that charity gala.
“It’s not trespassing if we have keys,” Rhett pointed out, sliding a plate toward me. “It’s… an unannounced visit.”
“From your unofficial bodyguards,” Troy added, opening a beer and handing it to me.
I took it, shaking my head. “I don’t need bodyguards. I need boundaries that you two respect.”
“We respect boundaries,” Rhett protested. “We just… selectively enforce them when your safety might be at risk.”
“My safety wasn’t at risk,” I said, though without much conviction. “I met Shane at a charity event. He’s an environmental engineer, for god’s sake.”
“Ted Bundy was charming too,” Troy said sagely, twirling noodles around his chopsticks.
I rolled my eyes. “You can’t use serial killers to justify your meddling. Text before you come over. No more showing up uninvited. Got it?”
They looked at each other. “Unless it’s an emergency, right?”
“Fine. If it’s an emergency, you don’t have to text first. But for any non-emergency, I’d better fucking hear from you or I’m taking away your keys.”
Rhett nodded, grinning as he held out a takeout box. “Another spring roll?”
Dammit. I couldn’t resist spring rolls. But I kept my expression at full glare as I helped myself to their takeout, listening to the wacky story Troy started telling about a call from the day before.
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