Destiny on Ice (Boys of Winter #1)(10)

What the hell; let the assessing commence…

Guy with a mullet, that’s a no-go.

Oh, hey, there’s one who’s kind of cute.

Oh wait, crap. He’s with a girl already. I sigh. The good ones are always taken.

Whoa, wait, who the heck is that?

A stunning specimen of hot maleness comes into view, and blinking to be sure I’m seeing correctly, I muse, “Wow, is he real?”

I fear he may be a mirage. You know how thirsty people imagine seeing water out in the desert? Maybe that’s what’s happening now. This man—if he’s even real—could actually be hideous. Maybe the dick-drought has finally affected my brain. Can that even happen?

“Is who for real?” Lainey asks, interrupting my drunken panic that I’m losing my mind.

Before I can point out the model-caliber dude who’s captured my attention and confirm he’s not a mirage, Lainey sees him for herself. “Who is that?” she exclaims.

Thank God, he’s real. “That’s what I’d like to know,” I murmur.

“Shit, Aubrey, that guy is hot enough to qualify as bona fide book boyfriend material.”

Whoa, this is serious.

I shoot my sister a look. She has an insatiable romance novel obsession, along with a slew of what she terms “book boyfriends.” I hear about them all the time. There’s a Christian, some dude named Barrons, and a Gideon in there somewhere. That’s just three I can name off the top of my head, thanks to my current drunken state.

But back to this guy, this real-life, incredibly delectable man… Wow! I don’t know if he’s a book boyfriend come to life, but he definitely personifies masculine perfection. He’s tall, has olive-toned skin, thick dark brown hair, a strong jaw, high cheekbones… Oh, hell, you get the picture.

Gah!

Oh, and let’s not forget about his oh-so-sculpted bod. Or, at least what I can discern of it under his dark jeans and tight black tee.

Dreamily, I lean against Lainey and say, “Look at him, Lain. I bet your romance authors would have a blast writing about a guy like him.”

“They would, and they do write about guys like him,” she assures me. “All the time, in fact. Why do you think I read so much?”

“It all makes perfect sense now. I clearly need to load up my Kindle.”

“You do,” she agrees. “I’ll send you some recs. You’ve totally been missing out.”

Lainey, though she’s talking with me, sounds somewhat distracted.

So I follow her gaze…

Hmm, she’s staring beyond my dream guy to some other hot male that my guy just stopped to talk to. This new hot guy is a huge mass of muscle, with longish blond hair that’s wild and unruly. My sister is riveted, and I think I know why. “Hey, that blond guy looks a little like Thor. Didn’t you go see that movie, like, ten times?”

“Shut up, Aubrey.” She nudges my shoulder playfully. “I only went to see it twice.”

“And the DVD?”

“Okay, yes. That, I may have worn out. Along with a couple of battery-operated devices.”

I roll my eyes. “I don’t even want to know what that means.”

“Oh”—she winks at me—“but I think you do.”

“You and your sex toys,” I say, laughing. “You’re shameless.”

“You will be too,” she says, “once you finally break down and buy one.”

Pointing back into the crowd, I say, “Just get back to staring at Thor. You can use him for fantasy material later.”

“You bet your ass I will.”

We share a smile that it’s cool we can be so open with each other. But when we look back into the crowd, Thor is gone, lost in the growing sea of people. My guy is still there, though. My real-life book boyfriend. And he seems to be getting closer, seeing as he’s walking toward us.

Wait, what?

“Shit,” I murmur.

Lady bits go on high alert, and I can almost hear the whistles sounding, “Incoming, incoming projectile.”

I’m safe—and they’re safe—as I soon realize he’s not even looking at us. Me. Whatever! Book Boyfriend is too busy pushing through the mass of people while staring intently at a smartphone in his hand.

At one point, he stops and lifts the device to scowl at whatever’s on the screen. When he lowers it, he bites out what appears to be a curse. He then lifts the device again and shakes his head, like he can’t believe what he’s reading.

Well, I can’t believe how hot you are. So color us both surprised, buddy.

As he nears me, I start to feel like I’m in the best dream ever. You know the kind, where you never want to wake up because everything in dreamland is going the way you wish things would go in real life. You know—perfectly.

Our eyes meet, but only for a second. I don’t think he even registers my existence, but it’s enough for me.

I lift my hand to wave him over, but Lainey stops me. “What the hell are you doing?”

I shrug, hand poised in the air. “I’m making a move, taking a chance.” I start waving my hand like a nut, all while yelling, “Yolo, yolo, yolo!”

“Stop that,” Lainey hisses. “Oh my God, you’ve completely lost it.”