“No, no.” Leo waves his hand. “I’m talking about her body language. Did she kiss you back like she wanted to climb you like a tree…or like someone who’d rather be kissing a dead fish?”
I stare at him. “Those are really my only two options?”
“In my totally unscientific opinion, yes,” Leo says.
I think back to the kiss and how she leaned into me. “She seemed into it.”
“If a woman doesn’t want to kiss you, you’ll know it,” Tate says. “If she’s into you, you’ll see all the physiological responses—dilated pupils, increased breathing, and the obvious giveaway, flushed skin.”
“I’m not a doctor, Tate,” I tell him. “Besides, she literally told me this morning that we could never work.”
“So prove her wrong,” Brax says. “This week is your chance.”
“There’s no way she would buy it.” I glance around for support.
Instead, I get a bunch of men looking at me with the same conclusion:You are the problem here.
“Wait, you think I should go after her? What if she isn’t interested?”
“But you don’t know she isn’t.” Brax sets his hands on his waist. “That’s the risk.”
“Well, that sounds like a disaster.” I rise from the bench. “I can’t convince her in a week.”
“You’re chickening out?” Brax lifts a brow.
“I’m not.” He knows exactly how to push my buttons. “I’m being realistic.”
“Realistic?” Leo barks out a laugh. “You mean scared.”
“I mean smart,” I correct him. “We agreed to stay friends. I’m sticking to the plan.”
Leo folds his arms across his chest. “The smart thing to do is admit you don’t actually want to be just friends anymore.”
“What? No way.” I look around at these guys who normally take instructions from me, but right now our roles are reversed. “You guys are serious about this?”
“We wouldn’t be offering to help if we weren’t,” Brax says. “When’s the last time you brought a date to a family function? Or anything?”
“That’s not?—”
“The answer is never,” Tate cuts in. “We’ve all noticed.”
“You guys don’t understand,” I protest. “There’s history?—”
“And that’swhy it could work.” Rourke joins me on the bench. “Look, before I met Janie, I thought I knew what I wanted. Turns out I had no clue. Sometimes you need your friends to point out when you’re an idiot.”
Jaxon’s brows lift. “Wow, Rourke. That was almost…coherent.”
“And you think you can help mehow,exactly?”
“By making sure you don’t waste this opportunity,” Brax says. “You’re a Marine. You can handle this.”
“Fine.” I throw my hands up. “But if this backfires…”
“It won’t,” Brax assures me. “Look atus. We’re basically romance experts. How else do you think we landed these women?”
“Professional hockey contracts,” I deadpan. “That’s how.”
“Money and fame don’t create chemistry,” Jaxon says.