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“Nicefor the double doors Nohen he’d finally found soht be able to help his little brother, was not the time to find out how Little Miss Perfect would look in his shower

“Brody”

He paused by the open doorway and glanced over his shoulder

“If you change your ner bag that

hted as a weapon “Come find me in the hotel bar”

“I’ll do that” He suspected his ironclad willpoould keep hi back at her, Brody had to admit he wanted a taste of perfection

Chapter 2

KAT FROZE ON the edge of the generic carpet separating the hotel’s attee frohout high school sat at the black granite bar with one hand wrapped around a pint glass and the other clutching his cell phone Only he wasn’t a teenager anymore Brody Summers was a prime example of droolworthy male perfection

And it looked like he’d changed hisher for a drink

Exciteicalfor her

Earlier, when she’d glanced down at the paveht was: I took out Brody Summers with my suitcase! But fate rarely worked in her favor And it had certainly never dropped a hot-­as-­sineffects of her Brody Summers’s infatuation had blurred her vision

Those deep brown eyes had haunted her drea years in medical school, her fantasies Add those broad shoulders and the rown-­up version was oh-­so worth it Then he’d said his na that he was in fact her crush froain—­Independence Falls

But Brody hadn’t recognized her

Not that she blamed him There were days when she could barely connect the painfully shy foster kid who’d grown up wearing whatever the charity bin had to offer with the person she saw in the mirror After she’d left Independence Falls, Kat had traded her hand-­ed herblond

Still, he was here now Sitting at the bar, waiting for her

A healthy dose of reality caught hold of her runaway hopes, anchoring the would-­be fantasy He was here because she’d caught his attention on the sidewalk He’d looked at her legs as if he wanted to strip away her skirt and explore But looking didn’t always lead to action And it wasn’t as if he harbored an ancient crush that was pushing him to seize the moment

Brody Summers probably didn’t remember the shy sophoh art rooether Or the fact that he’d stayed to help, talking to her as if he gave a daested that she ditch her worn, ripped shoes and get new ones It was as if he understood the sacrifices that came with poverty Or maybe he believed it when she’d told hih to realize that luck had abandoned her at age six and never looked back

Until now

Maybe

She’d caught his attention again And this ti in his eyes while he saved her sneakers If she’d known knocking hih school Maybe in the weeks andthe Super Glue adventure, when she’d looked at hi for him to notice her

Oh, he’d never been rude Brody had nodded and s when they passed in the halls But he’d never looked at her as if he was picturing her in his shower

Because knocking hi an I-­want-­you look only worked when Dr Katherine Arnold plowed into hi that cost more than the suer Froe to her perfect blond hair, she presented a very different picture now And it had been a long time since anyone had offered her pity

But in high school?