Noah and Finn turned and faced a woman in her thirties. She held the hand of two young boys, maybe seven or eight years old.
“I’m so sorry to bother you. I’m sure you get this all the time, and if my boys weren’t with me, I wouldn’t stop you, but…” She took a breath, her gaze holding on Noah. “Are you Noah Hunt? My sons are huge fans.”
Finn wrapped his arm around Noah’s shoulders. “He is the one and only, and he thrives on autographs, don’t you, dude?” He released Noah and bent to meet the kids at eye level. “Make sure you ask him to tell you the story about falling head over butt down Blanca Peak in Colorado.” The kids laughed, and Finn patted Noah’s back. “I’ll keep Julia company while you’re busy.”
Noah shot Finn an I’ll-kill-you-later scowl before grinning down at the boys and crouching to their level—a move Julia knew had to hurt.
“Hey, there. What’s your name?” he asked, shaking the kid’s hand.
“I’m Cory. This is my cousin, Cody.”
“Cory and Cody? How does your family keep that straight?” Noah asked as he shook Cody’s hand.
Julia moved on to the next stand while Noah chatted with the kids. “That was quite calculated,” she told Finn. “Can I assume you and Noah aren’t the best of friends?”
“If we weren’t, I’d be on the floor right now.” He put a possessive hand on the cart and smiled at her. “So tell me about the beautiful Julia. Where are you from?”
“San Francisco.” She loaded up on grapefruit, oranges, lemons, and limes. “How do you know Noah?”“We were on the U.S. Snowboarding Team together before he jumped ship for the cash, but we’ve been friends since we were kids.”
“So you grew up in Spokane?”
“Yep.” He pulled one of the limes from her bag, chose a different one, and tossed it in. “That one was dry.”
“What are you? The produce whisperer?”
“I cook a lot. Only have to get a few dry limes to know how to pick the juicy ones.”
Julia was pretty sure his hot smile exposed an intended double entendre. She wandered toward the vegetables and packed spinach into a bag. “I hope Noah picks up your gourmet vibes. He’s getting a cooking lesson tonight.”
“Oh yeah? What are you gonna make?”
“Depends on what Noah likes.”
“He eats anything. Absolutely no culinary standards.”
She laughed and glanced over at Noah again. He stood behind the older kid now, holding his arms wide and walking him through the moves of some boarding stunt in the lobby of Safeway. Customers seemed more entertained than annoyed, stopping to watch the pair. That strange spot in the middle of her chest heated up again.
“Does he really like kids?” she asked. “Or is that all for show?”
“He loves kids. I had to take his place at a few clinics this year because of his leg, and by the time I was done teaching a bunch of spoiled brats, I wanted to hang myself. Not him. He goes into a depression every year when the kids leave.”
“Did you and Noah do a lot together before his accident?”
“Saw him almost every day. We worked out together, hopped bars together, boarded together. That fall really put a dent in his social life.” Finn turned a subdued grin on Julia. “But he’s alive, right? A lot of guys aren’t so lucky. Especially guys who do the crazy-ass shit Noah does. He was damn lucky it was his ankle and not his neck.”
She didn’t like the sound of that. Light applause drew her gaze. Noah stood beside the boy, grinning like a kid himself. With his hip cocked, hand lifted overhead, waving a “hang loose” sign, Noah grinned down at the boy, who imitated him like a miniature mirror.
“I’m thinking of getting some of his friends together to work out,” she said to Finn. “I’m a pretty good coach, if you’re interested. Could give you guys a good workout, and it would save me from doing every workout with him, which would probably kill me.”
“If you’re the daily eye candy, count me in. I can round up the guys.”
“Great.” She pulled her phone from her back pocket and handed it to him. “Add your number. I’ll let you know when he’s ready for company.”
She glanced toward the entrance as Noah gave both kids some complicated fist-bump-handshake thing before searching the produce section. When his eyes found hers, his shoulders relaxed and he started forward—still limping.
When he reached them, he gave Finn’s back an extra hard smack. “Good to see you, buddy. Now, get lost.”
“Nah, nah, Julia and I were just talking about what we’re making for dinner.”