Somebody whistled from a workbench. “Go, Professor Larry.”
The man named Larry tossed his own back-off look over his shoulder. Then he turned to Crystal. “Sorry about that.”
“Are you for real?” she asked, growing uncomfortable with the attention they were drawing. The last thing she needed was some latter-day Sir Galahad defending her honor at the track.
He quirked a dark eyebrow in a question.
“I mean,” she elaborated, “you don’t need to worry. I’ve been fending off the wolves since I was seventeen.”
“Doesn’t make it right,” he countered, attempting to lift the box from her hands.
She jerked back. “You’re not making it any easier.”
He frowned.
“You carry this box, and they start thinking of me as a girl.”
Professor Larry dipped his gaze to take in the curves of her figure. “Hate to tell you this,” he said, a little smile coming into those multifaceted eyes. “Odds are,” Larry continued, a teasing drawl in his tone, “they already have.”
Something about his look make her shiver inside. It was a ridiculous reaction. Guys had given her the once-over a million times. She’d learned long ago to ignore it.
She turned pointedly away, boxes in hand as she marched across the floor. She could feel him watching her from behind.
He was just like the rest.
But then, she remembered his apology for the team member’s ribald remark. She couldn’t help but smile at that. When was the last time anyone cared how she felt about being the subject of sexual overtures?
“Hey, Crystal.” Dean Grosso greeted her as she set the boxes down on the workbench. “I see you met my brother, Larry.”
Crystal glanced back at the tall man who still stood beside her truck. Dean’s brother? Really? She would have pegged Larry as much younger than Dean.
“Is he really a professor?” she asked, dusting off her hands and tucking her chestnut hair behind her ears. In the past couple of months, her hair had grown out to a nondescript style. But until she figured out her economic life, she didn’t want to spend any money on a haircut. Plus, anything she could do to look plain and boring was a good thing in her world.