Page 11 of Building Courage

She valued Martin’s opinion. His experience in front of a camera and his having viewed thousands of fashion photos for Living Large made his perspective invaluable.

“I have a few more to tweak, and I’ll send them off to the client. I hope he likes them as well as you do.”

“I have no doubt he will.”

“I missed you at the park today.” He’d canceled at the last minute. More than likely because of Tate. “You missed meeting the diving expert Natalie hired to teach me to scuba.”

“What was he like?” he asked. He threw up a hand to stop her from replying. “Wait, let me guess. Mid-forties, balding, with a gut and a beard.”

She laughed. “Why would you think that?”

“Natalie has a thing about you. She wants you focused and working on what she wants you to work on. No distractions allowed. She wouldn’t hire anyone who might interfere with her agenda.”

She’d missed the mark this time, then. “He’s not forty, and he doesn’t have a gut.”

Martin’s brows rose. “Handsome?”

“Yes. Six feet tall. Amazing green eyes, sun-streaked hair, a little scruff, and he’s in fantastic shape. He was polite enough to carry my pack back to the car and wait until I drove off before he left.”

“He sounds interested. Here’s your opportunity, Brynn. You need to jump that guy before someone else snatches him up.”

She laughed, then shook her head. “He may already have a girlfriend. We just met and talked long enough to set a date for my first scuba lesson. That’s all. This is a business transaction, not a date-date.”

“Darling, you need to take advantage of the situation. The idea is to get laid, and if the sex is good enough, then make a decision about everything else.”

She shook her head. If she’d learned anything, it was jumping into any kind of relationship, even dating, too quickly, was a recipe for disaster. “You already know my views on casual sex. And I’ll tell you what I’ve told you before. If it doesn’t mean something, it isn’t worth doing.”

Martin breathed an exaggerated sigh. “Sometimes, all it’s meant to be is to fulfill needs or have fun. A healthy sexual appetite is just as important as the rest. Since we’ve been neighbors, I can count on one finger how many times you’ve brought someone home for dinner, and no one has ever spent the night.”

She raised a brow and folded her arms. “I didn’t realize you were so interested in my love life, Martin.”

“Of course I am. I’m nosey as hell, and I love to gossip.”

Just when she wanted to be angry with him, he’d pop off with something so completely honest she wanted to laugh. “Yeah, you are. That means I’ll make a point of getting laid at the guy’s house so you won’t know anything about it.”

He clutched his chest as though he were having a heart attack. “You wouldn’t be that cruel, would you?”

“Naturally, I would.” She flipped a long strand of hair over her shoulder and took on a Southern accent. “Otherwise, you might sully my reputation.”

“That’s an impossibility, Brynn. No one would believe me.” Martin’s teasing look turned to one of concern. “All joking aside, Brynn…it’s been three years since they sent that fucker to prison. He can’t hurt you anymore. Don’t you think it’s time to at least try to move on?”

She wished she’d never told him about Chad, but it was hard to avoid when she still had screaming nightmares on occasion, and his apartment was next door. “I’ll be able to move on when I find someone who makes me feel safe.”

“Safe sounds a little boring, Brynn.”

He would say that. He was addicted to his boyfriend, Tate’s, high-drama approach to everything. She could see so many things in Martin’s relationship with his boyfriend that mirrored what she’d experienced with Chad. All of it set off alarm bells in her and made her anxious. “Martin, I know three years is a long time, but I still remember what it was like.” Before Chad, when she’d had a normal boyfriend. “When all the sex you experience is makeup sex, you miss out on the other kinds possible.”

He frowned and turned away. “I need to go. And you need to eat.”

She sighed. He never wanted to talk about his relationship problems, only hers. “Why don’t you drink your tea while I eat? You can keep me company. Otherwise, I’ll just keep thinking about the scuba lessons and how many ways I’ll embarrass myself in front of Mr. Perfect.”

“Perfect? You didn’t say he was perfect.” Martin said as he moved to the bar to sit in one of the chairs there.

“Pretty close.” She dished up the pasta and put it in the microwave, then put a dash of dressing on the salad. “He told me not to let Natalie talk me into anything I didn’t want to do.”

“Wow.” His brows rose. “He knows her?”

“Yeah. She arranged for him to give me the lessons.”

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