Page 2 of Daring Lance

“You never answered my question.” He blinked slowly, and Willow found herself mesmerized by the gesture as he continued to hold her gaze.

She finally managed to break eye contact as she sucked in a gasp of air, then quickly bent over to clasp a leash on to Harold’s neck. The sixty-pound Boxer shook in excited anticipation of their impending walk, and Willow was eager to oblige him, anything to get away from the clutches of Lance’s hypnotic gaze. “Your question?” Of course, she knew exactly what question he referred to. How could she not when it hung in the air around them like a lead balloon? But there was no way she would give in that easily and respond to him.

“You said I wasn’t your type, and I asked why. You never answered.”

Willow clasped a second leash on to Cooper’s collar, and the Pitbull mix responded with an eager lick to her chin. Willow laughed, brushing her palm lovingly across the top of each of the dogs’ heads. Why wasn’t Lance her type? Fine, she would answer him and with confidence. “Because you’re not.”

Lance’s head jerked back, and the look he shot her was almost comical. As handsome as he was, and he was handsome-she’d bet by anyone’s, man or woman, standards. She’d also bet he was not used to being rejected.

Lance shook a strand of sandy blonde hair from the corner of his eye. “Why not? We live in the same building…your best friend is married to my brother—"

Willow shook her head. “Those are things we have in common, Lance. Mr. Bernstein also lives in our building and is friends with Luke and Madison, and I don’t consider the octogenarian my type either.”

Lance chuckled under his breath. “Okay, I’ll give you that, but I think we’ve got a lot of other, more important things going for us. From what my sister-in-law tells me, we have a great deal in common.”

Willow twisted each of the dog leashes in her palm. Great, how did she get out of this one? From what she had learned about the Bennett brothers, specifically Lance, from his now sister-in-law and her best friend was that she had a lot in common with Lance- justnotthe one thing that was most important to her. Think, Willow. She had to come up with something and fast. “I speak seven languages! How many do you?”

Lance’s eyes widened, and Willow knew it would be difficult for him to insist they shared that ability as she met few people who did, although fluency in multiple languages was hardly a deal breaker when it came to what she wanted in a man.

“Seven languages? That’s amazing. Which ones?”

Willow pulled her lower lip between her teeth. How had this happened? She wasn’t someone who liked talking about herself, and with Lance staring back at her, she felt even more self-conscious. Sucking in a gulp of air, she blurted, “German, French, Italian, Korean, Japanese, and Cantonese, and English, of course. My parents were multi-lingual, and we practiced a lot at home.”

Lance eyes were alit with questions, and Willow felt the scrutiny of his gaze all the way down to the tips of her toes. “Do you work for the CIA intercepting foreign, encrypted messages or something equally mysterious?”

It took several seconds for Willow to connect the dots, and when she did, she laughed. “Nope. I translate Netflix movies.”

Lance took a step back. “Seriously? I thought Madison said you were a computer geek?”

Interesting. She supposed she should be excited that Lance had asked Madison about her, but instead the knowledge only caused an additional spark of pain in her yearning heart. Lance was not the guy for her, and she didn’t need any more proof otherwise. Even though he was smart, attractive, witty, kind, responsible-oh, who was she kidding? Lance’s positive attributes beat out his negative ones by a thousand to one, and, sadly, it was thatonethat kept her from leaping into his arms to confirm that he kissed as well as she remembered. She could never forget the kiss that put all her previous kisses to shame, banished to the mediocre column forever in comparison. She was so screwed when it came to Lance.

Willow decided not to deny that she was a computer geek. Her language skills, as vast as they were, simply provided her a way to capitalize on what she loved to do most, computer programming. “I am. I mean, I’m a computer, or actually, digital programmer. I sort of stumbled into the Netflix gig. I had a friend trying to break into the movie industry with an independent film that she wanted translated into several languages in order to target a broader audience. I offered to help with the translations and digitally program the subtitles into the movie at the same time. Word got around, and the rest is history.”

The admiration in Lance’s gaze made her feel warm, which was not helping her resolve to stay away, far away, from Lance and his charm. “That’s so cool, Willow,” Lance responded. “That you’re a computer programmer and fluent in so many languages.” He bent his head ever so slightly to the side, but it was enough to cause a wisp of hair to fall across the corner of one eye, and Willow yearned to brush it away for him, if only to feel both his hair and skin under her fingertips. “But since we both speak English, I don’t understand why your linguistic skills keep me from being your type? Besides, I like foreign flicks, too. I sawParasitea few years ago and just watchedSquid Gamesand thought they were both excellent. Did you work on either of them?”

Willow stifled back a grown. “Ah, no.” Was there no end to the Lance Bennett’s torture to her soul? Korean dramas were her all-time favorite, but there was no way she would share that with him, not after he’d told her that he thought both her computer and language skills were cool rather than nerdy, like most men she had encountered over the years had done. She needed to think of something that would make sense, because if she told him the truth, he’d know she’d been thinking of a long-term relationship with him. And that thought was ridiculous because they barely knew each other. Too bad forever after is exactly how Willow dreamed of Lance but was why she also understood that nothing would ever work between them. Fortunately, an idea to make sure he understood that, sparked right when she thought she might have to come forward with the truth. “I’m totally into ocean sports. It’s how I spend most of my free time. I love to scuba dive, snorkel, wind surf, all of it.” Willow exhaled a swift breath with a sense of relief.

“Seriously? I love scuba diving. I was certified in wreck diving a couple of months ago. And I’ve only gone wind surfing a few times, but it was a blast. I’m totally game to try it again with you.”

Willow’s jaw gaped open. “What?!” Lance nodded eagerly, and she realized that he was not joking. How was that possible? According to Madison, the wife of Luke, Lance’s younger brother, Luke had freaked out when he’d encountered a sea turtle on an evening walk on the beach. How could his brother Lance be so different? Didn’t phobias run in families? Weren’t the brothers traumatized by some sea monster as children? Why hadn’t Madison warned her that Lance did not share his brother’s fear of ocean dwellers? Crap! Now what? Lance seemed passionate about the topic while Willow wanted to do nothing more than scream in frustration. Would there be no end of Lance Bennett’s torture to her heart?

“Over the last ten years, I’ve lived in Central and South America, typically in cities near the ocean. Some places there wasn’t much else to do but hang out at the beach. I heard they have some great scuba diving in the Keys that I’d like to try.” His expression was playful, and Willow inwardly cringed. They did have great diving in the Keys. It was one of her favorite spots in Florida, but she’d be damned if she would admit that to him. Standing two feet from her in a pair of jeans and a snug T-shirt was more than enough to make her crazy. She sure didn’t need to be up close and personal with him while he wore nothing more than a pair of swim trunks. She sucked the wall of her cheeks between her teeth to keep herself from whimpering. “Well—”

“Willow?” Lance took a step toward her and then another, and Willow crushed her eyelids together. Oh no, he was going to kiss her, and she was going to let him. No, no, no. She braced herself for the pressure of his lips, unable to resist what she wanted to repeat more than anything and to hell with the consequences. Her heartbeat pounded against her tank top in anticipation, excited to feel the pressure of his lips against hers again if only for a moment. Certainly, she would come to her senses once he left for work. Then she would have time to regain her earlier resolve to avoid him at all costs. She sucked in a breath when she felt the briefest of pressure against the corner of her lips which disappeared seconds later. She shot open her eyelids to find Lance wiping his hand on a napkin.

“You had some bagel crumbs stuck at the corner of your mouth.”

Willow swallowed back a gulp of air as her skin burned to a temperature she hoped might be fatal because a swift death would at least spare her from any more embarrassment. “Oh, ah…thanks. Poppyseeds. The little guys can be a problem.” She smiled faintly before she swiped at the corners of her mouth with the back of her hand.

“Yeah, in your teeth, too.”

Willow gasped and brought her hand to her mouth again. Lance was no more than eighteen inches away from her. She could wrap her arms around him without having to step forward, if she wanted to, which she did not. No, she definitely did not, especially if she had seeds stuck between her teeth. Why she had bothered to get out of bed this morning was definitely the question of the day.

“I meant in general, Willow.” Lance chuckled and took a small step toward her. “I don’t think you have any between your teeth, unless you want me to take a closer look?”

Willow clenched the dog leashes between her fists and took a step backward. “No, I’m, um, fine.”

“It would—” Lance’s cell pinged, stopping him mid-sentence and causing a sense of relief to swish through her. He glanced at what she assumed was a text before he looked back up at her. “My clients are able to make it earlier than they previously thought. They’re going to meet me at my office in fifteen minutes. I need to run.”

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