Page 56 of You've Got Male

Ryan snorted. “Call her? Dad, that’s so last century. You wait. How long she takes to respond will tell you a lot of things.”

“Like?”

“Well, if she answers back in under a minute, think of yourself as the icing. The best part of the cake. They’re into you,” Ryan said. “Fifteen minutes they are still interested but they’re working their way through the cake to make sure they want the frosting.”

He couldn’t believe he was asking, but… “What about longer?”

“Then oven is on, the cake on the center rack, so they know you’re there, they’re just a little sidetracked with other things.”

God, his life had come down to cake metaphors. What was wrong with him? He was about to put his phone away when it lit up.

Ping.

Ryan looked at the phone he was still holding. “Not bad. Forty-five seconds. This is good.”

“What does it say?” Jonah asked.

“She said, ‘Ideas?’”

Jonah threw his hands in the air. “What the hell does that mean?”

“That she’s open but putting the ball in your court to plan it. So what do you have planned?”

“Tell her I’ll pick her up at four,” he said, and Ryan started typing. “Wait, be sure to ask if that works for her. I don’t want her to feel cornered.”

Ryan rolled his eyes. “She’s already signed up for the frosting, now she’s looking for confirmation that you know how to frost a cake.”

“Even so, make sure she knows this is on her time.”

“Your life,” Ryan said and hit send. He handed Jonah back his phone but held onto it. “You’re not going to wear cologne, are you?”

“I was thinking about it. Why?”

“It reminds me of Mom. And if it reminds me, it will remind you. I just don’t think Mom would want to be a third wheel. Nowgo on, Dad. It’s up to you to make it a great second date.”

…

Once Evie agreed to the date, the morning took on a sloth-like attitude, moving so slow Jonah was going to lose his mind. To keep his excitement and nerves under control he decided to send out some resumes, then clean up around the house. It started with the kitchen and family room, and ended with him working in the yard, pulling weeds and prepping it for its makeover.

He hadn’t a clue as to what the final product would look like, but he figured ripping up the dead to make room for the living was a good start. Even though there was a cool fall breeze, summer was still hanging on, leaving Jonah ripe for the picking.

He hopped into the shower, skipped the cologne, and raced out of the house. By the time he hit the car he was sweating again—this time with nerves.

They were taking it date by date, and since this was only date two, he wanted to play it cool so he was picking her up at work rather than the old-fashioned knock at the front door. Plus, she’d just finished her shift. So he’d be picking her up in front of her employees, so there was no going back. Maybe that was why he was so nervous.

He knew what a risk they both were taking with their families, their professional lives, their other relationships. If things went sideways, it could negatively impact their lives, which was the opposite of why they’d agreed to this arrangement in the first place.

So when Jonah got a text from her that she’d meet him at the garden store he knew what that meant. She wasn’t ready to deal with the onslaught of questions that would arise if he’d picked her up at Grinder. It should have given him relief, but for some reason a wave of disappointment washed over him.

Then he looked at what she was wearing, and those nerves were back. He was so out of his league.

She had on a pair of ass-hugging black jeans, knee-high suede black boots, and a light-pink fitted tee. He’d never seen her wear anything like this and he liked it. It was like the girl next door and a biker collided, leaving behind one sexy-as-hell woman.

She was standing by the entrance to the garden and home center surrounded by a bright mosaic of flowers, her hands in her back pockets, rocking back and forth. By the way she fidgeted with her hair he could tell she was as nervous as he was.

“You look incredible,” he said as he approached her.

For the first time since he arrived, she met his gaze. “I do?”

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