Page 42 of 28 Dates

This guy…

I can’t wait to finally meet him and see why he’s been so secretive.

—

“So you know nothing about him?”

I lift a cucumber slice off my eye and glare at Teagan. We’re at the spa, compliments of her after she showed up at my door way too early on a Sunday morning and wouldn’t take no for an answer.

Not that I ever turn down a trip to the spa. They’re even more enjoyable when I don’t have to pay for it.

“I know his lame jokes make me laugh.”

“Hmm. Laughing’s good. You know what’s better?” She continues before I can stop her. “Seeing his face.”

I drop the cucumber slice back over my eye and turn my head straight ahead. We’ve been massaged, scraped, and sloughed. Our pedicures are done, and my fingernails have never been such a vibrant shade of teal before. Strange choice, but I’m liking it.

“Meeting him in person will give me that opportunity.”

“And it’ll go okay after what happened Thursday?”

I tell her everything so of course my brain malfunctioned and I had to go on a random tangent in the car earlier about Jonas’s behavior Thursday night.

Having it brought up again starts to ruin my peaceful relaxation.

“Ugh. You’re annoying me,” I say, groaning. “Jonas rarely works on Sunday anyway. It’ll be fine.”

Hopefully.

Meeting Michael at Dirty’s might not be my wisest decision, but there’s no way I’m meeting a stranger who won’t show his face on a profile picture in any other setting.

Regardless of who’s working at the bar tonight, I’ll be safe and covered.

“Corbin and I can always come, too,” Teagan says, not even mildly helpfully.

“What?” I turn my head toward her so quickly, the cucumbers drop to the floor. “Why would you do that?”

She’s as chilled and still as I wish I could be. “Notwithyou. But you know, we could go there for dinner or something. And at least be there. You know, to make sure you’re safe.”

Teagan is rarely protective of me. But she is sweet. Still, there’s something about her nonchalant tone that I don’t particularly like.

“What’s this about?”

“Hmm?”

Yeah. Like she has no idea what I’m really talking about. “Spill it, Teagan. What’s going on?”

Her cheeks fill, and she blows out a breath. Removing her own cucumber slices, she turns to me and grimaces. “Corbin doesn’t like this.”

“Doesn’t like what?”

She slips her hand in the air, waving it in a circle. “You. Strangers. Dating apps.” She shrugs and drops her hand lamely to her stomach. “You can’t blame him.”

I all but roll my eyes. Corbin’s always been the more protective one between him and Trey. Trey’s too laid back. Corbin, too intense. It’s why they’re best friends. They bring out the best in each other, and between them, I always have someone to talk to.

“Did you tell your husband he’s being ridiculous?”

“Well, yeah.” She grunts and rolls her eyes. “He worries.”

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