Page 14 of Flirty Thirty

A grin forms on his lips, letting that dimple arrive just in time to melt me completely.

“And food,” he says, his body now a whisper away. “I like the idea of food in the morning.”

There is a likely chance that I am bewitched, because only a person under a spell would kiss a man who equally scares her as he does intrigue her. My bare feet have to push up on their very tiptoes to reach, and even then, my palm smooths over the back of his head to coax him to meet me halfway. He covers my mouth, and my lips aren’t slow or shy—they are ready for some real aggressive action which his lips are more than happy to oblige. “Bewitched” doesn’t even cover the electrified current running through my frazzled heart; my thoughts aren’t even here on earth at the moment.

I feel his palm at the small of my back, reeling me in to the hard plate of his chest. He tugs at my bottom lip over and over, the softness of his mouth combined with the rough scruff of his chin elicit uninhibited moans from deep down in my fluttering stomach. My fingers curl into his shirt, the touch of this man annihilating every rational thought I know I should have. He’s soft, he’s rough, he’s hard and warm and he’s satisfying a long stint of loneliness and at the same time never quenching my thirst. I claw at him, wishing I hadn’t chosen a pencil skirt when picking my outfit.

The fingers on my back squeeze me tighter for just a moment before he pulls back. His lips leave mine so suddenly that neither of us breathe right away. I let out a tiny sigh, embarrassment starting to creep its way up my neck, but his lips find mine once more in a softer, gentler embrace. It’s only for a second, but it takes my breath away just the same.

He does it again. And another time. It’s almost as if he keeps talking himself in and out of the decision. A relieved smile slips onto my lips. It’s good to know I wasn’t completely out of line. Then again, he’d kissed me before we’d said a handful of words to each other. It’s been at least twenty minutes before I lost control.

I search for something,anythingto say; I don’t blame him now for just taking off the last time this happened. How do you put a voice to a moment like this? How can you follow it up?

“I have a date tonight,” I blurt out, picking probably the worst possible words I could have.

His eyebrows lift. “What about tomorrow night?”

I take a deep breath, letting it out through my tingly lips. “Depends on how well this one goes.”

He laughs, and his hand falls from my back as I step away for some much needed clarity. “Oh, I already know how it’ll go.”

“Oh really?” My fingers fumble down my skirt as I attempt to straighten out not only my clothing, but my hormones. “Care to tell me?”

His head tilts in a playful, yet sexy manner, and he reaches for his phone. “Wouldn’t want to spoil it for you.” He slides his thumb around the screen. “Six-thirty tomorrow night work for you?”

Not willing to give him the satisfaction of knocking me clean out of my shoes—if I were wearing any—I collect myself and say, “If I don’t have plans with Todd already.” I have no idea if that’s the right name.

“That’s a yes, then.”

“It’s a maybe.”

He slides his phone into his back pocket, then closes the gap we’ve put between us. I find myself slowly falling back into dangerous territory. He waits there, playing chicken with me until I finally break.

“What?”

A smile cracks on his lips. “Just hedging my bets.” He steps around me, heading out of the kitchen and down to the basement.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I call after him.

He turns with that dimple in his cheek. “That tonight, when you’re with him, I guarantee… you’ll be thinking of me.”

7

Blind Date Fate

As much as I’d hate to give Cooper the satisfaction of victory, I think he’s earned it. Steve—his name is Steve, but Todd was close—crunches into another bite of his taco, breaking me from yet another train of thought that brought me to this afternoon in the kitchen.

It wasn’t even a related topic, either. I struck up a conversation about dental floss, something I refused to believe would bring me to thoughts of Cooper. But the dental floss reminded me of the mint leaves logo, which turned into reminders of watering my plants out front. My thoughts then ran off with Tom and how he ate the last of my tulips when I let him out the other day. The cat needs to go on a diet, and I tried to think of what ingredients were in his food. I laughed silently at the thought of him turning away from dietary meal plans, and that he’d much rather go for whatever I had in my fridge. Which brought me to the lasagna I meant to put in the oven. Then I saw Cooper sticking his head inside the one at the showing today. The oven door closing, his slow, steady strides toward me, that dimple teasing me just seconds before…

“Oh shoot,” Jules says, her eyes on her phone. I wonder when my thoughts wandered off again; I don’t remember her pulling it out. “Katie says Lucy’s out of diapers. I forgot to pick some up this afternoon.”

Nate, my brother in law, wipes his chin free from his meal and sets the napkin on top of the table. “She needs one now?”

“She’s currently in one of Claire’s, and it’s drowning her.” Julie turns to us, the corners of her mouth dipped down. “I’m sorry… we should probably run…”

“Please,” Steve says. “Go take care of Lucy.”

I nod, reassuring my sister and the concerned look in her eyes. I wonder if she knows this isn’t going very well. Though, that’s hardly Steve’s fault.

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