Page 68 of The Rules

“Look, I love Josh. He’s a great guy and I couldn’t ask for anyone better for my best friend, but he’s a saint. Cat needs a man like that. She has more trust issues than I can count. She needs a guy who’ll never make her guess. Me? I’d be bored that way.”

“Okay, well then who’s to say us meeting on that beach wasn’t just as important? Destiny or chaos, who knows? Josh was looking for fate and so he found it, but maybe you and I just happened to meet and get to know each other. Maybe there’s plenty of other options for both of us, but I’ve already made the decision, thechoice, that I want to see where this thing goes with you.”

Dani’s body went still. “Is that what you’re saying?”

It was. Whether it was fate or not, he wanted so badly for her to tell him her version of the “right guy” was six foot one, dark hair, green eyes, had a joke to interrupt every sentimental moment, and thanks to his dad’s genes, had a better than fifty-percent chance of ruining a relationship before he even started one. “I’m saying, Dani-pie, it doesn’t have to be some lightning striking, angels singing moment. Sometimes two people just enjoy each other’s company. Then they start to see how the other person would make their life better, and it grows from there.”

Surprise washed across her face. “Like us?”

“Yeah. Like us.” His mouth went dry. If she didn’t feel the same way, he’d have a front-row seat when she met the guy whowasgood enough. That image burned in the back of his throat, but he kept going. Her took her face in his hands. “I don’t want to be the warm-up anymore, Dani. Don’t go out with any more matches. Cancel them. Go out with me instead.”

Anticipation bubbled in his veins. There’d been only a handful of moments in his life when he’d been so dependent on what someone else was going to say. Almost always with work, and never staring into the eyes of a woman.

“Okay,” she said.

“Okay?”

“Did you think you were going to have to convince me?”

“I guess I did.”

She laughed quietly, nervously. “I don’t even have a date planned tomorrow. I told myself I wasn’t scheduling them because I was too busy, but that wasn’t true. I think I just didn’t want to see anyone else.”

He forced his voice out around his heart sitting in his throat. “How come?”

She pressed her mouth to his chest, her breath escaping in a hot whoosh. “Because I want to see where this thing goes too. It’s already gone somewhere, I think.”

The way his stomach did a somersault told him she was right. It had gone somewhere he wasn’t sure he’d ever find his way back from.

Twenty-five

“You’re staring,” Dani said, sippinga gin and tonic that a guy with a man-bun and a flannel shirt had dropped off in front of her. They’d just finished dinner in a dimly-lit dive not far from her condo. The floor was concrete and the decor consisted of neon signs advertising beer in cans, and a Little League team picture from 1996 thanking the owner for their sponsorship.

He’d told her to pick anywhere she’d wanted to go for their first dinner together off of her couch. He hadn’t expected this.

He smiled around a sip of scotch—bottom shelf, the one brand they had. “I was thinking about how much time you spent getting pretty for me tonight.”

She snorted. “Oh my God. You should teach a class on male chauvinism.”

“Maybe.”

She reached for an olive left on the plate of nachos they’d shared, and her sweater fell off of one shoulder. He wanted to press his lips to her skin, warm it with his mouth. She was right. He’d been staring since he picked her up.

“You do look pretty, though,” he said, catching her hand on the table.

Dani’s little cherub cheeks turned pink. “Thank you.”

He turned his palm over, letting their fingers lace. It was a move he’d practiced. Women loved it, but tonight he just wanted everyone in the room to know she was his. Even if it was just the bartender and a couple of old guys playing cards at the bar.

“So is this a common soulmate date spot for you?”

She laughed. “God no. One guy took me to a place that we could only get into because his boss’s sister was the chef. It was completely over the top.”

He laughed with her but then his smile fell. “I’m an idiot,” he said.

She gave him an amused look. “Usually. But, why this time?”

When he’d told her to pick the place, he was trying to make her happy. He thought she’d like that. He didn’t give a damn what they did as long as she was with him instead of one of her soulmate dates, but he couldn’t help thinking about all of the women he’d dropped a small fortune on just to take them home. Now he was finally with Dani and he’d bought her chips and cheese. Shit. Was he already fucking this up?

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