Page 24 of Actually Yours

She gave me a knowing smile. “You’re using the LIB app?”

“Yes!” I was so relieved that I wouldn’t need to explain just how blind my blind date was.

“I suggest you wait at the bar and see if the two of you can find each other.” She winked at me, and I smiled gratefully in return. At least I wasn’t the only one dabbling in this crazy experiment.

On shaky legs, I made my way to the bar and hoisted myself up onto the bar stool. With nothing else to do but look around and wait, I ordered a glass of white wine, my gaze constantly roaming the surrounding area.

“Hi.”

Ohmigod. That voice. That has to be him.

I turned slowly on my stool and came eye to eye with the most perfect-looking specimen of a man. Tall, a head taller than me, sitting on this stool, with thick wavy black hair that my hands itched to run their fingers through. He had an olive complexion and a long straight nose that looked to have never taken a punch. But it was his eyes, behind the most perfect pair of black glasses frames, that immediately captured my attention. Green, a deep shade like a polished emerald, with the smallest fleck of gold in the centre. They were the sort of eyes I could get lost in for the rest of my life.

“Hi,” he said again, a smile causing a dimple to pop in his cheek and the skin around his eyes to crinkle.

“Hi.” My one word came out sounding breathless, and I felt my cheeks heat.

“Is this seat taken?” He gestured to the empty seat next to me and instead of grimacing at this cheesy pickup line, I nodded. Eagerly.

“Yes.”

He frowned at me.Disappointed?

“I mean no!” I yelled, like the lunatic I was. “I mean, please sit down.”

His eyes crinkled at me again, like he found me cute, and I watched with a lump in my throat as he sat down. Next to me.This has to be my blind date. Right?

“What are you drinking?”

My brain blanked at this, the simplest of questions.What was I drinking?

“Umm.” I stopped.C’mon, Amelia! What’s in your glass?

“She’s drinking white wine,” the helpful bartender said, coming to my rescue.

“I’ll have the same,” he said with that heart-stopping smile. I looked at the bartender, whose nametag labelled herSally, wondering if he’s having the same effect on her.

Sally winked at him and wandered off to get his drink, while I continued to sit, frozen, staring at him. Even blinking seemed impossible.

“Hi,” he said again, like we hadn’t already covered this particular greeting. The side of his neck heated, and I wondered if he was feeling as nervous as I was. Probably not, given he could still form words.

“Hey,” I breathed out the word.Yes! I’d finally found a word.

The wonderfully handsome stranger said nothing in return; instead, he just stared at me. I ran my hand over my hair, wishing it was a more normal shade than the fire-engine red I’d dabbled in last week, and searched for something to say.If he’s my match from the LIB app, I figured,surely, we’ll have heaps to talk about.

“Do you come here often?” The minute the words were out of his mouth, he grimaced. “Ignore that,” he muttered. “Terrible question.”

I watched with my heart in my mouth, my eyes and my stomach as he rubbed his large hand over his stubbled jaw. He seemed so awkward it made me like him even more. It’s like he’d never met a girl at a bar before.

“I’ve never been here,” I told him, putting us both out of our collective misery by finding my ability to converse again. “But I’ve heard great things.”

He had lit up. “Me too! I’ve been wanting to come here for ages but never had the time.”

This comment was weird, given his profile had him as a musician, but maybe he was a really successful one, who was too busy making music to check out the latest, trendiest restaurants in Melbourne?

“I’m Jake,” he said, causing me to frown.

Jake? That wasn’t right.

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