Page 41 of Melted by a Man

Oh, thank god they made it easy for me, “Jacqueline. She/her.”

“Are you leaving? Want to join us?” Leo asked, nodding his head towards the entrance. Part of me appreciated how he attempted to add a third person to this lunch. We hadn’t ever eaten lunch with just the two of us before, and I wasn’t too nervous about it, but I wouldn’t hate having a third-person buffer.

“I’d love to, but I already ate and I have a client in thirty minutes,” Taylor responded.

“What do you do?” I was curious about what involved “clients” but allowed them to wear the equivalent of sweatpants to work. Then I winced, wondering if that was appropriate of me to ask seconds after introducing ourselves, “If you don’t mind me asking.”

“I don’t,” Taylor lifted a hand to brush their hair off their forehead, making it look perfectly casually styled, “I’m an occupational therapist.”

“For children with special needs,” Leo added.

I winced, thinking of Violet’s daughter, “That sounds like a stressful job.” I was not a kid person. I panicked whenever I was around kids, even Zaid’s nephew. And he was the most well-behaved kid I knew. But I still didn’t feel comfortable around kids.

There wasn’t a single maternal bone in my body, which was probably for the best.

Taylor shrugged, “It has its moments. The kids throw tantrums sometimes. But it’s flexible and I love it. Plus my coworkers are all wonderful.”

“That’s good,” I glanced between the two of them, “…How do you know Leo?”

Taylor grinned, “He’s on my rugby team.”

I raised my eyebrows before giving Leo an impressed look, “You play rugby?”

“Don’t look too surprised,” Leo held both of his arms up, flexing his biceps with a suggestive eyebrow wiggle, “How do you think this happens?”

I snorted, something that Taylor laughed at as their gaze bounced between the two of us, “Are you coming to the game this weekend?”

I blinked, thinking that they were directing the question at Leo, but Leo dropped his arms and let surprise flicker across his expression before I realized it was for me. I turned back to Taylor, “Oh, I wasn’t invited.”

Taylor gave Leo an unimpressed look before stepping forward and murmuring to me, as if sharing a secret, “I’m inviting you right now.”

I blushed, their face was much closer to mine, and I instinctively stepped closer to Leo to avoid breathing in theirs. They watched me move out of their space, but they seemed relaxed, their eyes were focused on Leo as I responded, “Oh—I, I don’t know if I should.”

“You can if you want.” Leo lifted a hand and plopped it on my shoulder. It wasn’t flirtatious or sexual to any degree, but for some reason, his large palm on my shoulder relaxed me. I glanced up at him and gave a nervous smile.

“I’ll check my calendar.”

“I hope to see you there. Maybe Leo here will play better with a pretty woman like yourself cheering him on.” Taylor winked, and then saluted the two of us before sauntering off down the street.

“Jesus,” Leo grumbled, removing his hand from my shoulder and continuing to the front door, “and they thinkI’mthe flirt.”

I shrugged, “It’s nice to know I still got it.”

Leo gave me a once over as he held the door open for me, but clamped his mouth shut as I walked past him. It was noisy, and the taco joint had a large bar centered in the middle of the farthest wall. The two of us naturally wandered over there instead of taking a table, and it wasn’t until we both took places on barstools that I realized how familiar this was.

If Leo was getting flashbacks to how we met like I was, he wasn’t showing it.

We had just received chips and salsa from the bartender when my name was spoken behind me.

I froze, recognizing the voice immediately.

I took a second to blink away my surprise and sudden jolt of fear, before I turned around to face the man who demanded my attention.

Vincent.

My ex-boyfriend.

The man I once lived under the same roof with.

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