Page 9 of The Last Date

“Tell me he kissed you,” she practically squealed.

I glanced around the room, but Beverly was behind the bar playing a game on her phone, and the two old men never looked up from their beer.

“He didn’t kiss me,” I said, realizing that I was absentmindedly tugging on my bottom lip again. “But he almost did.”

“What does that mean?”

“I can’t even begin to explain,” I laughed.

“Okay, well what does he look like?” Sarah asked, leaning in, desperate for more details.

“He’s tall, with broad shoulders and an insanely muscular build. He’s handsome, with deep green eyes that just…” I shook my head. “I’m really not good at this.”

“Are there any more clues?” she asked.

“He has a gorgeous dragon tattoo that wraps around his left arm,” I said. “His right arm is a tangle of Celtic designs, I think. And there are flames that go up his thigh and hip, partly onto…” I stopped suddenly.

“Oh my God, how much of him did you see?”

If I were speaking to absolutely anyone but Sarah, my heart would have stopped on the spot, and my blushing would have killed me.

“I went into the pool house to change and didn’t know that he was in the washroom. He came out completely naked, when I was completely naked.”

Her mouth fell open as she blinked at me for a few moments. “So, he saw your…everything?” she whispered.

“Yes. But the second he saw me, he spun around to face the wall.”

Sarah’s lips pursed for a moment. “I’ll bet you my car it was a bit more than a second,” she said. “Sasha, you’re totally hot. He must have stared at you.”

There was no way to explain that I had been so busy staring at him that it hadn’t even registered how much time had passed.

“Anyway,” I said, “He sort of gave me the impression that he wanted to see me again, but didn’t want it to be a date. I had just explained my mother’s string of forced dates, so maybe he was sympathetic.”

“How are you going to see him again if you guys don’t make a date?” Sarah asked. She stared down at her finger as it trailed a line on the cheap wooden tabletop. “If only you knew something about him so that you could stalk him online or something.”

“I don’t even know his full name,” I said. “I’ve met his older brother Caspian several times, but I don’t remember his last name.”

Sarah stared into space toward the wall, completely blanking out for a few seconds. “Caspian,” she muttered. “I’m pretty sure that my mother said that name once. Something about one of her charity events. I thought it was a fairy tale name.”

I could hear Sarah’s foot tapping under the table. “I’ll see if I can sneak into her filing system and take a peek for his last name,” she said.

“That would be amazing, thank you.”

“Of course, if he’s seriously a hottie, you’re going to have to let him come to you,” she grinned.

“Sure, but how will he know where to find me?”

Sarah’s laugh rang through the bar, almost drowning out the quiet old school country music. “The man got a good look at you naked. Trust me, he’ll be searching for you.”

CHAPTER FOUR

* Oakley *

Rule number one of my industry is to make people feel comfortable, to put them completely at ease by engaging all of the senses.

How odd that I’d never thought to apply this concept to dating before. Nearly a decade ago when I was dating around, I snapped my fingers and girls appeared. There was no challenge. Neither of us wanted anything challenging.

They wanted my money, and to be seen with someone considered a little dangerous. I wanted a hottie beside me until it was time for her to be under me. Simple.

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