Page 48 of Must Be Love - Irresistible Bachelors

“How was your weekend?” I ask as we drive to the coffee shop.

It’s only a few blocks away, but the roads are clogged with other drivers trying to get to work.

“It was good. I caught up on some work and went to visit my sister in White Plains. That was nice.”

“Oh, that sounds like fun. I know you said you’re not close to your sister, but you got to see your niece and nephews, right?”

I can see Amber’s smile in my peripheral.

“Yeah, it was amazing. I don’t get to see them as often as I’d like. I always offer to babysit, but Dana worries about taking up too much of my time.”

“Have you told her that you love kids? You’d think she’d jump on the chance for free babysitting.”

“Dana doesn’t know about my stay-at-home mom aspirations.”

“She wouldn’t approve?”

Amber snorts. “Not even a little bit. Dana thinks all women need to be out in the work force. She doesn’t understand why anyone would want to be at home all the time. But she’s a great mom. She and her husband make plenty of time for their kids. Dana just doesn’t understand that everyone is different.”

We get to the coffee shop and pull up against the curb. Amber hits the button on the app to let them know we’ve arrived, and a teen barista brings our order out. Now that we’ve got our coffee, we can head for Amber’s office building.

As we drive, Amber and I continue to chat and get to know each other. I learn that she loves pizza, but if she had to choose only one food for the rest of her life, it would be pasta.

“There are more options with pasta,” she explains. “You can get different sauces and preparations. You can’t get sick of it because there are a million different versions.”

“You could say the same about pizza,” I counter.

Amber shakes her head. “Not really. Pizza is always pizza, no matter what you put on it. But with pasta, you could have lasagna or baked ziti or mac and cheese. So many possibilities!”

I concede her point. We continue like this for twenty minutes, talking about our favorite things.

“You know, this is weird,” Amber says.

“What do you mean?”

“This conversation. It’s so…easy. I never had that with my ex-boyfriends.”

“I never have either,” I admit. “Not even… Well, I guess it’s confession time. I didn’t even have this with my ex-fiancée, Marnie.”

Amber gasps. “You were engaged?”

“Yes, technically. It was a bad decision because I’d only known her a year. She cheated on me, and I broke it off. That was years ago, though. I’m completely over her.”

Amber is quiet. Should I have saved that tidbit of information until later in our relationship? I’m already keeping one huge secret from Amber. I didn’t want to add another to the mix.

“Okay,” she says finally. “You had a life before me. I get that. But I won’t be inviting her out for tea anytime soon.”

I laugh. “Please don’t. She’s a bitch.”

This makes Amber laugh, too, and all is right in the car again. My chest feels lighter now that she knows about Marnie. Now if only I could tell her about the other secret I’m keeping.

I’ll save that for another day.

“I’ve had two boyfriends,” Amber tells me. “I was never engaged to either of them. The last one sucked, but I’m over it. That’s my dating history.”

“I only dated a couple of people before Marnie, and I haven’t dated anyone sense.”

Amber blows out a breath. “We’re quite the pair, aren’t we?”

“We don’t have the best track records. Maybe we’re going to change that for each other.”

“I hope so.”

With our dating past out of the way, Amber and I are free to spend the rest of our drive chatting and singing along to the music. The ease of our earlier conversation returns. It’s a relief that we can have these serious discussions but never lose our playful banter.

Forty minutes after picking her up, I pull up in front of Amber’s office building. My own office is on the same street, just a few blocks down.

“Wow, we work close to each other. Maybe we can have lunch sometime?” I suggest.

“I’d like that! I’m booked up this week with my friends, but I’ll make sure to keep some time open for you in the future.”

“That’s all I ask,” I say.

I kiss her lips softly before she gets out of my car.

It all feels so right. I could get used to this.

Well, maybe not the driving into the city part. I hate being stuck in traffic. Though getting to talk to Amber made it slightly better. It just sucks that my normal commute is fifteen minutes on the subway, and from leaving my house to now, I’ve been in the car for an hour.

“I’ll see you in a few days for your next appointment!”

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