Page 3 of Mr. Flirt

“Ah, touché.” She leaned over the table. “So, tell me. What do you do for a living?”

Ah, shit.

I’m about to catfish my future wife.

I was tapping out. This would be the first dare I’d fail, and I’d gladly take the loss.

“Uh, so I—” I started.

Her brows rose as her gaze stayed on mine. “Yeah?”

“I…”

Lucy glanced at the digital timer they’d hung on the wall. “I don’t mean to rush you, but we’ve only got three more minutes. So you’d better make it count. Sell me.”

My eyes dropped to the blue, low-pile rug beneath us in the ballroom, and I swallowed hard.

“Well, I think we just figured out why you’re at an event like this.” She chuckled. “You choke on the conversation part of the relationship thing.”

I laughed and brought my eyes back to hers, and my pulse immediately jumped. There was something just so gorgeously intimidating about her. And it was only a plus that she didn’t recognize me from the magazine or any accidental shenanigans I’d become known for in the female population of Seattle.

“I own my own business. Started as a software salesman.”

She nodded, narrowing her eyes at me. “You own your own business as in the IRS gives you x years of failure before you give it up or…”

Lucy’s words smacked me in the face, and I couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

“Nah. Like a really solid business, Lucy.”

Her shoulders relaxed slightly. “That’s good. I don’t think that kind of thing is all that important as long as there is direction or something, but I was just checking.” Lucy’s tongue slowly slid along her bottom lip, and I drew a breath. “I don’t feel like being a sugar mama.”

This woman was too good to be true. The directness left me unhinged. I had to tell her the truth.

“Okay.” She grinned wider. “Next question. Are you close with your family?”

“Absolutely. My sister is my best friend. Actually, some of her BFFs are my BFFs.”

She chuckled. “BFFs?”

I nodded, unable to rip my gaze from Lucy’s. “And I love my parents, but they aren’t together. But they didn’t divorce until we were older. My sister and brother were still in high school.” Not wanting to elaborate, I cleared my throat and smiled. The woman in front of me didn’t need to hear about my dad’s midlife crisis, cheating escapades, and fateful decisions that destroyed his happy family. Nope. She didn’t need to hear about that.

“Interesting.” She folded her hands together, sliding them to her lap.

“You?”

She smiled, and happiness flitted through her gaze. “I have a younger sister. Her name is Mae. I love her to death. I basically raised her because my parents had a nasty divorce, and my mom had to work all the time and…” Lucy stopped herself, but I didn’t want her to ever stop. “Sorry. TMI.”

I shook my head slowly. “Not at all. I want to hear more.”

She cocked her head slightly. “You do?”

I nodded.

“Most men tune out before I even say I have a sister.”

“I’m not most men.”

No, you’re worse than most men,a little voice taunted.

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