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There had to be someone she could connect with who wasn’t a jerk, didn’t have a mommy complex, and wasn’t looking for a free ride.

She was about to return to her previous dating app when a profile caught her attention.

“Pediatrician. Plus,” she said aloud. “Loves children and is looking for a serious relationship. Plus and plus.”

Curling her legs beneath her on the sofa, she continued reading.

“Enjoys outdoor sports. Volunteers as a baseball and soccer coach. Oh, hell yeah.” She pumped a fist in the air before tapping the button that would make her profile appear the next time he logged onto the site.

Buoyed by the promising profile, she went into the kitchen and decided to bake cookies. She took out the ingredients for Arden’s favorite kind, hoping they would help ease the guilt she still felt over deceiving her about the food she’d taken to the clubhouse.

The day after the party, Natalia had waited anxiously for Arden to arrive at work, expecting her friend to be angry or hurt by the deception. Arden had been angry, but not with her.

“I want to say I can’t believe Wizard made a bet about getting you to join the club, but I can,” Arden had told her. “Doom bet I would quit the first day I worked there—and don’t ask what the person who won got. I’ve heard them bet on whether a woman’s breasts were real or implants. The winner got to … Never mind. You don’t want to know that, either. They’re all terrible. I would’ve warned you if I’d known.”

Natalia could see the sheen of tears in Arden’s compassionate gaze and knew she was telling the truth.

“I didn’t think you knew,” Natalia hastily assured her friend. “I felt terrible about deceiving you over the food, but I wanted to get back at Wizard,” she confessed.

“I don’t blame you. I don’t understand why I still work there myself. They’re good guys. They’re just …”

“Obnoxious,” Natalia finished for her. “To them, it’s all in fun. Their lifestyle is different. Things that seem tasteless to us seem normal to them. They have a different attitude toward sex than we do.”

Arden stared at her, surprised that she wasn’t condemning them outright.

“Just because I don’t like them doesn’t mean I can’t understand them. To be honest, it isn’t their obvious preoccupation with sex that sets me off. It’s the men themselves. They’re so arrogant that they set my teeth on edge.”

Arden laughed. “I don’t think it’s their arrogance that bothers you.”

One of the evening-shift employees entered the kitchen as Arden spoke. The two women immediately moved toward the back, where they couldn’t be overheard.

“What do you mean?” Natalia asked.

“One thing I’ve learned since I started working at the club is how dominant the men are. You’d have to be blind not to notice. You have a dominant personality, too, so I’m sure theirs rub you the wrong way. The men you date tend to be at the other end of the spectrum.”

Natalia couldn’t deny that she preferred men who let her take the lead in their relationships.

“You’re probably right. But agreeing with you doesn’t make me like them any better.”

“I didn’t think it would.”

Remembering the conversation, Natalia finished portioning the cookie dough onto a metal tray and slid it into the oven.

Her father had possessed a dominant personality. Despite what she had told Wizard, she had gone to Italy. The summers she had been forced to spend with him, he had made her miserable. She had counted down the days until she could return home.

She’d promised herself never to become involved with a man who behaved even remotely like her father. So far, she had succeeded, but every man she’d dated had disappointed her in some other way—cheated on her, stolen money, or undergone drastic personality changes once the relationship became serious.

She had tried living with two men. One relationship collapsed when she had discovered he was a slob. The other had ended when she stopped him from using her house as a party pad while she was at work.

“It’s all about to change,” she told herself as she cleaned the kitchen. “Nathan Ridges is going to be my Mr. Right. I just know it.”

Good things come to those who wait, she kept reminding herself.

Making and baking cookies always made her house feel more like a home. Their aroma filled the rooms, reminding her of childhood when her mother had constantly baked for Rocco and her.

After letting the cookies cool, she placed them in containers. When she finished, she stepped back and made a face. She should have frozen most of the dough instead of baking thirteen dozen cookies.

She went to the half-bath and checked her appearance then made two trips to carry the cookies out to her van.