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She laughed. “I’d love to, but I have a…date.”
“Yeah, okay.” He was surprised to be so disappointed. But of course a woman like this would have a boyfriend, or guys all over her. Guys who’d walk around on a day like today in shorts, shirtless and not even have their balls retract. His were somewhere up near where they’d been the day he was born.
“I should have figured with you so dressed up.”
“I don’t always dress like this.”
He almost said “No kidding” but didn’t want her thinking—okay, knowing—that he’d taken a somewhat voyeur-type interest in her and was already curious about her abrupt changes in style. “Too bad.”
She smiled, and under her sex-aura he thought he detected shyness. “Thank you.”
“You…go on a lot of dates?”
“Recently,
yes.”
He took a step back. He really liked the look of this woman, the way she smiled so often, and the sensual energy she emit-ted, but he wasn’t the type to stand in a testosterone line.
Angie, his ex-girlfriend, was like that. A man-magnet, who was a lot better at attracting than at repelling, for which she was unapologetic, to say the least. She was one of the reasons he’d done more than just consider cutting ties to his home state.
“I joined a dating site.”
“Yeah?” He stopped moving back. That would explain all the dates—easy access to a pool of single guys. But not the variety of outfits. “How’s that working?”
“Not bad. Not great.” She laughed. “Sometimes I don’t know if it’s such a good idea.”
He nodded, not really understanding. For someone who didn’t think it was a good idea, she sure put a lot of effort into transforming herself.
“My friend owns the site. Milwaukeedates.com. It’s…sort of a favor to her.”
“Really.” Now that was interesting. She was going on dates 30
to help out a friend, not to find someone? What about the women who signed up legitimately at the website? What about the poor men who thought they were on a real date and had a chance with her? “The company isn’t doing well? Needs more women?”
“Oh.” She dropped her eyes, clearly flustered. “No, she…
No, it’s doing very well. In fact, Marie won a Best Success Stories award last year from Women in Power, a local organization of female business owners. I belong, too.”
“Good for her.” His reporter instinct started humming.
Something was making this appetizing Candy-gram pretty uncomfortable. After graduating with a degree in journalism from the University of Southern California, Justin made most of his money through his technical-writing job, but kept his hand in investigative reporting simply because he loved it.
“What do you do?”
“I have my own event-planning company. We do kids’
parties, adult parties, corporate events, whatever anyone needs.”
“What a great job.”
“I enjoy it a lot.”
His mind was still spinning. Bob Rondell, longtime friend and ex-roommate, a good-looking successful guy who loved conspiracy theories, had one about a dating site he’d joined in San Diego. He was convinced the company employed hot women, put up their profiles, and had them show up on two or three chaste dates per new enrollee, to boost the site’s cachet and to keep the men eagerly paying steep monthly dues in case the next date worked out better. At the time Justin had chalked up the theory to Bob’s bruised ego.
But…he’d heard other rumors of deceptive practices on dating sites. It could happen. Justin had learned to trust his instinct when it told him something was worth probing further.
Just not here, now, with his ears on fire, his nose running and his toes going numb.
“Well, enjoy your date.”
She looked rueful. “Coffee in your kitchen sounds more fun.”
“The offer stands for another time.” He backed into the street a few steps, keeping their eye contact going, and then turned and did everything he could to amble casually up to his back door when every frozen cell in his body was begging him to run as fast as he safely could.
Was it spring yet?
