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He loosened his jaw. What Candy did with her time shouldn’t bother him. Not after a single date. Justin had already fallen into the trap of mistaking one really good time for the beginning of stronger feelings; he’d already wasted pride and energy chasing after a woman who couldn’t be caught by one man for any length of time. He wasn’t ever doing that again. If nothing else, the sickening sight of Candy in four com pletely different profiles up on the Milwaukeedates site should have been enough to cure him of any attraction. What game did she think she was playing?
She played it well. She played him well. But there was a name for women who dated around professionally, and it wasn’t Happy Ever After.
And yet, there seemed to be a core of sincerity and humil-ity under Candy’s fire and sexuality, which Angie had been missing.
“Are you kidding? Me sign up for online dating?” Troy held the knife up, ready to start slicing cheese. “I’d rather sign up for a colonoscopy. At least the medical technicians are honest about what they’re going to do to you.”
Justin rolled his eyes. “Two reasons. One, you’ll help me test my theory about the place, and two, it will give you something better to do than sit around wanting to kill yourself over Debby.”
Troy snorted, piling slices of cheese onto slices of summer sausage. Good Wisconsin food—a miracle any resident made it past the age of fifty. “I have a better idea. Have people over one night. I’ll invite a few friends, you can invite Candy, and I’ll chat her up and see if I can spot any BS.”
“Why are you a better judge?”
Troy sent him a look. “Because my brain won’t have lodged behind my zipper the way yours obviously did last night.”
Justin couldn’t argue. Not only had he ditched trying to research the story, but when Candy had lingered in her driveway at good-night time, those incredible brown eyes so sensual and expectant…what could he do?
Yeah, what? Maybe shake the hand she offered and leave it there? But around a sexy, beautiful woman, he’d turned into typical putty. He had to kiss her. But only once, one good-night kiss and that was it.
Right.
Even then, he could have stayed out of serious trouble if the run-of-the-mill peck on the lips he anticipated hadn’t turned out to be so soft and so sweet.
Even
then, he might have had the strength to leave if she hadn’t stayed still, eyes closed, full lips parted, practically begging him to kiss her again. Even her breasts seem to be reaching for him. What kind of man could walk away from that?
One who could control himself around women hot enough to bring spring to an entire city. Thank God she’d put the brakes on when, in hormone-induced insanity, he’d invited himself over. Though fantasies about what “coffee” with her would have been like kept him awake most of the night more effectively than the real thing.
“Hello? Anyone home?” Troy was waving a salami/cheese stack at him. “Too much Candy before bedtime?”
“Ha ha. I was thinking over your plan. To have a party.”
“Oh, yeah, right.” Troy nodded in exaggerated agreement.
“That’s exactly what it looked like you were thinking about.
‘I lo-o-ve Troy’s plan. I re-e-e-eally love Troy’s plan. I am so-o-o hot over Troy’s plan, that I can’t even keep my mind on—’”
He broke off laughing, dodging cheese Justin hurled at him.
“Okay, Troy. I lo-o-ve your plan. What night works for you?”
Troy picked up the cheese from his spotless floor and tossed it to Dylan, who caught it in his mouth. “Gee, I’ll check my busy social schedule and get back to you. Pick any night, dude.
Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday—”
“How about Wednesday?” Four more days. In the meantime, when he wasn’t working on the book, he’d keep trying to convince Troy to sign up for Milwaukeedates.com. And he’d check out more online profiles to see if any other women appeared to have more than one version of themselves available, maybe contact some of the men on the site to see what their experiences had been so far.
Wednesday when he saw Candy again, he’d be safely sur-rounded by other people so he could keep his brain out of his pants, as Troy politely put it, and see how she behaved, maybe get Troy to ask her more about this “favor” to Marie she was reluctant to discuss with him, see if she’d try to sign Troy up for the site, or if she mentioned other friends who might be involved.
