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One
JORDYN
He was shorter than he looked in his profile pics, but then again they always were. Lighter hair. Darker eyes. I might not have recognized him at all, if he hadn’t pulled up the chair opposite mine and slid right in.
“Hey beautiful.”
He smiled in a way that was more swagger than charm. There was a reckless confidence to his approach though, whether it was warranted or not. I’d give him that.
“Been waiting long?”
“All my life,” I shrugged, settling back in my seat with a smile. The sports bar was crowded but not mobbed. I’d picked it for exactly that reason, but also because I’d never been here. I liked that I’d never been here. It was neutral ground.
“So what are you drinking?”
“Beer,” I said, spinning the label of my nearly-empty bottle in his direction. “Mostly.”
He flagged down the nearest waitress and pointed at the blood-red drink in his hand, holding up two fingers. As he did, I noticed his jacket had a hole in the armpit. My brow furrowed.
“What is it?” the man demanded.
“You don’t look at all like I expected,” I told him flatly.
“Oh?”
“Yeah.”
“And what did you expect?”
“Six-foot two, for starters,” I squinted, sizing him up. “And you’re maybe… what, five-ten? On a good day?”
“Five ten and a half,” my guest answered quickly.
“Ah, thehalf,” I smiled. “Gotta count that half inch.”
“What else?”
“Let’s see… you’re a lot thinner than I thought,” I went on.
“Isn’t that a good thing?”
“To a point, sure,” I acknowledged. “But you looked a lot thicker in your pics, and more well-built. Broader shoulders. I also expected a little less… bravado.”
He grinned back at me without missing a beat. “It’s not bravado if you can back it up,” he threw in. “It’s confidence.”
“Pointing out your own confidence isn’t all that confident,” I countered.
“Hmm,” he mused. “So true confidence speaks for itself?”
“Bingo.”
Our drinks arrived, complete with maraschino cherries skewered by little sky-blue umbrellas. It made me wonder what kind of sports bar served something this tropical, much less carried the decoration. As he pushed one my way I tilted my head.
“I guess I just expected something more along the lines of what the agency told me about you,” I shrugged. “I mean, they wouldn’t give meeverything.Confidentiality agreements and all that. But the few pics and messages you and I exchanged so far… well, they seem to tell a different story.”
The man sitting across from me was eyeing me up down now, and not in the normal way. He was doing it shamelessly. Unabashedly.
“In the end it doesn’t really matter now, does it?” he asked glibly. “Here I am.”
