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I haven’t seen the woman or talked to her after our kiss in my office weeks ago. If she was surprised by my presence here at the bar, she doesn’t show it. She doesn’t even miss a step as she motions to the stool next to me.
“Roger, have a seat here with Cole. We will be getting started soon.” She’s so damn sweet that the man just sits on command.
“Ms. James.” I smirk.
“Cole,” she replies and then turns and walks over to the other side of the room where the women are gathered.
“Damn, if she were into older men,” he mutters.
If it were any other woman he was talking about, I would have snickered and engaged. Instead, my jaw clenches.
“I’m not ashamed to admit that the first time I met her, I flat out just asked her on a date. She let me down easy but made it clear it was never gonna happen. She must have had practice turning schmucks like us down.” He chuckles to himself.
Talk for yourself, asshole. I’m no schmuck and clearly you’re a horn dog. Hitting on someone a good twenty years younger and bragging about it.
He finally pulls his gaze off her ass and sticks a hand out to me, not realizing or not caring that I’ve not engaged yet.
“Roger Stein.” He grins. I grab his hand and shake, maybe a bit harder than I should have.
He makes an amused noise in his throat then says, “I get it.” Dropping his hand.
He gets nothing.
“This your first mixer?” he asks.
“Yeah,” I grunt.
“Mine too. You been on any dates yet?”
“Nope.”
“Hmm. I went on a few. I haven’t been an easy client, I’ll admit,” he says as he turns and asks the bartender for a scotch on the rocks. My shoulders tighten at his admission because if he’s been a problem for Layla, we’ll have a problem.
I don’t urge him to continue as it’s obvious this fucker is going to keep running his mouth.
“I’m fifty-four and I’ve always dated younger women. So when I started working with Layla last year, I made it clear that I wanted to date younger. She attempted to talk me out of it, but I held my ground. I was pretty much just having fun. The woman doesn’t run a dating service, but when you pay enough, you get some leeway.” He stops to take a drink.
I’m gonna hit him. I pull my focus away from him and watch Layla, who’s now chatting with a small group of men. At the same time, Ruth brings in a woman who must be here for the same reason as Roger and me.
“But a few months ago, I got in a pretty bad motorcycle accident. Almost lost my leg.” He thumps on his right thigh. “And it made me realize that I was alone and didn’t have anyone there by my side. So once I recovered, I sat Layla down and told her I was ready for her to do her job. She doesn’t think I’m going to find love with a twenty-something. I want to believe her, but I’m skeptical. So tonight she’s going to introduce me to a few women closer to my age. We’ll see.” He takes another drink.
I let go of the tightness running through my whole body because this dude isn’t a threat to Layla. He’s just some old fucker with money and thinks some young thing wants him for anything other than his money. I actually feel sorry for the man.
“Well, good luck tonight, Roger,” I tell him and tip my imaginary hat.
“Yeah,” he says as he stares off at a table of women.
Layla and Ruth are now at the bar and the woman Ruth walked in with is ordering a glass of wine next to me.
“All right, so we’ve explained we’ve invited a few singles here tonight to let you mix and mingle with. Roger, that table over there are women I’ve invited to meet you. I’ll introduce you and then you can chat with them for a while. Nikki, those men are obviously here for you.” She winks at the woman next to me.
“Cole, I’ll walk you over there to the woman I selected for you,” Ruth chimes in when it’s clear Layla wasn’t going to address me. I bet she’s thinking about our kiss.
“Once you’ve all had a chance to mingle, we will regroup, and if there is anyone you’d like to chat with one-on-one, we will make it happen. Any questions?”
The three of us collectively shake our heads and I once again wonder what the fuck I’m doing here.
Someone I only recognize as someone who works for Layla walks Nikki toward the men. Roger and Layla go on their way and I just watch it all unfold.
