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Without looking up, he shakes his head, stroking his neatly-trimmed salt-and-pepper beard with his free hand. “Nope, sorry. Thursdays are out of the question. I volunteer at the homeless shelter that evening.”
My ears twitch. For real. Did I hear him right?
I try to keep my voice steady. “You…volunteer?”
“Every Thursday, like clockwork.” Our eyes connect and he gives me an unassuming smile. And in this moment, he might as well be shirtless, oiled up and flexing on the cover of a romance novel.
Oh my freaking god.
My inner cavewoman has been triggered.Must reproduce with this man! Must do it now!In this moment, my lady-bits definitely want the opportunity to get familiar with this man’s man-bits.
My ovaries are ready to jump out of my uterus and chase him home, so we can make some adorable, successful, humanitarian babies. With the state of humanity these days, I think we’d be doing the world a pretty big favor.
“I volunteer, too.” I smile my most charming smile. “In fact, I recently established a non-profit organization to help seniors in Sin Valley and the surrounding areas come together and have social activities a few times a month.”
“That’s very impressive, Nadia. Giving back to the community means a lot to me.”
I’m too elated and too nervous to even breathe properly.Don’t screw this up, my cavewoman is shouting at me.Don’t screw this up.
I drop my eyes back to my phone’s calendar. “What about Sunday?”
Yes, Sundays are good. Sundays feel…intimate. Sundays say, ‘I want to do more than just bang your brains out’.
Laurent winces slightly. “Sundays aren’t great for me. I’m hanging out with my sister’s kids during the day while she helps our mom prepare the weekly family dinner.”
“You…babysit?” It comes out as a whimper.
His faint and fleeting smirk tells me he most definitely heard my pathetic whimpering. But he won’t rub it in my face. ‘Cause he’s a gentleman. Obviously.
“Well, I’ve never liked the wordbabysit. It makes it sound like such a chore. I prefer to consider myself a mentor, a role model, and an active participant in the lives of the future generation of my family.”
If he doesn’t stop, I’ll be purring like a kitten in his lap in thirty seconds flat.
How is the guy still single?
I quickly clear my throat to cover up how awestruck I am by this man I just met.
Laurent reaches across the table and clasps my hand.Oh…okay…we’re holding hands now.His hand feels big, strong, and capable wrapped around mine. I like it.
Some women find a self-assured man intimidating but me? I need a man who’s comfortable in his skin. Someone who won’t cower away from a woman who finished seven years of college and passed the bar on the first try. Someone like Laurent.
His gaze falls back down to his phone, and he lets out a heavy sigh. “Damn. This sucks. My schedule is slammed all week.”
“I…I’m willing to be flexible.”
Crap. Do I sound desperate? Yeah, probably a wee bit desperate. But this is my soon-to-be life partner I’m sitting across from. He’ll understand.
At this point, my sole objective is to snatch this guy. Right off the dating market.
His blue eyes meet mine.Gosh—his eyes are mesmerizing.“It kills me to do this but…the only way I can see you is if I slide you in on Saturday.”
My brows pinch together and I’m not particularly loving the idea of having to ‘slide into’ his schedule. But that’s okay. Every solid relationship requires compromise and sacrifice. We’re two busy, career-focused individuals. We might just have to be a little creative until we figure out our schedules.
“That works,” I say, not wavering.
Laurent mumbles absentmindedly as he scrolls through his schedule. “Let me see—I have a late lunch date with Chelsea from the gym,” he mumbles without lifting his eyes from his screen, “but we’ve been hooking up for a minute, so she’s usually understanding about these things…Plus, most of the time, we don’t have to go back to my place…We just handle business in the backseat of my car. I’ll make it quick.”
Um…?
