AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The woman has given me every excuse in the book by now.
I’m too young for her.
She’s too old for me.
I’m a quote-unquote ‘playboy’.
She doesn’t date athletes.
She’s the team’s lawyer.
I’d be a conflict of interest.
It wouldn’t be professional.
The list goes on and on. She might as well color-code all her excuses and put them into an Excel sheet.
Fine. Her points are valid. Plus, she’swayout of my league. But that doesn’t mean I won’t try and change her mind.
Nervous, I adjust my baseball cap, turning the bill backwards. “How have you been?” I ask as she steals a peek over her shoulder. “Have you, uh, how’s…how’s work? Good?” My words stumble around inside my mouth. I’m trying to get a conversation started with her—hell, I’m trying to ask her out again—but she doesn’t seem to be listening. “I’ve been thinking…uh…have you...?”
Again, she quickly glances at something behind her. She frowns.
So do I. “Hey, Nadia. Are you okay?”
She peeks over her back one more time, eyeballing a table at the back of the restaurant. “Huh? Oh. Yes. I’m great.”
I follow her gaze and find some slick-haired dude sitting alone at a table set for two. He’s flirting up a storm with a waitress.
Who the hell is that guy? “You know him? He bothering you?” I hear my tone harden protectively. “He’s a client from work? Or a business deal gone wrong?”
“What…?” The quick, embarrassed look she gives me tells me that I’m way off base. Whatever is going on with her and that guy isn’t business. It’s personal.
If he’s not a client, then… “That loser was your lunch date…” I deduce.
He’s her date. Mr. Slick Hair isher date.
Nadia’s eyes bug out as I put two and two together. I’m absolutely appalled at her taste in men.
Really?That’sher type? The guy’s hair looks slipperier than my Grammy’s driveway after that deep freeze that swept over the tricounty area a few weeks ago. And I’d bet he’s one of those pretentious creepers whose cologne you can taste in your food when he’s sitting across the table from you.
She won’t givemea shot but she’d datethatguy.
Normally, I’d dive headfirst into jealousy knowing she came here with another man, but at the anxious expression on Nadia’s face, I make a detour into protective territory.
Before I can stop myself, my fingers curl gently around her upper arm. “Is he the reason you’re hightailing it out of here? Is he giving you trouble, Nadia?”
She scoffs dramatically, shaking loose of my grip. “No. No, he’s not the reason I—I don’t need you to—I—I…” She glances in his direction again.
Her unconvincing tough girl response makes me smirk. Seeing the always-level-headed Nadia Chester flustered in this moment is pretty cute. It’s a side of her I’ve never seen before.
“You sure about that? ‘Cause I’ll beat him up if you want me to.” I bring both my arms up high and make a show out of flexing my biceps. I grin at her.
It takes a few seconds, but eventually her perfect heart-shaped lips curl into a faint grin of her own.
Victory!Her, smiling at me feels good.
“No. Beating him up won’t be necessary,” she says dryly as her smile fades away. “He’s long forgotten about me. I think he’s trying to slide the waitress into his 3:20 slot on Saturday.”
