Page 44 of RAKEish

Hell’s fudging bells. She didn’t. Love at first sight was all about loving someone’s looks, not their personality. “Only if the man is blind.”

He nodded as if he completely understood her response. He handed her a card. “Allow me to take you out and prove to you that insta-love isn’t a bad thing.”

“Insta-love?” His use of a term used to describe a popular romance trope caused her to pause. “Are you by chance a reader?” She tucked his card away.

He blushed. “Guilty. My grammy loves her romance novels. When she became ill last year and could no longer read, I started reading them to her.”

Lux placed her hand over her heart. “That is the loveliest thing I’ve heard in a long—”

“Time,” Ms. Birdie announced.

Lux didn’t want to move. She wanted to stay right where she was and learn more about the man across from her. A guy who read to his grammy was not a rake. Not a serial flirt. “I hope to see you again tonight.” With that, she stood and started to move to the next seat but realized they hadn’t exchanged names. She was about to ask him when another woman sat in her vacated seat.

She turned to her next partner and blinked. Scott was her next speed date, and he was glaring. When had he joined in on the fun and games? Whose seat had he taken? The last she’d seen of him, he’d been behind her…no doubt analyzing her game so he could tell her what she was doing wrong. Had she already screwed up? Had he sat to give her pointers?

“Please tell me you didn’t believe his I-read-to-my-grammy line,” he said.

“That is none of your business,” she snapped.

“Men, begin,” Ms. Birdie instructed.

Scott said nothing.

“You’re here,” Lux prompted. “You might as well flirt with me. Keep your edge sharpened.”

When he still said nothing, she sighed. “Fine. I’ll go. Tell me, Scott, have you ever voluntarily gone out with an ordinary woman? One not beautiful but instead smart and funny and awkward?”

“I’m a rake,” he said flatly. “What do you think is the answer to that question?”

His response hurt in an irrational way. It wasn’t like she cared. Not much, anyway. “At least you’re honest.”

He sighed. “Why are you looking at me like I just insulted you? You must know you’re the most beautiful woman here tonight. Hell, you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever sat across a table from. Take the compliment.”

She rolled her eyes. If ever a rake had said a rakish thing, it was that. She’d bet her career that was his favorite pickup line. “I may look a little different on the outside, but the inside me is still the same. A woman who hasn’t been able to keep a guy interested past date one.”

He opened his mouth as if to say something and then closed it. When he opened it again, she knew he’d chosen something different to say by the way his jaw tightened and the light in his eyes dimmed ever so slightly. “When you look like you do, your body does the flirting for you. Guys don’t care what comes out of your mouth.”

“I don’t want my body to do the flirting, or my face for that matter. I want my conversation to do the flirting.”

“Why?” he asked, rubbing a hand down his chiseled jaw.

She got a whiff of his aftershave. Something woodsy and rugged. It was different from what he’d been wearing this week. Was this what he wore on dates? Or did he change out his aftershave the way he changed out women? “Because I want a man who will love me when I’m old and wrinkled. One who fell in love with the superficial will not. One who falls in love with my intellect hopefully will.”

His expression turned thunderous. “Then you’ll have to wait until you’re old and wrinkled before falling in love, because trust me, the new you is—”

“Time,” Ms. Birdie said. “And that ends this portion of tonight’s events. Our next flirtation activity will begin shortly.

“The new me is what?” Lux asked.

“It will prevent you from finding the unicorn capable of separating your beauty from the rest of the package.”

“Hell’s fudging bells.” She stood.

“Unless he knew you as plain Jane first. Like—”

“Hey, there you are,” Mr. Insta-Love said, coming to a stop next to her. “May I buy you a drink?”

Lux bit her bottom lip. According to Scott, Mr. Insta-Love’s view of her was now tainted. She’d never know if he could love plain her. Then again, just because Scott said something didn’t make it gospel. “I promised another I’d have a drink with him. But later, for sure.”

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