Page 11 of The Dating Pact

He went on. “It might be nice to meet someone to…have fun with again. Nothing serious. I wouldn’t want to get Amelia’s hopes up, and I know Sebastian would lose it if I ever brought anyone home.”

I started to speak again, but he stopped me with a shake of his head. “I know. I know. I went over all of this with the guys, and I’ve been thinking a lot today, and…” He lifted his arms, fisting and unfisting his hands, shoving them in my direction. “You think my right forearm is getting bigger than my left?”

I didn’t understand the question at first, but when it clicked, I burst out in laughter. He chuckled quietly next to me, folding his arms over his stomach.

“That your workout anymore? Your dick and your right hand?”

“Pretty much,” he said, still smiling.

After seconds of quiet, I mused, “It’s been over a decade since I dated.”

“Almost twenty years for me,” he said with a dramatic and slow blink, as if he couldn’t believe it himself. “I don’t even know where to start.”

“Tell me about it.” I squinted at him in thought. “What if we do it together?”

“Do what together?”

“Dating.” The idea became clearer, and I gestured between us. “What if we help each other? We don’t have to go through it alone.”

“What? You want to, like, tag team?”

“Yeah, I guess. Soldiers in arms on the battlefield of dating.”

He snorted a laugh.

“We could give each other advice or whatever,” I said, excited now. “I’ll help you get laid, and you’ll help me find a husband.”

He considered me for a long time, eventually giving in with a nod. “Not the worst idea I’ve ever heard.”

I slugged him in the shoulder, and he chuckled before holding out his hand. “A dating guide.”

Shaking his hand, I corrected, “A dating pact.”

He agreed, repeating, “Dating pact.”

We went quiet for a while, the sky a rainbow of color in the setting sun, and I turned to admire Jude’s profile. His high cheekbones above his light-brown beard, his straight nose, and golden hair highlighted by the dying light. He looked like a painting, and without thinking, I opened the camera app on my phone to snap a photo.

“What are you doing?”

I flipped my phone screen so he could view the picture. “For your dating profile.”

“Dating profile?”

“We’re doing the online dating thing, right?”

He jerked his head back. “Why?”

“How else are we going to do this? The old-fashioned way? Meet someone organically at a bar or grocery store?”

He frowned. “You’re right. Online dating it is.”

“Get your phone out,” I told him. “We can set up our profiles, make sure we look good.”

He pulled his out, tapping on it a few times. “Which one are we doing?”

I Googled Best dating apps and scooted my chair right up against his, so we could discuss our game plan while we finished off the last of the cake. After a few minutes of research, we decided on the first one listed, mostly because I didn’t have the patience to read past the second suggestion of the article, and Jude went back to eating the cake.

Priorities.

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