Page 102 of His Curvy Distraction

“Nice to meet you, Andre. How did you get involved in this?”

“I live in Sofia’s building. In Knox’s fiancée’s old apartment, actually.”

“Haley,” I said.

Andre nodded. “Yep. She decided to move in with him, and I finally managed to sneak out of my parents’ house.”

“Sneak out?” Andre had to be close to my age.

He chuckled. “My dad had a stroke a few years ago. I was floundering a little and trying to figure out what I was doing with my life. I moved back home to help my mom out since it was a lot at first with my dad.”

“Wow. I’m sorry. How’s your dad now?”

“Great, actually. You’d never know anything happened. But my parents didn’t want me to leave again, so they kept coming up with things I needed to do to help them out.”

“Ah, hence the sneaking out.”

Andre laughed. “Yep. I think it went over better that I stayed local. I hated it here when I was younger, but coming back I realized it’s not a bad place to live.”

“I agree. I can’t imagine being anywhere else.”

Natalie laughed, and I looked over at her. I loved seeing her relaxed and enjoying herself. Not that her anxiety was gone, or she would ever be cured. I knew it didn’t work like that. She still struggled, but she had a new confidence since the fundraiser. It was amazing to watch.

“You two are pretty serious, aren’t you?” Andre asked, bringing me back to our task.

I nodded. “We are. I’m lucky.”

“You are. Not that I’m looking to steal her from you or anything. I’ve never looked at a woman the way you look at her. She’s lucky, too.”

“It’s that damn app,” I told him.

“What app?”

“Book Boyfriends Wanted,” I confessed. “I met her on there. There’s some weird luck with that app. A bunch of local guys get together every Thursday night, and all of them met their women on that app.”

“All of them?” Andre asked.

I nodded. “All of them. Sebastian, James, Knox. Many more.”

“Tell me the name of that app again.”

I laughed. “Book Boyfriends Wanted. But be careful. You might get more than you bargained for.”

“I’m counting on it,” Andre said. He tapped his screen, then tucked his phone away. “Thanks.”

I nodded. We returned to our task, doing our part to construct the wall panel before attaching all the sections together and raising the panel.

Sebastian verified the position of the panel, then secured it in place. As a group, we moved to the second panel, finishing it as lunch arrived.

Tailgates were dropped, folding tables appeared from nowhere, and music poured from the speakers of one truck. Everyone grouped together to pass around bottles of water, bags of chips, and sandwiches from a local shop.

Laughter echoed all around, conversation flowing. Natalie walked toward me, thanking every group as she made her way through the crowd.

“Hi,” she said, leaning down to kiss me.

I captured her, pulling her onto my lap with a squeal and a laugh. I nuzzled against her neck and tugged on her ear with my teeth.

“Omar,” she hissed. “People are watching.”

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