Page 72 of Succeeding Love

I chuckled, following her train of thought. “I think they have to give me one. Why? What do you have in mind?”

“Well,” she wiggled excitedly, making parts of me involuntarily excited too. “There’s a good pizza place near the justice center. Or a good sushi place near the library. Or burgers… I know!” She lit up. “There’s this sports bar with an outer space theme. My sister and I have gone for drinks a few times before shows at the theater. I’ve always wanted to try their lunch menu.”

“A space themed bar?” I chuckled, knowing what bar she was talking about. It was quirky, and near the parking garage of where I’ll be parked. “Sounds fun. I’ll message you when I get to work and let you know what time I take lunch.”

“Yay!” She straddled me, kissing me deeply. We both had morning breath, but neither of us cared. Her kisses are sweet enough that the morning breath didn’t bother me one bit.

When I finally got my reluctant ass out of Lynn’s house and got ready enough to speed to work, I didn’t let the prospect of me getting a speeding ticket diminish my good mood. I was still all smiles as I skipped the busy elevator and took the stairs two at a time to the fourth floor, where I was meeting the retiring manager, Jerry, who would brief me for the next two weeks on my job duties.

Milton was in the meeting room too when I walked in, making for a few minutes of teasing banter before we actually sat down to discuss my duties.

This job would be easy compared to the places I served in the past. I was just a babysitter for the security teams, and everything seemed to run smoothly already.

Before Milton went off to leave me with Jerry, he asked me about my weekend with that knowing glint in his eyes.

“Do anything fun? Any, you know, dates or anything?”

I chuckled under my breath. “You could say that.” I scratched my chin, rough from not having the time to shave.

“I take it your date with your neighbor went well then?”

“I’d say so. It lasted until…,” I checked my watch, “about an hour and a half ago.”

“You stayed with her the entire weekend?” Milton sat up straighter, ready for the details.

Jerry chuckled, watching us. “You seem almost as excited about the man’s dating life as he is.”

“You don’t know this guy like I do, or you would be excited too.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I raised my eyebrows at my old friend.

Milton shrugged. “You’re you. You must really like the chick to spend the entire weekend with her.”

“When I was single, I could spend the entire weekend with a girl, and it could mean nothing,” Jerry scoffed, then looked at me. “And I’m not half as good looking a mother fucker as this guy.”

“Trude isn’t like that. He’s tried and trude, the prude,” Milton snickered at himself.

“Damn, I haven’t heard that in a long time,” I laughed.

Milton looked at Jerry and said, “Trude doesn’t do bachelor life well. He never took women home from the bar or anything. I was worried his man parts wouldn’t work anymore if he ever found a girl that would change him from his prudish ways.” He wiggled his eyebrows at me. “Go on. Tell me it still works.”

I sat back and smirked, not giving up any details. The details of my time with Lynn were none of his business.

“Come on,” Milton leaned forward. “Give me something.”

I chuckled. “Fine. We had a date Friday night at her place.”

“Yeee-eah you did,” Milton interrupted, dropping his tone suggestively.

“Shut up. It wasn’t like that. She cooked, and then we had a water gun fight outside before I went home.”

Milton looked at me like I was crazy. “What? Are you twelve?”

“Maybe,” I smiled widely. “It was seriously the best date I’ve ever had.”

“Man, I’ve been there,” Jerry laughed softly. “My wife has one of those soft dart guns she stole from the grandkids. She keeps that thing in her chair in the living room to shoot me if I snore on the couch. Sometimes I fake sleeping just because I like to hear her giggle when Iwake upin a panic.” He smiled fondly at the memory. “Your girl sounds like a keeper, young man.”

“She is.” I’m keeping Lynn forever. I know it already.

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