Page 8 of Courting Clemson

We both cracked up at the imagery.

When our laughter fizzled out, we sat quietly.

Finally, Grace asked, “What about you? Got anyone on the hook? Any prospects?”

I shook my head. “Haven’t been going out much. I’m always so tired from practice. Plus homework.” I sighed and slumped back against my pillows again. We’d basically gone in a circle, and I was out of things to say.

She stood and pinched my toe under the blanket. “I need to get a move-on or I’m going to be late. We’re having dinner tonight. I think this may be the night…” Her face turned a delightful shade of pink.

“Well, good luck. Make him work for it at least.”

“Always!” she said brightly and was out my door in a few strides. Before closing the thing, she stuck her head back in to keep the conversation between us.

“Don’t stress out too much, Clemson. I’m sure it will all work out.”

I gave her a forced smile, and she was gone.

Damn, do I hope she’s right.

Chapter Three

Luke

It was lunchtime on Friday when my team leader strolled into my office. He looked as tired as I felt—we’d all had a really long week. The new higher-ups were issuing and reissuing impossible deadlines, and we were all feeling the crunch.

“Thank fuck the weekend is here, man. I can’t sit through one more meeting without saying something that would probably get me fired,” he said as he flopped gracelessly into the chair opposite my desk.

“Right there with you.” I groaned and loosened my tie. I flicked the top button open behind the knot and loosed the tie a bit more.

Summer was coming, and even in San Diego, where the weather was close to perfect most of the year, it was hotter than usual. The whole country was experiencing a heat wave, and I had a passing thought that maybe that was why everyone seemed to be at the end of their ropes.

Liam was a great guy. A hard worker and out-of-the-box thinker. He was a real asset to my team. We also hit it off on a personal level and often hung out outside the office.

“Are you going to finally come out with us tonight?” he asked with a new surge of energy in his voice.

“I was thinking about it. What kind of plans do you have?”

He rolled his eyes and gave me a deadpan stare. “Are you really asking?”

I laughed at his response and nodded. I guess that was a pretty dumb thing to have asked. All the guy ever wanted to do was drink and fuck, and with the stories I’d been hearing lately, he’d been doing plenty of both.

Liam hooked up with a girl at one of the clubs down by the beach a few weeks ago and introduced a couple of our friends to her friends. This would make the fourth weekend in a row of partying like they were back in school. My buddies seemed to be loving life, but honestly, it wasn’t a scene I was into.

During my college years, I pretty much got all of that out of my system. Since graduating and hitting the workforce, I buckled down and lived a pretty routine life. In the past year, all my efforts had started paying off. I had advanced to manager of the sales department for one of the leading advertising firms in the city. With the promotion came a ton of new responsibilities, but a nice fat pay increase made all the stress worth it. Even if it felt like all I did was work these days, I was pretty happy with the way things shaped up.

The one complaint I had was that I had no one to share it with. My extended family was still on the East Coast, where I grew up, and because I worked such long hours, I never had time or energy to get out and meet anyone new. It was to the point I was considering getting a cat from the local shelter just so I felt like someone needed me outside the building where I spent the majority of my time.

I sensed myself feeling jealous every Monday morning when the guys all collected near the coffee bar in our staff lounge and traded stories about their weekend escapades. From what I could gather, they were hanging out with girls from one of the local colleges, and I lost interest right there and then. What would a thirty-seven-year-old man have in common with a college girl not even old enough to legally drink? It sounded like a complication I didn’t need or want in my life.

Vocalizing those concerns didn’t stop the guys from trying to get me to come out with them weekend after weekend. Honestly, though, I was getting so lonely I was considering doing it.

Liam finally looked up from the phone in his palm, and the grin on his face told me he was texting the co-ed.

“So you in? We’re all meeting in the Gaslamp at nine. I’ll shoot you the address,” he offered while feverishly typing away on the device. “Damn, this chic is so hot. Look, she just sent me nudes.”

He stood up and came closer to my desk, but when he flipped his screen toward me, I looked away. I didn’t want to see what his girlfriend had to offer—especially if I had to sit across a table from her later that night.

“Dude,” I said with my palm extended. “Show some class—or the girl a little respect at the very least.”

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