Page 20 of The Blind Date

“Of course, you would say that.” I rolled my eyes. “I’m twenty-eight. I’m sure you weren’t earning six figures when you were twenty-eight.”

“You’re twenty-eight?” Cedric questioned, a surprised look on his face.

I frowned at his tone.

“Why do you sound so surprised? How old do you think I am?”

“Around my age. Well, that’s what your mum told me.”

I paused briefly to think before I replied. Straight off the bat, I could tell that Cedric was a good few years older than me. At least three years.

Not only was I a miserable, lonely hag, but now I was a miserable, lonely,oldhag. And just when I thought that things couldn’t get worse!

“Mum would say anything to set me up on a blind date with someone. If you haven’t guessed already, they’re desperate for me to settle down.”

“Now that I look at you, I-you definitely don’t look my age,” Cedric said, and maybe if he hadn’t fumbled over his words, I would have believed him. “You definitely look younger than me. I would say you look younger than twenty-eight. Twenty-five is what I would have guessed. Maybe even younger.”

“It’s far too late to kiss my ass now,” I replied dryly, narrowing my eyes playfully. “How old are you?”

“I’m at that age where I’ve started to need glasses but haven’t gotten round to booking myself an optician’s appointment yet.” He purposely avoided my eyes.

I pinned him with a disbelieving stare. “If you don’t tell me how old you are, I’m going to assume you’re forty.”

“I’m not forty,” Cedric scoffed, offended, and I laughed.

“Give me a number.”

“Thirty-four.”

"You thought I looked thirty-four?” I gaped, more offended than he was.

“No, of course not.” He shook his head frantically, but it was too late to take it back.

“But you just said I did.”

"I would take everything I say with a pinch of salt if I were you. We’ve already established that I’m kind of insensitive and don’t mince my words.” Cedric grinned, and the look on his face told me that he believed that as long as he was charming and good-looking, he believed he could get away with pretty much anything.

The worst part was that he probably did.

“You could have warned me earlier.”

“I changed my mind, remember? I said you looked youthful!” The smirk on his face made me not want to believe him. “That has to count for something, right?”

“No. You said I looked the same age as you.”

“And I also told you I have eyesight problems and need glasses.”

“Whatever,” I huffed. “I bet you’re lying about that as well. You probably have twenty-twenty vision.”

"I do," he confirmed with a smirk. “To answer your earlier question, I wasn’t making six figures when I was twenty-eight, but I did go above that mark when I made VP just shy of my thirtieth birthday.”

Cedric’s ambition was admirable. It rivalled mine, and I found that impressive. Especially given his carefree attitude and knack for constantly teasing people like it was his day job.

“You’re pretty pleasant to talk to for a blind date. Once you get past the rough exterior, that is,” Cedric thought aloud. "When I saw you sat at the bar on the phone, I knew you were the same woman I ran into outside, and, I can't lie, I was very tempted to turn around and leave."

"What stopped you?" I asked even though his answer would no doubt bruise my ego.

"You look a little like a mouse, but you're also kind of sassy. A sassy mouse. I wanted to see if you would be just as sassy as you were outside.”

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