Page 10 of S.O.S. Perk

“A sparring session, huh?” Melissa’s interest ratcheted back up. “And you said…?”

“That I probably would, and to call me the next time his group was ready to meet.”

“Hell, yes,” Melissa chortled. “Then you can get your hands on him and make sure he’s packing everything you need!”

“Packing…? Geeze Mel. We’re talking martial arts here. Not naked mud-wrestling.” Although that picturemightstart starring in her nocturnal meanderings.

“Hey. A girl can fantasize, right?” Melissa unknowingly agreed.

Sloane almost gave herself away. In reality, that’s what she’d been doing ever since she’d met Perk. Fantasizing. Dreamingendlessly about touching him. Smelling him. Hell, just ogling him while he was in action.

But there was more to discuss than simply the man’s physical attributes. Things that were a little more serious.

“Uh, Mel?”

“Oh, oh. I don’t likethattone of voice,” Melissa returned. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“Umm, he, uh, might be just a little bit younger than me.”

Melissa’s professional, HR, everything-by-the-book voice popped out. “Howmuchyounger?”

Sloane laid it on the line. “He’s twenty-eight.”

There was a relieved exhalation. “Well, hell girl,” Melissa snickered. “What are you worried about, then? I thought you were going to say he was jail-bait.”

“Seriously, Melissa?” That thought horrified her. “Do you know me?”

“Just kidding, sweetie. But I was hoping he was at least over twenty.”

Sloane huffed. “Well, he is, but he…doesn’t look it.”

“What do you mean?”

“He’s got a baby face. Arealbaby face. I doubt if he can even grow a beard. And those dimples… How is it going to look if I decide to go out with him? People will talk because I look so much older.”

Instead of the commiseration Sloane expected, she got a verbal bitch-slap.

“Who the hell cares what anybody thinks? When I see a cougar with a boy toy, I think ‘good for her’. But that isn’t even close to the case, here, Slo. It’s only six frigging years between the two of you.Six.”

“So you think I should go for it? Shelve my concerns and see if we’re at all compatible, even though the chances are slim-to-nothing that things will work out?”

Melissa knew Sloane’s history, and would understand where the concerns were coming from.

“It’s either that or just jump his bones,” Melissa told her pragmatically. “Your choice. Because I swear, girl, if you don’t have sex soon, your lady parts are in serious danger of drying the fuck up.”

“Wait. What?” Sloane had intrinsically known it would come down to this. “Are you telling me to use Perk for sex?”

“If you can’t wrap your head around dating him, then yeah. People do it all the time, Slo.”

“I don’t think I can. I…like him too much.”

There was a huge huff from the other end of the line. “Then what are we talking about here? You like him. He likes you. Call the man and make a date. A lunch date. Next Monday is a day off for me. Tell me where you’ll be, and I’ll show up as your wing-woman.”

“You really think it’s a good idea to encourage him?” The thought actually gave her a little thrill, but she didn’t know if it was more a nervous kind of thrill, or an excited one.

“I think it’s a great idea. Do you have his number?”

“I do,” Sloane admitted.

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