Page 45 of Neighbors With Benefits

Me: Stop it!

Cat: He’s wearing a tight T-shirt. His biceps are bulging!

Me: I thought you were focused on dating women right now?

Cat: That doesn’t mean I’m blind, Jazz! That man is a snack and a half!

Me: I’m ignoring you now.

“This game is a lot simpler than I remember,” Bash said, tossing aside the rules sheet. “Draw a card, then move to that color. That’s it.”

“Simple is good,” I said. “So many modern games have rules that you need a PhD to understand.”

“Preach, sister.”

We spent a few minutes focusing solely on the game. I tried not to notice the way Bash’s T-shirt fit his lean frame, leaving little to the imagination. And the way the blue color made his eyes pop…

Those eyes slid away from the board and met my gaze. “So how’s work? Going well?”

“Well enough, I guess!”

“What’s your typical day like at Top Golf? Arguing with drunk patrons?”

I chuckled. “Nothing that exciting. Now that I’m a manager, I spend most of my time setting schedules and dealing with supply deliveries. But I like that kind of thing, so I don’t mind! What about you? It must be frustrating traveling so much for work.”

Bash was shaking his head before I even finished the sentence. “No way. I love traveling.”

“Yeah?”

His face lit up. “I get to visit new places and meet different people. Every trip is different. That keeps it interesting.”

I moved my piece along the board. “What has been your favorite place to visit?”

He pursed his lips together. Lips which Cat would have calledkissable. I wasn’t thinking that, though. Definitely not.

“I don’t think I can answer that,” Bash said. “Every place is unique. That’s probably what I have loved the most about thisjob: seeing just howdiverseAmerica is. And I don’t mean, like, racially. We’re diverse ineverything.” He leaned forward on the table. “Think about all the different regions in this country. You’ve got New England, and the mid-Atlantic region. There’s the South. The Midwest. The Sun Belt, the Pacific Northwest, and California. Every one of those regions has its own accent, food, weather, terrain, and culture.”

Bash held up a finger. “But those are just the broad regions. You can drill down even deeper. Take New England. Boston, New Hampshire, and Maine all havetotallyunique cultures. The Midwest has Indiana, Chicago, rural Illinois, Iowa. None of them are the same. In the South, Alabama is different than Georgia, and neither of them are like North Carolina.”

“And Florida is its own weird little place.”

Bash gave me a wide grin. “Exactly! And you can drill down deeper and divide Florida up: Miami has incredible Cuban food and night life, Orlando is a giant Disney tourist area, the panhandle is its own little ecosystem.” He spread his hands. “That’s what I love about traveling. Discovering what makes each individual place unique. I’m sure all countries are this way to some degree, but I feel like America is more diverse than most. That’s what’s so cool about our country. Sorry, I know I’m rambling. But I love my job.”

“Don’t apologize! There’s nothing more attractive than someone who’s passionate about what they do. I dated a guy a few years ago who wasn’t passionate aboutanything. He worked in a 7-11, then came home and played video games. He had no other hobbies, opinions, or passions.”

“Sounds like a sad way to go through life,” Bash said.

I started to say more, then stopped. I had basically called Bash attractive, and compared him to my ex. It’s not like I wastryingto flirt with him; it had just sort of slipped out. Fortunately, he didn’t seem to take it the wrong way.

That didn’t stop my cheeks from heating, though.

“Your turn,” he said.

“Sorry.” I drew a card, then moved to the next closest green space.

“Now that you’ve been here a month or so, how do you like it?” Bash asked.

“Do you mean this house,” I asked, “this neighborhood, or Philadelphia in general?”

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