Page 16 of Inevitable

CHAPTER EIGHT

Monday, July 24th

Sitting at her desk, Claire studied her spreadsheet and realized her week of dates had been totally derailed. It went okay for the first three, but everything after that had been a big waste of time. Which is exactly the opposite of what she wanted. All the time she had taken to craft her online profile might very well be wasted if she couldn’t get her train heading in the right direction.

Checking the schedule, she realized she was supposed to meet Vince the vet for dinner. Which, up until Saturday, she’d been real excited about. Darn Brady had distracted her from her purpose. Twirling her pen in her hand, she realized that they’d spent the whole weekend together. And…she liked it.

Liked him.

Which would never do. From the moment she’d called him on Friday, they had barely been apart. Squaring her shoulders, she dropped the pen on her desk, pulled up Vince’s profile on Facebook, and gazed at his handsome face. Last week when they had spoken, she felt like he might be the best candidate, and now she could barely scrabble together an ounce of excitement. She realized it was because of the kiss Brady had given her last night when he dropped her off. Standing under the porch light, with the sounds of summer filling the air, he gave her one of the best kisses of her life. It was the sort of kiss that made a woman believe in fairy tales, princes, and happily-ever-after. Which wasn’t something she wanted to do.

Rational thought, careful consideration, and questionnaires were supposed to lead her to a happy relationship. Not a big, sexy alpha man she had nothing in common with.

He was like a damn Snickers bar, hard to resist and not good for her health. But damn delicious and probably very satisfying.

But she could resist. It wasn’t like she had all that much fun with him. So what if he rescued her from a situation that could have potentially been dangerous? So what if he took her to Borden’s after without a breath of complaint? It’s not like a lot of men wouldn’t do the very same thing.

Liar, liar, pants on fire,her inner voice chanted. Brady was a fine man and he’d shown that to her again and again over the weekend.

“But…what?” she asked herself.

Was she resisting him because she lost her breath and her sense when she’d seen his very fine body draped in a towel? Maybe.

Or was it the way he kissed her and made her toes curl? Possibly.

It might be best to ignore all the feelings Brady was evoking and concentrate on the men she had something in common with. Maybe Vince the vet was the one she’d been waiting for. Leaning closer, she studied his jaw and realized it wasn’t as sharp as Brady’s. No matter. They probably would never stop having things to discuss. She knew from the emails they’d exchanged that they liked the same music, had similar political beliefs, and both liked fried pickles. As far as she was concerned, that was a lot. Except he didn’t really get her jokes. She’d discovered that when they’d spoken last week. She’d attributed it to nerves and hoped that when they met in person, they would find a rhythm. After all, he was smart and educated and had a terrific career. And the man loved dogs. What more could she want?

Rubbing her bottom lip, she realized she wanted a hundred more kisses like the one Brady had given her. That was some fine magic he conjured up when he pressed his mouth against hers. It was like being in the middle of a firework. Electricity passed through her body and bright sparkly lights lit up her vision. Also, that weird tumbly feeling in her stomach wasn’t bad, either. No doubt about it—the man knew how to kiss.

Which begged the question, was it him or just his superior ability? After all, the man wasn’t born a lethal operator. He learned all of those skills when he joined the FBI. Maybe the kissing was something he learned too, which meant a lot of other men had the ability as well. Not that she’d come across one in all her years of dating, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t. Maybe Vince was a magical kisser as well. All she had to do was meet him at six tonight at Charly G’s and find out. Clearly, he thought they were going to hit it off because he had insisted on dinner and not just drinks. She’d found it charming when he suggested they go all in and spend more than thirty minutes together.

She dragged her purse off the back of her chair, dug into the black hole, and found her phone. Time to confirm their plans. No more hesitating. Just as she was looking for his number, Brady walked into her office.

Drat!

“Hey,” she called out as she continued to scroll through her contacts. It was best if she didn’t pay him too much attention because if she did, those doubtful thoughts about going on her date could creep back in. Brady was going to be a friend and nothing more. No matter how much electricity was sparking between them.

“I hope you’re canceling your date this evening. No way are you going out with another man after the weekend we had together,” he said with a confident grin.

Lifting her eyes, she watched him stalk across the room and park his behind on the corner of her desk. He crossed his enormous arms and let his leg swing back and forth like he was the damn king of the jungle. “As a matter of fact, I’m just about to confirm my dinner plans with Vince.”

Even if she was having a hundred doubts, there was no way she was canceling now. The nerve of the man, telling her what to do. “He’s taking me to dinner and I’m looking forward to getting to know him.” The fact that she had just talked herself into going through with it was of no concern to the man fuming in front of her.

“Are you telling me that you’re going out with another man, despite what happened this weekend?”

The way his voice got low and he leaned forward made her wonder what he’d be like in bed. Which is exactly what she didn’t need to be thinking about. Happy hormones and fluttery feelings had never really worked out for her, and she didn’t think Brady was going to be the exception. Having things in common, shared goals, and mutual respect were important. Not star-tripping excitement.

“I had these plans long before you came along, and I’m not going to cancel just because we spent some time together. Vince and I have a lot in common and I would be a fool not to get to know him.”

“You haven’t spent a minute in his company. Why do you think you have anything in common?”

“The questionnaire. The dating site I’m on uses it as a starting point to discover who might be a good match and then applies an algorithm to fine-tune it. I looked at what they use and I have to say, it’s kind of impressive.”

“You like this because it makes sense to you.” Shaking his head, he gave her a very sad smile. “The one thing a computer can’t tell you is who you have chemistry with. None of your fancy formulas are going to point you in the direction of the person who is your other half. Fate, God, and a bit of luck are the only things that are going to help people find the right one.”

Leaning back in her chair, Claire scrunched up her face. “Sorry, that is a load of bull hockey. None of those things have ever helped me and I don’t expect them to. Logic and reason are a lot better and that’s what I plan on using.”

Brady stood and leaned over with a sexy smirk. “Darlin’, we’ve had a kiss or two since Friday, and I, for one, know that magic like that has nothing to do with any program on a computer. The way you make me feel when our lips are pressed together tells me that there is a God and he or she is blessing me with his or her good grace.”

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