Page 24 of Breaking the Ice

All she had to do was smile and nod in the right places.

He offered to walk her back to her apartment and although every sensibility she possessed told her not to, she acquiesced. So, the man had freaky teeth. She needed to be less judgmental. Maybe he wasthe oneand she was casting him aside because of something so trivial.

There was only one way to know for sure. As Cher said, and Bec loudly seconded, it was definitely in a man’s kiss. She wasn’t going to run a mile like every instinct she owned was telling her to do without full possession of the facts.

All the facts.

What if her eggs tap-danced when he kissed her? What if he curled her toes and made her sigh and gave her a feeling of being home? What if one kiss saw her break the land speed record from the apartment to the 7-Eleven and back?

When the moment came she was ready. He had said goodbye in the foyer and he was leaning in for the kiss and she deliberately made her mind blank.

Okay eggs, here goes.

And nothing. It was… limp. Insipid. Uninspiring. Her eggs remained unimpressed. It was kind of closed-mouthed which was a good thing because all she could think about was his teeth casting a searchlight halfway down her throat.

She brought it to an end and he left murmuring about seeing each other again before heading for the door.

Not in this lifetime, Colin. No red rose for you.

Samantha walked into work the next morning with a scowl not even the pleasure of being at Birdie’s could erase.

“I take it you didn’t need the 7-Eleven?”

She looked at Nick’s beautiful white teeth behind his lovely full lips. White. Notglowing white like a fluorescent skeleton from a party bag at a Halloweenwhite. Normal, everyday, I’ve-been-alive-and-eating-for-the-last-thirty-years white.

She told him the sorry saga and he collapsed on the couch, clutching his side in hysterics. Worse, the entire day was filled with teeth jokes.

“What I don’t understand was why you felt the need to kiss him? I mean, he was obviously doing nothing for you.”

“That was only because I couldn’t get past the choppers,” she explained. “Ihadto give it a go. I mean what if he’d been a really good kisser? Good kissers can be forgiven a lot.”

“Really?”

“According to Bec, yes. And she tested her theoryextensivelythrough high school.”

“But he wasn’t. A good kisser?”

“Nope.” She shook her head. “It wasn’t terrible. It was just… forgettable.”

“So do you kiss test all your dates?”

She nodded. “Usually. Bec trained me well. She always says if one kiss can make you breathless, if there’s chemistry… that’s a good beginning.”

“Chemistry’s important.”

His voice went gravelly and heat suffused her middle. She’d bet anything there’d benothingforgettable about Nick’s kisses. “That’s what Mr. Mears always maintained,” she said.

“Mr. Mears?”

Samantha grinned. “Junior high biology teacher.”

The day passed and Samantha busied herself reading anotherLarry and Stretchbetween customers. She had quickly dropped her snobbishness toward the Westerns and was rapidly approaching addiction. Nowthesewere men who didn’t need any fancy modern cosmetic touch ups. They were men and they knew it and you could take them or leave them but goddamn it, you’d never forget them.

And if they kissed you, you’d know it too.

The door jingled and Sally, one of their regulars, came through the door. She was a sweet young thing, not quite twenty and a true romance junkie. She worked in the city animal shelter as a trainee vet nurse and came in once a week to resupply. Today though, Samantha took one look at Sally and knew she wasn’t in the market for romance.

“What’s up, Sal?” she asked and the girl promptly burst into tears.

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