Page 34 of Breaking the Ice

But… stillmoreconversation.

Maybe he was as nervous as her?

Why not? The pressure on men to be the one to make the first move must be immense and when a person was a little rusty, as Paul had proclaimed to be, it must be even more daunting.

Well, she was a twenty-first-century gal, she could make the first move, surely?

Leaning in, Samantha kissed him lightly on the mouth, mid-sentence. He hesitated for a moment and she thought she’d screwed up but then he kissed her back.

Okay.Now they were cooking with gas.

She unleashed her full kissing expertise upon him, opening her mouth and injecting as much passion as she could muster. But it was difficult when he was holding her so awkwardly. He felt stiff and robotic, even as she thrust her cleavage at his chest. In fact, the closer she got the stiffer he became. And not in thegoodway.

She broke away. “Is there something wrong?” she whispered.

“Er, um… sorry. I’m not really… prepared for this.”

He looked embarrassed and Samantha relaxed. That was a problem she could solve. “It’s okay,” she assured, “I’ve got condoms.”

She went in for another kiss but he backed away. Then he stood. “Sorry, I didn’t mean…” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “I’ve had a vasectomy; condoms aren’t an issue.”

Samantha stared stupidly at him for a moment. Avasectomy?How were her eggs going to party with his sperm when he was firing blanks?

She knew he was too damn good to be true!

But if it wasn’t condoms, then what? “Okay, so, whatisthe issue?”

“It’s a bit embarrassing,” he said, talking to the floor now. “I take blood pressure tablets. They make me… impotent. If I’d had advanced warning I could have taken some Viagra. I didn’t realize you wanted to move this fast.”

Samantha blinked at the double whammy – being calledeasyby a guy who couldn’t get it up. She knew the situation wasn’t Paul’s fault and talking about it had taken courage. And she felt for him, but man… had she really shaved her legs for this?

12

Nick eagerly awaited Samantha’s arrival the next morning, undecided if he wanted the date to have been good or another of her comical disasters.

He’d known Paul for years. He was a nice guy and nice was apparently Samantha’s catnip. But he wondered ifnicecould be a bit much to take on a permanent basis? The more Rita Summers he read, the more he was convinced that what Sam really needed was a hero of that ilk. Someone who would drive her to distraction with passion while also stimulating her with whip-smart banter and worldly knowledge.

Rita never did nice.

Sitting opposite her at the restaurant two nights ago with her looking sexy and sultry, like Nigella freaking Lawson, all curvy and soft, had only cemented his conviction. Samantha in work clothes was distracting enough, Samantha dressed to kill had been a sight to behold. And the fact she really didn’t have a clue about her appeal added to her allure.

That she seemed destined to settle for nice was a travesty.

But it really wasn’t any of his business, so he hoped, for her sake, she’d had a better date than him. In an effort to distracthimself from thinking about hisemployeeand her personal life, he’d gone out with Angie.

Young, cute, perky Angie.

There was one advantage to working in a romance bookshop – it was a great place to pick up. Most of the customer base were women and, thanks to Samantha who had insisted he become familiar with his market, he was reading widely in the genre now. The women who came into Birdie’s who weren’t aware of his NHL pedigree were thoroughly impressed by his knowledge and it was a really great conversation starter.

Not that Nick had ever needed an icebreaker.

Angiehadbeen aware of his pedigree and had dropped in most days since she’d first come by looking for Colleen Hoover’s backlist. She’d flirted outrageously with him from the get-go but, well versed in how to handle that, Nick had kept her at arm’s length. But then Sam had come in the store looking all dreamy and Angie had seemed like a good distraction.

Wrong. Angie had been a handful. Which, given his motives, was what he’d deserved.

More than aware of her sexual power, she was in full flirt mode from the beginning, making a lackluster conversation even more difficult to navigate. She talked for two hours about the latestBachelorettenews and the rumored Kardashian feud and some influencer with a million TikTok followers and Samantha expressing concern about her age came back to him.

Twenty-four as it turned out. A veryconfidenttwenty-four. Very versed in body language and eye-fucking. Which should have been a turn-on except he found himself wishing she’d quote figures or stick a Post-it note to him instead.

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