Page 21 of Second Round

He nodded slowly, that slight smile still on his face. “You seem to have thought of my everycomfort.”

Okay, now that had to be suggestive. Especially the way that he was eye-fucking me as he said it.Yes, I thought of your every comfort and that includes you and me having some hot animal sex later tonight.What the hell was wrong with me? Maybe he wasn’t even interested. What were the first steps of dating again? Oh right, first make sure he doesn’t have agirlfriend.

“Again, I am so, so sorry about messing up on your road tripdates.”

“And here I thought it was deliberate and you wanted tomeetme.”

Meatyou maybe. Ha ha. My mind really needed to stop changing each thing he said into an innuendo. I had another swallow of my beer. “When is it youleave?”

“We have a game Sunday night, then we leave on Tuesdaymorning.”

“Okay, I’ll come in and finish your daughter’s room then. When is shegettinghere?”

“Not for a while. She’s still got school. So you have lotsoftime.”

“I’m surprised that she—or anybody—didn’t want to have input into the decorating. Iwouldhave.”

Leo smiled. “She’s only seven. But if that’s your way of asking if I have a wife or girlfriend, I don’t. I’mdivorced.”

I could feel my skin heating up again. “I wasn’t—” Then I shook my head. That was a total lie. “Okay, I was wondering. I’m only recently divorced myself, and I’m totally out of it when it comes to this kind ofconversation.”

“You don’t have to tell me you’re single. I can see that,” he said. He put his beer on the counter and took my hands in his. “Voilá, no rings. Even though you have jewellery on and you’re someone who pays attention to yourappearance.”

The way he held my hands—warmly, caressingly, gently—sent a current of electricity right through my body. How long had it been since anyone had touched me like this—in a way that signalled flirting and desire? It was years and years ago. Dinosaurs were still roaming the earth the last time this had happenedtome.

I swallowed hard. “You’re a regular Sherlock Holmes,aren’tyou?”

He dropped my hands and smiled again. I tried to figure out why his smile looked more sinister than friendly. Maybe it was the guarded look in his eyes. He was someone in full control—of his emotions, his reactions, his life. I enviedhimthat.

“No, Jacqueline. For example, I don’t know what you’re going to say when I askyouout.”

“Oh, I think you do.” There was no point acting coy. I might not know much about dating, but I did know that what was going on between us was a huge underwear-melting tsunami of physical attraction. I had no clue what his life was like, but this certainly wasn’t something that happened to meeveryday.

“Would you like to go outwithme?”

“Yes.” Good thing he didn’t ask me if I wanted to stay in with him, because the answer would have beenthesame.

He chuckled again. “I didn’t evensaywhen.”

Well, I wasn’t going to admit that my social calendar was completely blank. “Am I supposed to play hard to get? I’m out of practice at thisstuff.”

“You don’t have to play games. I prefer honesty.” He drank somemorebeer.

The kitchen timer dinged. I had to move closer to him to get to the oven. I brushed against his chest and felt his solid strength under the thin t-shirt. And he smelled good too. Citrusy-fresh. Wait, I bought that body wash. I made him smell as yummy as a ripe mandarin orange that I wanted to take a biteoutof.

I hastily arranged his meal on a plate: tuna melt, carrot and apple salad. Then I set it on the little kitchen table. I sat across from him withmybeer.

“You’ve eaten already?” he asked, and I nodded. “It’sdelicious.”

“It’s one of my son’s favourites.” Oops. Was I not supposed to mention children right away? Why not? I was a mom, and my kids were the most important things in my life. If that was a deal-breaker, so be it. Anyway, Leo had adaughtertoo.

“How old is he?” Leoasked.

“Ten. And I have a twelve-year-olddaughtertoo.”

We chatted casually about kids, which also helped to lower my internal thermostat and prevent me from jumping Leo. Although, it didn’t prevent me from checking out his arm muscles asheate.

“Much, much better than my original dinner,Jacqueline.”

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