Page 2 of The Marriage Game

“Can I take your order?” The barista addresses me.

“Oh, uh, still thinking,” I say quickly, then start intensely scanning the menu, though truthfully I’m not actually taking any of the words in as I continue to strain to hear their conversation.

“Tucker, seriously, can you please leave? I need to study and this afternoon has been almost entirely wasted thanks to your shenanigans.”

“I’m not leaving until you take me back, Jill.”

Wow. This guy. What a tool.

I know Jill isn’t looking for a relationship, but someone should at least step in and teach him some manners. And that someone may as well be me.

Especially since I am alsonotlooking for a relationship.

I just want to help the woman out.

That’s it.

I swear.

So what I’ll do is I’ll just go over there and kindly point out to our friend Tucker that the lady asked him to leave. I may not be as huge as his offensive lineman friends, but at 6’2’’ I’m also no slouch in the height department. And if I have to drop my taekwondo experience into the conversation, so be it.

I’ll leave out the part where it was only three classes when I was 8.

I swivel around and head toward their table, fully prepared to don my shining armor and be her knight, but then Jill looks up and our gazes clash. I forget all about Tucker. I forget all about being in a coffee shop. I definitely forget about how I’m not looking for a relationship. I forget everything…everything but her.

Before today I would’ve said the Holy Spirit didn’t have a lot to say to me directly, but as I stare into Jill’s blue eyes I distinctly hear a voice tell me I’m going to marry this woman.

As for what I do next, well, I can’t blame that on the Holy Spirit. Nah, it’s more a mixture of pheromones, stupidity, and a sudden lack of impulse control.

I stride right up to Jill, hold out my hand and say, “Hi, I’m Max. l thought I should introduce myself before I give you your last first kiss.”

There’s a sickening moment where my burst of confidence erupts in flames and the idiocy of what I’ve just said threatens to render me permanently mute, but then—

“Hi, Max,” she replies, accepting my hand with a faint blush. “I’m Jill.” She looks up at me through her lashes. “Well,” she prompts, cocking her head slightly, “what are you waiting for then?”

I grin, heat rushing through me as I tug her out of her chair and toward me. I stop tugging her closer when she’s only inches away, wanting to be sure she knows she can still stop this reckless and impetuous act should she want to. But she doesn’t stop it. Instead she closes the remaining distance between us and presses her lips to mine.

The world slides in and out of focus, her nearness somehow tilting me in place though I never leave the ground. Jill’s soft, pillowy, perfect lips move against mine, sending wave after wave of warmth through me.

Distantly I hear Tucker swear in the background as he walks away, but then I lose myself completely to the passion of this kiss. She tastes insatiably sweet, like the first lick of an ice cream cone on a hot summer day. Her hands slide up my chest to lace around my neck, and deep inside a truth settles over me: this feels like exactly how I want to spend the rest of my life. My own hands grip her waist, locking her in place against me.

A soft moan drifts out of her and a hundred different ways to recreate that sound play out in my mind. So I stop the kiss. Because my thoughts toward Jill, a woman I don’t even knowbut want so badly to know everything about, should not take such an ungodly direction. Inexplicable and crazy as it may seem, I somehow know that the two of us are going to end up together one day, which means I need to stop letting physical attraction drive the bus and give heed to the need to forge an emotional connection.

Jill steps back from me, looking faintly embarrassed. “I don’t usually,” she begins, “that is…I’m not…what came over me…I thought…you know…it would get rid of Tucker... I’m really not looking for a relationship right now,” she finally manages to string together a complete sentence, but unfortunately it’s not one I like. Then again, not only did I already know this about her, I was just reminding myself that I’m also not looking for a relationship. So why am I so disappointed? Before I can fully process this, she goes on. “So ask me out quickly before all of my reasons for not dating right now come back to me.”

I grin, unexpected lightness filling me. I may not know her, but already I like her.

“Say you'll go out with me,” I counter, “before all ofmyreasons for not dating right now come back to me.”

A slow smile spreads across Jill’s pretty face.

“What about that woman you were with earlier?” she asks, and I feel a burst of pleasure that she took notice of me too.

“First and last time I’ll be seeing her,” I reply. “She’s the daughter of my mom’s friend and new in town. I only met up with her as a favor to my mom.”

Jill nods, drumming her fingers lightly across her thighs. “You’re not a football player, are you?” she finally asks.

I shake my head. “I’m a law student, set to graduate in April.”

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