Page 61 of Swiped
She also thanked those gods that she had done a full armpit-to-ankle shave to get her head in the game for her date with Nick. “I don’t usually wear suits like this, but it’s all they had.” She put a toe in the bubbling water. “And thank you, by the way.”
“If I could see it, I’d say it was lovely on you.”
Nat sank into the warm water with a deep sigh. She peeked at Thom. He was still turned away with his eyes covered, but she could see a schoolboy blush on his face.
She giggled and flicked a splash at him. “You can look now.”
He dropped his hands into the water and drew closer to her. “So,” he said softly. “Are you having a nice time? I mean, I know this is a little unorthodox for a first date, and I’m realizing now that it might be a lot of pressure.”
“No, I’m having a nice time,” she said, bobbing closer to him. “It’s a grand gesture, but I think it’s romantic.”
Relief washed over Thom’s face. “Christ, I was really hoping you would say that. While I was waiting for you to change, I had some truly sobering thoughts about the thin line between romance and, I don’t know, being too intense and scaring you away.”
“I’m not scared.” Nat let her lips curl into a smile as she realized how true her words actually were. She kept forgetting that it wasn’t as though she was on this date without a safety net. Yes, it would have been a big ask for her to trust Thom right away, but she wasn’t on this date by random chance — she was here because of her algorithm, her real profile, and her heart’s full desires. They were what had brought Thom into her life at this moment, and they were what she could trust.
Thom narrowed his eyes with a theatrical wince as he gestured to their picture-perfect surroundings. “I guess it’s a bit hard to hide how much I wanted you to like me, though, isn’t it?”
“Yeah . . .” Nat watched him bite his plump lower lip to catch a droplet of water. “But how did you know that you were going to like me?”
“I didn’t,” he said. He bobbed closer to her in the water, and she felt the solid muscles of his legs graze hers. “But I do.”
Nat wondered what one should be thinking when their dreams were literally coming true. She wanted to memorize every atom in front of her. She brought her hands around his broad shoulders and leaned into him. Thom softly closed his eyes and cupped a hand behind her head.
“Champagne and strawberries!” said a waiter, rapping at the door.
Thom grimaced and pulled away. “OK, nowthatwas too much.”
Nat giggled and watched Thom climb out of the water to fetch the tray. Her whole body buzzed with happiness in the soothing rumble of the hot tub jets. Her heart felt like it might burst.Every single atom.
* * *
Rami stood next to Allison on the observation deck of Coit Tower. The sweeping city views he knew so well were completelyhidden by a thick gray curtain of rain. The whole deck was empty and dark. Allison shivered with a sudden chill.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “It’s an iconic view. Trust me!”
“It’s OK.” She gave him a cheerleader’s smile. “How could you possibly know that it was going to rain?”
“Because the ratio of moisture saturation didn’t correlate with the range of variable temperatures in this microclimate.”
“What?”
Rami pulled out his phone to show her his app. He saw the text from Nat and scoffed, clearing it away. He waited until Fun Sun was loaded on the screen and showed it to Allison. “Whither, Weather, that’s my app.”
Unfortunately, Fun Sun was currently doing gleaming, muscle-y cartwheels across the whole week. Every single day shone yellow with his forecast for sunny perfection.
“Whoops,” said Allison.
Rami brought his phone to his face and squinted at Fun Sun’s grinning, flossing figure. “My Sphinx,” he muttered. “The more I learn about you, the farther away you get.” He slipped the phone back into his pocket as a guard approached.
“Shutting down! Let’s go!” she bellowed into the empty space.
Allison shrugged politely. “Well, predicting the weather is basically like fortune-telling, right?”
“Sometimes it feels like that,” Rami granted. “But my algorithm actually reads and ranks multiple feeds of raw meteorological data to improve the accuracy of our data points. It’s not unlike how an app with millions of users might . . .” He trailed off. He knew Allison’s glazed-eyed nod all too well. “Sorry. Sorry, you’re right. I do have a lot in common with a county fair palm reader.”
Her face lit back up. “Does that mean you’re gonna tell that I’ll meet a great love by a large body of water?” She batted her eyes and looked out at the downpour.
“Now that would just be statistics . . .”
