Page 13 of Hesi-Dating
She looked away fast. It'd been eons since a woman made me feel attractive with so little effort.
Her dark sweater and floral skirt that flared at the bottom came off classy and sexy at the same time. This was a lethal combination for my poor heart.
When I slid the two packages of powdered donuts onto the table, she burst into laughter. My stomach did a little flip at the lighthearted sound.
Her lips twitched even after she was done laughing. "That's not at all cliché for a man of the law to buy donuts."
"I happen to like powdered donuts. I enjoy living this particular cliché." I lifted the plastic lid off my cup and blew across the top of the coffee.
Sitting across from her I had time to study her up close, picking up details I'd missed from before in the dark restaurant and outside the library. She had a small tattoo of a stylized dog on the inside of her left wrist. The correlating light pet hairs on her suggested she had a dog of her own. A single silver ring adorned each of the three middle fingers on her right hand.
With a hand to support her chin she leaned in toward me, her gaze connecting with mine. "I thought you went to get croissants or something for us. Those powdered donuts were probably packaged in 1990 and will never expire."
I flipped over the package. "They expire in two weeks. They're not Twinkies."
"I respect a man who knows the way to this girl's heart is through processed sugar." She opened the package and popped a mini donut into her mouth. White powder covered her lips before her pink tongue cleaned it up.
Still fixated on her lips I asked, "Did I misread you? Are you a Twinkies woman? Or maybe a Honeybun girl?"
She removed a second donut. Long lashes dropped to cover her eyes before she lifted them to stare boldly. "You got it right. I'm a mini powdered donut girl through and through. Tell me something. How many girls have you brought to this place and seduced with donuts?"
"How many?" I chewed slowly on a donut as if counting in my head. Then licked powder off my fingers.
She playfully whacked me on the arm. "Is this your new pre- or post-date hookup spot?"
"Do I look like I have time to be a player?"
"I know you don't. I hoped you'd found something fun since our semi-date."
I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.
She tilted her head and her lips twitched as if about to smile. "Did you get the post-divorce rebound sex out of the way?"
I choke-coughed.
"Guess that's a no." She smiled subtly and ate another donut.
I didn't want to sleep with some woman I didn't care for and didn't know. The only woman I wanted sat across from me, cool and calm, and unlike any woman I'd ever met. She wasn't worrying about what she looked like, trying to fix her lipstick or fluff her hair. She also wasn't as high maintenance as I'd realized my ex had been. She looked gorgeous and confident in who she was. I liked that about Joley. Hell, I liked her.
Her eyes lit up. "Let me help you find someone. I'm good at dating apps. Are you on the Embrace app? Not that the women on there are in it for the hookup, but there are some."
"I'm not on any app, not since. . ." I didn't need to finish that my last foray into dating, my only attempt, had been our not-really-a-date.
"Embrace is one of the good ones. Mostly professionals on there. You can tell if the person you match with is looking for her forever guy or straight up sex. Open your phone and give it to me. I can help you choose the right girl looking for a hookup."
I didn't want to do this, but I also didn't want to burst her bubble. She seemed so excited to help that I handed over my phone. In moments she'd downloaded a new app and was entering information.
She nibbled on her lip as she opened a different app on her own phone. "I'm copying your profile from the app that matched us. Just give me a sec…"
I imagined her putting all kinds of bullshit into my profile.
"Okay, moment of truth," she announced many long minutes later. "Push the red button and it'll match you." She flipped the phone to face me. When I didn't move, she prompted, "Go ahead.Push it." When I still didn't move, she frowned. "You're not locked into anything. This is only browsing. Like window shopping. I think the algorithm they use for this app is pretty good. Worked for a good friend of mine."
"You push the button."
"It's bad luck if I do it for you."
"Have you tried the app yet?"
