Page 78 of Mr. Flirt

I sat back on the couch, pulling two chenille pillows over me. “I know, and I can’t help myself. It’s like a drug.”

Dannie was quiet for a couple of seconds. “It’slike a drug, orhe’slike a drug?”

I pulled one of the pillows over my head and groaned into it. “Fine. He’s like a drug.”

“Lucy, you have to admit that you’re falling for Shep.”

“Don’t say that,” I mumbled into the pillow.

“Is that really a bad thing?” Danni asked as little Lucy fussed over the phone.

“Don’t you need to take care of mini-me?”

Danni laughed. “Nice try. She’s just hungry and about to latch. You can’t get out of this discussion with me tonight.”

“Fine. The problem is that he came signed, sealed, and delivered to me with a box full of red flags.” I removed the pillows and sat upright on the couch, muting my television. “He’s adorable. He’s super smart. He makes me feel like the most important woman in the world.”

“Okay, so what’s the problem?” Danni asked.

“He’s so adorable that he gets any woman he wants. He’s so smart that he knows how to play them.” I let out a sigh. “And finally, he makes all women feel like they’re the most important in the world. It’s not like I’m special. I’ve seen what happens to women who fall for his type.”

“Lucy. That’s not fair to you or to him. How in the world do you know that’s how he makes other women feel?”

“He’s good at what he does. I just know. He seems to think he’s always been straightforward with women, but I’m sure he’s left broken hearts all over the city.”

“If you say so.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You know, it is true that some people are able to just go have fun and not put all kinds of emotions to the deed. There are even apps for hooking up, but what if that’s not what this is about?”

“We both agreed that this wouldn’t become serious.”

“Then what is any of this?”

“Shep vowed to teach me the ways. I need a lesson in having sex without emotions getting in the way and without the promise of more in front of me.”

“How romantic,” she said dryly.

“He’s the perfect guy to help me. He knows where he stands with me, and I know I can’t let myself get tangled up in his messy web of pranks and bachelor ways.”

Danni didn’t say anything, and I always knew from studying the law that loose lips sank ships, so I stayed quiet too.

I didn’t want to tell my best friend how I thought about Shep most minutes of the day. That I imagined him changing his ways and settling down. That I even imagined myself as the woman who changed the man who pranked his way through life.

Nope. I wasn’t going to say any of that.

“Anyway, do you know what my nickname for him is?”

“Tell me.”

“Mr. Flirt.”

Danni laughed. “Well, if the shoe fits.”

“Oh, it fits. He can make a person feel like they are on top of the world with just one look. I swear, Danni... all I have to do is see him waiting for me, and I feel like the luckiest woman in the world to be in his presence. That takes talent to do that.”

“Or you’re falling for him.”

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