Page 34 of Fierce-Jax

“Right,” she mumbled. Yep, there was the awkwardness he was hoping to avoid. “We both know what is going on. Kind of funny, don’t you think?”

“Starting my day off with a good song?” he asked. They were off to the side where she’d been waiting for him.

“Being matched up,” she said. “I’m glad because it seemed to me you would not make the move and maybe I’m a little old-fashioned and was hoping not to be the one to do it.”

His jaw dropped. “You wanted me to ask you on a date?”

She rolled her eyes playfully. “Jax, I thought you were a smart guy fully aware of your surroundings. I’m not sure how much more I could have said for you to get the hint.”

He felt like such a fool. “I thought you were being nice. That’s me, the nice guy.”

She kept her grin in place while her eyes roamed over the full length of him in an erotic-style appraisal.

Please don’t let my body react. Please don’t!

“I like nice guys. They don’t always seem to like me. I thought for sure this was one of those times again. Unless I’m reading this wrong and you just want to be friends.”

“I think being friends is a good foundation,” he said. “But I’d love to try for more.”

That wasn’t so hard to say.

All this self-talk was something he hadn’t done since he was in high school.

“Me too,” she said. “Not to put pressure on you, but I haven’t dated in years. Not since Gianna’s father.”

Which he knew nothing about and wasn’t even sure when to bring that up. He’d let her make that decision.

“Sure,” he said. “No pressure at all.”

She laughed. “You should see your face. I think I might have made a mess of things.”

“No,” he said. “You didn’t. Since you have a child, you tell me what works for you.”

“You’ve got my cell number,” she said. “When I called you to give your skin test results. Unless you deleted it.”

No reason to lie. He’d kept it. He even put her contact information in there.

Wishful thinking on his part paid off.

“I didn’t,” he said.

“Today is a bit of short notice for me,” she said. “Unless I say I got held up at work, which happens. My mother watches my daughter for me and she’s flexible.”

“I’ll make my schedule work,” he said. Because he’d be nuts to not. “You tell me what day works for you.”

She didn’t offer this weekend and she told him she wanted to spend the time with her child, which he could appreciate.She probably didn’t want to put too much pressure on them for anything more than an hour or two for dinner so she could use her daughter as an excuse if things went south fast.

Or maybe she would not tell her mother about going on a date and needed to keep it as if she got held up at work.

Neither of those things would offend him.

“I just need a day’s notice,” she said. “I’m normally out of the office by five at the latest.”

“I’ll text you when I get in my office to check, but I’m pretty flexible unless there is an emergency at work.”

“I try to be, but it’s not always possible. Hope you understand.”

“I do,” he said.