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“What? I’m just being a good wingman to my buddy,” Rex retorted.

I ignored him, then smiled again at Archer, trying to recover from Rex’s interruption. “I used to manage my mother’s diner, and now I’ve taken over my uncle’s deli for a little while. Do you have any siblings?”

“A couple of brothers. Brooks and I are twins and partners in our own architectural firm. Our youngest brother, Tucker, plays hockey and took off out west playing for a semi-pro team, and vows never to return east. How about you?”

“Yes. Colt back home in Holly Creek. And Maisy is here with me tonight.”

“Oh, Maisy.” His face and eyes lit up. Interesting. “Yes, I was hoping to talk with her later. I’m a graduate ofColumbia, so we have that in common. I gathered in my five minutes with her, she seems to love the city more than her hometown.”

While it stabbed me in the heart to hear, it hardly surprised me. Maisy often talked about a bigger life far away from home. “Yes, in our family, she’s the one most likely to travel the world.” And in the remaining few minutes with him, I answered every question he had about her. I didn’t mind though, and actually kind of enjoyed being able to assess him before I let him anywhere near my sister.

When the timer was up, the men rotated one last time, and I finally came face to face with Rex. I thought maybe I should run away, buthedidn’t. He sat down with his smoldering half smile as his eyes raked over me. Was I supposed to find his attention appealing?

My stomach flipped. It just so happened, deep down, I did.

5

SPEED DATE

REX

I was here for Archer,that’s all. Speed dating wasn’t my thing. I’d told him earlier I’d suffer through this night for his sake. Plus, I warned him he’d better make a connection with someone because my time as his wingman was valuable.

All that aside, I really felt for the guy. His ex did a number on him, stringing him along on an engagement that lasted a few years without setting a wedding date. She blamed it on the stress of graduate school, which he helped put her through. Next thing he knew, she was pregnant—but it wasn’t his—and she moved in with her professor.

As much as I complained about having to take part in speed dating as his wingman, I would do anything to help him or any of my buddies. But I wouldn’t have agreed to this had I known Chelsea would be here. I didn’t need five minutes with her, not when I had a building to remodel and no plans for a deli in sight.

It was a damn shame, too, because sitting before her, Iknew she was exactly my type. Any other time, any other place, I’d take hours to explore her rare beauty and uncover every mystery within her shining emerald eyes. I’d find a million ways to recreate that blush of pink tainting her ivory complexion, appearing while I sat.

Like all my other dates, I’d have a night of passion, exploring her curvy body, giving her a time she’d never forget. Then I’d be on my merry way the morning after, completely satisfied, and moving on.

The bell rang for our speed date to begin and, for the first time ever with a woman, I had no strategy, no pickup line, nothing. With her pouty lips painted an electric red, matching the glossy sheen of her fingernails clicking away at the stem of her wineglass, they rendered me speechless.

Her hair fell like a curtain framing her face, red as if baptized in fire. The ends of the locks tickled the tops of her breasts, peeking out from her dress. They were probably silky to the touch—but I gripped the armrests of my seat so I wouldn’t dare raise a hand to find out.

Thirty seconds were wasted ogling and assessing her, then finally she spoke, pointing to my name tag.

“Well, Rex, I must be impressing you because your eyes haven’t left my cleavage yet.”

I cleared my throat and straightened. “It’s um...the sequins. They’re glaring in the light.”

“Sure. I suppose anything other than the drab corporate black and navy-blue would be blinding to someone who doesn’t come down from the top of Buchanan tower much.”

My lips quirked at her snarky attitude—although she delivered it with a sly smile—and I leaned to the right, casually draping my elbow over the back of my chair. “I grace people with my presence now and then.”

“So I should feel honored you entered my deli this morning?”

“Especially since I don’t like delis.” I didn’t mean for that to slip out the way it did. Very few people knew the trauma that particular deli caused me when I was little.

She snorted. “Because they’re beneath you?”

“Well, the lobbyisforty stories down from my corner office.”

She chuckled and shook her head. “You are something else. I don’t think I’ve ever met someone so full of himself, which is surprising since my Uncle Doug always talked about Mr. Buchanan like he was a sweet old man, and treated him like family.”

Ouch. She couldn’t have found a bigger knife to stab me with. “Sorry if I haven’t given you a more favorable impression of me.” And it was better this way, anyway. Finding ways to kick a certain beauty out of my building would be so much harder if I knew the tantalizing taste of her lips.

“Doesn’t matter. I really didn’t come to this speed dating event with any expectations. My sister and her friend wanted to try it, and right now, I’m all about experiencing the city when I’m not working,” she replied.