Page 74 of It's Not PMS, It's You

I wasn’t going to talk to Nick about kissing. “I’m going to change the subject. Brandon wants to know if Dee is single and she is. And she’s interested in him. I’ll ask her if she wants me to pass along her phone number. Go.” I pointed to the door. “Now.”

“You’re bossy.”

“I know.”

“Do you always get your way?”

“Always.”

“Okay, but for the record, you don’t intimidate me.”

“Believe me, that is painstakingly obvious.”

He laughed, not saying another word, and finally left my office.

I slumped back into my chair, watching him walk away.

What was with that man?

Why did he make me nervous? And why did I always act like a bumbling fool around him? And more importantly, why had he dreamed about me kissing him?

This was not a good time to have Nick’s lips on my mind.

“Focus,” I said to myself, getting back to my laptop. “You have a lot of work to do.”

Three hours later, I had caught up on the work I hadn’t finished yesterday and even tackled a good portion of today’s to-do list. Luckily, I didn’t have to deal with Nick the last hour since he and Brandon had left to go run errands and pick up materials for the gazebo installation.

Now, on to more important things. I was starving and ready for lunch.

I arrived at Sushi Ota right at noon and pulled into the first parking spot I could find. Nick wasn’t kidding when he said the place was located in a strip mall, but it must have been good because it looked crowded inside.

Hopefully, we wouldn’t have to wait long because I was ready to eat.

I swung open the front door, stepped inside, and recognized Edward immediately from his photo. He wore jeans with a white polo shirt and a navy-blue blazer.

He was taller than I expected and even better looking.

I liked that he knew it was me and held my gaze with a smile as he approached me.

Head up. Shoulders back.

Confident. Smooth stride. Good.

“Ruth. A pleasure to meet you.” Edward pulled a bouquet of flowers from behind his back and handed them to me. “Pretty flowers for a pretty lady.”

“You’re very kind. Thank you.” I smelled the flowers, noting the fresh scent of roses and tulips. I was pretty sure I even smelled eucalyptus in there, even though I couldn’t see it.

“You’re welcome.”

“Your table is ready,” the host said, asking us to follow him.

After sitting, I placed the flowers on the chair next to me and hung my purse there.

We ordered food and drinks and just when I was sure we were ready to get to know each other, Edward excused himself to go use the restroom.

No big deal.

The main thing was that there were no immediate red flags.