“It’s his biggest flaw but he has a lot of great qualities.”
“Like what?” she asked.
I tried to gather my thoughts. “Well, he’s really sweet even when he doesn’t mean to be. He gives me compliments left and right without sounding sleazy. He was in the military for years and he has a distinct maturity to him. When his friend passed away in combat, Ash took care of his wife without being asked to. And I told him about…what happened with Tony and he was really nice about it.”
“Wow…sensitive and manly. That’s a deadly combination.”
“But he’s a typical manwhore that never wants to settle down. That’s not what I’m looking for, and he made it clear he would never change.”
“Well, why can’t you just…be with him?”
I gave her a glare. “Because he’s my client. You know that.”
“So, if he weren’t, you would go for it?”
“I don’t know…”
“Yes, you do.” She smiled when she knew she had me. “You would totally jump his bones.”
“Fine,” I said. “If I met him at a bar or something, I’d go home with him. But that’s not our situation. He’s a really nice guy and being friends is actually…not so bad.”
“Not so bad?” she asked.
“I’ve seen a different side to him than he lets most people see. If we just banged and I left the next morning, I wouldn’t know anything about him.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’d prefer to get laid. But whatever.”
“Of course you would,” I said sarcastically.
“So, you’ve been single for four months—officially.”
I knew this conversation would happen eventually.
“You need to get back on the horse. Four months is a long time to wait around.”
Ugh, I hated dating. All those awkward dinners where you don’t know what to say to each other, and then the sex is just…blah. You have to go on ten of them before you finally find someone decent, and even then it still isn’t worth it. It took me forever to find Tony. How long would it take me to find the next one? “I will…eventually.”
“Come on. Let’s go out tonight. With that face and that ass, you can pick up someone in a heartbeat.”
“You overestimate my capabilities.”
“I really don’t.”
“You know how awkward I am at the bar scene.”
“Then don’t be awkward.” She said it like it was the simplest thing in the world.
“How about we get some wine and order in? We can watch a chick flick.”
She stuck out her tongue. “That’s lame. Let’s go out and meet some guys. It’ll be fun.”
Ugh, I wasn’t going to get out of this. “Fine.”
***
The bar scene was a big letdown. There were more creepers than I’d ever seen congregated into one area. They were sleazy, and I could see date rapist written all over them. Maybe we just picked the wrong place, but it wasn’t a good scene.
We ended up doing exactly as I suggested, staying in and drinking wine. I preferred that plan anyway. I didn’t like going out and putting myself on display. I preferred organic meetings, when you met someone at a grocery store because you were both going for the last apple in the produce section. Waiting for Mr. Right to hit on you at a bar was so…cliché.
The rest of my week was pretty uneventful, and I spent my time thinking about Ash when I wasn’t distracted. He had really nice hair. It was such a weird compliment to give someone, but it was the truth. It looked soft but also a little coarse. It had a slight curl at the end and I wondered how it would feel in my fingertips. I wondered how many other women had the same thought.
Probably a thousand.
He was stubborn and bossy at times, and if he didn’t get his way, he would throw a tantrum. When he demanded to walk me home, I knew I would never win the argument. He truly seemed harmless. I couldn’t picture him stalking me somewhere down the road. He had too many other options, and he was against commitment so chasing me down was unlikely to ever happen. But I was still on my guard.
I would always be on my guard.
Of course, he got his way. But that was only because I let him. If I were truly threatened by him, I wouldn’t have slept in his apartment with only a thin slab of wood separating us. If anything, he would be the guy who protected me, not harassed me.