And he did not look old enough to be a divorced father of two.
As I settled into a booth across from him with my glass of wine, I immediately said, “So Chloe tells me you have two children.”
He practically choked on a sip of his pint. “Excuse me?” He coughed into his hand, eyes bright with mirth.
Chloe was going to die as soon as I got my hands on her.
I gave Colin a strained smile. “Not divorced either, then?”
He shook his head, grinning. “What the hell kind of nonsense did Chloe tell you?”
“Please tell me your name is Colin.”
“My name is Colin and I work with Chloe, but I’ve never been married and I don’t have kids.”
What kind of game was my friend playing here?
“Your name is Grace, right?” he teased.
I stared into his warm brown eyes and found myself nodding. I didn’t know what Chloe was up to, but Colin seemed congenial enough. “I don’t know why she said those things.”
“Chloe has a weird sense of humor. She does tell me I’m the second work colleague of hers you’ve been on a date with though.”
I thought I detected something suggestive in his eyes and tone, but I shrugged it off, deciding I was paranoid. “It’s a large estate agency,” I joked.
He chuckled and nodded before leaning across the table. “This place is a bit pretentious. Why don’t we just cut to the chase and go back to my flat?”
I blinked at the suggestion. There was no denying the heat in his eyes. Apparently I wasn’t paranoid. “Pardon?”
“I mean I can buy you another drink if you want, but I just thought why waste some of the night, right?”
A few months ago I probably would have quelled my inner outrage, stuttered and blushed and somehow got myself out of the situation, apologizing like it was all my fault. Anything to avoid confronting the truth of it.
Therefore I could only blame Logan’s influence for forging past my fear of confrontation and asking straight out, “Are you telling me you’re only here on this date to get laid?”
Colin shrugged and nodded, like it was obvious. “Chloe knows I just like fun. Nothing serious. I’m sure she told you that… no?”
I grimaced. Yes, I was definitely going to kill her. “No. She did not.”
“So… this isn’t a hookup? You don’t want to go back to my place, then?”
Somehow I managed to refrain from throwing my drink in his face. He hadn’t even given me five minutes of conversation before deciding he wanted nothing more from me than a quick bang in the sack. As far as I was concerned, his way of doing things was just a glorified form of masturbation.
I gathered my purse and jacket and gave him a tight smile. “No. I’m afraid it would only be a disappointing experience for the two of us.” I stood up and stared down at him with a gleam in my eye. “I only enjoy the really dirty stuff, and I have to be able to know and trust a man before I’ll let him do absolutely anything he wants to me in bed.”
I sashayed out of the bar, leaving him staring after me with his mouth hanging open, and I laughed as I stepped out into the night air. I glanced back over my shoulder at the bar and shook my head, still grinning. I didn’t know what came over me in there, but I liked it.
Not enough to stop me from killing Chloe, however.
That momentary triumph of making Colin feel like he’d just missed out on something exciting dissipated as I walked home.
I was back at square one.
Chloe, in her infinite wisdom (not!) had put me there. Thinking about it, I realized exactly what she was up to. She had made it perfectly clear she thought Logan was the best candidate for me (as usual, not listening to a word I said) and had set about attempting to prove this by setting me up on another bad date.
All Chloe had done was proven that I could no longer trust her to help find me a decent date.
I’d barely put a step onto my landing when Logan’s door flew open. Staring at him wide-eyed, I waited for him to say something. Instead he just glowered at me. Still in a mood, I see.