“Yeah. I have to have my article turned in in less than three hours. I’m right down to the wire.”
“But I thought you were working on that last night?”
“I was. But it’s not completely done yet. And, what, are you the deadline police?” I glare at him, and his grin turns sly.
“So, what’s it say about me so far?” He waggles his brows. “Let me guess, that I’m charming, handsome, intelligent, and the greatest man you’ve ever met?”
“Greatest man I’ve ever met?” I repeat with a roll of my eyes. “A little full of ourselves, aren’t we?”
The handsome bastard just grins back at me.
My phone buzzes on the table again, and I pick it up to look at the screen. Unfortunately, it’s another message from my father, and it’s the one that breaks the camel’s back.
Dad: You know what looks really funny mating? Turtles. Went in a gas station bathroom one time, and they had a picture on the wall of a couple of turtles going at it. Funny-lookin’.
Without hesitation, I turn off my phone and slam it into my bag, standing from my chair and pushing it in under the table. Jake picks up his coffee and takes a drink, his mesmerizing eyes staring at me over the rim of the cup the whole time.
“So, I guess I’ll see you Tuesday,” I say. “You’ll let me know what time you make the reservation for?”
“Yep.”
“And, you’ll, um, need to get there a little early…and so will I. Just so we can make sure we’re all set before your date arrives.”
“Will do.” His smile is warm. “I’ll see you Tuesday, Holley from the Tribune.”
Suddenly, Tuesday seems really far away…
Something in my chest burns, but I ignore it. Surely, it’s indigestion from knowing I’m this tight on my deadline.
“See you then, Jake from the Ocean.”
Jake
Unwelcome nerves churn in my gut as I step up to the bar and order a beer. I’d like to order something stronger, but I also don’t want to come off as even remotely tipsy on my first official date as Bachelor Anonymous.
Christ. This is nuts. How I ever let Chloe get me into this mess defies logic.
And there’s no denying that diving back into this—dating instead of fucking—feels like a colossal change.
I glance back to the table by the bathrooms where I know Holley sits, waiting to take notes on my awkward first-time interaction with a woman I know nothing about.
I’m still looking that direction when a small hand wraps around my bicep and gets my attention.
“Excuse me,” she says. “Are you Jake?”
“I am.” I swallow past the discomfort lodged in my throat. “Bianca?”
Her mouth morphs into a megawatt smile. “That’s me.”
She’s beautiful—that’s clear right off the bat. Long, tanned legs are heavily visible under the short hem of her tiny black dress, and her breasts are perfectly round and perky. She has a blond bob cut with fashionable bangs, and her makeup is done with the hand of a professional. Her eyes are a pale, icy blue, and they sparkle under the lights of the bar.
If we were going strictly off physical appearance, this woman would be the kind of woman I’d have taken to my bed over the years. Of course, the distinction I should be making is that it wouldn’t have been my bed.
Instead, it would have been a bed at a hotel or her bed. But never mine. It was always important to me—of the utmost importance—to separate Chloe from the fuck buddies of my life entirely.
They didn’t belong in the same compartment as her. Because Chloe—well, it’s safe to say she’s my world.
I think most dads would say the same about their daughters, but I challenge that I mean it more. When you’re in the close heat of the jungle, stalking the lowest of the world’s scum, only to get pulled out, put on a plane, flown to the US, and driven straight to the hospital to have your newborn daughter placed in your arms—her mother having passed away during childbirth—something changes in you.
I was all she had, and suddenly, she was all I had too.
A little tiny human, counting on me to see her through life without a mother. The responsibility was nearly crushing—even for a trained Navy SEAL like myself—but she gave me the strength to find something in myself I can’t describe.
She gave me purpose. She gave me light in the darkness.