“It’s downloading now,” I say before taking a delightful sip of my coffee.
“Hey,” he says as he turns to face me. “Can I ask you for a personal favor?”
“Sure,” I reply easily, holding up the coffee cup in a silent toast.
“Think I can leave Brutus with you next weekend? I’m going out of town.”
Brutus is Dozer’s tiny little Yorkie dog that Aaron and I have dog sat on occasion.
“No problem,” I say. That’s not even a favor, and I can’t help but tease. “Got a hot date?”
“Actually, yeah,” he replies with a cheesy smile before turning back to his computer screens.
This is not unusual. Dozer dates lots of women, and I asked him about it once following our kiss that went nowhere, especially since he had told me he wasn’t ready for anything.
“These are hookups, Bebe,” he’d told me. “Nothing serious. What you and I could have had… that would have been serious, and I’m not ready for serious.”
So Dozer has become one of the resident playboy studs of Jameson. He and Cage should start a tally competition to see who can bang the most women.
I’m not sure why thinking of Dozer’s noncommitment type of love life prompts me to say something, but I end up blurting out, “I had a date last night.”
Dozer freezes and slowly pivots to face me, his mouth hanging open. It’s no secret I’ve been averse to dating. Everyone under God’s green earth has tried to set me up on dates over these last few months at Jameson, and I shot them all down.
“I met him in the park,” I continue, feeling the need to have Dozer like Griff. “He played football with Aaron. He’s blue-collar. Like salt-of-the-earth kind of guy, you know? And he took us to the Steelers game on Sunday, and well… I had dinner with him last night.”
Dozer’s mouth sags even further, then he drawls exaggeratedly, “Ho-l-y-y-y-y sh-i-i-i-i-t.”
He moves over to me, presses an arm onto my worktable, and leans closer. “This is epic. Tell me everything.”
I don’t want this to be epic. Epic scares me so I start to backpedal some. “I mean… he’s not that great. Nice guy, sure. But I’m not looking for anything—”
Dozer’s hand comes out and covers my mouth, stopping me in mid-backpedal. He shakes his head, giving me a chastising smile. “No… tell me everything. Don’t waste time with excuses about why this is a bad idea, but tell me all the good stuff.”
I blink and he stares back, conveying a threat within his gaze… if I don’t give him what he wants, he’s going to put his hand back over my mouth. I know how stubborn Dozer can be. He’ll hound me relentlessly until I divulge all.
When I sigh, he takes that as my capitulation and removes his hand.
“His name is Griffin Stoltz. And he’s from upstate New York, recently relocated here to the area. He works for the power company, and he’s great with Aaron. Doesn’t seem freaked out I have a ten-year-old kid. And well…”
I think about Griff and how amazing he looked last night at dinner. We’d met at a small Italian restaurant for dinner. He had on a pair of dark jeans and a button-up shirt that fit him well. His hair wasn’t pulled back, but he’d left it loose and wavy down to his shoulders. With his shirtsleeves rolled up to mid-forearm, showcasing tattoos and muscles, there’s no getting past the fact I’m incredibly attracted to him. My body and mind have not reacted to a male like this in years, and it sort of wigs me out.
“Where’d you go?” Dozer asks, snapping his fingers in front of my face. When I shake myself out of it, I find him grinning. “You got a real dreamy expression on your face just now. Remembering the hot after-date sex you had with him?”
My hand automatically flies out to slap him in the chest. “God, no. I just met the guy.”
“So?”
I roll my eyes. “So, I’m not the type to just jump into bed with someone.”
“Well, you should be,” Dozer asserts with a wink. “I mean… as long as you’re safe about it, why not? It’s the twenty-first-fucking-century, Bebe. Everyone has sex and hookups.”
Is this true? Have I missed a new sexual revolution, or perhaps it was already there but I was too busy to notice?
I mean… I have a good gut feeling about Griff. He seems down to earth and easygoing. I ran a background check on him after I acquired his last name at the football game, and he’s got nothing more nefarious on his record than a parking ticket.
Our dinner didn’t last long since I had to be up early this morning to make it in to work for a meeting with Kynan. The hour we’d spent together dining on shared plates of gnocchi and bruschetta was spent mostly talking about the things we both liked and had in common.