"Do you still want dinner?"
She hesitated, her glass of water almost to her lips. "Seriously?"
A small smile touched the corner of his mouth. "Be kind of hypocritical if I stopped liking you now, wouldn't it?"
She laughed, then shook her head. "You really are a good man, Alan Lowe. And someday, some woman is going to be very lucky to have you."
* * *
Nolan left The Fix with a spring in his step. The first Man of the Month contest had been a huge success, and not just because Jenna and her team had managed to cajole a dozen local guys into entering. And not because there'd been a line down the block to get in.
Not even because the women in the audience went absolutely apeshit when the guys strutted their stuff across the stage.
No, as far as Nolan was concerned, Reece Walker had made the whole fucking evening because he'd stood on that stage and confessed his love to Jenna Montgomery.
Nolan had listened to the words, but his eyes had been on Jenna, and the expression on her face had mesmerized him. The soft sweet glow of joy that had seemed to light up the entire bar.
He wanted a woman to look at him like that.
No. Not a woman. He wanted Shelby.
She'd snuck up on him, that was for damn sure, but there was no question in his mind or his heart that he wanted her. And, please God, he was pretty damn sure that she wanted him, too, and for more than a casual fuck, no matter how fabulous those fucks might be.
He was walking west on Sixth Street, and he paused at Congress and waited for the light to change. He needed to turn left to get to his condo, but something caddy corner to him, right in front of the Starbucks, caught his eye.
Shelby.
And she was with a man in sport coat and close-cropped hair. Someone from her office, maybe?
He started to call to her, but then she lifted up onto her toes, put her hand on his shoulder, and kissed him.
What the fuck?
What the bloody, goddamn fuck?
She waved, then continued down the street, presumably returning to the Frost Building, to get her car and go home.
He told himself he should drop it. He had a show to do in the morning. But it wasn't that late and he knew damn well that he wouldn't sleep until he saw her. So, screw it. He was going to be that guy.
He pulled out his phone, tapped his favorite ride share app, and snagged a car. Since she lived barely over a mile away, he was at her house and on her front porch even before she got home. Assuming she was coming
home.
Maybe she was going to his house. Whoever he was.
He threaded his fingers together behind his neck and tilted his head back to look at the stars. He had it bad. He hadn't seen it coming, but damned if he didn't have it bad.
This woman had the power to break his heart--and that scared him to death.
He was pacing--rehearsing--ten minutes later when her car pulled into the drive. She killed the engine, got out, and walked toward her door with her head down as she rummaged in her purse for her keys.
He gaped at her, wishing that keyless cars had never been invented, because then she'd have her keys in her hand right now. Because what if he was an attacker? Did she have absolutely no sense of personal security? He was going to have to have a long talk with her. Maybe have Brent install some motion sensitive lights and a push button lock on her front door. He wanted her safe, after all, and--
"Nolan?" She smiled at him, wide and bright, as if she hadn't completely knocked his world off kilter not fifteen minutes ago by making out with some asswipe. "What are you doing here?"
"You fucking kissed him," he blurted. Which really wasn't what he rehearsed, and he knew damn well that it wasn't the best approach under the circumstances.
As if the universe wanted to prove him right, he saw her posture shift as her spine straightened and her chin lifted. "You were spying on me?"