The Single Dad (Red's Tavern 4)

But this was completely different.

The silence between us gave me the rare opportunity to just watch him as he worked. Luke was quick. Right away, he filled in about six words that I’d been struggling with all night. As he wrote, the tattoos on his forearm stood out. He had two small birds near his wrist, with dates underneath them. A beautiful tree, with branches looping around his arm. I could see the start of another tattoo behind that one, but couldn’t make out what it was.

It felt indulgent, watching him. I was lost, studying the swoop of his dark hair as he looked down, when my smartwatch timer started beeping.

“That’s time,” I said softly. The crossword still had at least ten boxes unfilled.

He leaned back, taking a breath in. “Well, I certainly couldn’t finish it,” he said. “But I made a dent.”

He passed the paper back toward me on the oak bartop.

“Harder than it seemed, right?”

“It’s a pretty challenging one,” he said, finishing his beer. “But I believe in you. I think you’ll be able to finish it with no problem.”

I couldn’t keep a smile off my face as I examined the work he’d done. His handwriting was clearly different from mine, bolder and more self-assured, like he knew the answers he’d written down were right.

He stood up soon after, fishing in his pocket and pulling out his wallet, dropping cash onto the bar.

“Leaving already?” I asked, disappointment sinking within me. I hadn’t expected him to leave. I knew I’d be hanging out here for another couple of hours at least, and I’d been looking forward to his company.

“I wake up early tomorrow,” he said. “But it was nice meeting you, Cam. If you’re ever near the Golden Goose, stop in to say hello.”

In another moment, he was out the front door. And somehow this place felt empty without him, even though he’d only been sitting near me for about twenty minutes.

“Luke already left?” Sam asked, leaning up against the bar and picking up his tip. “Guy is hot as fuck, and always a good tipper, too. Was he flirting with you?”

“No,” I answered automatically. “I mean, yes, actually. I guess he was.”

“Aww, honey,” Sam said. “You struck out?” Sam was wearing a baby blue tank top that said “Take Your Shot!” I definitely hadn’t done that.

“I didn’t exactly strike out,” I said. “I just told him I didn’t want to hook up.”

Sam’s eyes went wide. “You told that hunk of man meat that you didn’t want to hook up with him?”

“How did you get to a point in your life where you started calling people man meat, Sam?” I asked, shaking my head at him.

“You’re the one who just turned down the hottest night of your life,” he said with an exaggerated shrug. “Your loss.”

I bit the inside of my cheek. “I wouldn’t even know what to do with him. I was marr—”

“I know, I know, you were married for sixteen years,” Sam said.

“And I never even did much with guys. I’ve never really been with a man before.”

“But you’ve always known you were bi, right?” Sam asked.

“I mean, yes, I’ve always been attracted to men and women, but I was with Rachel for so long. None of that mattered.”

“And now that you’re single, you’re turning down men who are hot as fuck. Divorce really must be a rough ride.”

I sighed. “You have no idea.”

Sam was gone again in another second, pouring beers and shots behind the bar. I was left sitting with my terrible choice. Sam was ridiculous, but he wasn’t wrong. I’d probably fucked up and turned down something that could have been fun.

So I picked up my small messenger bag. I folded up the newspaper, shoving it into the bag, and I dropped my own pile of cash on the bartop.

“Headed home?” Sam asked.

“I hope not,” I said.

Sam’s eyes went wide, a mischievous smile spreading over his face. “You’re going to go try to bag Mr. Hottie,” he said.

“Not try,” I said, pulling in a breath. “I’m going to fucking do it.”

2

Luke

I pulled out my phone as I walked out into the Red’s Tavern parking lot, shooting Lizzy a text.

>>Luke: You win. I did the damn thing, but it didn’t work.

>>Liz: Fuck. What happened?

>>Luke: Cute guy at the bar. Really cute. I did his crossword puzzle for him.

>>Liz: Is that what they call sex these days?

>>Luke: I wish. But no.

>>Liz: You met a cute guy and did a crossword puzzle together at a bar? Are you eighty-six years old?

>>Luke: He was hot, Liz.

>>Liz: Nobody’s hot enough to make crosswords fun.

>>Luke: One word: freckles.

>>Liz: Oh no.

>>Luke: Yes. Freckles under big, blue eyes.

Liz had been my best friend for years now. We shared everything with each other, and she knew that certain things were my kryptonite. And Cam had one of them, a light dusting of freckles right at the tops of his cheeks, cute as all fucking hell, and exactly the type of thing that sent my dick wild. And then he turned out to be funny, too. And sweet. Every time he’d smiled, it made me ache.