My Last Blind Date Read Free Page B

my glass, I traced the sugary lip with my finger. “You know, I don’t do small talk well. I swore this would be my last blind date.”
    “I promise, no small talk. And as to your vow, I’ll do my best to hold you to it.”
    Hold me to it? I was kind of hoping he’d just hold me. I blushed at the thought and grasped for conversation. “How’s it possible you don’t have a girlfriend?” I blurted, still amazed that I was here. With Noah. The Noah. The one I’d been dreaming about for months. “Since you’re so hot, I mean.” I added that last part teasingly, poking fun at myself.
    I could tell he thought I was cute.
    Maybe this Love Potion stuff had been a good idea, after all. I took another fortifying sip.
    He set his glass down on the table. “Well, I was in a relationship for several years before I relocated for this job opportunity. Kate’s a great person, but we didn’t see ourselves spending the rest of our lives together. Our break-up was mutual and amicable.”
    Clearly, Kate was insane.
    He reached for a piece of bread, buttered it, then set it on my plate. “What about you?”
    “Nothing so civil.” I picked up the tiny slice of bread and took a breath. “Jeremy and I were never on the same page. It felt like two years trying to put a tuxedo on a pig.”
    “Sounds like a lot of work,” he said, seriously.
    “It was, but I can thank my hairdresser for taking the load off me. She’d been giving him more than haircuts, behind my back, if you know what I mean.”
    He winced. “Sorry to hear that.”
    I leaned toward him, bit my bottom lip, and gave a little shrug. “I’m over it.”
    “I’m glad.” Forget smoldering. We’d advanced to downright sizzling.
    Heat blazed through me. This ranked beyond The Friend Zone. If I could speak, I would’ve asked for the check. Instead, my eyes were locked with his and there was no way I was looking away first.
    The waitress set our plates down in front of us, distracting me and breaking the moment.
    Noah tugged at his collar, then picked up his fork. “What were we talking about?”
    “Relationships.” I beamed, loving that I seemed to affect him as much as he did me.
    “That’s right.” He cleared his throat. “You told me earlier, you had enough with trivial conversation. What’s that about?”
    I scooped some mashed potatoes with my fork. “Ellen, being an ecstatic newlywed, thrives on fixing me up through Henry. For some reason, whenever the small talk starts I just zone out. Can’t help it.”
    He blinked. “Who’s Henry?”
    “Ellen’s husband.” I lifted another forkful of potatoes, and they melted in my mouth. Even food tasted better when I was with Noah. “Which reminds me. She’d said I was meeting with Henry’s softball buddy. A Perfect 10.”
    He put a hand to his chest. “Are you saying I’m not a 10?”
    More like a 25. I moistened my lips, trying to be smooth. “I’m still deciding.”
    Just because I was head over heels, didn’t mean I’d play easy.
    “Well, then. Let me see if I can gain some points for creativity.” He dabbed the side of his mouth with his linen napkin and set his fork diagonally on his empty plate. “Since you seemed to be dreading the blind date so much, I figured I might have a shot.”
    My heart pounded in my chest.
    “Since you didn’t know your real date, I figured it wouldn’t make a difference if I had Ellen substitute me in instead.”
    Oh, it made a difference in a good way. I savored my last bite of salmon, almost unable to believe Noah’s confession.
    “Truth be told, Rachel,” he looked down, almost shy, before he met my eyes again, “I’ve tried my best to flirt with you for over two months now, but wasn’t quite sure if you were interested. You, um, seemed to date quite a bit.”
    I put a hand to my forehand. I’d suffered through two months without Noah because I’d been letting Ellen set me up. “How could you think I wouldn’t be interested? You’re…well,