Page 71 of Imperfect Match (Imperfect Match 1)
She opens it and smiles at me, easing some of the tension in my neck. “Hi, handsome.”
“Hey.”
She steps into the hallway, and I wrap my arms around her. Hold her close for a moment. Breathe in her perfume and try to let the scent and sight and feel of her make everything else go away.
“Tough day?” she asks, rubbing my back.
“The usual.” Because I don’t want to ruin our night with talk about my family shit, I release her and change the subject. “You hungry?”
“Starving.”
I take her hand as we start down the hall. “Me too. Let’s go.”
Lou’s is busy, and we end up having to wait at the bar for a table. There’s only one chair, so I give it to Willow and stand close beside her. She orders a glass of wine and I have a beer, and I love the way she sort of leans into me while we wait for our drinks.
“So tell me what’s up with you,” she says, looking up at me. “I sense a disturbance in the force.”
I smile at the reference. “It’s nothing much. I think I’m just tired.”
“I have been keeping you up late. Sorry.” Her grin says she’s anything but.
I kiss the top of her head. “Don’t apologize. Late nights with you are keeping me sane.”
“Who’s making you crazy?” She nods at the bartender, who’s setting down our drinks.
I grab my beer and take a long pull, torn between wanting to unload on her on the off chance she’ll have words to make me feel better and wanting to keep tonight sexy and fun.
In the end, sexy wins.
“Right now, you are.” I lean down and whisper in her ear. “I can see down your blouse. Want to meet me in the bathroom for a quickie?”
She giggles. “At Lou’s? I don’t think so, babe. Let’s save it for later.”
“Damn. It was worth a try.” I tip up my beer bottle again. “So tell me about your day. How are things going in the realm of happily ever after?”
“Good, I think.” She tucks her hair behind her ears. “Aspen and I are learning a lot from Mom and, surprisingly enough, we make a pretty good team. She’s better at the intuitive stuff and dealing with really emotional clients, and I’m good at the business tasks. I’ve also gotten more confident in suggesting matches, sort of letting my gut instincts guide me when choosing potential matches instead of being so dependent on what people say on their profiles.”
“People probably lie a lot on those, huh?”
“They do!” She shakes her head before sipping her wine. “And I don’t understand why—just say what you want. Tell the truth. It’s not going to do anyone any good in the long run if you’re not honest about who you are or what you’re looking for.”
I take another long drink.
“I mean, differences can always be worked o
ut. But I think you have to know what your differences are up front. Then you can … you can talk about them if they become an issue. You know, if things go well.” She lifts her wine glass to her lips again. “You wouldn’t be … blindsided by something you never saw coming. You’d feel prepared to deal with it. Don’t you think?”
“Sure,” I answer, although I’m not entirely sure what she means.
“Excuse me, Reid? Party of two?” The hostess appears beside me holding two menus. “We have a table for you.”
I leave some cash on the bar and follow the hostess and Willow to our table. As soon as we’re seated, Willow starts talking again.
“For example,” she goes on, not even glancing at the menu. “I knew from the very start that you didn’t want kids. And you knew that I did. That I do.”
“Uh huh.” I look over the choices for toppings, although my stomach is bothering me a little bit. Maybe an appetizer would help. “You feel like some calamari?”
“Whatever you want. So I was thinking … maybe we could talk about that.”
