This date was a disaster. She’d thought last night’s was the worst, but that was until she met Rabid Gym Guy. He made Pasty Finance Guy look like a catch. Rabid Gym Guy’s profile had been promising. His profile picture showed him on a popular local hiking trail. He had a friendly smile and enjoyed outdoor activities and fitness: which was great—until he talked nonstop for almost an hour about his workout plan and ideal carb to protein ratio. He’d quizzed Zach on the calorie, count of each beer on tap before he ordered the lightest option, then went on about how he’d have to add time to his cardio tomorrow to make up for the splurge.
Lexi sipped her favorite IPA with less enthusiasm than usual. She was all for health and wellness, but the toxic attitude this guy had towards health was a huge turnoff.
“IPAs can be three hundred calories,” he said as he snacked on homemade protein balls he’d pulled out of his backpack. He held one out to Lexi, but she declined. She’d ordered the Cobb salad for dinner. Rabid Gym Guy had declined to order food, preferring to snack out of his backpack.
For the second night in a row, Lexi found herself looking around the room for escape. Her brother wasn’t working tonight, but Zach was behind the bar. An ever present distraction and welcome comfort tonight. She needed to get away from this date as soon as practical. If she had to listen to him rave about his supplements one more time, she might reach across the table and lob a protein ball at his head.
Her date launched into a lecture on the merits of fiber, and Lexi squirmed in her seat. Maybe she could feign illness. She clutched her stomach dramatically, but her date didn’t notice. He continued to drone on. And on. Lexi moaned in what she hoped was a sad, ill-sounding tone. Rabid Gym Guy glanced at her. Finally.
“Are you ok?” he asked as he slid his chair further away from hers.
“Umm,” she began, about to declare her dire illness and run. Before she could enact her plan, her phone trilled in her purse.
“Do you need to get that?” her date asked, hope in his voice. He’d already started to pack up his protein balls.
Lexi glanced at the screen to see the brewery’s phone number. What was that about? She picked up the phone and swiped to answer.
“Hello?”
“Emergency,” a voice whispered.
“Who is this?” Lexi asked. She looked to the bar, but Zach was nowhere to be seen.
“EMERGENCY,” the voice whispered, louder this time. “Tell your awful date you have an emergency. I’ll have your salad waiting at the bar for when he leaves.”
Zach.
The most annoying—and handsome—man in the world was rescuing her. Zach was now officially her favorite person.
“Emergency,” Lexi nearly shouted.
Her date looked wide eyed as she stood and gathered her purse.
“Sorry to hear that. Do you need me to come with you?”
“No!” Now that she had a taste of freedom, she needed to get away from this date as soon as possible.
“Ok. This was…fun…I’ll call you,” he said, then leaned in for a hug. The smell of his cologne overwhelmed her and she nearly gagged.
Her date stepped back quickly at her strange noise. “I should go. Feel better,” he called over his shoulder as he nearly ran out of the bar.
Lexi sat down in shock as she was once again ghosted on a date. She should be mad but couldn’t help but feel relieved. She put her head down on the table and gently pounded her fist against the scarred wood.
She felt a presence slide in next to her and lifted her head to see Zach. He nudged her salad towards her and cocked his head.
“You ok?”
The words echoed were the same ones from her date minutes ago, yet when Zach said them, she felt the concern in his voice. While Rabid Gym Guy’s tone was laced with disgust, Zach’s was gentle.
“I’m fine,” Lexi said as she picked up a fork and stabbed a tomato in her salad.
At this point, she honestly didn’t know if she was okay. She just knew that she felt better sitting with Zach, who annoyed the hell out of her, than with either of her previous dates.
“I’m never going to get married,” she blurted out between bites.
Zach pinned her with a stare. “Do you want to get married?”
The question gave her pause. Of course she did. Being married with a family had been her dream since childhood.
“Of course. Everyone wants to be married.”
“I don’t.”
He said it so matter-of-factly that Lexi hesitated. She’d never stopped to consider Zach’s personal life until right this very minute. How could he be so sure he didn’t want to be married?
Lexi speared a slice of avocado. “What do you mean you don’t want to get married? Everyone wants to find true love.”
Zach cocked an eyebrow. A very sexy move, she had to admit. “Not everyone. I don’t want to get married.”
“Impossible.” She truly couldn’t believe he’d resigned himself to being alone forever.
Zach rolled his eyes. “Just because you’re on this mission to find a partner doesn’t mean that everyone has to.”
“Don’t you get lonely?” It was an honest question. Lexi hated feeling alone, especially as she watched all her friends move on to new phases of their adult lives.
Zach chewed his lip, which was adorable. “Sometimes,” he admitted.
He cast his eyes downward and Lexi’s heart squeezed. With a burst of clarity, she realized what she needed to do—she needed to find him a girlfriend.
* * *
The expression on Lexi’s face was unsettling at best. At worst, it was downright terrifying. She locked eyes with him like she’d solved every one of his unspoken problems. Her bright blue eyes pierced him and set his stomach tumbling with butterflies. It was fear, he reassured himself—nothing more than fear—certainly not attraction that had his pulse jumping.
“You need a girlfriend,” she declared, gesturing towards him with her fork.
“No, I most certainly do not,” he replied.
Lexi narrowed her eyes as she took a bite of salad. He watched her chew and swallow with more interest than he should. Lexi was the bane of his existence, so why did the way she ate a salad suddenly become of utmost interest?
“You’re alone. That has to be terrible. Don’t you want company on the long winter nights?”
Her statement triggered unbidden thoughts of Lexi keeping him company in his bed with snow gently falling outside. He shook his head. No, that wasn’t right. He didn’t want Lexi in his bed. Didn’t want her long, blond hair splayed across his pillow as he smelled her perfume on his sheets for days to come.
Zach stood up. “Customers,” he blurted. “I can’t be away from the bar this long.” He took off for the safety of the long expanse of bar and the smattering of customers who would likely need refills.
He didn’t risk a backwards glance at Lexi and instead, immersed himself in pouring drafts and taking food orders. It had been about fifteen minutes when he thought it was safe to look towards her table again. She was gone. Disappointment twisted in his gut, but he brushed it off. It was easier this way.
He’d tried a relationship once. His high school sweetheart. They’d gotten married at eighteen, right after high school graduation. Promised to love, honor, and cherish each other. Zach frowned. They hadn’t been married a year when rumors trickled back to him about her going out and partying nearly nightly. At first, he’d figured she was blowing off steam—they were still young. Just because he was holed up in a desert base didn’t mean she had to live like a hermit.
Except it had turned out to be much more than that. His bride, Jessica, had started a relationship with his best friend. Former best friend. The betrayal stung, even now, just as sharp as it did the day Jessica’s tearful voice informed him she was seeking a divorce. Zach had asked her about the rumors but Jessica denied them. It was a month later that Zach was catching up with social media and saw a picture of Jessica and his best friend with arms wrapped around each other, their eyes shining with love.
It was a punch in the gut to realize Jessica had never looked at Zach that way. No woman had, before or since. Zach realized that he didn’t have that mysterious quality that made women fall in love with him. Temporary lust, maybe, but not love. His own family hadn’t been the picture of a healthy family dynamic. Zach longed for the security that came with knowing that someone cared. His marriage, which he’d hoped would provide that, was a miserable failure.
He’d settled for casual relationships since then. Just enough to fulfill his need for physical connection. The past few years, he hadn’t even bothered with that. It was pretty easy to find a hookup when he wanted one, but it just didn’t appeal anymore. I want more.
“Earth to Zach,” a voice called as a towel came flying at his shoulder. “I don’t pay you to stand around and look pretty.” Matt stood at the opposite end of the bar, a grin on his face.
Zach had caught the towel and tossed it onto his shoulder. “Looking good is a bonus service I offer,” he teased. “What brings you out of your office?”
Matt grabbed a pint glass and held it under the tap of their signature lager. He tipped the glass, then slowly filled it with beer. “I’m off duty for the day. I was hoping to catch Lexi before she left.” Matt looked around the bar in search of his sister.
“She left a while ago,” Zach said, making an effort to keep his voice level. Suddenly, he had an unusual urge to clear his throat to dislodge the frog that took up residence.
“Her date must not have been that great if she already bailed.”
“No, it wasn’t. He was an asshole.”
Matt’s eyebrows rose. “You talked to him? I thought Lexi swore us off meddling.”
Zach felt a flush creep up his cheeks and was grateful that his beard disguised it. “I didn’t talk to him, but it was clear from here.”
Matt regarded him with a skeptical expression. “From across the room?”
Zach nodded. “Yup. Lexi’s face said it all. And she faked an emergency to get out of here quickly.”
He neglected to mention that he’d been the one to orchestrate the emergency escape. Matt didn’t need to know that detail. He was already looking a bit too perceptive for Zach’s taste. Not that he’d done anything to break the bro code. He’d merely helped his best friend’s sister. Just because his brain had taken a detour to sex in the process didn’t mean anything.
Lexi was still the most annoying woman he’d met. Still reminded him of his ex-wife who also dressed to the nines no matter the occasion. Perfect hair, nails, and impeccable tan regardless of season. Lexi was nearly an exact copy of Jessica.
And Zach never made the same mistake twice.