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One It was a good thing Trish never intended to get married, because from what she could tell of the male population as a whole, they were mostly idiots and not worth the reception expense. She’d been stood up again. How hard could it have been for Brad to call her midday when he had known she was at work and leave a wimpy cancellation on her home voice mail? A lot less difficult than sitting by himself in a restaurant for an hour waiting for a date who never came, which was what she had just done. Sighing, she pushed the door open and stepped into Ryan’s Pub, wondering what it was about her that made men smile and promise things they never intended to deliver. While she had no desire to wade into matrimony despite her friends’ recent success with it, she would still enjoy a little companionship. Someone to take to the Christmas party at work, a dinner partner, a man to fulfill her very real and getting slightly urgent sexual needs. “Hey, Trish. What’s up?” Joe called from the bar as h
Two Trish watched Caleb pack away his second club sandwich in awe. The guy was huge, granted, and probably needed a lot of fuel to drive that big old muscled body of his, but Jesus. Come up for air once in a while. “Don’t you feel better now?” Trish asked, not sure how she felt. He was really damn cute, in a pathetic, kissable, lumberjack sort of way. He nodded. “I didn’t realize I was so hungry. You’re a smart woman, Trish, but I bet you hear that all the time.” Damn good at her job. Dedicated. A bitch.She’d heard all of those lately, but notsmart . Sometimes it seemed like a woman was only allowed to be intellectual, academic, with her intelligence—not sharp, driven. The compliment meant more to her than it should. “I’m a prosecuting attorney. I handle all the sex-crime cases.” Caleb licked mayo off his lip, and carefully set his sandwich down. “No kidding? Are you sure you’re in the right joint? Me, I’m a construction worker, and not your usual type, I would guess.” Of course he was
Three “Hey, Caleb, Trish.” Joe leaned over the bar in front of them and Caleb was annoyed at the interruption. “What’s up, man?” In other words, leave so he could go back to talking to Trish, who after two hours of conversation, had shed her shoes and her reserve. She had a cute little spot of pink on each cheek as she dissected her favorite movie for him. “Last call, buddy. You want anything?” Jesus, make that four hours. Caleb looked at Joe in surprise. “It’s one-thirty?” “Yep. Time flies when you’re sitting on your ass gabbing. But when you’re a working stiff like me, you feel it. It is most definitely one-thirty.” Trish laughed. “And we haven’t even gotten started on the secondLord of the Rings movie yet.” Joe groaned. “Oh, God, spare me. Caleb’s always boring the shit out of me with that fantasy elf crap, trying to drag me to those movies. I’m glad he’s found another geek to talk about it with.” And talk they had. About everything. He’d confessed to Trish he liked bowling, too, bu
Four Trish was left with one burning question. What the hell had she been thinking? She was lying in her bed, staring at the ceiling, inches from Caleb, and she couldn’t do anything about it. Damn her parents for teaching her ethics. If she hadn’t felt sorry for him, she would have left him tortured on the too-short couch. Or for that matter, she would just do what she really wanted and have hot and sweaty sex with him. Or if she hadn’t been a total softie, taken in by the big lug’s pathetic solo drinking, she never would have talked to him in the first place. Being nice and responsible was a bitch. Because she was wearing shorty pajamas that clung to her body, no bra, within smelling distance from the sweetest, most interesting guy she had met in aboutever , and she was just going to fall asleep. After having told him that she didn’t mind in the least if he took his T-shirt and jeans off. It had taken incredible discipline not to look when he’d climbed on the bed with her. “Trish?” he
Five He was wearing a pink condom and Trish was laughing. Somehow this wasn’t the way Caleb had pictured events playing out. Hands on his hips, he grimaced and fought the urge to cover himself with one of Trish’s red pillows. “You said you wouldn’t laugh.” She covered her mouth. “I didn’t mean to.” She struggled to wipe the grin from her face. “Sorry. Okay, I’ve got it.” Then she glanced down and nearly suffocated herself trying to hold in a laugh, fingers pinching her nose. Granted, he was a little embarrassed. The thing was pink. Shocking pink, not-found-in-nature pink. But he was still turned on, and watching Trish was a joy. She was so direct, honest, so up-front about what she was thinking and feeling, and he liked seeing her laugh, especially since she was doing it naked. “It’s not really your color.” What would be, he wondered. “I can take it off,” he said, brushing his thumb over her nipple. Her laugh cut off on a thin moan. “No, you can’t do that. Don’t worry about its color,
Six Caleb wanted to eat his words the minute they left his mouth. Trish froze, her hand dangling over her chest, her eyes huge. He swore. Just because she had hurt him didn’t mean he was justified in turning around and doing the same thing. And she hadn’t said anything that was surprising. They hadn’t discussed dating at all. They had just fallen into bed together. Because it had felt so right, so perfect. “I’m sorry, Angel, I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.” Her hand came up in a defensive gesture. “No, no, you’re right. I said it first. It’s not like we could actually date or anything.” Jesus, there were tears in her eyes. He leaped off the bed, reached for her, hesitated. “We don’t have anything in common or, or, anything,” she finished, turning away and blinking hard. “God, I’m just as annoying as your ex-wife must have been.” That’s when he knew she felt the same as he did, and that they could get past this little blip, and be together. Because for some reason she had sat dow
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