This happened often. Abby declared something was gonna be fun, and dragged me to it. And 9 chances out of 10, she was right. But speed dating? Sounded like a nightmare.
The bar was decorated with tacky red paper hearts and those dumb ass cupids. I surveyed the crowd gathered for speed dating. I winced. Paunchy, older men, already slightly drunk from swilling the bar’s cheap beer. Lovely.
But, at this point, I was doing this for Abby. I couldn’t turn tail and run now.
So I sat down at one of the tables and the madness began. We had five minutes to have a “date”. After the fifth man, I was feeling violated from being eye fucked, and having absolutely nothing of substance to say. This wasn’t going well. The bell rang to switch tables.
I took a long drink of my cocktail. I set it down and sighed. “Alright,” I said to the new guy, “let’s get this over with.”
“Aw, why? I showered earlier.” It was a deep, sexy voice. I looked up, startled. The man that sat across from me could only be described as “sinfully hot”.
Bright hazel eyes stared at me, a beautiful mix of brown, green and yellow. His hair was a thick mop of dark brown curls. He was strong, muscular and even though he was sitting, I could tell he was tall. I swallowed hard. He also was about twenty years younger than the other men assembled for the event.
My cheeks went bright red. “Oh! I mean, I…I wasn’t…” Damnit, Amanda, get your tongue in gear, I chastised myself, you have a god of a man sitting across from you, and you’re blowing it!
He smiled, showing off perfect teeth– a genuine smile. No slimy undertones. Just a man wanting to have a conversation with a woman.
“Are you always this articulate?” He asked, his eyes showing a flash of mischief.
I cleared my throat, downed my cocktail completely, and slowly met his eyes. “I’m better on the page.”
He leaned forward, a look of intrigue on his face. “The page? Is the lady a writer?”
I flushed. “Yes.”
He twirled one of his curls around his finger in thought. “Anything I’ve read?”
My redness deepened. “Ha. I highly doubt it. I’ve written and had published a whole series of romance novels.”
His smile widened. “So you buy in to the idea of true love?”
I sat back in my seat and crossed my arms over my chest. “I used to. But it’s all bullshit, really. People like me write the fantasies, but let’s face it. Life isn’t a fairy tale.”
He ran his finger around the rim of his glass. “No? I think with the right person it could be. After all, you’re here, in a bar, on Valentine’s Day looking for something fun and new, right?”
I shrugged. “I’m here because my best friend dragged me out of the house.”
“Is she here? I’d like to send her a thank you card.”
“Well, aren’t you a proper gentleman.” I kept my arms crossed, but I couldn’t hide my growing smile. Not only was this guy hot, but he was delightfully funny. “Actually, the truth is, I was supposed to be with my boyfriend tonight–I mean, my ex-boyfriend.” I let out a long sigh. “It all ended two days ago. That lying, cheating son of a bitch…” I trailed off, surprised I had just been so candid with a stranger.