Full disclosure…Dr. Lard, the unattractive incessant cougher, was probably the wrong choice for Bridget. I knew that. Now before you judge me for setting her up with him, keep in mind that it wasn’t easy finding someone whom I could honestly deem a decent human being. I was operating on limited time.
I’d promised to find her a date, and it was either Lard or someone I didn’t fully trust, which if I was being honest, was pretty much everyone else. At least I knew Alex wasn’t a scumbag. In fact, he was a well-respected Providence physician and Brown University professor. He was a lot of things—sexually appealing just wasn’t one of them.
The initial conversation at our table was very awkward.
I sipped my wine. “Did you hit any traffic?”
Bridget looked behind her shoulder then checked her watch, seeming incredibly tense. “No, but Leah must have. She’s fifteen minutes late.”
I lifted my brow. “Leah, huh?”
Dr. Lard turned to Bridget. “So, Simon was telling me you have an eight-year-old boy. Cough. He must keep you busy. Cough.”
“Yes. He’s a great kid. Not sure if Simon also mentioned that my husband died a couple of years back, so it’s been tough on Brendan, but he’s doing remarkably well considering.”
Before he could respond, we were interrupted by my date, Leah’s, arrival. I squinted. She looked familiar.
She flashed a smile as she looked over at me. “Oh my God. It’s you.”
“You know me?”
“Calliope’s friend.”
“I am.”
“I’ve seen you when you’ve come to visit our hot yoga class.”
That’s right. That was where I knew her from. I immediately realized she was the bony-assed one in class, too. Great.
Leah sat down, and the four of us made small talk until our food arrived. To be frank, from the get go, it was pretty clear this double blind date was a dud. I knew it. Bridget knew it. And If I were being really honest, it was hard to concentrate on anything besides how fucking stellar Bridget looked tonight. Her full lips were painted a hot shade of pink. She’d put waves in her hair, which I’d never seen her do before. It was down, but she’d pulled some of the honey brown strands back with a barrette at the front. That accentuated her green eyes. I’d normally marveled at how naturally beautiful she was with no makeup and bone straight hair, but I had to say, this look was working for me, too.
Really working for me.
Not to mention her strawberry creams looked damn good squeezed together with just a hint of cleavage showing.
She deserved better than this boring date with Alex Lard. He was a good man, but he wasn’t going to be the one to give her the earth-shattering orgasm she really needed.
Fuck. Don’t think about how sex-starved she is and how amazing it would be to make her moan for the first time in years.
Wouldn’t that have been the bollocks…one night of non-stop shagging with Bridget sans consequences, making her scream out over and over. Of course, that scenario was never going to be possible.
To deter from my clearly inappropriate thoughts, I decided to ask Leah the question.
“So, Leah. Question for you. If you could pick any animal to be, what would you select?”
“What a strange question.” She laughed. “But okay, let me think.” She scratched her chin with her long, fake nails. “I would have to say kitten. Because they’re so cute. And I love cats, in general.”
Bridget looked at me and was smirking. She knew that “kitten” was probably the only answer worse than Pomeranian. At least Pomeranian was somewhat original.
“What a coincidence because Simon loves pussy,” Bridget joked.
I smiled at her mischievously. “That I do, Nurse Valentine.”
The remainder of the date was basically torture aside from Bridget and my flirtatious glances at each other. She’d done nothing to really get to know Alex—he never stopped coughing—and Leah had lost me at “kitten.”
The dinner wrapped up on the early side, and we all left in separate cars with empty promises to “keep in touch” with our dates.
The second I got back to the house, I headed straight for Bridget’s living room.
She was already standing there waiting with her arms crossed. “Meow.” She laughed.
I shook my head. “Kitten. Just awful. Not to mention, you set me up with the one woman in the entire yoga studio with the flattest arse. Who doesn’t fill out spandex? That woman! Even Spandex are baggy on her. Probably a major starfish as well—although I don’t intend to find out.”
“I didn’t choose those things intentionally, Simon. I don’t have a lot of single friends. And you have some nerve talking to me about physical attraction right now. You knew I wouldn’t feel it for Alex Lard. So, why bother setting me up with him?”
“Look, he’s a nice guy. I couldn’t bear to fix you up with someone who might have even a remote chance of taking advantage of you.”
“Well, you got that part right…because Dr. Lard had zero chance of getting lucky with me tonight or ever. And what was with that cough?”
“I don’t know. It’s his thing. It’s bizarre.”
“I would prefer to go on dates where I don’t have to wear a mask to protect myself from germs.”
I belted out in laughter. “I know, Bridget. I fucked it up. You said you were going to do online dating, and that freaked me out a little. There are a lot of bad people out there.”
“Online dating is the only way to do it when you don’t have the time to go out every night. It’s very common now. Someone like you doesn’t have to resort to that because you have women falling at your feet.”
“Trust me, if you put yourself out there in any manner, you would have no problem finding a man. You’re extremely attractive.”
“Well, thank you, but you don’t have to say that.”
“No, I don’t, but it’s the truth. You’re naturally beautiful, even when you’re not done up like tonight. You have gorgeous lips, ample tits, a fit body, and a mighty fine apple bottom.”
The bluntness of my words surprised me. She looked a little taken aback as well.
She waved her hand. “Oh, go on.”
“You think I’m kidding.”
“No, I meant, go on and on. Keep going.” She laughed.
We just stared at each other for a bit. She looked embarrassed, and I wished I could have kissed her and made it worse.
Simon, what the fuck are you doing, you wanker?
“I probably should stop talking, actually.” I said. “You might evict me. I’m being inappropriate, given our arrangement and your life situation. I shouldn’t be staring at Brendan’s mum’s apple bottom.”
“See, you hit the nail on the head. It’s not easy as a single mother to find someone willing to see past my ‘situation.’ It’s part of why I haven’t really considered dating until recently. Not only has it seemed too soon after Ben’s death, but realistically the chances of finding someone physically attractive, smart, honest, who would also want to take on this massive responsibility is basically nil. Honestly, I don’t know if I would really want to deal with my situation if I were a guy. So, it’s hard. And it gets lonely sometimes.”
This woman wore her vulnerability on her sleeve. But I loved that she was so honest.
She let out a deep breath. “God, I’m telling you too much. I didn’t mean to bear my soul like that.”
“It’s apples and oranges.”
“What is…something you’re juicing in the morning?”
“No. You and most of the women—girls, really—who I date. It’s like apples and oranges. You’re a real woman, Bridget, in every sense of the word. Someone like you knows exactly what she needs. You have your head on straight and your priorities in the right order. You appreciate what really matters in life because you’ve experienced the worst of it. You’ve had a lifetime of experiences at a young age. You’re amazing, really.”
And that’s why I can’t fuck with you.
She looked like she didn’t know how to take the compliment. “Will you stay and have a drink with me? I really feel like one, and you know my rule about never drinking alone.”
As much as I knew I probably should’ve gone back to my unit, my other unit was really enjoying being with her. I couldn’t say no.
“Sure, I can.”
Bridget disappeared into the kitchen to fetch some wine. She was taking an unusually long time to return, so I decided to check on things.
“Everything okay in here?”
I noticed that she was holding a piece of paper in her hands. She stood there frozen, looking gutted.
“I found this in the trash. Brendan must have discarded it when he came home from school.”
My heart sank when I took the bright orange flyer from her hands, which read: Father Son Field Day.
Oh, shit.
She continued, “I could only imagine how he must have felt. How could they have even let him go home with this in his backpack? They all know his situation.”
“I’m sure they didn’t mean to hurt him intentionally, but it was stupid.”
She closed her eyes then let out a breath. “You know, you go about your life as best you can, trying to forget the pain and then something like this comes along and just throws it all in your face again.”
Not knowing what else to say, I simply placed my hand on her forearm. “I’m sorry.”
She sighed. “God, you must find this house so depressing sometimes, constant reminders of death.”
“Yeah, well, there’s a lot of life in this house, too. Living here has been a learning experience for me. Before I moved in, I was just some bloke living alone who did nothing but work, sleep, and screw around once in a while. It’s eye-opening to see what you go through.”
She took the flyer back from me. “I don’t even know what to do about this.”
“You can’t fix everything, unfortunately.”
“I would want to just keep him home from school that day, but that’s sending the wrong message, too. I don’t want him treated any differently because he doesn’t have a dad.”
“Will you talk to him about it?” I asked.
“I’m not sure whether I should. He clearly didn’t want me to see this.”
“Do you think, in some way, he was trying to protect your feelings, too?”
“You know, it’s funny you say that. As young as he is, he does have a protective way about him. There are times when I’ve broken down, and he’s been the one to comfort me.”
“You have a great kid there, very wise for his age and respectful. That’s all you.”
“Thank you. He was very difficult to conceive, but he’s been an easy child since he was born. I’m pretty lucky.” She put the flyer back into the trash and began to massage the tension in her own neck with one hand.
“Turn around for a minute.”
She was skeptical. “What are you gonna do?”
“Check what day of the week’s knickers you’re wearing. What do you think?”
“What are you really going to do?” She laughed.
I cracked my knuckles. “Let’s get some of those knots out of your neck and back.”
I felt her tension lift as soon as my hands went to work. Massaging her upper back, I pressed my thumbs especially hard into her. She hung her head low as she relaxed her body, giving me full control. The sounds she was making were driving me a bit mad. This woman was wound up and needed a hell of a lot more than my hands. It took everything in me not to bend down and devour her neck. My fingers were definitely working on behalf of my cock that unfortunately couldn’t be here to accept this award tonight.
Her breathing became a bit more labored at one point and she turned around, stopping the massage. “Thank you for that. I should get that wine now.”
“Let me help.”
“No, I got it.”
I returned to the living room and sat down on the couch, noticing something under me. It was Bridget’s e-reader. I opened it to the home page, which showed a romance novel featuring a salacious cover. Clicking on it, I could never have imagined the words that would meet my eyes.
Holy shit.
What’s this now?