“Someone brushed her hair today. Nice job,” Lacey said with approval upon seeing me the next morning at work. Since I still didn’t have a car, I’d caught a ride to work with Jude so Lacey could get some much-needed sleep. We’d dropped Sebastian off with one of Lacey’s best friends named Misha. Misha had two little kids of her own and a couple of days a week, she babysat Sebastian while she worked from home.

I shrugged and made up an excuse about trying something different.

“Oh really?” she said. “Does this have anything to do with a certain man by the name of Magnus? I saw him talking to you.”

I blushed. “Of course not.” I was lying. I hadn’t stopped thinking about him since our brief conversation yesterday. In all honesty, I was questioning my decision on not taking him up on his offer. It wouldn’t have hurt to just go on one date with him, right? I’d spent most of the night restless, thinking about him, fantasizing about what it would be like to date someone like him. I’d finally fallen asleep imagining him taking me to an exotic locale where nudity was encouraged. I definitely didn’t plan to share that detail with Lacey.

“Come on. Tell all.”

“He asked me out.”

“I knew it! I saw him checking you out. So, when are you guys going out?”

I looked down at my sneakers and shuffled my feet. “I sort of told him I wasn’t interested.”

Her mouth fell open and she looked at me as if I were some poor lost soul. “Why’d you say that?”

I shrugged again and she yelled. “Stop shrugging. You have a PhD, use your words.”

“Ok, ok. I just wasn’t interested. I don’t think we have anything in common.”

“I had nothing in common with Jude, but I married him. We completely skipped dating, mostly because I hated him when we first met. But that’s all in the past. The fact is, I love him and we’re happily married yet we’re polar opposites with nothing in common besides Sebastian. I mean, think about it, Jude is fun-loving, impulsive, and laid-back. I’m a party pooper, a planner, and kind of uptight.”

She made a legitimate point. “You’re not that bad... usually.”

“Awww shucks, thanks, cuz. But seriously, have you lost your mind? That Magnus guy is a winner. Even Oliver thinks so. And it’s pretty hard to impress Oliver.”

“I’m not interested in Magnus. That doesn’t make me insane.” I crossed my arms over my chest, feeling defensive.

“If I weren’t madly in love with Jude and the mother of his child, I would totally have dated Magnus... not that he would have ever asked me, but you know what I mean.”

“Well, I guess I’ll tell him you said so?”

“You wouldn’t dare...”

“No no... I mean... Yeah, I would.”

“You’re not my friend.” She poked her tongue out like a little kid.

“You’re right. I’m family.”

We kept bantering when we heard someone yell, “Hello. Can someone get the door? Hello? A little help.”

I looked at Lacey and Lacey looked at me. The yelling was coming from the other side of the Ophelia’s Angels’ entrance. I went to open the door, Lacey following behind me.

It was a very frustrated and angry Maya standing there, well sort of kind of standing. She was balancing on a pair of crutches and looked miserable. Her hair was disheveled and she was wearing very old, faded sweatpants and a t-shirt. I didn’t know Maya too well, but from what I knew of her, she never left the house without looking her best.

“Oh my God, Maya, what happened?” I asked, holding the door open as widely as it could go.

Stoically, Maya made her way into the building, swearing the whole time. She was not in a good mood.

“I hate these stupid crutches...They’re the worst!”

I pulled a chair up and tried to usher her into it. “I don’t need your help, thank you very much,” she barked at me.

I instantly stepped back. I wasn’t used to being yelled at and I avoided conflict as much as possible. I didn’t want to piss Maya off any more than she already was, so I readily gave her space. I didn’t know what had happened, but apparently more than just her physical appearance was affected. Maya was in a truly foul mood.

She looked apologetic as she gingerly lowered herself into the seat I’d offered her seconds ago.

“I’m sorry I barked at you,” she said with a sigh as she placed her crutches on the side of her chair and took a deep breath. It was then that I noticed she had a cast on her right foot.

“What happened?” asked Lacey.

Maya sighed again and her shoulders slumped forward. Her eyes showed her annoyance as she started to recount the story.

“My stupid cat happened. Goldilocks, my cat, is easily startled. I mean, more than most cats. I dropped some change from my purse. The change hit the tile and I guess the sound freaked her out and she went sprinting across my apartment just as I was turning around. I tripped over her and my foot got caught on the leg of my sofa. And now I have broken bones. This sucks, sucks, sucks!”

“Ouch.”

“Never get a cat, Lesli.” Maya’s tone was mournful.

“I won’t.”

“Promise me,” Maya said dramatically.

“I promise.”

“Good. Now I can rest assured that no one else will suffer the same fate.” She tossed a hand across her forehead in a perfect woe-is-me kind of way. I made myself not smile. Yeah, she had a broken foot and some broken toes, but she was being pretty dramatic.

“You know what this means, don’t you, Lacey?” again Maya’s tone was sorrowful.

Lacey nodded. “You’re out of the competition.”

“Yes...” Maya moaned as if she was in pain. “My chance to be with Magnus is gone. Gone! Gone!”

She was practically howling now. She started to whimper when Jude appeared.

“What’s with all the howling? Did someone run over a cat?”

“More like a cat ran someone over,” Lacey said.

Jude noticed Maya’s foot. “What the heck happened to your foot? You can’t be on Brain Pain with a messed up foot. You can’t race on that.”

“No kidding, boss. Very astute observation.”

“I see you’re Miss Chipper this morning.”

“I have a broken foot, Jude, excuse me if I’m not a walking ball of sunshine. I. Can’t. Even. Walk.” She spoke each word with increasing anger, then folded her arms and glared at nothing in particular.

“Well, this is awkward,” Jude said nonchalantly. He turned to me. “Lesli, you’re up.”

“What?”

“You’re taking Maya’s place.”

“What? No... I can’t—”

“Why not?”

“Umm... Maya will be fine, right Maya?” She glared ahead and ignored me. Obviously, she wasn’t going to be much help. “I’m sure her foot will be fine. We just need to give her some time.”

“Oh my God, Lesli. Just take my place. This stupid cast isn’t coming off anytime soon. Apparently, my great love affair with Magnus just wasn’t meant to be,” she said, looking forlorn.

I didn’t know what to say, but apparently, Lacey did. “Give it a break, Maya. You met the guy for all of two seconds, that barely counts as a great love affair. That’s not even a mediocre love affair.”

“Ouch, Lacey. You just don’t understand what Magnus and I shared.”

“Nothing. Not even phone numbers. He told me that you asked for his—” Jude reported.

“So that we could practice for the game show,” Maya hissed.

Jude looked dubious. “And he said you followed him home.”

“His security guards are terrible people. They wouldn’t let me in.”

I grinned. I loved how Maya was playing the victim in all this when she was actually a borderline stalker. Florida was turning out to be more of an adventure than I’d expected.

“Wow... imagine that. Those mean security guards. How dare they. That’s pretty terrible.”

“That’s how I felt!” Maya cried, not catching on to Lacey’s sarcasm.

“Trying to keep Magnus safe from crazy ladies, you know that’s only their job,” Jude added.

“I’m not crazy. I’m determined. There’s a huge difference.”

“Says the woman who tripped over her cat—”

“Goldilocks is no longer getting the fancy stuff. Dry food for her from now on.”

I stopped listening to the exchange as I tried to wrap my head around Jude’s abrupt decision.

“Jude? Can I talk to you really quickly?”

He stopped arguing with Maya over why dogs were better than cats, a sudden unexpected twist to the conversation, and ushered me into his office. Lacey stayed with Maya who she was now helping to our shared space.

“Be careful. I don’t want you to break your other foot too,” I could hear Lacey saying to an argumentative Maya as Jude offered me a seat in his office. I promptly closed the door behind us. I didn’t want to be overheard, especially by Magnus. He seemed to have an uncanny ability to just pop up whenever I was around.

“I don’t want to be Magnus’s partner,” I blurted out.

“Why not? He’s a nice guy.” Jude was clearly taken aback.

“I’m sure he is... but it’s just that... you know... I don’t think I’m the best pick for the role.”

“Well, actually you are the best pick. You’re smart and Lacey said you played sports in elementary school.”

“Elementary school was years ago!”

“It still counts. Once an athlete always an athlete.” Jude had previously been a professional soccer player. The only professional thing I’d ever been was a professional student. And I was embarrassingly out of shape now. As in, I didn’t even like parking far from the entrance to grocery stores because I was too lazy to walk.

“I can barely run a mile without passing out.”

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that. You’re partnering with Magnus. We need this exposure. I’m sure you’ll do a great job representing us.”

“Jude—”

“Come on, Lesli. Who else will do it? Lydia? Ha. Don’t think so. And the others are even in worse shape than you are.”

“Thanks for that, Jude.”

“I’m serious, I love them but they’re all allergic to working out. We have a company fitness benefit where I actually pay for their gym membership. Only Maya uses it. She’s really into CrossFit. Last year we were all supposed to do a mud run together. You know, one of those grueling races with obstacle challenges every tenth of a mile or so? Well, everyone but Maya skipped most of the obstacles and waited for me at the finish line. And then when I crossed the finish line alone, they handed me a bag of chips to celebrate.”

I laughed. “Nice.”

“And let’s be honest. You’re the smartest person I know. You’re a doctor for god’s sake, and you’re barely over twenty.” He shook his head and said mostly to himself. “At twenty, I’m pretty sure I had wasted at least three-quarters of my brain cells. What I’m trying to say is we need you. You’re our only hope.”

“Why can’t you do it?”

He shook his head. “It has to be one of the staff. It can’t be an executive.”

“Jude, I don’t know...” I started, ready to tell him flat out no, but then thought better of it.

Why was I fighting Jude? Didn’t I move to Florida to try something different? To have an adventure? Well, adventure was knocking at my door and it was time that I answered it.

“Alright, Jude. You've convinced me. You've twisted my arm. I’ll do it.”

He jumped up and high-fived me. “Thanks, cuz. You’re my favorite cousin.”

“I’m pretty sure I’m your only cousin.”

“Which is why you’re my go-to favorite. Now get to work. I’ll tell Magnus.”

I smiled tightly in reply, gulped and headed out the room. What the heck did I just agree to?

Later that day, I sat in the conference room waiting for Magnus. We were going to start training together, so I was given permission to use as much time as I needed during office hours for our training. I didn’t know what we were training for nor did I have any idea what types of challenges waited for us because I’d never seen the show. From what I’d heard of it, it didn’t even seem remotely interesting.

I hoped Magnus knew more than I did. I sat there nervously scratching at a hole in my jeans when I heard the conference door open. I looked up shyly and watched Magnus walk in.

He was wearing jeans and a graphic tee as well. In fact, I couldn’t resist a smile when I realized our shirts matched. We were both wearing shirts emblazoned with a picture of the Starship Enterprise.

“You’re a Next Generation fan?” he said in greeting, coming to sit across from me.

I nodded. “You have good taste. Nice shirt.”

“I’m a sucker for science fiction,” he said with a shrug.

“I wouldn’t have figured you for a science fiction fan.”

“Oh really? Why not?”

I tried not to stare at his lips as I studied his face, but I was unsuccessful. I forced myself to look at his eyes, but they were equally enchanting. God, why did he have to be so attractive?

I found myself wondering what it would feel like to have his lips on mine. I wondered if he was a good kisser. He had to be. He was too good looking not to be. I’d never found myself in a position where I outright fantasized about someone I knew in a sexual way. This was a problem. I don’t know why the thought of kissing Magnus wouldn’t leave my head, but now he had my undivided attention.

I pulled my thoughts back to his question, which I’d almost forgotten.

“You just seem, I don’t know, too cool to be into science fiction.”

He seemed surprised. “I don’t think of myself as cool, but I’m flattered that you do.”

“I mean, I don’t really think of you at all. Cool or not.” I grimaced. That had come out totally wrong. Did I really just insult the guy because I was a nervous wreck in his presence?

He frowned and looked taken aback. I instantly felt terrible. “Sorry, that came out wrong. I wasn’t trying to say that I don’t think of you. I mean, because I do. I mean, not because you’re special to me or anything. I don’t know you, so of course, you can’t be special to me. I’m just trying to say that we’re all special. All human beings... on this planet... so I think of you in a nonspecial way...because you’re human.”

Oh God. What was I saying? What was wrong with me? And why didn’t I just shut up?

“Ok. I’m glad you think all humans are special,” he said with uncertainty.

“Yeah,” I whispered, feeling like an idiot. I knew this was more than I could handle. Well, Magnus was apparently more than I could handle. First I’d choked and he had to save me, and now I couldn’t stop talking nonsense.

I took a deep breath and decided to try again.

“So—” we both said simultaneously. Caught off guard, we smiled at each other.

I broke eye contact and started fidgeting, cracking my knuckles. I looked around the room... just trying to avoid his eyes.

“So, are you a fan of Brain Pain?”

I made myself look at him. “No. I’ve actually never seen it.”

His eyebrows shot up in surprise. “It’s like America’s favorite summer show.”

I shook my head. “I don’t watch much TV.”

“Yeah? Why’s that?” he said, leaning lazily back in his chair. He crossed his arms in front of him and I tried not to notice how muscular his arms were. Even his forearms were ripped. Apparently, he was chiseled in all the right places.

I bet he’d give me heart palpitations if I ever saw him naked. Yum, the idea of a naked Magnus sounded wonderful.

He gave me a knowing smile. “You plan to answer me or are you just going to stare at me?”

I could tell from his eyes that he was teasing me. Magnus was surprisingly easy to read. To me, that’s what made him different from most guys I knew in school. Magnus came across as very authentic. There was never any guile. He was like an open book and I liked that about him. He wasn’t a mystery and he didn’t attempt to hide his emotions and pretend to be indifferent or stoic to be “manlier”.

I answered his question about TV, saying “I just don’t have time for it.”

He nodded. “I get that. So tell me, what do you have time for? What are your interests? Hobbies?”

I didn’t want to admit that I was absolutely boring and didn’t have any hobbies besides sleeping and eating. Most of the women he dated probably did yoga, modeled on the side and most likely had excellent calligraphy skills. Or maybe I was just being ridiculous.

“Just, you know, watching reruns of old sci-fi shows and reading.” I changed the subject. I didn’t want to bore him to tears by telling him that eating and sleeping were what I considered a good time. “So tell me about Brain Pain.”

“How about I just show you?”

To my surprise, he got up and came around the conference table and sat next to me.

We were seated so closely I could smell his aftershave. It had a woodsy scent that I tried not to inhale too deeply. When I was a teenager, I loved reading silly, dirty romance novels. And so many of the romances I read talked about a man smelling intoxicatingly good and I always considered description to be a writer’s creative license to exaggerate, but Magnus’s smell was intoxicating. I just wanted to lean into him and let him have his way with me.

Woah, girl, I said to myself, startled by my own thoughts. Where had that thought come from? I wasn’t exactly the type of girl that threw all caution to the wind. But yet, here I was, less than five minutes alone with Magnus, I thought to myself in amusement, and I was already not even thinking like myself.

I moved a little closer to him, basking in the scent of him and sitting close enough to feel the heat coming from his body. He held his phone in his right hand so I could view it. He laughed easily at the challenges depicted on the screen. I found myself relaxing and letting down my guard.

It was then that I looked up and caught him staring at me. “You have a really pretty smile, you know.”

I blushed. “Thanks. You do too.” I immediately clamped my mouth shut. What the heck was I thinking complimenting him? Now he would know that I totally checked him out… which I did.

“What do you think of the challenges?” I asked.

He looked like he wanted to say something else, but thought better of it. “The challenges are ridiculous, but they look like fun.”

“Really? That looks like fun? Hanging from a bridge, suspended twenty feet up by our ankles over a body of water looks like fun to you?”

He nodded.

“If that’s your idea of fun, you need to get out more.”

He looked down at me with an amused look. “Yeah, you’re right.” I returned his smile and he caught me off guard saying, “If you think I need to get out more, maybe you should consider going out with me.”

I quickly backtracked. “I meant going out more and experiencing new things. That doesn’t have to include me...”

He smiled. “I think it would be more interesting if I did include you. What’s the point of new experiences if you don’t have anyone to share them with? Have dinner with me tonight. We can try somewhere exotic. This city has lots of restaurants. We can try a little bit of everything if you want.”

I shook my head, but I was tempted to just say yes and see where it led me. Unfortunately, I wasn’t that bold yet. “No... I’m busy. With stuff. With things.”

“What things?”

“Important things and stuff.”

I was an intelligent woman but couldn’t even figure out a good excuse to escape having dinner with a beautiful man. There were so many things wrong with this scenario, I knew a therapist would love to hear about it. Too bad I didn’t believe in therapy. Talking about emotions just wasn’t my thing.

“Well, I’m going to keep asking until you say yes.”

“Sounds obsessive.”

“More determined than anything.”

“Nope... obsessive.”

He shifted a little closer to me. “Maybe I’m obsessed with you... but can you blame me?”

I laughed nervously and pushed my chair back to put a little room between us. His presence didn’t creep me out. It turned me on and I did not want him to notice my nipples getting hard under my thin shirt.

“You don’t even know me enough to be obsessed with me.”

“Let’s change that and get better acquainted tonight.” I was in the middle of shaking my head when he said, “Strictly professional then. I just want to be able to get to know you better.”

I opened my mouth to protest and then said, “Why not?”

He looked surprised for a moment. “Great. Tomorrow then? After all, it’s the weekend.”

I was going to come up with a different day, but I figured why delay the inevitable? “Tomorrow’s fine.”

He looked surprised that I’d agreed and stood up as I stood up. He was quite a bit taller than me which was nice. I hadn’t dated many men who were taller than me. Who was I kidding? I hadn’t dated many men at all.

I awkwardly tried to figure out what to do next and gave up and said, “See you later, Magnus.”

He nodded and held the door open for me. I passed by, aware of his eyes on me as I headed back to my office.