Like every evening for the past several weeks, Nick sat at the last booth in Fernando’s café, watching Ruth and trying to gather the courage to ask her on a date.

She’d joined a couple of the poker games, but they hadn’t talked much. Hell, she hadn’t talked much with anyone. Ruth was just as awkward around people as he was, maybe even worse, because she was shy around other women too.

Nick was only awkward around girls he found attractive, which was why he was still a virgin at twenty-two—a shameful secret he was guarding fiercely and doing his damnedest to cover up with a lot of macho talk to the contrary.

How did other guys do it?

Not everyone was as good-looking and confident as fucking Jackson the pussy magnet.

Even transforming himself from a chubby geek to a surfer dude hadn’t helped Nick score. He’d lost the fat, gained muscle, grown out his hair, which used to be light brown but had now blond highlights from the sun, and still nothing.

In his latest effort to look cool, he’d pulled his shoulder-length hair into a fashionable man-bun, but he shouldn’t have bothered. Girls just didn’t come up to him.

Not like they were coming up to Jackson.

Ruth seemed oblivious to the guy’s charms, but she must’ve been the only one. The rest of the café’s female clientele was ogling him even though he wasn’t encouraging it at all.

Nick still couldn’t believe a dude like Jackson had settled for Tessa. She was sweet and pretty, but nothing like the caliber of girls Jackson could’ve dated.

It was a shitty thing to say or even think, but that was the reality.

Most guys were all about scoring with the hottest girls, and it was all about the looks. Not that the girls were any better. They wanted hot guys too, preferably ones with money. A lot of money could compensate for deficiencies in the looks department.

Reality was ugly.

Survival of the fittest or rather the hottest, or the richest.

Jackson had chosen love, though. Good for him. The dude was not only good-looking but smart as well. Tessa had definitely scored herself a winner.

Lifting his cold cup of coffee, Nick sighed. Having a girlfriend was all he could think about, and not only because he was desperate for sex. He was even more desperate for love.

Not that he wouldn't settle for a hookup, or two, or a hundred. But he would rather have a relationship—someone to talk to, someone to share things with, someone to laugh with. He didn’t even have guy friends to do it with.

People didn’t get his sense of humor, and he had a way of always saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.

“Let me refresh your coffee,” Ruth said in almost a whisper as she reached for his cup.

“Thank you.”

As he handed it to her, their fingers brushed for a moment, sending a bolt of electricity down to his dick, the fellow springing to life like Frankenstein’s monster.

With a gasp, Ruth let go of the cup, then caught it a split second before it hit the table.

“Wow, awesome reflexes,” he said to fill the awkward silence.

“I guess.” Ruth filled the cup from the carafe she’d held in her other hand and put it on the table. “I’ll be back later to warm it up again for you.”

“Thank you.”

That was the extent of their communication. He would sit in the back eating his dinner as slowly as humanly possible, and she would come over and refill his cup of coffee a couple of times.

Damn, he needed to man up and ask the girl out. But what if she said no? Then he would lose the illusion that something might happen between them and would have no more reason to come to the café every evening.

What the hell was he going to do with himself?

Sharon had moved out and was living with her new boyfriend, Tessa was hanging out with Jackson, and Eva and Bhathian were busy doing whatever couples did.

No one needed him around, and there was only so much television a guy could watch, and so many video games a guy could play—especially since they didn’t offer him much of a challenge.

Damn, he hated his life.

Maybe he should quit his job and go backpacking in South America, or Australia, or wherever else people went backpacking. At least he would have a good excuse for being alone and not having a girlfriend.

Instead of a loser, he would be a nomad. Much more respectable.

“Hey, Nick, what’s up?” Jackson slid into the booth without asking if it was okay.

“Nothing. Eating my dinner.”

“I can see that. When are you going to ask Ruth out?”

Nick felt his ears get hot. “What makes you think I want to?”

Jackson leaned closer. “I think it’s time to make a move, buddy. If you’re waiting for Ruth to ask you out, I can tell you it’s not going to happen. Ruth feels awkward around her own shadow. You have to man up and ask her.”

Damn it. Jackson was the last person Nick wanted to be having this conversation with, but he was desperate, and Jackson was an expert on all things female.

“What if she says no?”

“She won’t. She is doing the same thing you do, sneaking glances when you’re not looking.”

“But she stopped coming to the poker games.”

Jackson shrugged. “Maybe she doesn’t like poker, or maybe hanging out with a group of people is too intimidating for her. By the way, this can be a good conversation starter. Ask her why she doesn't come anymore, and then suggest something else the two of you can do together.”

The guy slid out of the booth and slapped Nick’s back. “No guts no glory, my man.”

Easy for him to talk. When a guy looked like that he didn’t need guts. He could just stand there, and girls would come up to him and do all the work.

But ordinary schmucks like Nick had to sweat for it.

When a few minutes later Ruth emerged from the kitchen, Jackson handed her a fresh coffee carafe and pointed in Nick’s direction.

It was time to grow a set.

He watched her stop at every booth and fill up cups before reaching him.

“Can I warm up your coffee?” Ruth asked without looking at him.

“Can you sit with me for a few moments?”

She looked up at him and then turned her head to glance at Jackson. “I don’t know. I’m supposed to be working.”

“You’re the new manager. You can take a break when you want to.” She wasn’t yet, but she was training for it.

“Okay.” Ruth sat across from him and put the carafe on the table, right in the middle, as if creating a barrier between them.

“I was wondering why you don’t come to the poker games anymore.”

She shrugged. “I don’t like the smell of the incense Eva burns. It’s stifling. It makes me feel like I’m suffocating.”

He wondered if she was talking about the incense or the company. Probably both.

“How about an outdoor activity, then?” He should’ve thought of it before. If Ruth were like him, she might enjoy surfing. It was a solo activity, peaceful and relaxing.

“Like a walk?” she asked.

“Like surfing. It’s awesome. You’re going to love it.”

Looking crestfallen, she dropped her chin. “I don’t know how to surf.”

“I’ll teach you. It’s going to be fun.”

“You said the same thing about poker. I’m still terrible at it.”

“If you don’t try you don’t know. Poker didn’t do it for you, but surfing might.”

“Isn’t the ocean cold?”

“It is. But we will be wearing wetsuits.”

“I don’t have a wetsuit.”

She wasn’t going to make it easy on him, but Nick had a feeling it wasn’t about not wanting to be with him.

On top of being shy around people, Ruth was also afraid of trying new things.

He, on the other hand, loved it, which meant that he could help her out. Which in turn, boosted his confidence.

“No worries. I’ve got you covered. Sharon tried surfing, once, but she didn’t like it.” Ruth’s expression warned him of her next rebuttal, and he quickly continued. “Sharon doesn't like any sports. She is a couch potato.”

Ruth smiled, and it encouraged him to continue.

“Surfing sounded fun to her until she realized it was an actual sport and required the use of muscles she didn’t know she had. Lazing in the sun was more fun for her. In the meantime, though, she bought all the equipment. You can use her wetsuit and her surfboard. She is slightly bigger than you, so it’s not going to be a perfect fit, but it’s good enough for the beginning. Later, when you see how much fun it is, you can get your own.”

“You sound so sure that I’m going to like it. I’m not much into sports either. I do love to hike, though.”

He threw his hands in the air. “Here you go. Sharon doesn't even like to walk. She takes the car to the supermarket that is five minutes’ walking distance away.”

“She does?”

It was more than five minutes, but it seemed to amuse Ruth, so he went with it. “And in the mall, if the stores she wants to visit are too far away from each other, she gets out and drives to another parking lot, just so she won’t have to walk that much.” It had happened once, in an outlet mall that was huge, but still, he wasn’t lying.

Ruth giggled, covering her mouth with her hand. “That’s funny.”

“And don’t even start me on her antics to get out of doing her chores…”