I was going on a date, and it was going to be a good one. Dinner at a nice restaurant. Maybe a goodnight kiss at my door. Absolutely, no sex. If we hit it off, we’d get there eventually, but I wasn’t going to fall head-first again. I was back to my happy medium. Wishfully romantic, but with enough realism to know that no guy was Prince Charming. I’d go into the date with an open mind, but I wasn’t about to start, ‘planning for the future,’ before I’d even met the guy. And I wasn’t going to do it after just one date either. I’d learned my lesson about being impulsive.

I’d almost worn my favorite dress, but as soon as I’d taken it from my closet, I’d remembered what it had been like, seeing Blake’s reaction to me in the dress. Then came the memories of what had happened at dinner, at my store…I didn’t want to be thinking about Blake when I was out with Lamb’s nephew. Aside from the fact that it’d be exceptionally rude, I was done with Blake. I didn’t want him taking up any more of my thoughts and time.

Which was why I now had, a new favorite dress, one that didn’t have any associations with Blake. It was a pretty dress, a mint green color, and I loved the way it flattered my figure. I’d put on the simple beaded necklace that Galina had given me the last time we’d seen each other, and a dab of lip gloss, not wanting to look overly dressed-up or too casual.

I would’ve normally arranged to meet him at the restaurant, but Lamb had spent nearly two hours yesterday going on and on about how great her nephew, Steve was, and how much we’d get along. I’d felt more than a little obligated to go the traditional route, which was why I was currently walking to the store’s entrance where my date was waiting.

My first thought when I opened the door was that Lamb’s nephew was hot. He had sienna-brown curls and a pair of beautiful blue eyes full of admiration. He was tall with an athletic build and nice features. The sort of man who pretty much any woman would be grateful to date.

My second thought was that Blake could still probably break Steve in half.

I pushed it out of my head and then smiled. “Hi, you must be Steve.”

He held out a hand. “I am. And you are Brea.”

“I am.”

He stepped to the side and held out his arm. We were only a couple feet from the parking lot, but I linked my arm through his and let him lead me over to a nice, but not overly fancy car.

“So, you’re Lamb’s nephew?” I knew he was, but I needed something to say. The silence was awkward, and I couldn’t think of anything else to fill it.

He nodded. “She’s my mom’s youngest sister. We’ve always been close.”

Then we were back to silence as he pulled out of the parking lot and started down the street.

“I haven’t seen you around Rawlins before.” I tried again.

“I grew up on a ranch on the other side of town,” he said, glancing at me. “The last four and a half years, though, I’ve been at college. I just graduated in December.”

I seized the subject. “Where’d you go to school?”

“Florida State University,” he said. “You?”

“I didn’t go.” That question used to bother me, but I’d come to peace with my decision back when I’d made it. “I wanted to study botany, but I knew the direction I wanted to go with it wasn’t really something that I could go to college for. It was more the apprenticeship kind of thing.”

He nodded, and the conversation stalled again. If this was the way the rest of the night was going to go, it was going to be a long night.

Steve was exactly the sort of guy I should have been interested in. He wasn’t talkative, but he was certainly more forthcoming than Blake. He was intelligent and educated without being arrogant about it. He had a BA in education and was going back to Florida in the fall to start on his masters. He wanted to teach special needs kids. He played the cello and liked classic cars. And his family – despite his aunt’s odd name – was about as far from mine as a family could be. His parents had been married for twenty-six years. He had three younger sisters he adored. They went to church on the holidays but weren’t overly religious.

On paper, he was perfect.

In person he was handsome and everything I should have wanted.

Except our chemistry sucked. It wasn’t even non-existent. It was like negative chemistry. I hadn’t even known that was a possibility.

As we waited for our check, I wondered if Steve was as aware of how awkward this was and was too polite to say it, or if he honestly thought things were going well. I hoped it wasn’t the latter, because I really didn’t want to hurt him. He deserved someone who could be with him with her whole heart, and I already knew that just wasn’t me.

Still, I couldn’t cut things short. I wouldn’t encourage him, but I wasn’t going to blow him off either.

“Do you want dessert?” Steve asked.

“No, thank you.” I started to reach for my glass, then remembered that it was empty. I hadn’t wanted to ask for a refill, because I would’ve felt obligated to drink it because he was paying for it. I’d tried to say we were on separate checks, but Steve wouldn’t hear of it. Which, of course, made me feel even worse about the fact that this was going nowhere.

He waved over the waiter and asked for the check. When the young man walked away, Steve turned back to me with a look of resignation on his face.

“Okay, honesty time,” he said. “There’s no spark here, is there?”

I breathed a sigh of relief. “No, there’s not. I’m sorry. I really wanted it to be there.”

“Me too.”

Fortunately, we were saved from yet another awkward silence by the return of the waiter with our check. After that, it was simple enough to make small talk until we were on our way back out to the car. Somehow, knowing that this would never go anywhere took away a lot of the conversation anxiety.

“Don’t worry about Aunt Lamb,” he said as we started down the road. “This isn’t the first time she’s set me up with someone she knows, and it didn’t work out. I tend to have a take it or leave it mentality when it comes to dating, but she doesn’t understand how it’s not the most important thing in the world for me. Besides, I’d rather wait to be in a relationship that works than rush into something that doesn’t.”

“Whoever you connect with is going to be a lucky woman,” I said.

“The same to you.” He glanced at me. “A lucky man, I mean.”

Blake’s face flashed in my mind, but I pushed it away. He wasn’t anything to me. Sure, we’d had a great physical connection, but I needed more than that.

As we pulled up in front of my place, I dug in my purse for my keys, then cursed when I couldn’t find them.

“What’s wrong?”

The fact that Steve was concerned even after we’d shared an uncomfortable date and then confessed that we didn’t feel anything for each other made me wish even more that we’d been right for each other.

“I left my keys inside my apartment,” I said. “I must’ve locked the door on my way out and not thought to check for my keys.”

He looked at his watch. “Scott McPherson is handy with locks, and he should still be up.”

“I have a spare set out at my parents’ place,” I said. “I’ll give them a call.”

“Where do your parents live?”

I gave him the address as I pulled out my phone.

“Don’t bother them,” he said. “I’ll take you out there.”

I shook my head. “You don’t need to do that. I’m sure one of them will be able to run them over. I’ll wait here, and you can go ahead home.”

“Nonsense,” he said as he pulled back out onto the road. “I’m not going to let you stand outside in the cold for who knows how long. Just because we don’t work as a couple doesn’t mean I’m going to be a jerk.”

I smiled and settled back into my seat. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

The drive wasn’t exactly comfortable, but now that neither of us had any expectations about the other, it wasn’t nearly as awkward as it had been before. I might not be interested in dating Steve, but I was starting to think that the two of us could be friends.

“Wow,” he said as he drove up the driveway. “It looks great. The last I’d heard, the Miller family had left because they couldn’t pay the mortgage, and the place had fallen apart. Did your parents do all of this?”

“I suppose they did.” I hadn’t known anything about the shape the place had been in when they’d bought it, but it didn’t surprise me. They didn’t do the whole house flipping thing, but they did like fixing things up. “I didn’t see it before they bought it.”

He parked the car. “Do you think they’d mind if I came inside with you? I’d love to see more of what they did.”

“Sure,” I said. “But I need to warn you that if we run into my parents, be careful what you ask them?”

He frowned. “Why?”

“Because they’ll keep you here all night giving you a play-by-play of the restoration process.”

He chuckled as we started for the door, but I didn’t join in his laughter because someone was standing next to the door, glaring at us.

Shit. Blake.