5.

 

“Now that the event is over, it’s time to begin thinking about who we had the greatest connection with. Everyone is going to receive a sheet of paper with a list of participants and their numbers on them. Honestly rank your interest and rate your attraction between a one and a ten. We will get in touch with them on your behalf and arrange a potential meeting time if you are both mutually interested. If not, that is okay too. There are many fish in the sea and we all have individual needs when it comes to romantic interest. Nothing we do is the be all that ends all in our love lives. There is always a second chance to meet someone who may be better for you than you could ever imagine. So, let’s get this started! Hand in your papers to the host at the door as you leave. Be honest and have fun with it! This is dating, after all, not the end of the world.”

Mia glanced from Cindy to her paper, then back to the host and sighed. None of the men had caught her interest. Not really. She had already known several of them, and those she hadn’t were a bit too full of themselves or just too incompatible seeming. She was about to write that on her paper, but her hand paused, and she looked up at Rhett. Why was she wavering? He was clearly a sexist ass who didn’t think that a woman with her brain could ever possibly be able to comprehend the types of things he did. She didn’t want to be attracted to him.

Not only that but he wasn’t even punctual. What kind of future could they possibly have at that point?

Still, something deep within her was crying out, telling her to mark him down. Nobody else there had been interesting enough. At the very least, she had been attracted to him. Just like every other sane woman in the room with good eyesight. There was just something incredibly handsome about him. He stood out in a strange, almost otherworldly way, and she was lying to pretend that she had no attraction to him whatsoever.

Although the idea of having another conversation with him made her a little irate already, she jotted down his number, with a side note that said there was attraction but not a lot of compatibility. How could she ever date a man who made women seem inferior to his intelligence? She was raising a daughter, after all. A young woman who knew exactly how much a young woman’s mind and heart were worth. There was no way she was going to just introduce this sexist pig to a young and impressionable girl who was going to approach the world, one day, based on what she had learned from her main influences.

“Ready to go?” Cindy asked, coming up from behind Mia. Mia startled and grabbed the paper, pressing it against her chest so that her friend wouldn’t be able to read what she had written. For some reason, she was very embarrassed and secretive about her budding attraction to Rhett. Ashamed, maybe, considering she knew what a close-minded jerk he might turn out to be.

And yet, there was something about him that made it feel impossible for her to overlook the incredible attraction she had felt toward him. As if maybe she was missing something. Maybe she wasn’t getting the whole story.

It was a strange and confusing mixture of emotion, so she wasn’t very keen on sharing her feelings with her friend, despite the fact that they usually talked about everything. She knew they were probably going to dish all the way back to her mother’s house to pick up Jewel, but, for now, she wanted a chance to keep her feelings to herself and sort them out.

Even if she wanted to take back what she had written, it was too late now. She wasn’t about to set it down so that Cindy could see it and ask her questions. What if they liked the same men? That would make things really awkward. Or what if Cindy had hated that sexist pig as much as Mia had, and would judge her for having him on her list at all? Sure, they were best friends, but something about this felt extremely personal. Mia just wanted to keep it to herself.

“I’m ready,” Mia lied. Her hands were twitching with the desire to take back what she had written down about Rhett. The last thing she needed was to be contacted in the future to find that they had some sort of date set up that, of course, was optional. She didn’t have to go. But being matched up after the fact would surely clue him in on the fact that she had been interested in him. But was she really? Maybe he was just the most interesting guy there out of the narrow selection she had had to choose from. Surely, he wouldn’t take it too personally, would he?

Who could know. And, anyway, it was too late now.

“Okay, come on. It’s getting late. And I kind of want to get out of here. See that guy over there?” Cindy pointed to a tall man with an angular nose who was staring intently at the two of them. “He’s been looking at us for the entire time we were here. I don’t know what his problem is, but it’s really starting to creep me out. Let’s go before anything weird happens with this guy.”

“Right,” Mia said quietly, stepping away from the table she had been working at and following her friend toward the door. She would stay quiet and calm and leave without making a fuss about her stupid choice of putting Rhett down on her list. It was better than the creepy guy in the corner. “I got a weird vibe from him when we were talking earlier. He seemed nice enough but there was something about him I didn’t like. I couldn’t put my finger on why.”

“Maybe because of those major stalker vibes,” Cindy said, raising her brow and nodding toward the doorway. “Don’t give him any more attention than you have to. Those stalkery types live for that kind of shit. Let’s just get the hell out of here and pick up your daughter.”

“Sounds good,” Mia said.

“So, what did the two of you think of our event?” the host at the door asked, snatching their papers away before Mia had a chance to hide it or correct her mistake.

“It was very interesting, I can tell you that much,” she said, smiling back at the host, trying not to let on to her discomfort.

“I am glad that you think so,” the woman said, her eyes boring deeply into Mia’s. “Did you find anyone you can imagine a future with?”

Mia was startled by the question and her eyes involuntarily searched the room for Rhett. She couldn’t find him and instead locked onto the intense gaze of the creepy man Cindy had pointed out. She nearly yelped in surprise and concern but managed to hold it in and turned back to the host.

“I guess we’ll see,” she said, laughing nervously.

“Thanks for everything,” Cindy said, gripping Mia by the elbow. “But we have to get going now. Have a little girl to get home and tuck in.”

“I understand,” the host said cheerfully. “Have a great night and thanks for coming!”

When they were out the door, Cindy turned to Mia and shook her head. “You made eye contact with creepy guy! You know, if they match you up with him, he is going to think that you are soulmates or something like that. Good luck.”

“I really don’t think it would be that bad, would it?” Mia asked, though the nervous butterflies in her stomach were telling her otherwise. “We didn’t really have all that much to talk about.”

“That’s probably because he was too busy staring at you,” Cindy mumbled. She got into the car and sighed. “I swear, we attract such losers sometimes.”

Mia thought of Rhett; handsome, charming, intelligent, jackass… and quickly agreed with her friend’s statement. “I think you are right about that,” she said whole-heartedly.

Before Mia got into the car though, a jolt of fear surged through her as a hand gripped her shoulder.

“What the…”

When she turned her head to glance over her shoulder, Mia cried out in fear.

“What are you doing?”

It was the man that had been staring at her inside.

“I think you and I have a lot of potential, baby,” he said, his voice slurred and the scent of alcohol heavy on his breath. “I want you to come home with me tonight and you will see exactly what I mean.”

“Please get your hand off of me. I am flattered, really, but I have somewhere I need to be.”

“I don’t think you understand,” he said, his eyes growing cold. He whipped her around, so she was facing him and came far too close to her face. “I want you to come home with me. You and I are going to make things work. That’s the only place you have to go.”

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Suddenly, the man was no longer holding onto Mia’s shoulder and his back was pinned sharply against Cindy’s car. Mia stepped away quickly, her mind spinning as she tried to take in the scene before her. Rhett had appeared out of nowhere and was glaring hard at the man that had attempted to attack her.

“This isn’t any of your business, asshole. The little lady and I were just having a talk. She’s interested in me, you know.”

“The ‘little lady’ asked you to get your hands off of her,” Rhett said, his voice low and menacing. “Or did you miss that part?”

He glared at the man, who gazed murkily back at Rhett, his eyes clearly having a hard time focusing.

“Oh.”

Rhett shook his head and shoved the man away from the car, stepping between the drunk and Mia.

“Go home, man. You need to sober up.”

The man stood there, squinting at Rhett, but ended up slowly nodding at him before turning his back and walking away.

When Rhett faced her again, Mia’s heart began to pound wildly in her chest. She stared at him, unable to deny the depth of her arousal for this terse and strange but incredibly sexy man.

“Are you all right?” he asked, looking her up and down, his handsome brow creased in concern.

“Fine. I’m fine.”

Rhett gave a small nod and then turned away, heading back to the building without another word.

Mia opened her mouth, tempted to call out to him, but no words managed to fall from her lips. She simply watched him go, sighing inwardly as she ducked back inside Cindy’s car and leaned back in the seat.

“Holy shit, that was crazy!” Cindy said with a sharp laugh. “Are you okay?”

Mia laughed along with her, her body and mind still swirling with the intense emotions.

“I’m fine. Let’s get the hell out of here before anything else happens.”

Cindy nodded, and they began to pull out of the parking lot. A sudden loud thud against the car startled them both and Cindy slammed on the brakes.

“Shit!” Cindy shouted, gripping her chest tightly in panic. Mia looked around for the cause of the commotion, her heart pounding wildly. What the hell was it this time?

She groaned and then locked eyes upon Rhett. Her heart continued drumming for a whole different reason entirely, and she rolled her window down, her eyes knitting in agitation.

“What the hell are you doing, dude?” she exclaimed, waving her hand in the air in exasperation. “You scared the crap out of us! What do you want? Did you need me to thank you or something?”

Rhett opened and closed his mouth, frozen by the aggression she was exhibiting. Finally, he held something out to her, his face impossible to read.

“You dropped this,” he said, his deep, rumbling voice quiet. “I don’t want you to leave without it.”

“Oh!” Mia snatched the picture of Jewel out of Rhett’s hand and stuffed it back in her purse. It must have fallen out when the creepy guy had harassed her. “Thanks.”

“Is that your daughter?” he asked, studying her carefully.

“Yes. Jewel.”

She could have kicked herself for saying her daughter’s name to this man. She was usually so much more guarded than that. Why did she feel like it was so easy, almost natural, to open up to this man in such a casual way?

Rhett nodded, then stuck his hands into his pockets and eyed her steadily. “She looks a lot like you. You are both very beautiful.”

He turned away without waiting for an answer and Mia gaped after him.

“Well, that was weird,” Cindy said, rolling the windows up with her automatic window button and continuing on her way out. “He’s super attractive, though.”

Mia shrugged half-heartedly. “He’s kind of an ass too.”

Cindy raised her brow. “Oh really? He also kind of saved your ass. You didn’t even thank him. Are you sure he is the bigger ass here?”

Mia felt her friend’s interest pique and she clamped her mouth shut, gritting her teeth in frustration. “Yes, he is. He implied that I don’t know what I am talking about when it comes to engineering.”

“You don’t know anything about engineering,” Cindy pointed out, raising her brow in amusement.

“No, just…” Mia sighed in exasperation. “That I wouldn’t be able to understand. Like I am just dense or something. Or that women can’t get the kinds of things men do. Trust me, he is a jerk. And I want nothing to do with him.”

“Oh, okay,” Cindy said, though the lilt in her voice suggested she was on to Mia. And, for some reason, that made her feel very irate. Who was Cindy to judge whether or not Mia wanted something to do with a guy? Just because he was stupidly attractive didn’t automatically make him dating material. She had standards, for crying out loud. And she wanted to make sure she was going to try to invest time in worthy men who would make her daughter feel valued and full of great potential. Not men like Rhett, who seemed to think, for some reason, that it was beyond her to get what it was that he dealt with. Just because what? She was a woman? Did he think he was that special or something? What a jerk.

And yet, she had put him on her list. Why? Just because she hadn’t met any other men at the event that had made her feel interested? She hated herself for it. And yet, Rhett was lingering in her mind. She had even told him her daughter’s name. There was certainly more at work here than just the run of the mill agitation. It felt somehow bigger than that. But she couldn’t quite explain why or how.

And she didn’t want to. She was just going to go back to her mother’s house to pick Jewel up, then prepare herself for the morning shift at the diner while her daughter was in school the next day. She had no time to worry about men like Rhett. Not when she had a real life to take care of that involved her being a badass who could accomplish anything she put her mind to, even when the men around her tried to imply that she was incompetent.

Screw Rhett.

Mia gritted her teeth as involuntary questions about what the man might look like with his clothes off began to flood her mind. Yeah, he was attractive. Ridiculously so. And sure, maybe he would be good in bed. But there was nothing else to him than that. She was sure of it. She had seen it for herself. Hadn’t she?

With a heavy sigh, Mia leaned back against the passenger’s seat and gazed out the window as Cindy began to talk cheerfully about the evening and all the different types of men they had encountered. Rhett’s name only came up once, and Mia tried quickly to change the subject before falling into an abject silence.