The following evening, Hannah, Tony the resident, and Barry the blind date picked me up at my apartment in Tony’s beat-up truck.

“Do you work at the hospital too?” I asked Barry as we drove to the theater. We were both sitting in the back seat.

What did he look like?

He reminded me of a blond teddy bear—but not in a bad way. He was stocky and worked out, but he had more stuffing on him than hard muscles. I guess you could say he looked cuddly.

And cuddly could be good.

If your heart wasn’t somewhere else.

“No,” he said. “I work in the legal department for an accounting firm. Tony said you work in a clothing store. Do you enjoy it?”

“I own a boutique that caters to the romantic in all of us. And yes, I love owning my own business.”

And that, ladies and gentlemen, was the end of that conversation.

We both sat there, struggling to come up with something else to talk about. Fortunately, Tony and Hannah decided to tell us about a kid who figured playing hide and seek with the hospital staff was a great idea. More so than being jabbed by a needle. Both Barry and I feigned interest.

At the movie theatre, the guys bought our tickets while Hannah and I bought the drinks. Since the movie had already been out for a few weeks, it wasn’t very busy. Hannah was sandwiched between the two men, with me on the seat next to Barry.

My opinion of Hannah’s date?

He was good-looking. I’d give him that. And he seemed nice enough—not that it was easy to tell with all the small talk the four of us had done so far.

The movie began, and I settled in for a show that had nothing to do with romance…yet I couldn’t stop thinking about Travis and about my store.

I hadn’t signed the lease for the new location, but I had phoned Janet after deciding to go for it. She was dropping by my store tomorrow. I couldn’t explain why, but it just felt wrong moving to another location—not that I had a choice.

Don’t quiz me on what the movie was about. It was a blur of mindless action and pointless banter that had Barry and Tony laughing. Oh, well. At least they were enjoying themselves.

Things didn’t improve much once we got to the restaurant.

“Naturally, I’m disappointed that Chelsea was appointed head of the committee,” Tony told us. “I was obviously a much better choice.”

No—I had no idea what committee he was talking about. I’d kind of tuned him out about three minutes ago. Hannah, on the other hand, was listening to him, with rapt interest, as if he was explaining how he had found the cure for the common cold.

Shortly after the waitress took our order, Hannah’s phone pinged. She glanced at the screen and typed what I guessed to be a reply to whoever had sent her the text.

“Hannah mentioned you work in retail,” Tony said, feigning the same level of interest as I had just done to him.

“That’s right.” I gave him a wide grin. “I own a store that is about love and romance and hot sex.”

Nothing spiced up a conversation faster than the mention of hot sex.

Tony’s gaze slid to Hannah in the most appreciative, sleazy way. It was much the same look Barry gave me. Not that I cared. It wasn’t like I was ever seeing him again.

“Who doesn’t like hot sex?” Tony said. “What kind of things are we talking about?”

“Porn, sex toys, lingerie,” I said, doing my best not to laugh. The poor idiot had no idea he had stepped into a trap.

Hannah, on the other hand, was watching me with her eyebrows raised in surprise. Normally, I wouldn’t mention hot sex when talking about my store—and she knew it.

She also knew I was up to something.

The tip of Tony’s tongue slid along his lower lip. “Whips and leather?”

The worried look in Hannah’s eyes? Yeah—I’d be worried if I were her, too.

Funny, he didn’t look like the BDSM type. But what did I know?

Hannah’s worried expression changed and she looked…relieved? Her gaze was focused on something over my shoulder. Around us, the typical restaurant chatter increased to a new level of excitement.

“Hey, what are you two doing here?” Travis asked behind me—and just like that, my heart rate picked up speed and my traitorous body cheered.

Inwardly groaning, I spun around in my seat. Travis wasn’t alone. Wes and Liam were with him, both appearing amused.

Travis held out his hand to my date. “Hi, I’m Travis, and you would be…?”

Barry shook Travis’s hand with such vigor, I was surprised it didn’t fall off. “Hey, man, I know exactly who you are. Travis Hamilton. Defense for the San Francisco Rock. I’m Barry—Emma’s date.”

“What are you doing here?” I asked Travis, repeating his original question. Of all the restaurants in San Francisco, why this one?

“They have great pizza.”

True. “What—you don’t have any great pizza places near your apartment?”

“Sure, but this one’s the best.”

Liam and Wes nodded in agreement, still looking amused.

The hostess who had seated us approached the three men. “Your table’s ready now.”

Barry scanned the nearby tables. “Is it possible to bring that table”—he pointed to the one in question—“over here so our friends can join us?”

Our friends? Since when did introducing yourself to a stranger suddenly turn you into buddies?

I expected Travis to turn down the suggestion. I mean, surely they had better things to do than crash Hannah’s and my date.

“That’s a great idea,” Travis said, and I barely kept my mouth from flopping open. But considering it was my date’s idea, there wasn’t anything I could do…other than suck it up.

The hostess indicated to the nearby busboy. Together with Travis’s help, they moved the empty table and chairs to join us. Wes sat next to Hannah. Liam sat at the end of the table, leaving only one other spot available.

Next to me.

And if I’d thought I was a lost cause at the sound of Travis’s voice, that was nothing compared to his familiar scent and pheromones being so close to me. Even in the two days since I’d last seen him, my reaction to them hadn’t weakened. Quite the opposite.

Travis leaned in close to me—a little bit too close.

Just ask my heart. It was now beating like a crazed fangirl on caffeine.

Encouraged by my girlie parts, of course.

Damn them all.

“So how long have you two known each other?” Travis asked me and Barry.

“Barry’s a friend of Tony,” I said, pointing to Hannah’s date.

Wes leaned in front of Hannah and extended his hand to Tony. His chest pressed against her shoulder and she flinched. “Hey. Wes.”

Tony shook the proffered hand. “Good to meet you.” His tone implied the opposite.

Wes straightened and parked his arm partly on the back of Hannah’s chair. “So how do you know each other?” he asked the happy couple.

Hannah gave him a blank look and glanced at Travis.

Travis shrugged at her unspoken question. Why did I feel like I was missing something here?

“I’m a resident at the hospital where Hannah works,” Tony said.

“Did you hear the great news?” Hannah asked Travis even though she sounded far from excited. “Emma found a new location for Aphrodite’s. She’s signing the lease tomorrow.”

Wes’s questioning gaze shot to Travis.

Travis shifted in his seat, his leg brushing against mine. I gasped softly at the electrical current zinging through me and jerked my leg away.

“When did you start looking for a new location?” he asked me, frowning.

“Yesterday. Like I told you the other day, since our little arrangement’s over, I didn’t expect you to help me anymore.”

“But what about the part where I said I would talk to the owner of the building and convince him to let you stay where you are?”

“And what if you can’t do that? I couldn’t take the risk. I need to advertise the move and I was running out of time. Now I can announce it at the fundraiser next week.”

Wes cleared his throat.

“Do you want to move?” Travis asked me.

“Of course not. I mean the new place is nice and all, but I’m happier where I am. But this isn’t about me being happier there. It’s about my lease not being renewed. It’s about me losing everything I care about.” I gave him a pointed look I knew he couldn’t translate. He had no way of knowing how I felt about him.

And I wasn’t about to tell him now—especially not in front of my date.

Either deciding that our conversation was over or he just wasn’t interested in it, Barry jumped in with a barrage of questions about the Rock and about playing in the NHL.

Not once during their conversation did he acknowledge my existence. I could have gone to the bathroom and he wouldn’t have noticed.

Ooh. That was a good idea.

I excused myself.

Hannah pushed her chair away from the table, forcing Wes to drop his arm from the back of her seat. “I’ll come with you.” She threw Wes an exasperated look and scrambled after me.

“I can’t believe he showed up here,” I muttered on the way to the bathroom.

The comment was intended for myself, but I guess I said it loud enough for Hannah to overhear. “Why wouldn’t he show up?” she asked.

Her response caused me to stop and I spun around to face her. “What do you mean why wouldn’t he show up? He had no idea I was going to be here.”

The best thing about Hannah? She wasn’t good at poker—which meant she hadn’t developed a poker face.

“You told him I’d be here?”

“I might have hinted it when I saw him in your building yesterday.”

“But why would you do that?” I asked.

“Because maybe I was hoping he would show up, get jealous at seeing you with another man, and realize he loves you.”

“Clearly your plan backfired. He’s not in love with me and he knows it. But Wes definitely seems intent on sabotaging your date.”

Hannah rolled her eyes. “He’s just acting like an alpha jerk.”

“An alpha jerk who obviously likes you.”

That earned me another eye roll.

The bathroom was empty when we entered. We quickly did our business and left.

A word of advice. It’s always a good idea when you leave the bathroom to look where you’re going. Eyes in front. Because Murphy’s Law clearly states that if you aren’t looking in front of you, this is when you’re guaranteed to walk into someone.

I slammed into the poor unfortunate soul I wasn’t paying attention to. “Sorry,” I said as I glanced up…and groaned. Travis.

But I guess I shouldn’t have been too surprised. The tingling that I’d experienced when he’d accidentally brushed his leg against mine at the table? It had zinged through me once again when I bumped into him.

“Do you make it a habit of lurking outside ladies’ bathrooms?” I asked.

Hannah slipped out from behind me and walked away without a word to us.

“I want to talk to you,” he said.

“Kind of guessed that. But I should get back to my date. He’s waiting for me.” Unless the gods of bad blind dates had decided to give me a break and Barry had already bailed.

Travis parked his hand on the wall above my head. “Are you interested in him?”

“Weren’t you the one who said that someday a man’s gonna fall in love with me and never want to let me go? Maybe he’s the one.” Did I believe that was the case with Barry? Not in a million and one years.

“You never answered my question,” Travis said. “Are you interested in him?”

I shook my head as my heart demanded I tell him that I loved him—because what was the worst he could do?

Laugh in my face.

Remind me that he’ll never risk loving anyone.

Run.

Most likely run.

If I wasn’t Dr. Lovejoy, I’d write to her to get some advice. But since I was, that wasn’t an option. It was always easy to give advice when it wasn’t your heart at stake.

“Are you interested in me?” His voice was rough and raw sensual man that set my body tingling again.

My gaze dropped to his mouth. My body screamed, Of course I’m interested in you.

Some people claim that when you’re in a life or death situation, your life flashes before your eyes. My life wasn’t in jeopardy, so instead I witnessed a montage of those people who had given up on me. My father. My mother. My ex-boyfriend.

And what were odds that Travis would be no different than everyone else?

“No—I’m not interested in you either.” It might have been more convincing if I hadn’t still been staring at his lips.

With all the willpower I had inside me, I turned to walk away.

I didn’t get far. He blocked my escape route.

Then his lips were on mine and my traitorous legs decided to stick around.

They weren’t the only mutinous parts. Even though the kiss was nothing more than the light questioning of lips, it wasn’t enough for me. I let him in.

Needing to taste him, I stroked my tongue against his and softly moaned. If this was heaven—I never wanted to leave.

Travis knotted his fingers in my hair and tugged the curls, pulling my head back and deepening the kiss.

It only lasted for several heartbeats before Travis moved away. “That’s what I thought.”

And with that he walked away, leaving me standing there dazed.

Still in a daze, I returned to the table. Everyone there was laughing when I approached. Not at me but at something one of them had said.

Pretending nothing had just happened between Travis and me, I sat. Then I spent the rest of the meal wondering how I would survive once he was no longer in my life—beginning next week, after the fundraiser.

Lucky me.