Free Love or Luxury by Heather Thurmeier Page A

be so much fun."
    "No." He shook his head, the smiling falling from his face as his expression turned serious again. "That was high school. It's different now."
    Or you're different now?
    "Why, don't you like music anymore?" she teased.
    "Yeah, I like music to play in the background while we talk and relax and at a normal volume. But honestly, I have no desire to get up and dance around after I've just finished a long day at work. This is nice. Just sitting and relaxing and enjoying good food." He eased back into his chair even more.
    Disappointment spread through her. Would he always be too tired after work to do anything more than have dinner, or was it because he was still getting his feet wet in his new clinic? But hadn't he been doing these kinds of hours for a long time while in residency?Shouldn't he be used to this life by now?
    She sighed. Was this what she had to look forward to if a relationship with Reid became a real possibility?
    "I like dancing. I think it's kind of fun and good stress relief. Good exercise, too."
    "I jog. I don't need to dance. And really, the thought of eating in a restaurant where people are shaking their bottoms around is very unappetizing."
    "Oh." Her spirits fell a little further, but she shrugged them off. There was a positive in here somewhere, there had to be. She'd just had to work harder to find it. "What if we ate dinner at one place, then went to a club to dance later?"
    He shook his head. "I don't think it's appropriate for a doctor to be out dancing at all hours of the night. People expect a certain level of decorum from a doctor. I don't think I'd ever feel comfortable doing that."
    Well, poop on you.
    Why was Reid being such a stick in the mud? It wasn't like she was asking him to go see a stripper or something. Just a little harmless dancing.
    Finn danced right beside where they'd eaten on their date at Eclipse, and he didn't seem to care. And he didn't seem to give a crap if anyone saw them dancing either.
    But she wasn't on a date with Finn. And Finn wasn't a prestigious doctor in the Meadow.
    She was on a date with Reid, and it wasn't doing her any good to compare him to Finn. Reid was a wonderful, successful man with whom she had a history and a chance for a real future. Finn was… temporary.
    Dancing was no big deal. Certainly, it wasn't a deal breaker in her quest to find true love.
    "Okay, so dancing's not your thing. What do you like to do for fun?" Surely they had some other things in common. They both loved the food at Luna. This couldn't be their only thing.
    "Jogging."
    She waited patiently for him to say more. When he didn't, she asked, "Anything else?"
    "I like to read or watch the evening news. And on the weekend I enjoy a round of golf every now and then. Do you golf?"
    Not unless I have to.
    "Sure." She tried to sound upbeat and positive, but it couldn't last. Not about golf. She couldn't start a relationship, or even just dating someone, with a lie about sports. She didn't like sports and nothing was going to change that. "Actually, I've only tried golf a couple of times, and I can't say I loved it." Hated it actually. "Or that I was good at it." Pathetic really.
    "I could teach you if you have any interest in learning." He swirled his sangria in his glass before taking a sip, then said, "I used to love going out on the course with my mom and dad, then finishing the day with dinner at the club. I always thought that would be awesome to carry on with my own family someday."
    He looked so happy at the thought of teaching her and fulfilling his dream of the perfect golfing family, she couldn't bring herself to say no. To tell him the full truth that the mere idea of spending an entire afternoon on the course, driving around in one of those silly miniature cars, and getting sunstroke didn't sound like her idea of fun. Ever.
    Well, maybe driving the little car sounded sort of fun.
    Although, she was the girl who would end up crashing it into a water hazard. Maybe