Free Let Go (BWWM Interracial Romance) by Jasmine Garner

I couldn’t believe I found a man like Greg on match.com. He was six feet, five inches with honey eyes and perfect dark choc olate skin. When he parted those thick lips, he showed a dazzling white smile. And on top of that, he was a perfect gentleman- too bad I wasn’t going home with him.
    “Thank you,” I smiled as he held open the door for me to step inside the fancy Italian restaurant.
    It was our first time meeting in person, and he had no qualms about a group date instead of one on one. No matter how hypnotic his smile was, he was still a man I’d met on the internet and I needed to be safe. So our first date had to be a casual get together with my friends- at least, that was my excuse for the group date.
    “Wow, you didn’t tell me you had friends like these,” he whi spered in my ear as we approached the table.
    He grabbed the small of my back as we walked towards the private booth tucked away in the back of the dimly lit restaurant. The small group at the table greeted us as we approached, and I made introductions.
    “Greg, this is Sharon Harding, the CEO of HT Enterprises. This is Mike Willis, founder of The Greenleaf Project. And I’m sure you know Governor Allsworth.”
    “Yes, of course.” Greg offered Sharon his hand and she accep ted his handshake. “Pleasure to dine with you this evening; I was just reading an article about you in Forbes a few days ago.”
    She smiled, which was a lot more than I ever got out of her. Sharon wasn’t too fond of me, and I thought she was quite the bitch. I was glad she showed my date some courtesy, though.
    Greg shook the two men’s hands next. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Willis.”
    “Call me Mike, please. We’re all friends here.”
    I snorted to myself. I didn’t know what his definition of ‘friends’ was, but he obviously didn’t see my interactions with Sharon.
    “And call me Luke,” Governor Allsworth said as he took Greg’s hand.
    Greg looked over at me excitedly as we finally sat at the table; I bet he didn’t expect his online date to be filled with V.I.P.s. Our waitress came and took our drink orders and sat a fresh tray of bread in the center of the table.
    “So, I heard you met Stephanie online?” Luke asked once our drinks came, his blazing ice blue eyes a stark contradiction to his cool demeanor.
    Greg nodded. “Match.com. I made an account a few weeks ago not expecting much, but as soon as I saw Stephanie’s profile, I just had to reach out to her. And she blew me away. I’m so happy she agreed to go out on a date with me.”
    I smiled, taking a sip of my wine as Luke spoke. “She is one of the most unique women I’ve ever met.”
    “And how did you two meet?” Greg asked.
    “On the campaign trail. She was present at one of my rallies and caught my attention with her interesting insight. We’ve formed a nice friendship as a result, and I like to meet up with her to pick that brain of hers every once in a while.”
    “Wow,” Greg said, looking over at me in awe. I was impres sing him without even saying anything.
    I feigned a shocked expression. “Well Luke, I didn’t know you thought so highly of me; I thought I was just here as eye candy,” I joked.
    The men laughed as I took another drink of my wine, and Sharon rolled her eyes as she guzzled down her strawberry margarita. The night was on track to be a good one; why did she have to come to ruin it? It was a perfect night for her to be out of town- or at least stuck at the office late.
    Greg held his own with the big boys all night; they seemed to genuinely enjoy his company. We didn’t have a lot of time to focus on each other, but that was fine with me. The less I knew about him, the easier it would be to cut ties. Although I wasn’t interested in him, I was smart enough to know that he was quite a catch.
    Midway through dinner, I felt a foot rubbing against me. I shook my head and laughed to myself. Was he really playing footsie? Greg excused himself to go to the