Free Looking for Love by Kathy Bosman Page A

knew it was
her. How did he?
    “ Yeah, it’s me.”
    “ Oh, I’m so glad. Been worried about you. Did you survive
Saturday with all those people in your house? Were any of them
chancers or losers come to take advantage of you?”
    “ Ross, none of them. They were
all legit and very good clients. Talking about clients, one of them
asked me on a date today.” Her voice came out fake upbeat. “Can you
believe it? At last I said yes.”
    “ You what?”
    Not the
response she had expected.
    “ He doesn’t mind not being my
client. I mean, I can forego one payment. It’s going well. Anyway,
I’m not doing this for the money. I’m doing it to help my
community.”
    “ I knew you’d get sucked in by
these creeps. They’re guys who can’t find a decent girl, so
they —”
    “ Ross, come on. He’s really nice.
We had a long chat. He’s a lot like you—had some bad luck
relationships. We have that in common. Maybe there’s a
chance.”
    Silence.
    She should have kept her mouth shut and
not told a soul. Seemed like no one wanted to share in her
joy.
    “ I can’t say I trust this. I
can’t tell you what to do, but I just don’t feel right about
it.”
    One up on Carol. But still
bossy.
    “ I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have told
you—”
    “ No, El. You must tell me. I
suppose.”
    He sounded so sad. Her insides lurched.
Suddenly, the date with Dirk didn’t seem so exciting
anymore.
    “ It doesn’t mean our friendship is over. You know that. We’ve
always made it clear right from the beginning to our dates that we
have this friendship between us.”
    “ I know.”
    Her heart churned inside of her. What was
up with him? She didn’t like him to be sad. It kind of burst the
bubble of happiness since she’d said yes to her date.
    “ Are you okay, Ross?”
    “ I don’t know. Let me come over.”
    “ Right now?” She looked at her
watch.
    “ Just for a few minutes.”
    “ Oh, okay.”
    She put the phone down and rushed upstairs
to her bedroom to dress for her date. At least that would make it
less of a rush when Ross left. She put on her favourite smart jeans
and a new blouse she’d splashed out on for a work dinner which
she’d only worn once. She took about five minutes to straighten her
hair and apply a fresh coat of make-up. She spritzed her Egyptian
perfume on and rushed to brush her teeth. While the electric
toothbrush droned on, she used her free hand to strap on her heeled
sandals. The doorbell rang. She rinsed and spat and hobbled
downstairs in her strappy shoes with the one buckle
undone.
    She flung open the door. Ross stood there,
biting the inside of his cheek.
    “ Come in. I’ve just got ready so
it’s not such a rush. He’s coming in about forty minutes. His name
is Dirk, by the way.”
    Ross merely stared at her and then his
face grew all soft and sentimental, like she’d expect her mom to be
when she got engaged. He reached forward and stroked her cheek with
the side of his forefinger. She shivered and pushed him out the way
to close the door.
    “ Whew, there’s a biting breeze coming in through that door.
Must be rain on the way.”
    He didn’t walk in and sit down like she
expected but stood in the entrance as if his feet were glued to the
floor. Did he have a strong feeling about her date? Like this was
it. Maybe Dirk would be ‘the man.’ Could she have found the love of
her life at last? She bent down to buckle up her left shoe. As she
came up, feeling a little light-headed from the rushing and the
sudden head lift, she found Ross’s face very close to hers. Too
close for comfort. He rested his palm on her cheek and then brought
his mouth onto hers. She tried to pull away, but he gripped her
firmly around the waist with his other hand.
    Ross was kissing her?
    Since when did Ross kiss…?
    Oh, darn, the kiss felt nice.
    Her head spun. Warm streaks of comfort
sank into her. She closed her eyes and took in his scent. Ross’s
scent was warm, manly, and quite pleasant today.