Free Want Me by Jo Leigh Page A

He reran the evening as nearly as he could
remember and nothing jumped out at him. Nothing even whispered vaguely.
Everything had been fine, then whoosh, she was out of there like a shot, and
her cheeks had burned pink, and he was utterly bewildered.
    He debated going after her, but
he doubted she wanted to be chased. So he raised his arm and flagged down
another cab, too dazed to care about how long it took.
    The wait at the deli was even
longer. He tried to think about the condo, then about tomorrow’s meeting
with the attorney, but each thought was hijacked by Shannon. He gave in and
picked up one of the free papers at the door and turned to the classified
section. It wasn’t very big, and most of it was for rentals and rent
shares.
    It kept him occupied for a
couple of minutes while he stood in line, but then thoughts of Shannon
returned to bedevil him. He wasn’t dim about women. He had enough empirical
evidence to prove it. He was perfectly capable of picking up signals, and
ever since the wedding, he and Shannon had definitely been signaling. Which
was complicated because—
    “Oh,” he said aloud, gaining the
attention of the older woman in front of him. He smiled briefly, then went
back to his revelation.
    She’d left because of the
signals. The heat between them.
    No, wait, that wasn’t quite
right. She’d run because of the complications that came along with the heat
between them. Now everything was falling into place. He sighed, and it must
have been a hell of a sigh because the same older woman put her hand on the
back of her hair, turned and gave him a very disgruntled glare.
    He smiled again, dismissed the
notion of apologizing and went back to his theory. Luckily, the unhappy
woman and her group were led to a table, and a few minutes later he was
sitting in a small booth underneath a wall of framed celebrity photographs,
staring at a large menu.
    Since he already knew what he
was having, he waited impatiently for someone to take his order, asking
preemptively for take-out containers, then, with his Dr. Brown’s Cream Soda
crackling over ice, he pulled out his cell phone.
    He turned it so he could text,
then thought for a moment before he decided to keep things light and easy.
No reason to stir the pot yet.
    I can order an extra
knish if you want. Maybe some chopped liver?
    Nate smiled at that.
Shannon hated liver in any guise. As the seconds ticked by, his smile faded.
He probably shouldn’t have texted her. She’d left because she was
uncomfortable, and he could only guess at the why. That whole signal thing?
Was that just wishful thinking on his part? He got all hot and bothered when
he touched her, or saw her, or thought of her, but she might not feel a
thing.
    Maybe he was making her
uncomfortable, not the complications. She’d come to see the condo tonight
because she felt obligated. He was Danny’s best friend, practically part of
their family. Of course she’d agree to come help him find a place. She
wanted him out of the house. Her house. Jesus, what had he—
    His phone beeped, notifying him
of an incoming text. He clicked it so fast he almost dropped the
phone.
    Thanks, but that’s ok.
Sorry I ran off.
    Don’t worry about it.
Stuff happens.
    It was rude. I wanted to
ask you something.
    I’m all ears. Or eyes, I
suppose.
    Nate tensed. He felt
it from his neck to his calves. It didn’t make a lot of sense, considering
she was probably going to ask him something completely innocuous.
    U interested in dating
while you’re in town?
    Dating? She was
asking him on a date? On the cell phone? So he’d been right. It was about
the signals. He’d known it, dammit. Things didn’t get that hot between two
people without both of them knowing. Especially when one of them had worn
nothing but a towel and a rising hard-on. But he still had to play it cool.
It would be a damn shame to scare her off now.
    Sure. What did u have in
mind?
    He sipped his soda
as he waited. And waited. It must be one