Ann chuckled nervously. “That was off the cuff. Trust me, I did not ask for any of this. Georgia tricked me.”
“That fight is between you and my mother. Just remember it’s not like you have to pick one and then marry the guy,” Mariah explained around a smile. “Most of my clients just want a nice, pleasant dinner date they don’t have to worry will get the wrong ideas or create a drama they don’t have time to deal with. Sometimes they only want a dance partner for an evening. They have money and spend it on all kinds of things. I rarely have anyone challenge my fees.”
Remembering one thing she’d said in her video, a blushed climbed her face. “Oh lord, they all know I belly dance, don’t they? I said that in the video. Are they going to expect me to dance for them?”
Mariah giggled as she shrugged. “I’m sure your disclosure drew some interest, but I don’t think it will come up on a first date.”
Ann put her hands to her hot cheeks. “I’m totally embarrassed now.”
“Let’s look at this differently. Want to know which guy I have in mind for you?” Mariah asked.
Nodding, Ann shoved the folder full of at least a dozen men back across the desk. Mariah sorted through them, then passed one photo back. Ann took it and looked at it. The man was very handsome. And he was older.
“Is he my age?” Ann asked.
“Yes. Your age,” Mariah said, confirming the guess.
Then she saw the name on the bottom. “Mariah? Isn’t this the guy Georgia likes?”
“Yes,” Mariah said firmly. “He’s also the guy who needs an already trained dancing date for some charity event he’s being honored at. Do you do any ballroom dancing?”
“I do all kinds of dancing, but…” Ann paused, chewing on her lip. Nasty habit, but one she couldn’t seem to break. “What about Georgia?”
“Mom swears she’s not interested and Brent deserves someone nice. You’re the nicest woman I know amongst Mom’s friends.”
“Thank you,” Ann said on autopilot. “But I thought this guy always dated younger women.”
“No. That was Mom being judgmental. Brent dates all kinds of women and he recently confirmed for me that age isn’t an issue,” Mariah said, leaning over her desk. “I figure you’ll either like him for yourself, or be able to tell me if he’s worth what it will take to convince my mother to go out with him.”
Her mouth dropped open in shock. “You want me to check him out for Georgia?”
Mariah shrugged, her mouth twisting in sheepish amusement. “Only if you want to be his dance partner for an evening. Brent’s a sweetie and a charmingly attentive date, at least at first, from what I hear. However, he has adult children problems and tends to become easily distracted after he gets to know a woman. The reviews on him are mixed, but he truly does look even better in person than in that picture. I’m sure he would be a great man to ease back into dating with. His interest in my mother is not his normal reaction to women. Usually he’s more laid back about them.”
“Is Georgia right about him being a bad boy?”
“Not in the way she thinks he is,” Mariah said, grinning at Ann’s surprise. “Brent loves women… sincerely loves women. His career is based on that love. Before his first wife died, she was disfigured in a car accident. He fixed her completely and her successful recovery helped him build his still phenomenal career. She was beautiful right up until she passed away from cancer. Honestly, I don’t think he ever got over her.”
Ann let out a sad breath. “You said his first wife. Did I hear that right? How many times has he been married?”
Mariah hummed as she thought. “I think four or five times—the latter ones all with prenuptial agreements—the man is super smart about people. He finally stopped marrying after I started fixing him up with the occasional match. Now he just enjoys female company for a while, but it doesn’t last. This is why I’m not keen to fix him up with my mother.”
“So what is this about me dating him? I don’t know, Mariah.” Ann studied the handsome man in the photo. “If Georgia does like him, even a little, me dating him could hurt her. I don’t want to do that. I like your mother.”
“The event Brent needs a dance partner for is nothing intimate—not like a real date. Think of this as him hiring you as a dance instructor for the evening. What you learn about him can help all of us, including Mom. If she’s correct about Brent, I need to get her mind off him fast. Right?”
“I suppose that’s true,” Ann admitted.
Mariah dug through the folder again. She pulled out one more photo and passed it over. “Look at this guy too. His name is Lincoln Walker. He has a hot air balloon and a helicopter tour business. Of all the men in your folder, next to Brent, Lincoln is the most passionate about his work. He just turned fifty and is a two year widower. He’s had a few dates, but is still looking for the magic to happen with someone.”
Ann studied the man. Looking at him didn’t set her nerves singing, but… “He’s very handsome too.”
“Yes. Like Brent, Lincoln’s also one of those guys who’s going to stay handsome his entire life. He’s tall too. I think you would genuinely like him, Ann. Why don’t you go out with him this week? Lincoln’s a very laid back kind of person as well. He’d be a great first date for you.”
Ann bit her lip again. That’s what she’d called Cal. Was dinner with him last night more of a real date than she’d realized? How would she even know after not dating for so many years? Maybe if she went out with just the two Mariah picked from the folder, she could back out of any others without hurting anyone’s feelings.
“Lincoln sounds nice enough. What do I need to do?”
Mariah’s pleasure and excitement had her leaning over the desk. “There’s a coffee shop in your neighborhood. Would you be willing to meet Lincoln there just to say hi and chat for a few minutes? Either of you can cancel after that if there’s no interest in setting up a real date. I don’t like to charge my clients if we can figure out early there’s no chemistry between them worth pursuing.”
It sounded like a lot of pre-nothing hullabaloo to go through for coffee, but Ann nodded. She supposed the guy deserved two meetings since he’d be the one paying Mariah’s expensive fees.
“I’ll text you when Lincoln gets back to me with a time. I’m hoping I can work it out without affecting your yoga class schedule. Mom said you were teaching some of the classes now.”
Ann nodded and sighed as she rose. “I’m just a fill in. This is more important at the moment.”
Because the sooner she got these next couple of weeks over with, the sooner she could get back to her real life.
Chapter Six
For once Georgia hadn’t skipped yoga class. Instead, she’d cornered Ann in the parking lot after and grilled her about her meeting with Mariah. Ann had told her friend everything about Lincoln the hot air balloon operator, but absolutely nothing about Brentwood Colombo looking for a dance partner.
Feeling guilty for the omission, but not up to dealing with Georgia’s potentially hurt feelings, Ann had slunk home in her blue Civic, cursing her own stupidity. Her punishment was that the garage door flatly refused to go down all the way. And now it seemed completely stuck.
She couldn’t remember the door ever being replaced. Her husband had installed it when Megan was in middle school. She’d been meaning to replace it the last time it had acted up, but David had done some man magic and gotten it to work again.
After that, she hadn’t wanted to spend the money, since the door had continued to work. Luckily the door leading into the house locked, but she really didn’t want to risk her garage getting cleaned out by thieves overnight. That left her few options for dealing with this.
She thought about calling a garage door company herself, but knew David would pitch a fit if she didn’t talk to him about it first. His take was that the door lifting mechanism just needed batteries again—the former “magic” she’d not understood before—but under no circumstances was she to climb u
p there herself.
David would either be over later or send help. She was to do nothing but wait until then.
Waiting for Ann meant standing under the mechanical box on the garage ceiling and frowning up at it. She knew Georgia would have been up on a ladder and fixed it already. Why hadn’t she developed that kind of skillset and daring? Shouldn’t a woman over fifty be more self-sufficient than she was?
Her head turned when she heard a vehicle pull into her driveway. A few moments later the garage door got pushed up despite the broken door. Cal grinned when he saw her standing there, his gaze dropping to her slim-legged yoga crops and sandaled feet with red painted toes on full view. By the time his eyes found their way back to her face, she was heated from his perusal and flushed with the guilt of her dirty thoughts about him.
It didn’t help when he reached blindly behind him and pulled the garage door completely back down, closing them inside the now semi-dark room.
“Now why didn’t I think of doing that,” Ann said, her voice trembling just a bit more than she was comfortable admitting to herself.
“People always forget their garage doors still work manually,” Cal said, shrugging a shoulder. “Don’t be surprised if you get a call. Dad gave me a strange look when I nearly ran out of the house to get here after David hung up.”
Ann closed her eyes. “It wasn’t like I broke my garage door on purpose just to see you again.”
“This is kismet, then?” Cal suggested.
Ann chuckled at his choice of words, and could see Cal was trying hard not to laugh at her refusal to admit she enjoyed seeing him again.
“No. The correct word is procrastination,” Ann replied. “I’m sure there are a dozen things around here that should have been repaired or replaced long ago.”
Cal spread his arms wide. “Perfect. Everything you break just gives me more excuses to come back.”
“Stan should be thrilled with you then. It’s also more money for him.”
Cal threw the door back up before smiling at her. “Move your car out so I can get under the gearbox. I’ll change the batteries for you.”
Ann nodded and fetched her keys. Once her car was in the driveway, she walked back inside. “I’m going to be embarrassed if all it needs is batteries. I could have done that myself.”
Chuckling, Cal fetched a ladder from where it had hung on the wall. “Safer not to climb unless it’s an emergency. I’m going to leave my cell so you can call me for little things like this. I can’t charge you for changing batteries.”
Ann stared at his body as he climbed. He looked very good to her… very good. Much better than handsome Lincoln’s picture, or even the man Georgia thought was good looking.
And she definitely needed to stop ogling his forty-three year old body.
“Of course you can charge me, Cal. It’s called a service call. I’ve paid them many times.”
Cal smirked as he undid the cover. “You’re so funny. I need two double-As. Got any? That was not a joke about your bra size. I know you’re bigger than that.”
Ignoring his teasing explanation, Ann nodded and hustled into the house. She returned with the fresh batteries and handed them up. He handed the two bad ones down to her. Fresh batteries now in place, he told her to try the door switch. She hit it and watched as the door rose smoothly with no complaining at all. It also went back down the same.
Cal was refastening the cover when she walked to the ladder and looked up again. “I can’t believe David called you out here for batteries. I thought the whole thing was broken.”
“And that’s why you’re so cute. Actually, David had no idea. He called my father who’s feeling much better and wanted to come himself,” Cal corrected as he climbed down the ladder. “I came because I wanted to see you again. One of us needs to admit the truth here.”
“Cal…”
His hand reaching out to push the hair off her face stopped her tongue and her brain.
“This is just a simple man liking woman thing. Don’t over think it. Want to grab some dinner with me?” he asked.
Ann looked down at herself. “I’m not really dressed for going out.”
“Neither am I,” he said. “I was thinking of that salad place by the mall. It has great subs too. No one will care what we look like.”
She bit her lip and really looked at him. He was grinning at her with a dare in his eyes. Coffee with a balloon operator didn’t hold half as much appeal as eating with Cal tonight.
“Okay, I’ll go… but only if you let me pay your Dad a service call fee. God forbid he think I’m going out with you to get out of paying.”
“Dad would never…”
Ann held up a hand to stop his denial.
Cal sighed heavily, but finally nodded. “Fine. I’m buying dinner then,” he groused.
“Fine. Let me get a sweater. I hate being cold. You never know with restaurants.”
“Want me to warm you up? I’ll happily do that for free. Dad won’t mind. I promise,” Cal teased.
“Sweater… and we’ll take my car. I see your father’s truck and dollar signs start dancing in my head.”
“If you had unlimited money, what would you do?” Ann asked. They’d finished their food, but were still sipping their drinks and talking. Cal was very pleasant company when he wasn’t flirting so hard.
His shrug took a lot of time to manifest. “I thought about going to school. I’ve never done that, except for military training. I have no idea what I’d go for though, which is why I haven’t signed up. The Army is all I’ve known, but I have zero interest in anything remotely related to tanks, guns, or artillery of any sort. I want something new... something to spark my passion.”
“Like what?” Ann asked. “What do you like to do?”
Cal looked around. “I think it would be fun to be an investor. I like finance. I like economics. I’m just not sure how a person can make money doing it.”
“You can definitely make money,” Ann said with confidence, because she had. “I took an investing class and bought Amazon stock when it was less than three dollars a share. That’s worked out quite well for me. The money I’ve made investing nicely supplements my retirement. I still work part-time, but I don’t actually have to work at all, so long as I live frugally. The house got paid off when my husband died. I’m a lucky woman.”
Cal grinned. “Investment classes? They have those?”
Ann nodded. “Yes. And I hate math. So if I can do them, anyone can.”
“You make it sound so logical and easy,” Cal declared.
“I think anything we want is just a decision or two away. Fear is what holds most of us back.”
Cal put an elbow on the table and leaned on it while he stared. “Are you afraid of me, Pretty Ann?”
Ann laughed at his teasing. Because it was funny the way he called her that, but she’d heard the sincerity in his request too. “No. But I am afraid of the things you make me feel. I haven’t wanted a man in a long time. Frankly, it’s not very comfortable at my age, especially when the man is so much younger than me.”
“Younger? Thought you didn’t like doing math. Why are you doing it now?”
His grin made her grin back. “Smart-ass,” she said under her breath.
“You’re adorable, and I really, really like you. Let’s date for real.”
Ann sighed and then shook her head. “I can’t, Cal. My dating calendar is full for the next two weeks. I wish I was joking about that, but I’m not.”
Cal’s serious man frown nearly made her laugh out loud. She held back only because she was sure laughing at that moment would definitely hurt his feelings. Yes, it thrilled her a bit to think he might be jealous. Wasn’t that also completely awful of her?
“Dates? You have dates… as in plural?” he demanded.
Ann nodded. “Yes. Coffee with Lincoln and dancing with Brent. Then… please God… this madness will hopefully all be over. Ask me to date again in a few weeks, if you’re still interes
ted.”
Cal snorted. “I’ll still be interested. But what if you like those guys better than me?”
Ann shook her head at his question. “Doubtful. But you can count on me to be honest about the matter. I would never string you along.”
“That doesn’t reassure me, Ann. Are you this matter-of-fact about everything?”
She thought about that for a moment. “Yes. I think I am.”
“Alright then,” Cal answered, scrubbing a hand over the evening beard he couldn’t seem to avoid.
The ride home was mostly silent. Ann regretted now that she’d told him about her dates, but what was she supposed to do? Keep it from him? Hide that she was busy? It wasn’t like dating Cal was something she truly wanted. Well, at least, not consciously.
She stopped in the driveway to let him out.
“Pull inside the garage,” Cal ordered.
Not wanting to upset him more by arguing, she did as he asked. By the time she cut the car off, Cal had hit the garage door button to close it and walked around to get her door. Sighing, she climbed from the car, only moments later to find herself backed up against it, with Cal’s legs preventing her escape.
With his gaze locked to hers, Cal pulled the car keys from her limp fingers and put them on top of the car.
“Okay, I admit it. I’m jealous about you dating,” he announced, as if it was news.
“There’s honestly no need to be,” Ann said softly, not quite sure why she was being defensive or trying to reassure him. She didn’t belong to any man. She’d made no promises. Two dinners? Friends had dinner together all the time. She and Cal might be considered friends now… maybe.
“The idea of some other guy touching you or kissing you does not sit well with me.” Cal held up a hand when she opened her mouth. “I know. I know. I know. But I have to put it out there.”
His admission stopped any rebuttal she might have made, but Ann wasn’t sure why.
His lips pressing soft kisses by her eye, down her cheek, and behind her ear should probably have given her a clue. She didn’t really figure it out though until Cal nipped her earlobe and made her gasp. What was happening gained all kinds of clarity when his mouth swooped to hers and his tongue slipped easily and silkily alongside hers.
Never Say Never Page 4
