I didn’t even miss great sex. Wasn’t sure I’d ever managed it. But even so-so sex would be better than what I’d gotten the past two years.
Damon looked chastened. “Gordon isn’t a good guy. That date was basically just an excuse to hook up. You deserve better.”
“You keep saying that, but who’s going to give me better, Damon? It’s not like you’re offering me some great date. Not like you’d know the first thing to do with me if you did.”
He scoffed. “What? I’d be an amazing date. I’d do ten times better than any of these guys.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Talk is cheap.”
He snorted a laugh. “You think I can’t blow your mind with the most romantic date ever? I’ve got so much game, Mav. You haveno idea.”
“You?” I shook my head. “I don’t see it.”
“Oh, fuck you! Just say when, and I’ll take you on a better date than any of these schmucks have tried yet.”
“Careful, I just may call your bluff.”
He stepped closer, the scent of sweat and grass and what could only behimwafting between us and making my mouth water. “I’m not bluffing, sweetheart.”
I pulled my phone from my pocket. “Then prove it.”
“Huh?”
I pulled up the contact for the Matchmaking Mamas and hit dial. “Talk to Iola. Tell her that you want to be my next date. Right here, right now—or I call bullshit.”
Damon stared at the phone as if I was holding a ticking bomb. A beat went by. Another.
“That’s what I thought.” I started to raise the phone to my ear. “Hi, Iola?—”
Damon snatched the phone from me. “Iola, it’s Damon Cassidy. Yeah, yeah, Iwasat the pub during Mav’s date the other night. These guys you’ve been sending him are duds.”
I winced. That was not what I had in mind by giving him the phone.
“Well, maybe he’s kissed enough frogs for now.” He laughed, eyes crinkling up. “Yeah, Mav and I have a little bet going. Sign me up as his next date so I can show him how it should be done.” He paused, listening, expression growing more serious. “Yeah, I understand that. This was Maverick’s idea. I just want to show him what he deserves, you know? Yeah, okay, I’ll hand over the phone so you can confirm. Thanks, Iola.”
He thrust the phone at me. “Ball’s in your court. I’m going to finish mowing.”
I gaped at him as he trotted back down the porch steps, restarted the mower, and pushed it across the lawn as ifnothing had happened. I lifted the phone to my ear as I stepped inside and shut the door behind me.
“Hey, Iola, you still there?”
“Oh, honey, I sure am. It seems you decided to do a little matchmaking of your own.”
Iola sounded a little chastising. I winced. “It’s not that I don’t appreciate your efforts. Damon’s been making a pest of himself, and I thought I was just calling his bluff.”
“Mm, well that might have worked if he was bluffing.”
I blew out a breath. “It’s just a challenge to him. He wants to prove he’s right. It doesn’t mean he actuallywantsto date me, you know?”
“Honey, you don’t get as old as I am without understanding that men are idiots.”
She surprised a laugh out of me. “You know I’m a man too, right?”
“Well, sure, so you’ve got double the challenge. You’re both idiots.”
“Uh, thanks?”
She chuckled. “My point is, Damon wouldn’t be interfering how he is, wouldn’t be wanting to prove anything if he wasn’t interested. He might not know what he wants yet, but he wants something, and my instincts tell me that something is you.”
