Page 14 of The Rules of Dating

Billie laughed. “It’s okay. You just have to own it when you get caught.” She ran a fingernail down my arm. “I mean, you didn’t notice me noticing all these muscles while you were busy looking at me. To be honest, I didn’t think you’d look like this under your stuffy dress shirts. But if you had caught me looking, I’d have owned it. There’s nothing wrong with appreciating someone’s physique. It’s just creepy when you lie about it.”

Well, if that’s how she feels… I looked down. Since she was so short and standing so close, I had a straight view of her phenomenal cleavage. I grinned. “In case you’re wondering, I’m looking. I admit it.”

Billie laughed again and shoved at my chest. “You’re such a dork. Now fix my AC before I die of heat exhaustion, Mr. Landlord.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

A half hour later, I finally got the AC blowing cold air. I hated to leave, but I really needed to go make my daughter dinner. So I collected the tools and packed them into the toolbox. “I have to get upstairs and feed Saylor.”

“Oh, yeah, of course. Thank you for coming to my rescue. The old landlord would’ve taken four days to return my call. I appreciate the fast response.”

“No problem. Why don’t I give you my cell number, just in case it gives you any more problems?”

“That would be great, thank you.”

Billie handed me her phone, and I punched in my number and handed it back to her. “Well, have a good night.”

“You too, Colby.”

It had been a good couple of hours together, some flirting even. So while I knew she’d just come out of a relationship, I said fuck it. “Hey, would you want to have dinner sometime?”

Billie smiled sadly and shook her head. “I don’t think so. I’m sorry.”

Ugh. Talk about a kick in the gut. But like she’d told me to, I owned it. I forced a smile. “Well, that sucks.”

She smiled back. “I’m sorry. It’s not you.”

“It’s not?”

She shook her head.

“Well, if it’s not me, I guess it would be okay if I tried again another time?”

She laughed. “Goodnight, Colby.”

“See you soon, Billie.”

CHAPTER 4

Billie

Deek kicked his feet up. “Why the hell would you tell him no? That dude is smoking hot, successful—he has everything going for him. Well, except that he doesn’t have tats. That I don’t like.”

It was Thursday afternoon, and I’d gone upstairs to Deek’s apartment in between clients. He and his boyfriend lived just above the shop. He was burning incense, probably because he’d smoked weed before I got here. Aside from working full time for me, he also did some freelance web design on his days off. He was good at it, but unlike when he tattooed, he usually got stoned to work on a website.

Deek had spent nearly all of this particular coffee chat giving me shit for turning Colby’s dinner offer down. Now I wished I’d never told him about it.

“Colby might seem like a catch, but there are other things to consider, Deek. Especially after the shit I’ve been through lately. I’m not gonna waste my time with anyone who has the potential to hurt me.”

“Uh, anyone you’re remotely interested in has the potential to hurt you,” he pointed out, raising an eyebrow. “But you’re going to write him off because of Tinder-swindler Kaiden? There’s no evidence Colby is anything like that. Name one thing wrong with him. I bet you can’t.”

I struggled to come up with something. Finally, I sighed. “There’s nothing wrong with him. But he has a kid. As stinkin’ adorable as she is, I can’t get involved. He has his hands full, so I’m not sure a relationship is his priority, either. Not to mention, I don’t know if I want to have kids myself, let alone raise someone else’s.” I took a long sip of my coffee. “So, it’s not about what’s wrong with him. It’s about what would be wrong with the whole situation.”

“Aren’t you jumping the gun a little?”

“No! When there’s a kid in the picture, there’s no such thing as jumping the gun. You have to decide from the get-go whether you’re in or out, whether you’d be okay with being a part of their life. If the answer is no or you’re not sure, you can’t start anything at all. Plain and simple. That’s not fair. All or nothing.”

He scratched his chin. “Alright. I guess I can understand that point of view. But maybe keep an open mind. It’s not like there’s an ex-wife in the picture. That’s a rarity. I hate to say it, but it makes things easier that the kid’s mother is MIA. At least you wouldn’t have that additional complication.” He drank the last drop of his coffee. “What’s the deal with that anyway? Why did she leave?”