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“Sorry I’m late,” Tim said as he walked up to the table.
Raven stiffened, shocked to find herself staring at his broad shoulders. And her eyes watched as he held his tie in place as he sat down. That drew her eyes to his flat stomach. Were there muscles there as well as the ones packed onto his arms? Were his legs as strong as those arms?
Despite all of her admonishments that Tim Armstrong wasn’t the one for her, Raven wanted to know more about this enigmatic man. She craved details more than she’d ever wanted chocolate.
“Not a problem,” she replied, needlessly adjusting the perfectly aligned knives and forks beside her plate. “I only arrived a moment ago.”
“Good.” He lifted the menu and flipped to the other side. He was going for a steak, she thought, watching Tim’s facial features. His eyes skimmed down over the menu too fast to actually read anything. And yet, Raven had the impression that he’d absorbed every detail on the menu.
The waitress arrived and, with a smile, greeted both of them. “Hello, my name is Mindy. What can I get you to drink?”
“I’ll have an iced tea,” Raven decided.
“Water is fine with me,” Tim said. He looked at Raven. “I know what I want to eat. Are you ready to order?”
For some reason, she wanted to snap at him. It was a reasonable question though, so she suppressed her irritation and nodded her head. “I’ll have the cheeseburger with pepperjack cheese, please.”
The waitress grinned, nodding her head and then turned to Tim. “And for you sir?”
Tim handed her the menu. “I’ll have the salmon salad, with no dressing. Just oil and vinegar on the side, please.”
The waitress’ smile dimmed somewhat, but she nodded and took both menus. “I’ll get those out to you as quickly as possible.”
And then she was gone. Raven realized that she needed the waitress as a buffer against Tim’s potent masculinity. What was it about him that both lured her to him and made her want to slap his face?
“So, the women were all duds,” he announced abruptly.
Raven blinked at him, confused. It took her several moments to realize that he was talking about the women she’d set him up with. The five women she’d carefully curated from a long list of beautiful, intelligent, eligible women.
“All five of them are…duds?” she echoed, needing clarification.
“All of them,” he confirmed, leaning back in his chair as he gazed across the table at her.
Stiffening, she tried to calm her rising temper. And was that…relief? No! Impossible! She was a professional and her reputation was on the line. She’d completely failed Tim during the first round of dates. That had never happened before. Her clients always liked at least one of the candidates, usually more. After that, it was more about whittling down one’s preferences.
Lifting her chin, she swallowed her pride. “I’m so sorry that I completely missed the mark on what you are looking for. What was wrong with the women?” she asked, pulling her notebook out and grabbing a pen.
The man shrugged. “Nothing was wrong with them. They were all lovely.” He leaned back when the waitress came back with Raven’s iced tea, then leaned forward when they were alone again. “I just…there were no sparks with any of them.”
“Nothing at all?” she queried. “But the women were all along the same lines as the women you’ve dated in the past.”
“Indra Clementi was the only woman that really piqued my interest, but,” Raven held her breath, “I hired her on as Larmpo’s legal representative. She’s very sharp. I think she’ll be an excellent legal mind for us.”
Raven relaxed and prayed that Tim didn’t notice her previous tension. “Okay, so at least she’s a good hire. What was wrong with Lavinda?”
“Too stiff and formal.”
“But…!” she shook her head. “Lavinda is a chemist. What was wrong with her?”
“She was boring,” he replied.
Raven tried not to blink in surprise at that response. But she wrote it down and continued through the other candidates. “And Marsha?”
“Mean. And she had five cats.”
“Five?” she asked, then laughed, quickly covering her mouth with her hand. “Sorry. That was unprofessional.” She wrote that down, shaking her head. “She told me that she was allergic to animals.”
“She lied,” Tim replied, leaning back in his chair and she noticed that his mouth curled up on the corners slightly.
