Page 50 of Merry Little Midlife Matchmaker
“I think we need to reassess our strategy here,” Lizzie said after a few minutes of comfortable silence.
“Oh?”
“You free this week? I have some questions for you that I think will help me narrow down some better prospects. If you’re free one lunchtime, we could grab a bite and get to the bottom of this. Third time’s a charm.”
Lunch with the woman I should’ve been keeping my distance from. What could go wrong?
I shrugged. “Sure.”
Lizzie grinned, then got up off the couch and gathered her kids and her things. I watched her for a few moments, then let out a long sigh and called Mikey’s name.
It was just lunch. An opportunity for her to set me up with yet another woman who couldn’t hold a candle to her. It wasn’t a date.
So why was I already looking forward to it?
TWENTY-THREE
LIZZIE
I metSean for lunch on Tuesday, and I came prepared. The Four Cups Café was bustling with people who chatted and laughed over drinks, pastries, and sandwiches, the scent in the air a rich aroma of coffee, spices, and sugar. I sat at a small square table and pulled out the notepad and phone where I’d prepared more extensive questions for him.
He walked in wearing his quilted tan work jacket, jeans, and work boots. His cheeks were red from the chill in the air, and more than a few heads turned in his direction. My heart gave a leap when his eyes landed on me, and I steeled myself against the force of my attraction.
Yes, he was a beautiful man. No, I couldn’t have him for myself. Repeating those thoughts like a chant was the best I could do when faced with the power of his presence.
The more attracted I felt to him, the more determined I became to set him up with someone else. I was the family matchmaker, and I would not fail. If I didn’t put in a full effort, maybe someone would guess that every time he grinned at me, I felt like fainting. I wouldn’t be able to stand the mortification of it.Poor Lizzie, they would think.She really thinks she has a chance with him.
So when Sean pulled out a chair across from me and dropped into it, I gave him a determined smile.
“I have a plan,” I announced.
“Uh-oh.” He pulled the black beanie off his head to reveal his short-cropped hair, his long fingers curling around the knit fabric as he stuffed the hat in his pocket. He had very nice hands. A man’s hands, with calluses and broad palms and long fingers and?—
His hands were irrelevant. I uncapped my pen.
“Laurel was a good match on paper in terms of shared hobbies, but there was no spark. Astrid turned out to want something a bit more, uh, explosive than what we’d anticipated. We’re looking for someone who’s in between. Someone just right.”
“My Goldilocks.”
I smiled. “Exactly. On that note. Physical preferences. Ethnicity? Hair? Eye color? Build?”
Sean shrugged. “Like I said before. It depends.”
“I’d really like you to dig deep,” I said, leaning forward. “There must besomethingyou’re attracted to more often than not.”
“Curves,” he blurted, then cleared his throat. His cheeks went faintly pink, and he glanced toward the counter as if he were reading the menu. “I like a woman with a little something extra. Something to grab.” His hands made a clenching motion before smoothing out over his thighs.
I blinked at his profile, surprised and a little turned on, which was ridiculous. “Oh. I see.”
“What do you want to eat?”
I plucked one of the menus from the edge of the table and pointed to one of the soup combos. Tomato basil soup with a grilled cheese on the side. “Comfort food,” I explained.
He nodded and stood, shedding his jacket as he did. I ogled. I know; it was wrong. I should have looked away, but I just couldn’t. He stripped that Carhartt jacket off and revealed a fitted polo shirt with Grant’s company logo on the breast. The sleeves hit him at mid-bicep, so I got a nice view of the shape of his arms as he dropped the jacket on the back of his chair. The fabric wrinkled over his flat stomach before he pulled it down, covering the little strip of skin that had been exposed by his movements.
When he turned toward the counter and walked away, I stared at his ass.
“Girl, you’ll want to roll that tongue back into your mouth before he catches you,” a voice murmured behind me.