“Goddamn,” he murmurs. “You’re amazing. I think I’m in love.”
I swallow and pull back, gazing up into his eyes. “I don’t do love. Sorry.”
Then, something vibrates in my pocket, and the spell breaks.
He gazes at me, his blue eyes turning a dark, smoldering navy. He wants more, but I can’t give him anything else.
It’s time to pick up my daughter from my brother’s house and return to my real life.
“Good game,” I say breathlessly, and hurry out of the bar.
3
Hopper
The next morning, I sigh heavily, staring at the object before me on my desk. I shove my hands through my hair. It’s like Cinderella left her glass slipper.
If Cinderella was a sexy pool shark who turned my world upside down with one kiss, and her glass slipper was her wallet.
Since last night, when the beautiful woman I instantly fell for rushed out and left her wallet behind, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about her. I went outside after her, hoping to catch her, but she was gone. When I went back in, her girlfriends apparently had the same idea, because they were all gone too.
Now, I’m facing a moral dilemma. I don’t want to violate the beautiful woman’s privacy, but…her wallet is important. And I don’t want her to freak out, not knowing where it is.
“Why you sitting there looking like someone just pissed in your coffee?” Anthony Jackson says, strolling over to my desk, carrying his own steaming mug.
I hold up the wallet. “I met Cinderella last night. And this is her glass slipper.”
“You call her yet?”
“No,” I say. “I haven’t even opened this. It feels wrong.”
“Well, how else do you expect to get it back to her?” Tony shrugs. “I guess if you have her name, I could run a database check on her, get you an address. But that seems even creepier than just looking at her driver’s license.”
“It just…feels wrong,” I reply. “And I don’t have her name.”
“You hung out with a stranger all night?”
“He made out with a stranger last night,” Diego chimes in as he walks to his desk.
Tony lifts his brows. “For real?”
I shrug. “I was helpless against her beauty and charm. I think I’m in love, Tony.”
He smiles. “It can happen just like that.” He snaps his fingers, and I know he understands. He met his girlfriend Lyla in Hawaii earlier this year and pretty much fell in love in one night.
But…
I don’t do love.
“At least you learned her name,” I mutter.
Tony flicks his head. “Just open it, man. She’s probably worried as hell.”
I sigh. “Okay.” I unsnap the large, flat, bifold wallet. There’s an array of cards neatly arranged inside, along with some cash, but I’m only interested in her ID. I pull it out.
Rae Dawson, age twenty-four. Her address and phone number are included. Rae. I like that. Like ray of sunshine.
I jot down her number, then reach for the wallet to put the ID back inside. The photo tucked behind her ID catches my eye—it’s Rae, kneeling on grass, her arms around a beautiful little girl who has the exact same smile and enchanting green eyes.
Her daughter?
“Enough snooping,” I mutter, replacing the ID and closing the wallet. I did what I had to do, but it still makes me feel dirty.
I pick up my desk phone and dial the number. Why is my heart pounding like this?
“Hello?”
The voice is sweet and a little raspy. It also sounds worried.
“Rae?”
“Who’s this?” Now it’s sharp and suspicious.
I huff a short laugh. “Ah. My name’s Joshua Hopper. We met last night at the bar?”
There’s a long pause, so long I have to check to make sure the call is still connected.
“Hello?”
“How’d you get this number?” she asks tersely.
“It was on your ID. That’s why I’m calling—you left your wallet at the bar last night.”
“Oh my god,” she exclaims, and now she sounds relieved. “You have my wallet?”
“I do. I ran out after you left, when I noticed it, but you were already gone. Was there a fire?” I joke. “It couldn’t have been more than a minute.”
“I had—something to take care of,” she says. “Thank you for holding onto my wallet. Can I get it from you after work? I get off around five.”
“Of course you can. In fact, I can bring it to you. Where do you work?”
She hesitates, then says, “Marlow Heights Medical Center.”
“I’ll be there,” I promise. “Um—by the way. I’m sorry I went into your wallet, but it was the only normal way to find out who you are.”
“Normal way?”
“Never mind. Also—I had a lot of fun last night.”
Another long pause. “Me too,” she says finally. “See you at five.”
I can’t help smiling when I hang up the phone.
4
Rae
A few minutes before five, I duck into the women’s restroom, studying myself. I can’t believe out of all people, he was the one to find my wallet. I was so out of sorts when I left to pick up Cara, I wasn’t thinking.
“Great work,” I mutter to my reflection.
I dig in my purse and pull out a brush. I pull the elastic out of my wavy brown hair and run the brush through it, using a small canister of dry shampoo to fluff it up a little. Then I lean into the mirror to remove any errant smudges of mascara and refresh my lip gloss.
Why are you bothering? a small voice asks me. It shouldn’t matter if you have dry lips and mascara smudges.
But…it does matter.
My thoughts have taken two avenues today: losing my wallet and the havoc that wreaks and kissing the sexy stranger from the bar.
Joshua Hopper…
I take a deep breath to calm my jangled nerves and head outside, pausing on the walk and realizing I have no idea what kind of car Joshua drives. But I don’t have to wait long, because a dark blue truck pulls up to the curb, and a moment later, the tall, built, sexy stranger who’s not a stranger anymore walks around the front toward me, smiling.
“Hey, you,” he says.
“Hi,” I reply with a small smile.
“Here you go.” He hands me my wallet. “I only stole twenty bucks.”
I roll my eyes, shaking my head as I tuck the wallet into the purse. “You better give it back. That’s all the cash I have on me until I can get to the bank. I already canceled all my cards this morning.”
Joshua looks genuinely regretful. “Aw, man. It always takes forever to get replacements.”
“Yeah.” I shrug. “Guess I’ll be eating boxed mac and cheese for a while.”
“Not bad if you throw some hot dogs in there.” He lifts a shoulder. “I’d be happy to buy you a real meal tonight.”
A zip of lightning goes through me. A date? We’re not supposed to do this…