“So I’m assuming I won’t be finding any on your body tomorrow? No cheesy song lyric or book quote, or some other girlie shit?”

“Nope. My skin is very virginal.” I pause, listening to the sound of his heavy breathing. Closing my eyes and leaning back in my chair, I allow myself to be brutally honest with my next admission. “I’m a little nervous about tomorrow.”

“Why?”

“Because I like talking to you, and if it doesn’t work out, I won’t be able to talk to you anymore.”

“You sound so optimistic.”

I laugh first, and then he joins me.

“Have you ever been out on a blind date before?” he asks.

“No, all my dates have been pretty standard.”

“So, go out on one tonight.”

I frown. “Uh, what? With who?”

“With one of the hundred guys that have probably messaged you on Ignite. Have you logged on lately?”

I move my mouse around, waking up my computer screen. “Not since when you messaged me the first time.” After pulling up Internet Explorer, I type in the URL address and enter my log in information. “Why am I doing this again?”

“Humor me. How many messages do you have?”

I hover over my flashing folder, gasping at the number that pops up. “Holy fuck. Thirty-seven.” I’m suddenly sitting up straighter, feeling like I’ve just been given the best compliment. Thirty-seven? “That’s insane.”

He laughs. “Yeah, I thought so. Pick a guy that’s not as good looking as me, go out with him tonight, and get all your nervous blind-date shit out of the way. Tomorrow when you meet me, it’ll be old news.”

I begin filtering through the messages, scanning the faces of some very eligible bachelors. “Hmm. This could backfire on you.”

“How’s that?”

“Well, I could really hit it off with…” Leaning in, I click on a guy’s information and scan it quickly before continuing. “…Steve from Bridgeport. And then I won’t be meeting you at all tomorrow. He likes going to the beach, and listening to country music. I like those things.”

I hear the sound of a chair scraping against a surface. “I’m not worried.”

“No? Maybe you should be. I’m quite a catch, and you’ve now made me aware of the thirty-seven other men interested in me.”

“Yeah, but they’re not me. You can go out with all thirty-seven of those guys and I’ll still be seeing you tomorrow. You and I both know that.”

His cockiness has me suddenly thinking of someone else and I go silent, no longer focusing on the faces in front of me. Arrogance works for Luke, but with any other guy, it just feels forced.

“You there? I gotta get back to work.”

I force a smile, trying to find the elated mood, which seems to have escaped me. “Yeah, sorry. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Hold on.” I hear muffled chatter, followed by, “I’ll be right there.” A door closes before he continues. “You’re going to want to party at this thing tomorrow, right?”

His question throws me off, but I suppose it’s justified. I didn’t really give him any specifics about what goes on at the summer bonfires.

“Oh yeah, definitely. There’s always a ton of booze and stuff there. Last year…”

“Great. I’ll see you then.”

The dial tone rings in my ear and I pull my phone away, staring at the screen, slightly irritated.

Well, that conversation had taken a weird turn.

Besides the sudden abruptness to get me off the line, what guy tells a girl he’s obviously interested in to go out with someone else? Even if it is to alleviate the nervousness I have coursing through my system. I could definitely hit it off with some guy tonight, and I suddenly want to. If only to prove Tyler wrong. He made it seem as if he were giving me permission to do it, and because this guy wouldn’t be him, there wouldn’t be a chance of it becoming anything.

What the fuck, dude?

I don’t need your permission to date. I’ve never even met you. Yes, you’ve already made me come, but that would’ve happened with or without your texts egging me on. You have zero ownership over me, so don’t fucking act like you do.

I’m more motivated now to meet up with a complete stranger tonight than I was when I signed up for this stupid dating site. And SteveMD looks very promising.

I click on his profile, open up the message box, and begin typing with a newfound purpose.

TK12: Hi, SteveMD. I saw you wanted to connect with me. I didn’t know if you were free to meet up tonight, but I am.

I so fucking am.

I press send and grab a water bottle and some grapes out of the fridge. A ding comes from the direction of my computer and I scurry back over, sitting down and placing my snack on the desk.

SteveMD: Hi, Tessa. I’m really glad to hear from you. I was afraid you had already met someone, since you haven’t logged on in over a week.

Yeah, well, Tyler might be a complete dud.

TK12: I’ve just been really busy.

SteveMD: I get that. I’d love to meet up tonight. I saw you’re in Ruxton. That’s only thirty minutes from me. Where do you want to meet?

Somewhere with a lot of people, just in case the MD stands for Murderous Dickhead.

TK12: Do you mind driving here? There’s this really good sports bar that just opened up in town. Joe’s Pub.