“Now every time I look at that cappuccino machine I’m going to melt a little and think about how you put that there so people could kind of come to you whenever they need to.”

He grinned. “That makes you melt a little, huh?”

She sighed as if annoyed by it but nodded. “It does. And now I’ll probably always think Ping-Pong is kind of sexy.”

He really, really liked her. “That’s awesome.”

“No,” she said. “It’s not. Because Ping-Pong is not sexy.”

He laughed and lifted her hand to his mouth without thinking. He brushed his lips over her knuckles, and their gazes clashed and held. The air suddenly got hot.

He had his lips against her skin. The skin on the back of her knuckles, but it was still skin.

“And now I think this might be an even worse idea, then, because you’re my boss,” she said, her voice soft.

“Why’s that?” He put her hand down but didn’t let go of her.

“Because I think a lot of my stuff is like your mom’s. Ongoing. Not something you can really fix. Something you can maybe give me temporary reprieves from but… I’m not sure that’s really enough. For you, I mean. Is it?”

It was a fair question. “First of all, I can definitely give you reprieves from it.” He gave her a wink. She smiled back. But he decided to be sincere with her. “Yes, it bugs me with my mom that I can’t fix things for good,” he admitted.

“Yeah. So maybe it’s better if you stick with girls who have needs you can fix easily.”

As if on cue, Riley set their pizza down on the table, causing them to both shift back and their fingers to slide apart. “Here you go.” She set down two plates and two sets of silverware as well.

“Like hunger,” Jane said with a wry smile.

Yeah, hunger was a good one. Dax shrugged and gave her a grin. “Hunger and horniness are two of my favorite things to fix.” And those were usually more than enough. In fact, those were a relief. They were easy, and yeah, fun for him too.

But this woman. Man, he really wanted to fix it all. Or at least try. Even the not fun parts.

“Well, good thing for you, most girls I know get both of those. On a pretty regular basis,” Jane said.

“Good thing for me,” he agreed.

She watched him for a moment then turned her attention to the pizza. She served up slices for each of them, and they dug in, chewing and swallowing before saying anything more.

“Damn, this is good,” he said.

“Right?” she asked with a smile. She took another bite, watching him now as she chewed. After she’d swallowed a second bite, she said, “With all the stuff in my life I can’t really fix, I guess I like the idea that guys have some similar easy-to-meet needs.”

He lifted an eyebrow and took another bite, waiting for her to go on.

“Hunger and horniness, I mean,” she said.

He nodded. “Yeah, I was following that.”

She laughed, and he felt that familiar warmth behind his breastbone.

“Men are very easy,” he said. “I’d say if you can take care of the hunger and horniness for them, you’ve taken care of eighty to eighty-eight percent of their needs.”

“Wow, eighty-eight percent. That’s very high and very specific.”

He shrugged. “The need for sports and, of course, showering, sleep, and bodily functions, taking up the rest.”

She grinned. “Well, that explains why my dad’s with Cassie. She’s a really good… cook.”

Dax laughed. “Yeah?”

“She actually is,” Jane said. “Surprisingly. She’s also gorgeous and ten years younger than him so… well, yeah, it all tracks.”

“And I’ve gotta say, you’ve got really good taste in pizza and cake pops,” Dax told her.

“Oh, so just leading you to food can meet the hunger need?” Jane asked. “No need to actually make it for you?”

“For sure. I mean, homemade is great, but when a guy’s hungry he’s just focused on getting… not hungry, you know?”

She nodded, her grin wide. “I totally know all about just needing to get un-hungry sometimes.”

“Yeah?” He took another bite. The pizza really was exceptional. “And with your great-food-in-Appleby knowledge, you’re pretty good at getting yourself un-hungry when you need to?”

No, they were not just talking about being hungry for food.

He loved it. He loved talking with this woman. He loved flirting with this woman. He loved eating with this woman.

He was starting to think he would love doing just about anything with this woman.

Of course, he had very specific ideas about some things he was positive he would love doing with her.

“Oh, Dax,” Jane said, her tone completely sincere. “I have never gone hungry for too long in this town.”

He almost choked on his bite of pizza. He gave her an appreciative look. “I have no doubt about that at all.”

At least the men here weren’t stupid.

They sat, grinning at each other and eating pizza, and Dax thought maybe he hadn’t had such a good time in too long to remember. And he played Ping-Pong. At work. And went to Comic-Con. That was definitely saying something. People at Comic-Con thought he was amazing. He had actual fans there.

He’d spent part of this evening talking about Jane’s sick father and how there was nothing Dax could do to fix that or even help with it. Yet he didn’t want this to end.

“So I just want you to know,” he said, after he’d polished off his second piece. And watched her and grinned at her like a seventh-grader with his first crush. “If you ever want to talk about your dad more, I’m happy to listen.”

She cocked her head. “Really? That doesn’t seem like your kind of thing.”

He nodded. “It’s not.”

“But you want to do that with me?”

“I do.”

“Huh.”

He watched her think about that. Maybe she’d figure out a reason for it other than that he was falling for her. Because that was about the only thing he could come up with.

“I guess I was expecting some more of the thing you are really good at doing.”

He thought about how to say this delicately. He gave her a half grin. “So the two needs I’m best at meeting both start with H.”

“Hunger and horniness,” she said.

“And the way I meet those needs both start with F. Feeding and—”

“Got it,” she said with a laugh.

He nodded. “And I’m really good at both. Like maybe not pizza and cake pop good, but I know some pretty great restaurants.”

“I’ll bet you do.”

They weren’t talking about the feeding part just then either.

“So you might need to be more specific about which of the things I do that I’m really good at that you thought I’d be doing for you.”

“Right. Well, I was referring to the D thing.”

His brows rose. “The D thing. That’s a little less… polite than I’m used to…”

“Distracting, Dax,” she said over a light laugh. “I was talking about how you’re really good at distracting people from their problems.”