Page 15 of One Baby Daddy
“Well, I did need help finding someone, but I found her.” Smile, keep eye contact, make her see how interested you are.
“Are you being corny and implying I’m the one you wanted to find?”
“Are you being lippy when I came all the way out here to bring you . . .” Fuck, I didn’t bring her anything. I reach into my pocket, rooting around and pull out my ChapStick. “To bring you this ChapStick. Jesus, how fucking rude.”
Eyes focused on the ChapStick and then back to mine. “You brought me ChapStick? Is that because you think I need it? Do you think I need ChapStick that bad that you came all the way to my place of work to give me some? Are my lips really so horrible to look at that not another minute could go by without bringing me some lubrication?”
I hold back the smile that wants to beam brightly. “Did I say ChapStick?” I shake my head and reach into my back pocket. I pull out my wallet, shuffle through it and grab the only piece of cash I have.
A one-dollar bill.
Perfect.
That was sarcasm in case you didn’t get it.
“A dollar? You brought me a dollar?”
I’ve dug my grave, might as well lie in it. “Yup.” I hand it to her. “Go crazy.”
She presses the dollar between her fingers, not buying it, but still playing along. “You’re so kind. I don’t think anyone has ever come to my place of work just to give me a dollar.”
“Sweet, right?” I rock on my heels, hands in my pockets now.
She chuckles and shakes her head. “The absolute sweetest.”
“Does that mean if I ask you out on a date, you’re more likely to say yes now rather than no . . . thanks to the dollar?”
Okay, not the best way to pick up a girl, bribing her with a one-dollar bill and used ChapStick, but I’m a little out of touch here. Hockey has consumed me for as long as I can remember, not granting me much time to date. I’m slightly rusty, a little awkward, and a whole lot of nervous.
“You want to take me out on a date?”
I nod. “Would love to.”
“And if I say no, do I have to give the dollar back?” The smallest of smiles tugs at the corner of her lips.
“The dollar is yours regardless. Consider it a friendship dollar. Whatever happens between us, that dollar is yours to do with whatever you want.”
“Wow.” She brings the dollar close to her chest. “The world is my oyster, think of all the possibilities.”
Fuck, she’s funny.
“So, is that a yes?”
She tilts her head to the side, the ponytail swaying with her movement, the long strands like a wave of chocolate behind her.
“Did you tell Racer you were doing this?”
“No,” I answer immediately.
“He has no clue you came searching for me, harassed a receptionist, and offered me a one-dollar bill?”
“Nope.” I shake my head, my lips pressed into a thin line. “If I told him, I would have asked for your last name and the hospital you worked at so I didn’t wander around different hospitals looking for a girl named Adalyn with brown hair and killer legs.”
“Ooo, killer legs, I like that.” She winks at me and stuffs the dollar in her bra strap. “Let’s say I were to say yes, what would your date entail?”
Eh, fuck, I haven’t thought that far ahead.
“It’s a surprise,” I answer, feeling smooth.
