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fingers brushed my hip. My stomach did a quick somersault.
    Chemistry .
    I must have looked like I was sporting a wicked sunburn, judging from how warm my face felt.
    “Carly seems to be okay with... this? ” I asked, trying to recover my scattered thoughts.
    He nodded as he started the engine. “She’s encouraging it. She really likes you. Likes your class, too.”
    “Thanks. That’s nice to hear. She’s a great kid.”
    “What made you choose to be a teacher?”
    Let the fishing expedition commence .
    The problem with a first date was trying to get enough information to see if a second date was warranted while not appearing to be conducting a criminal investigation for the FBI. Blood samples at this point would be a simple courtesy, but highly expensive and a tad messy. So a person works with what’s available and asks a ton of questions.
    Let’s be honest, no one wants to date a loser.
    The truth about a person and her baggage had to come out somehow. On a date, those nice little “small talk” questions were a hell of a lot more than simple chatter.
    “What made you choose to be a teacher?” translated in my insecure mind as, “Why did your husband divorce you if you are such a great person?” I didn’t want to get my guard up, but it snapped right into place before I even had a chance to prevent it.
    “Look, I don’t know what Suzanne told you, but I’m divorced.” My voice sounded strained.
    He appeared a bit perplexed at the statement, even cocked his head at me while also trying to drive. “What does that have to do with why you wanted to be a teacher?”
    “I know Suzanne tends to build up people she wants to fix up to be more interesting than they are. I’m probably not exactly what you expected and—”
    He was shaking his head and interrupting before I could even get my pathetic thought to finish tumbling from my mouth. “Suzanne didn’t tell me anything. I don’t like to play twenty questions with other people about someone I’d rather get to know on my own.”
    “You want to get to know me?” That stupid and entirely undependable filter between my brain and my mouth had obviously decided to stay at home.
    Mark pulled the car over and threw it into park. Then he turned to me with a perturbed look in those gorgeous brown eyes. “Okay, Jackie. You can let the firewall down now.”
    I knit my eyebrows and stared at him. The fact that he seemed to be able to read my mind was slowly freaking me out. I wondered if he knew I called him Mr. Yummy.
    God, I hoped not. “What firewall?”
    He stared at me intently for a moment. “I’m not sure what some idiot did to make you so insecure, but you need to stop it.”
    I waved my hand to dismiss the thought, but I knew deep down that he was entirely correct.
    It happened before I even knew what he intended. With a quick reach, he wrapped his warm, slightly calloused fingers around the back of my neck and gently pulled me toward him. When those heavenly lips touched mine, my toes actually curled. The kiss was sweet. Soft. Warm. It lasted long enough to make me blush—but not long enough to satisfy me.
    He tasted so good.
    “Now that I’ve got your attention,” he said as he slowly withdrew his hand, “let’s start over. Hi. I’m Mark Brennan. I met you at OfficeMax. I thought you were a fascinating person, and if I’d have had any type of courage at the time, I would have asked you out on the spot.” Mark chuckled. “What can I say? I’m a chicken-shit, but I lucked out. You fell into my lap anyway.” 
    Don’t I wish!
    The sincerity in his eyes made my heart pinch. The guy was being honest. He really wanted to go out with me.
    I held out my hand. “Hi, Mark. I’m Jackie Delgado. I’m just going to dump my enormous bundle of insecurity out the window here, and we can go on a real date.”
    He laughed as he shook my hand, then he threw the car into gear and eased back into the flow of traffic. “So why did you decide to be a