Read Now or Never: A Last Chance Romance (Part 1) for Free Online Page B

the most interesting conversation I’ve had in years.  But really, Justin?”
    “Let me ask you something:  Why are you waiting two months to have your surgery?  They couldn’t get you in any sooner?”
    “No, it’s not that.  He told me I didn’t have to rush.  I chose a date I’m comfortable with.”
    “So why not just get it over with?”
    Point taken.  I take a sip of wine.  It’s cold and crisp, perfectly delicious.  But I’m suddenly craving something stronger.
    “What are you drinking?” I ask him.
    “Ketel straight up,” he says.  “Want a sip?”
    I signal for the bartender and order what he’s having.  Then I look around the room.  “You think something is going to happen here?  Tonight?”
    “I know it will.”
    “I think you underestimate the powers of a twelve year dry spell,” I say.
    “And you underestimate yourself.”
    My vodka appears.
    “To The List,” he says.
    I smile.  “I guess that’s an improvement over your toast to the YMCA.”
    “I told you it would be better if you’re just honest with me.”
    We touch our glasses together.  His irises are rimmed with gray. The color is velvety, intense.  I have to look away.  He smiles, and it’s as if he knows what I’m thinking — or, worse, what I thought last night alone in my bed.
    “Okay. I’ve been honest with you,” I say. “Now it’s your turn.”
    “I’m an open book,” he says.
    “So what’s your deal?”
    “I’ve told you. I own a headhunting business.  I do pretty well for myself.  I’m not married — never been, never plan to be. I grew up around here, went to Haverford Prep, then Duke.”
    “Ah,” I say.  “A rich kid. I should have known.”  He did have a certain air of entitlement about him.
    “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    “Nothing.”
    “No really.  Let’s hear it, Romi,” he says.  No one has called me by my last name since tenth grade field hockey.
    “It’s just you’re extremely confident, and it sounds like your life has been pretty much straight lines…that explains a lot, that’s all.”
    “You think because I went to expensive schools my life has been ‘straight lines’?  Romie, that’s simplistic, even for a woman who decides no sex for a decade is an acceptable solution to bad dates.”
    “So, then tell me, Mr. Open Book?  What’s been the bump in your road?”
    I’m smiling, teasing him.  But a shadow crosses his face.  Whatever nerve I’ve hit, I immediately regret it.  “Or,” I say, back-peddling.  “You can tell me what happened after I left last night.”  I envision the giggling young women, and feel a hot, unwelcome pang of jealousy.  I know it’s ridiculous to feel this way.
    “I went home,” he says.
    “Oh?”
    “Yeah.  Don’t look so surprised.”
    “I thought for sure you went back inside to take one of those women up on the offer their eyes were making all night.”
    He shook his head.  “I know you think I’m a man slut, but I do have some self-control.”
    “I’m not saying you’re a man slut.  I just get the sense that it’s really easy for you.”
    “It’s pretty easy for everyone, Claire.  Most people like to get laid.  There’s no magic to it.  And no mystery, either.”
    “Well, maybe not for you,” I say.
    “Not for you either, if you changed your attitude.”
    “Yeah, right,” I scoff.
    “Really.  It’s infinitely easier for a woman to get laid than a man.  We have to work for it.  Prove our worth.  All you have to do is sit back and take your pick of the offerings.”
    I shake my head.  “I don’t think so.”
    “Then you’re going to have to take my word for it.  Don’t look now, but at the other end of the bar, right where it curves, there’s a guy with a short beard who keeps looking at you.”
    “No, there is not.”
    “Yeah. But don’t look.”
    How can I not look?  But Justin holds my gaze, and I will myself to stay focused on him.  I’m not interested in