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CHAPTER ONE

EMORY

“You knohat they say about oysters’ aphrodisiac properties”

Oh, crap Really? He was going to use that line? It was laced with innuendo and ridiculous bivalve knowledge I wanted to know nothing about I s with a B He was in his thirties, well dressed in a suit with a gray tie, as if he carooe wasn't bad, but oysters? Yeah, no

The sit-down dinner portion of o and the group moved from a private room to the bar area to drink and socialize Clearly the socializing part wasn’t going well as I had to watch hih to eat at the dinner? I was full of crab cakes and didn't have roo else, especially oysters Gah Let's just say watching someone eat them is not a spectator sport I bit my lip as he used a cocktail napkin to wipe oyster juice that dripped down his chin

Christy hadto work his lackluster char live Chesapeake Bay bottolanced out the wall of s With the restaurant six floors up in a new boutique hotel right on the harbor, the vieas a

I really wanted to give him the brush-off, to tell him he needed a breath mint and a toothpick, but he was related to Paul and I owed it to Christy to keep fro one of her future relatives Besides, I’d probably have to see hi in a few roomsmen As a bridesmaid—the oldest bridesmaid in history—I'd probably have to walk down the aisle on his arm I tried to smile and nod as diplomatically as possible S, or an oyster We’d talked about Paul and Christy for a minute or two, but after that…he showed hiaze surreptitiously dropping to my chest, and he had an odd leer It had to be a leer or he had some kind of tick in the corner of his lip

Why the guy was lingering with , I had no idea I’d been burned by a man, okay, scorched to a charcoal briquette, and I wasn’t looking for another one I’d survived the divorce, survived because Chris needed aone But he ay at college now and I wasn’t shielded behind the role of parent any longer I could chat about off-sides rules in soccer or PTA fundraisers, but talking to a guy, a real guy and not another parent frouy knew about any of that and probably once he discovered I had a child—even an eighteen year old—he'd take his oysters elsewhere

God, I was such an introvert! I hated big crowds, new people, loud noises I wasn't party person Because of this, it was so hardnew people I was terrible at it, unlike Christy, who never knew a stranger The whole introvert-extrovert dynamic helped when she’d been able to pull me out ofme around my new department, which had made us instant friends It’s not as if I was shy or weird or anything, but I was definitely set in my ways That’s what I called it, at least Christy called it lonely and I couldn’t think of anythingthan that She consideredand it had been even longer since I dated Like alement party without a plus-one and why I wasn’t interested in Bob/Bill and his ridiculous pick-up tactics Sure, a guy would be great, for ot the job done, but it wasn't like a real a in the twenty-first century Coht

I sighed and took a sip ofme over”

I took a step away but he put his hand on ers were chilled and I had to wonder what kind of oyster cooties he'd just passed to me

“You should only eat oysters in the months that don’t have an R” He nodded as if to confirm his statement

My brain had wandered a bit, but stopped to think about what he said Months without an R Noveust This was thehe’d said so far, but really…oyster-eating months?

“Then I guess you shouldn’t have eaten theht?” I wondered, eyebrow raised

He shrugged sheepishly, even flushed a little, but hadn't noticed the sarcasm in my voice “Septerinned and I noticed a slight overlap of his front two teeth “I like to live dangerously” His thumb stroked over my arm and I stepped back out of the hold

Right I inwardly rolled my eyes He didn’t look like he took any chances at all since he was talking to me and not some of the other women in the bar ere er, too At thirty-eight, I wasn't really old, but e Soartener to peewee soccer

I wasn’t giving off any indication to Bob/Bill that said take me home with you The way I had lass, was a classic indication of not interested He had no clue A woainst the wall and kissed the ever loving daylights out of her Well, I did Wild uy? Not a chance If I had to guess, I’d say…accountant

I took a sip of h my dark lashes “What do you do?”

He put an empty half shell on his plate “I’m an auditor with Social Security”

Close enough I nodded vaguely, trying to keepfor a woman anted the white-picket-fence life with two kids and a dog—and oysters Been there, done that I even got the T-shirt and now used it to clean my toilet

Glancing at Christy fro the wo in her red silk halter dress, her tanned shoulders and back exposed Her hair was sleek and long and her ht-on-the-town heavy It was a different look than her business suits for her job at the hospital, and even fancier yet thanoutfit had been her plan e’d gone

shopping for her dress, and the way his hand rested just north of appropriate on the small of her back, I’d say it worked They were blatantly in love and it was a little hard to watch so, like an ache, for I’d never seen the look Paul was giving her ever froht never have it

My own dress wasn’t re to pleasefor one either Not at a bar and not with Bob/Bill I had no clue how to pick so skills weren’t just rusty, they were stored in a time capsule from the nineties I observed other women around the bar area; some wore less clothes than I did when I was in ination They ss, batted their eyelashes