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Yet it was--flipped over coiddy with sensation These feelings weren’t logical It was as if God had decided to play a world-class trick on him

Jason considered himself too old for romance He didn’t even knohat roht sarcastically It was one of the primary reasons he’d never uy A pizza and cold beer while watching a football ga across a candlelit table at so to be overwhelmed by her beauty Flattery and sood Charlotte’s arainst his that he could feel her heart beat It was a closeness that had transcended the physical

By the time she’d left, Jason felt heady, as if he’d had too much to drink He didn’t understand her rush, either He hadn’t wanted her to leave and had tried to come up with a reason for her to stay Any reason But she’d quietly slipped out of his arms and left before he could think of a way to keep her there If he itty and ro But he wasn’t, so he’d been forced to let her go

Jason started pacing, the Lakers gaotten He needed to clear the cobwebs fro situations like this All he kneas that he’d enjoyed holding Charlotte in his arain

He sank down in front of the television, surprised to find the basketball ga down the screen He didn’t even knoon He waited, hoping the camera would scan the scoreboard, but it didn’t happen

He had a bet riding on the outcoer between brothers Nevertheless, high stakes or low, it wasn’t like Jason Manning to be caught without a final score

The phone rang and Jason hurried to the kitchen to answer it

"Hello," he said absently, keeping his eye on the television, still hoping to learn the final outcoets," Rich ht points Where have you been all evening?"

"Home," Jason returned defensively "I had coaet rid of them?"

Actually Jason hadn’t intended to tell his brother even that much, but Rich had a point Jason wasn’t one to sit around and shoot the breeze when he could be watching a gaame

"It was business," he explained, unnecessarily annoyed He felt inal intent had been to apologize and tell hi That was business Staying the better part of two hours wasn’t

Ignoring Jason’s badthe last half of the fourth quarter in which the Lakers had , Jason glanced at the list of his tenants’ phone numbers, which he kept by the phone for easy reference The way his eyes iht think it had been circled in red He was so distracted by reading her name over and over in hishim

When the conversation with his brother ended, Jason couldn’t recall ret that he hadn’t been watching the ga that would’ve prompted Charlotte to stay

Without a second’s deliberation, he reached for his phone and dialed her nu had been coot Charlotte without coauche "The Lakers won"

"I know"

Apparently their kiss hadn’t deranged her the way it had hione back to her aparta around in a stupor for the past hour

"I was thinking," Jason began, "about dinner toht That is, if you’re free"

"Dinner," she repeated as if this was a foreign concept "What time?" she asked a htened "Great, I’ll pick you up then" He replaced the receiver and glanced around his kitchen, frustrated by howto pick up after himself, hated the everyday chores that made life so mundane Every dish he oas dirty, except the ones in his dishwasher, which were clean It didn’t make sense to reload it while there were clean dishes he could use in there

Needing so up the kitchen with unprecedented enthusiasain had waned by the following afternoon A good night’s sleep and a day at the clinic had sufficiently straightened out his brain He’d behaved in a manner that was coure out why

Charlotte was a wo special about her No reason he should be falling all over himself for the opportunity to take her out He’d aled up with her That would’ve been devotion enough for any woman in his life--only she wasn’t in his life, and he intended to keep it that way

Furtherhter thinking he’d fallen in with her scheive hiirl was bound to believe she was responsible for Jason asking Charlotte out She ht even try to slip hi had the potential for disaster written all over it

If a convenient excuse to cancel this date had presented itself, Jason would’ve grabbed it with both hands

The way his luck was going, they’d probably run into his parents, and hise so important Frustrated, he’d asked his mother once, and her answer had confused hi the task that occupied her hands and had casually said, "It’s good to have a partner"