SecondSightDating (3 page)

Chapter Two

Serena scrutinized the woman about to leave her office.
“Thanks for coming in, Miss ‘S’.
I’ll get back to you about dinner
arrangements.”

In an almost apprehensive tone, the client answered, “Yes.
Well, uh, I did mention that I won’t eat much, right?”

With a smile, Serena replied, “That won’t be a problem.
I’ll
talk to you later.”

Serena escorted Dan’s first future date to the door.
The
hazel-eyed blonde fit some of the descriptive qualities on his list.

Except for hair color.

Then, of course, he liked baseball and she didn’t.

And, there was her notion that hard rock or rap beat out
country music, Dan’s listening choice.

Well, everything didn’t have to match exactly.
They both did
like Italian food.
That could be a starting point.

An irritating doubt poked through her composure.
Would Miss
“S” really fit in Dan’s life?

When did he become Dan and not Mr.
“Four-eighteen”?

Damn, he’d gotten under her skin, bypassed her warning
barriers and head alarm blaring “watch out for this one”.
His name, now firmly
implanted in her head, wouldn’t change back from Dan to a number without any
major effort on her part.
And even then, it wouldn’t work.

She knew he had to be called Dan.
Period.

Serena rubbed her temples, trying to ward off a troubling
headache.
The more she denied a “sight”, the worse her head throbbed.
Resigning
herself to calling him Dan would start the blood flowing happily in her veins
again, wiping out all traces of pain.
She’d been this route before and knew the
unavoidable consequences.
Better to go with the option firmly implanted in her
brain.
She couldn’t win a battle with her gift.

Miss “S” had seemed somewhat enthused about
meeting him.
He satisfied most of the qualifications on her list.

Except for the age thing.
At twenty-five, she preferred
someone younger than thirty-three-year-old Dan.

And, she had wanted someone shorter.

In addition, she hoped to be a model and wanted to stay on
her diet, but would eat Italian food.
A little.
To be sociable.

“Stop overanalyzing this,” Serena chided herself aloud.
Miss
“S” matched one of his letters.
His number didn’t exactly come up for her, but
“four” did.
It was part of his number.
Maybe that would be close enough.

Serena put aside their files after leaving messages for both
of them to see if seven on Friday at Zio’s would work.
Two days’ notice should
be enough for them to decide.

Now, she had to work on her own case and find a date.
Numbers were needed.
Should be easy enough to do if she’d just make herself
relax and let them come to her.

Realizing she expected no more clients for the day, Serena
decided to stretch out on the couch in her office and relax.
She kicked off her
shoes and eased herself down into a reclining position.
She took a few calming
breaths, hoping to ease the tension in her body.

“Okay numbers.
Start dancing.”

She closed her eyes and tried to wipe extra thoughts from
her mind.
Numbers.
She had to allow only numbers to filter through.

Dan’s face plastered itself squarely in her head, surrounded
by the number four-eighteen.
Scores of tiny groups of four-eighteens swirled
around his smiling face.
The one with the sparkling eyes, trying to look into
her soul.
The face highlighted with a strong, chiseled jaw and dimple on one
side.
The face showing a five-o’clock shadow surrounding kissable lips.

She opened one eye, then the other, deciding to focus one at
a time on the ceiling above.
It was vital to wipe him out of her head in order
to get on with her number search.

Her eyes closed again and this time she took more deep
intakes of breath and exhaled them as slowly as possible.
After doing this a
few times, Serena decided to try the numbers search again.

Nope.
Still didn’t work.

Damn.

Maybe she would have to just read each of the male clients’
profiles and choose someone that way.
She snorted.
Heck, she couldn’t do any
worse than dating Alan.
And she’d thought they were compatible.
This would only
be someone to have dinner with and get through a session of chaperoning Dan’s
date.

He’d find a match and then leave her alone.

Maybe.

Maybe he’d find his match or maybe he’d leave her alone?
Both thoughts didn’t appeal.
Why did her heart feel as if it had just hit
bottom?

She closed her eyes one last time and placed her arm over
her forehead.
She needed a short power nap.
Mentally setting her head alarm to
wake her up in twenty minutes, she fell into peaceful slumber.

* * * * *

Dan noticed the door to the office was ajar, so he pushed it
open.
On the couch was “Miss Sight”, fast asleep and resembling Sleeping
Beauty.
A very gorgeous one at that.

He watched the rise and fall of her breasts as they strained
against her top in a slow, rhythmic sleep-related pattern.
Her hips were
slightly turned in toward the sofa.
Her skirt, deliciously hiked up around her
thighs, offered him a great view of her long, elegant legs.

Anyone other than a gentleman would take advantage of the
scenario and tiptoe around the end of the couch for a better view of those
legs.
But, his mother had taught him proper respect for women and he’d stay
put.
However, the desire to see her, touch her, sent a message of need straight
to his groin.

Clearing his throat, Dan called out, “Hello?
Are you still
open?”

Serena’s body twisted abruptly at the sound of his voice.
She sat up then stood, smoothing down her skirt and pushing back wayward curls
from her face.

He longed to reach out and help, but kept his hands planted
firmly by his sides.
“I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

Sleep lines and rosy red cheeks highlighted her face.
She
looked adorable, loveable and kissable.
Dreamy-eyed after just having awakened.
She’d fit into his arms so easily.

“Uh, sorry.
I guess I was tired and… How did you
get in?”

“The door was open.
Maybe you should make sure it’s locked
before you sleep.”

“Oh.
I thought it was.” She coughed.
“Why are you back
here?”

“I forgot to ask you something.”

Serena walked over to her desk and sat.
“Okay.
Fine.
Have a
seat.”

He waved a hand.
“No, that’s not necessary.
I’m not here to
disturb you, just curious about something.”

“Sure.
How can I help you?”

Dan took a step forward then stopped.
“I just wanted to know
what letters came up for me.”

Without hesitating, she replied, “‘E’, ‘S’ and ‘X’.
Those
are the ones I keep seeing for you.”

Dan gave her a quizzical stare.
“Don’t you find that odd?”

“Like I already told you, seeing three letters veers off my
normal pattern, but I guess we can work with it.”

Dan folded his arms.
“You don’t see anything weird about
those three particular letters?”

Serena frowned, giving him a confused look.
“What are you
getting at?”

“Those letters spell out ‘Sex’.”

Long seconds ticked by before Serena could unscramble the
thoughts rampaging through her brain.
He put the letters together to make the
word “SEX”?

“I can assure you that I just saw them as separate entities
in alphabetical order.
You know, E, period.
S, period.
X, period.
I never
considered putting them together to form a word.”

He quirked an eyebrow.
“Seems odd to me.”

“This is the first time I’ve ever gotten more than one
letter.” She frowned.
“I’m as confused as you are.”

“Maybe I could sit down so we can talk this over.”

“Sure.”

Dan took the same seat opposite her that he’d occupied
earlier.
Despite the desk between them, she sensed his presence surrounding
her.

What was going on?
A strange irritation swept over her.
If
she looked at the letters in a different order, they’d spell out something
other than sex…like her initials.
That, however, he’d never need to know.

She cleared her throat before speaking.
“I can’t explain it
to you.
Those are your letters.
You need to stop thinking of them in any
particular order so they spell out a word.” Another word formed in her head
using those same letters and she decided to test his reaction.
“You know, it
could also say ‘exs’ like in ex-wife.”

She noticed him shifting in his seat.
He didn’t have an ex,
or at least he hadn’t marked that on his application.
Had he been truthful in
filling out his form?
Could that be why the letters had come to her?
Maybe he
had some ex in his past and she’d picked up on it.

“Do you have an ex?” She narrowed her gaze at him.
“That
could be why I see all those letters.”

Play this cool.
Keep your voice level.
Dan leveled a
determined gaze at her and aimed for a nonchalant tone to his answer.
“Nope.
Never been married.
Guess that brings us back to square one again.”

“Let me get your file and we’ll review what you wrote.
I’m
really sorry for this confusion.”

Dan watched as she eyed him with suspicion.
He returned the
stare.

Taking this case hadn’t been his idea.
His boss, Morgan, was
using this assignment as a revenge tactic and there wasn’t a thing he could do
about it.

Serena handed him his file and suggested, “Why don’t you
check what you’ve written.
See if there are any changes you’d like to make.
Then I’ll try to see letters for you again.”

He took the form, fully intending to appear engrossed in
doing as she requested.
Instead, he let his mind wander as he cursed the
circumstances that brought him there in the first place.

When the mayor complained to the department about his
daughter’s horrible experience with Second Sight Dating, Morgan had yelled
Dan’s name and issued his assignment order without hesitation.
Dan would be the
“plant” in their investigation, a guinea pig entering the fiasco dating game
using this agency.
Serena’s brochures, advertising and sales pitch alleged it
dealt strictly with matchmaking.

The mayor was convinced it was more than that, some type of
prostitute/gigolo “dating” service his poor daughter had stumbled across.
The
woman had gone out with Mr.
“Eight” a few times before he’d started hinting
that money for his services would be needed to ensure his continued interest.

Embarrassed, the woman had confided in her
father but didn’t want any publicity surrounding her almost venture into the
shady world of paying for male attention.
Hence, Morgan got a call from the
mayor and Dan had been made the nerd needing help finding a love match.

Or, the stud women would barter for.
Or, the man given
choices of three women who’d be more than willing to service him…for a price.

None of the options appealed to him.
Acting as if he needed
help in finding someone to date made him bristle with annoyance.
Hell, he could
arrange his own love life but this woman staring at him probably deemed him
short in the “How to Attract a Woman” category.
She looked at him as someone
who needed her guidance to lead him on the path to true love and happiness.

Yeah.
Right.

He knew from past experience, his own failed marriage and a
witch of an ex-wife, Laura, that real love, the forever kind, only existed in
the minds of fools.
No such animal roamed the face of the Earth.
Even his
parents’ rocky and distant relationship had proven that.