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      PajamaPartyGirl is instant messaging you

      PajamaPartyGirl: I cannot believe you bailed on me.

      JadeBlossom: I didn’t bail, P.J., I just left early.

      PajamaPartyGirl: Well if you wanted to go, you didn’t have to cab it, Rei. I would have driven you home.

      JadeBlossom: I know you would have, but I didn’t want you to have to leave just because I was.

      PajamaPartyGirl: I’m sorry you didn’t have a good time. You can pick the place for our next Break Away Night.

      JadeBlossom: I did have a good time, honest.

      PajamaPartyGirl: Uh huh. Whenever people have to tell you they’re being honest, they aren’t. Did that hot blond you were dancing with do something to upset you? Is that why you left early?

      REI GRINNED at the computer screen. Oh, the hot blond had done something, all right, but he hadn’t upset her.

      If she possessed an ounce of sense, she’d be embarrassed and ashamed over making out with a stranger in a club. But the truth was, she’d enjoyed those moments of wild abandonment. Chris had joked about losing sleep but she’d been the one plagued by erotic dreams. Even after she awoke, her imagination had been running on overdrive, stirring up all kinds of sexual urges and wrecking her concentration.

      JadeBlossom: No, I had a great time, the best. It just didn’t work out.

      PajamaPartyGirl: Oh, too bad. That explains why you seem a little short today.

      JadeBlossom: I’m tired this morning and I have quite a few adoptions to approve this afternoon.

      PajamaPartyGirl: Um, I forgot to remind you last night.

      JadeBlossom: Of what?

      PajamaPartyGirl: You said you’d come with me to look at this company I want to invest in.

      JadeBlossom: Oh yeah. When is that?

      PajamaPartyGirl: Monday. I set it up for your lunch hour but this place has food and I promise to feed you. Since you and Derek are over, this might work out really well.

      JadeBlossom: WHAT might work out? Where are we going?

      PajamaPartyGirl: To check out a dating service.

      JadeBlossom: Great, Peej. Thanks.

      PajamaPartyGirl: Well, it might be great for both of us. Give it a chance.

      JadeBlossom: You’re lucky we’re best friends.

      CHRIS HADN’T REALLY expected Jade to call. But he’d hoped she would. He’d lain awake most of the night, waiting for the phone to ring like some teenaged boy with his first crush. What an idiot. Finally he’d dozed off, only to dream about her. Dreams so hot that he’d ended up taking matters into his own hand, so to speak.

      He loved women. He had learned from his mom and his sisters to respect women’s intelligence, strength, endurance and ambition. He admired their optimism, willingness to share and their emotional depth. He had never been one to objectify women, and yet he couldn’t stop imagining Jade naked.

      Her body would be a perfect combination of lean muscle and soft curves. She’d smile at him as she lay back onto his bed and held out her arms. Her golden skin would be like hot silk beneath his hands. She’d gasp with pleasure when he settled between her thighs. “Chris.” He could almost hear her whispering his name.

      “Chris?”

      He startled, realizing his next client was trying to get his attention. “Hey, Eric, sorry.”

      Eric Antoine slouched into the office, the picture of dejection and he flopped onto the guest chair. “I got shot down again. Why do I even bother with this? I’m never going to meet a woman who wants to spend the rest of her life with me.”

      “Come on, Eric. We’ve talked about this.” He rested one hip on the edge of his desk. “If you want positive things in your life, be it love, a better job, whatever, you have to have a—”

      “Positive outlook, I know, Chris. But I kept thinking about how beautiful she was and how smart, and then I got nervous because I wanted to ask her to go out with me again but I knew that she wouldn’t.”

      He sure knew that feeling. He was dying to see Jade again but knew he’d better resign himself to never hearing from her. She would end up being a fond memory of a phenomenal night and nothing more. Too bad, but it wasn’t like he was looking for a relationship anyway. On the other hand, though, his client was.

      Eric was a tall, thin, African American man with big ears, a big heart and an even bigger smile when he bothered to use it. He was a nice guy with a good job but he had zero self-esteem. Chris studied his poor posture and downcast eyes.

      “Is this how you talked to Michelle?”

      Eric finally looked at him. “What do you mean?”

      “Women are verbal communicators, men are physical. Everything about your body language right now says, ‘I don’t want to be here.’ You can’t connect with a woman if you don’t make eye contact. You can’t let her know you’re open to a relationship if your attitude is closed. Come over here.”

      He grabbed Eric by the shoulder and pushed him toward the triple mirror in the corner. “Look at us. What’s different?”

      Eric’s dark-brown eyes showed a spark of humor as he took in Chris’s paler, blonder reflection. “You mean besides the obvious?”

      “Yeah, besides that.” He smiled.

      “You’re bigger than me, and better dressed.”

      Chris shook his head. “I might look bigger, but I’m not. We’re about the same build. Now, stand up straight. Hold your head up and put your shoulders back. See?”

      In the mirror, all three of Eric appeared larger and more self-assured. His expression revealed that he saw it, too.

      “Now watch this, watch what I’m doing while I’m talking to you.” Chris hunched his shoulders and let his eyes shift from Eric’s mouth to his hair to a point beyond his shoulder. “My lack of focus tells you what? That I don’t care about you, about who you might be beneath the surface and that I’m looking to see if there’s someone better to talk to.”

      “Ah, man. That’s probably what Michelle thought, when really I was just nervous. No wonder she blew me off.”

      Chris clapped him on the shoulder. “Now that you know, be aware of it. If you don’t get anything else out of these sessions, get this—confidence is sexy. It’s all about knowing who you are inside and out. Nothing will impress a woman more.”

      He worked with Eric for another forty-five minutes, mostly trying to convince him that eventually he would find the right woman. Four more individual sessions with male clients followed, effectively keeping him from thinking about Jade. Sort of. Several times, she crept into his thoughts and he had to remind himself to focus on the job. It was a lot of extra work when he could have just let the computer program handle the matchmaking. But Chris felt it was worth the time and effort.

      Just because he’d never fallen in love didn’t mean he couldn’t make it happen for someone else.

      Not long after he opened Lunch Meetings, Chris had realized that too many of his early applicants just wanted to get in, get off and get out. Even those men who wanted to fall in love were more likely to screw up a budding relationship than the female clients. Either they made mistakes at the beginning or they weren’t willing to put in the effort to keep it going and they walked out when things got too complicated.

      Like his father.

      So Chris began quietly offering courtship counseling to the men who seemed genuinely interested but totally clueless. Using his own experiences and education, he helped his clients reform their self-image and destructive behaviors.

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