Chapter 1
Malcolm
This was so fucking stupid. I knew better than to let Angela set me up on yet another one of her blind dates. She swore this one was different. That she would be there and wouldn’t stand me up.
They all stood me up.
Was there a sign on my head?Malcolm Fisher: Must Remain Single.
Whatever it was, I hadn’t figured it out yet. I wasn’t even picky. You couldn’t be when no one would ever give you a chance. Maybe I came on too strong when I told people about the missing kidney? It didn’t matter that I’d donated it to my brother. It’d saved his life… until, you know, it didn’t.
Maybethatwas my downfall. I’d given too much information before they even met me in person. No one needed those details upfront. Who wanted to hear about the kidney disease that had ravaged my twin brother—that he ended up losing his battle despite my best efforts—all before the first date?
I didn’t have the best filter. But if someone wanted to date me, they needed to understand that half of me was missing andwould always be missing. Marcus had been far better than I was in a lot of ways, and I’d give anything for him to still be there.
“Angela, where the hell is she?” My arms crossed over my chest as I pressed the phone to my ear.
Angela sighed. “She said that there was a problem with her car starting.”
Typical.
“And she couldn’t call me to tell me that?”
Another heavy sigh. “Malcolm, I’m sorry. I don’t know what to say here. Stacy seemed promising. She checked all the right boxes, and I even told her about your brother before you did this time.”
So, if that hadn’t been a factor, what happened? There was a chance the poor woman actually had car trouble, but at thirty-two, I’d become skeptical of the lame excuses.
“It’s fine.” It wasn’t. “I’ll just have lunch by myself. It’s a shame to waste the reservation.”
As soon as I set down the phone, a soft, but deep laugh came from behind me. When I chanced a look, there was a man sitting by himself at a table. He wore a light gray suit, scrolling absently on his phone. His hair was a dark, dirty blond that fell in front of his eyes, but he had a trimmed beard that made him look a little more mature.
“Is something funny?” I asked him.
He looked up from his phone, setting it on the table in front of him. He crossed his arms over his chest and studied me. “I’ve never heard someone sound so dejected over being stood up before.”
I deflated. “You heard all that?”
The stranger nodded. “It was hard not to.”
I shrugged, and in true Malcolm fashion, I overshared. “It happens a lot. More often than it ever should. At this rate, I’m doomed to remain single for the rest of my life.”
Pale blue eyes trailed up and down my frame, a slow heat building in my body as his gaze traced me. Was this guy… checking me out? Not that it was a problem. I didn’t have a preference either way. I’d been openly bisexual for most of my adult life.
The man sat a little taller in his seat, looking around the restaurant for a moment before picking his phone back up and tucking it into his pocket. “Is it all right if I join you? If you’re eating lunch alone, we might as well enjoy it together?”
My tongue was thick in my mouth. Why the hell could I suddenly not talk to him? It was so stupid. He was hot. Sure. That could be it. I’d never had someone so blatantly hit on me before. He was hitting on me, right?
When I didn’t answer right away, he hesitated, half standing from his seat. My face heated, a growing inferno of embarrassment as he continued to wait me out. God damn, I could tell this guy it was okay. I enjoyed meeting new people, and it wasn’t like I really wanted to eat by myself. It was always better when I had someone to visit with. The wait staff was less likely to judge you if you weren’t by yourself. They did judge you, didn’t they? It felt like they did. Always watching you… and God forbid if you had to get up and go to the bathroom during the meal. Did they think you would dine and dash? I’d held it on more than one occasion, just so they didn’t find me suspicious.
“Ye—yeah, totally cool.” God. I sounded like a fucking joke. I really would stay single forever.
The man didn’t falter, however. Once he had permission to join me, he grabbed his drink from the table and slid into the seat across from me. Up close… damn. I wouldn’t be able to carry a coherent conversation with him. Nope. I was done for. Maybe it was a good thing I’d been stood up if it brought this fine specimen of a man into my presence. Were the heavens finallysmiling down on me? Had I done something right? What had I done to deserve this?
“David, by the way. I don’t usually make a habit of listening to other people’s conversations, but you were so pathetic sounding…”
I pouted. Pathetic. Great first impression, that’s for sure.
“Yeah, well, you try being stood up ten times in a row and see how you feel about it,David.” I put a flourish in his name, adding a slight accent to make it sound pretentious. If I were trying to impress the guy, that wasn’t how to do it. I was annoyed.
