Isn't It Time Read Online Free PDF Page A

“You
know you are.”
    “You sure seem to know an awful lot about romance novels.”
    Shit. This was dangerous ground. My love of romance novels
was one of the few things about my life I didn’t share with him. I could just
imagine the ribbing I’d get. So I lied.  “Yeah, well, I hear things.”
    “Right,” he said, drawing the word out for about four beats
and looking amused.
    “Look, Jack.  What’s this really all about?” I asked,
changing the subject.
    Keeping his eyes on me, he leaned back in his chair again
and ran a hand through his hair.  “Can I be totally serious?”
    “Please.”
    “Okay, well, you know how we’ve talked in the past about
what we’re looking for in a relationship?  How we’re both positive that when
the exact right person comes along, we’ll know it immediately?”
    “Yeah?”
    “Well, around the time I turned thirty, I started taking a
hard look at my life and while, obviously, everything was going great,
career-wise, I felt as if there was this big, gaping hole in my personal life. If
I’m going to be honest about it, I guess what I was feeling was a little bit
lonely and a lot hopeless.  Like, I wanted it so badly but it was never going
to happen for me.  You know I’ve dated my fair share of women - but there
hasn’t been even one that I’ve met and immediately thought, ‘this is the one’. 
And I realized I had also never met one that I was as comfortable with as I am
with you. Do you understand?”
    “Yes,” I answered quietly.  And I did understand.  It was exactly
the way I felt about him.
    “So, anyway, I began to wonder, what if it won’t hit me the
minute I meet the right one? What if it really is all about friendship
and compatibility first?  And what if I’m so busy looking for some big sign
that I’m missing what’s right under my nose?  I know we don’t think we
feel that way about each other, but what if we’re both overthinking and missing
the obvious?”
    I stared at him as I sank back into my chair.  Oh, my God. What
if he was right?  I mean, it was definitely possible.  We were 100% compatible and
I’d trust him with my life - and I knew he felt the same. Maybe it wasn’t such
a ridiculous idea, after all.
    “Maybe,” I said slowly.  “I suppose you have an idea about
what we should do to either prove or disprove that theory?  And bear in mind
that I would be extremely upset if whatever you came up with destroyed what we
have now.”
    “It shouldn’t surprise you too much to hear that I feel
exactly the same way,” he said with a smile.
    I smiled, too, and thought again how much I loved this man. 
And I wasn’t kidding when I implied I would be devastated if he was no longer
in my life.  I had never felt anything sexual for him, but maybe, in the
beginning, I had subconsciously shoved those feelings aside because I worked
for him.  I didn’t have a definite list of traits that I envisioned my ideal
man having but, if I did, I’m sure Jack would have every item on that list
covered.
    “So how about this?” Jack said.  “Since neither of us is
seeing anyone at the moment, maybe it would be a good time to have a test to
see if there are any hidden feelings of a sexual nature between us.”
    “Jack Murphy!” I exclaimed indignantly.  “I am not sleeping
with you just to test a theory!”
    “Oh, settle down; I’m not asking you to.  How about we try
something smaller – like a kiss?”
    Frowning, I said, “I’ve kissed you before.”
    “Yes, I know.  But never with intent .”
    “Oh. Well, that’s true.”
    Deciding that his idea had some merit and agreeing with him
that we could very well be overlooking the obvious, I quickly ran through any
possible negative consequences of a simple kiss. Not finding any, I stood up.
“Okay; let’s do this.”
    “You needn’t sound so pained about it,” he said dryly.
    I laughed and said, “Well, you’ve got to admit – this feels
a little weird.”
    “Eh,