Nothing More Beautiful Read Online Free PDF Page B

driver.” I had almost done more than that. I
had almost kissed him. The urge had barely been controllable.
    “You’re kidding,” she laughed.
    “It’s not funny,” I clipped.
    She turned down 34 th . “It kinda
is.” After I shot her an annoyed look, she asked, “What’s the big
deal? So you almost asked out the guy who we hit. Some people might
call that fate.”
    “It was embarrassing, Danielle. I felt like
a fool.”
    “Did he recognize you?” she asked, turning
onto Hawthorne and then into the alley between the Herb Shoppe and
the Road to Tibet gift shop. The parking area behind the bakery was
small, but it meant I didn’t have to contend for street parking,
which was one of my biggest pet peeves about the city.
    “I don’t think so,” I said, heading for the
back door into Friends Bakery and Brunch House, the bakery I
co-owned. Bridgett was sitting at her desk in our shared office
when I rushed in.
    Danielle was at my heels. “Then what’s the
problem?” She turned to Bridgett. “Hi, Bridgett.”
    “Hey.” Bridgett swiveled her chair to face
us. She was a cute, short, plump woman, with dirty blond hair.
Twenty-eight, recently divorced, and the most austere person in the
world, she made for a great business partner. But she was much more
personable when she was drunk, and lately she liked to hit the bar
scene after hours, searching for her next bed-warmer since her
husband left. “Problem?”
    “I just freaked out, that’s all,” I said,
sinking into my chair. I was unable to formulate the right sentence
to describe what had happened, and on the other hand, I wasn’t sure
I wanted to describe it at all. No man had ever affected me like
that.
    “What happened?” Bridgett asked, curiosity
drawing her into the conversation.
    “Maci almost asked out the guy we hit on
Sunday,” Danielle explained. “But she’s blowing it up into a huge
thing when it isn’t.”
    Bridgett rocked in her chair. “Ah.”
    “I’m not blowing it up,” I contended. “I was
embarrassed and had to get out of there. I mean, I fell into the
guy’s lap for Christ’s sake.”
    “You fell into his lap?” Bridgett remained
calm, on the edge of disinterest.
    “Fell on this.” I produced the marble from
my sweatshirt pocket.
    “A marble,” Danielle observed. “You tripped
on a marble?”
    “What’s a marble doing at a gym?” Bridgett
asked coolly.
    “How the hell should I know?” I placed it on
my desk and stared at it for a second. “All I know is that I give
up on dating for a while.”
    “You didn’t even start!” Danielle
exclaimed.
    “I don’t have time,” I expressed with a
sigh. “We just opened the bakery two months ago and are struggling
to keep our heads above water. Things need to settle, you
know?”
    “Not really,” Bridgett said. “I don’t think
things will ever settle, for one. For two, if you don’t make the
time, you’ll never have the time. What you need is to find someone
online.”
    “Online dating,” Danielle laughed.
“Bridgett, come on, seriously? ”
    Bridgett ignored Danielle’s mocking tone. “I
made a profile last night on NorthwestMingle. I’ve read that it’s
the best place to meet people in Portland.”
    “For sex or for relationships?” Danielle
asked, dropping her keys on my desk and taking a seat in the extra
chair.
    “Either,” Bridgett replied, spinning in her
chair. She grabbed her mouse, then started typing. “I can bring it
up for you.”
    “Sex is what she needs right now,” Danielle
said. “A few good humps should do it.”
    I checked my anger, about to throw the
marble at her. “I don’t need sex, Danielle. I need to get to work,
and so do you. Aren’t you working downtown today?”
    Danielle checked her sporty wristwatch that
she swapped out for an expensive white gold one when she worked.
“Yeah, I guess I should . . . but don’t think
that just because I have to go means you’re off the hook.” She
snatched up her keys,