Her Unexpected Valentine

“You shouldn’t have been checking out my ass or my chest.”

His eyes briefly dropped to her breasts. “You shouldn’t be wearing those jeans or a shirt cut so low if you didn’t want me to look. But you know what I think?”

“What do you think?” She crossed her arms over her chest, then dropped them to the sides when she saw his eyes drift there again.

“I think you remembered what I said at dinner last weekend about not dating people I work with and decided that you’d test my restraint by flirting with me without saying anything.”

Her eyes widened. “As I said during dinner, I understand your rule about not dating people you work with. And for your information, I don’t flirt. I’ve never been good at it.”

“I don’t believe that,” Kendrick said, shaking his head. “You’ve been doing a damn good job all night.”

“That’s maybe because I know we’ll never go there.”

“Go where?” he asked.

“You know what, never mind.” She picked up her bowling ball. “It’s time for me to bowl.”

Kendrick lifted his hands in a way to let her know he wasn’t going to stop her anymore. He didn’t miss the last glance she gave of the tats on his arms before she bowled.

“It’s a split,” Monty yelled after Nicole had bowled her first ball.

“There’s no way you’re getting that,” Kendrick challenged. “Be prepared to lose your lead.”

When Nicole looked his way, she exuded confidence. “Watch me work,” she said before bowling the perfect hook and landing a spare.

“Damn,” Monty said. “There’s only two more frames left. We’re going to lose to the women, and they will be gloating for weeks.”

“You’re damn right,” Angelica said with a laugh. Nicole brushed past him with a look of satisfaction on her face.

“Don’t worry, Kendrick. Next time, I’ll try to go easy on you so I don’t embarrass you in front of your friends and completely whoop that ass.”

Kendrick quirked an eyebrow. “Is that so?”

Instead of responding, she just smiled and joined the other ladies. After the last frame, Nicole had beaten Kendrick by twenty-one points and secured the women’s win.

“Man, how could you have let them win?” Monty asked. “We always beat the women.”

“Nicole’s on their team now, so we better get used to more competitive games.”

“Now I have to clean Angelica’s condo after work for an entire week.”

Kendrick laughed. “That’s what you get for always making bets with her. Even if it wasn’t bowling, you always lose to her. Wouldn’t it be easier to just tell her how you feel instead of losing all the time?”

“I don’t know, man,” Monty said with a shrug. “Angelica is used to dating those actor types who have starring roles in action movies. She’s not going to date a cameraman.”

“You never know unless you tell her how you feel. You can’t be afraid of entering a relationship with her based off what-ifs. Yeah, it may not work out, but what if it did? What if you miss out on something good because you were scared to make a move and take a chance?”

Monty stood up from his seat and turned Kendrick’s body toward where Nicole sat unlacing her bowling shoes and laughing at something Angelica said. “Seems to me like you need to be taking your own advice,” Monty said. “A lot of the guys like Nicole, and if you don’t make a move, someone else will.”