I have some bad news.

That's not the kind of text message a girl wants to get from her crush two days after a wonderful, albeit very weird, first date. My heart withered, and I would have slumped back in my office chair if my body would've allowed it. There had been no taking it easy as I'd planned for practice on Monday night. Medusa had punished the Rollers, and our Fresh Meat group certainly earned our title because of it.

You're really a woman? I texted back.

West: Not the last time I checked.

Me: Then what's up?

"I feel like it's something I should explain in person."

I looked up, and West was standing in my doorway holding a small bouquet of colorful daisies. Butterflies erupted in my stomach, and my face broke into a huge smile as he walked in the room. "How do you keep getting in here?" I got up and walked around my desk to meet him. "You're going to get our receptionist fired."

He handed me the flowers and pointed to his head. "It's the hair. Ladies can't say no to the hair."

"I have absolutely no doubt of that." I lifted the daisies to my nose. They smelled like feet. "Thanks for the flowers. They're beautiful."

"They're fake," he said with a chuckle. "I stopped at the Dollar Barn for paper towels this morning and saw them."

I laughed. "Excellent. Then I can't kill them." I leaned against my desk. "What's your bad news?"

He stuffed his fists into the pockets of his jeans, causing his shoulders to stretch the pale blue fabric of his polo shirt. "Friday isn't going to work for our second date."

I steeled my face, refusing to show my disappointment. I forced a small, pathetic laugh and waved him off with my hand. "It's OK. Not a big deal."

He took a step toward me and hooked his fingers around my hand. "I was hoping we could push Friday to date number three and have lunch today instead."

I swatted him across the head with the fake flowers. "That's a dirty thing to tell a girl, West Adler."

He laughed and moved even closer to me. The testosterone wafting off him was making my brain hazy. "But isn't this the phase of dating where we're supposed to be all mysterious and not say what we really mean?"

I pointed at him. "Don't you dare start that with me."

He pulled our hands up between us, then pressed his palm against mine and laced our fingers together. Waffling! We have waffling!

"Then how about I tell you that I simply couldn't wait till Friday to see you again?" He kissed my fingers. "Can I take you to lunch?"

"Lily?"

Crap.

West turned toward the door, and I looked around him after a quick survey of his backside, of course. Audrey walked into my office carrying a legal pad and a pen. "Am I interrupting something?" she asked, her eyes daring me to say that she was. A second later, Peter walked in behind her, seemingly flustered, like she'd pulled him away from something important—because she probably had.

I stood, and West took a step back. "Of course you're not interrupting. Audrey, this is my friend West Adler. West, this is my boss Audrey Scott and her assistant Peter Jansen."

They all shook hands.

Audrey cut her eyes with clear disapproval. "Yes, I remember you were here on Monday as well."

West nodded. "I was here on business Monday when I heard Miss Cooper scream out in pain."

On business?

Audrey's brain must have been riding the same train as mine. "You were here on business? What did you say your name was?"

He tapped his finger over the embroidered logo on his shirt. "West Adler."

Peter leaned forward and whispered something in Audrey's ear. I watched the light bulb flicker on behind my boss's glaring eyes. "Oh yes, Adler Construction. I didn't realize you weren't finished with the building."

"We are finished. I was doing a walkthrough to make sure we didn't miss any details," West lied. "That's when I heard the young lady scream, and I took her to the hospital."

"That's right," she said, turning her attention back to me. "Was anything broken?"

"No, ma'am." I'd already told her that, twice.

"Excellent. Well, thank you, Mr. Adler, for coming by to check on her, but we really do have a busy day ahead of us," Audrey said.

West touched the small of my back. "I actually came by today to take her to lunch."

Her laugh dripped with derision. "She doesn't go to lunch."

West crossed his spectacular arms. Even Audrey glanced down at them. "Is she not allowed to go to lunch? Because I'm pretty sure that's illegal," he said.

She checked her watch. "I didn't even realize it was so late. And yes, of course she's allowed to take a lunch break. I just meant, she usually eats in her office."

He frowned at me. "Well, we're going to have to change that." He smiled and motioned to the door. "Shall we?"

Before Audrey could think of a reason for me to stay, I scurried behind my desk and picked up my purse off the floor. "I'd love to." I grabbed my phone and dropped it in the bag. "Audrey, can we bring you something back?"

Audrey's wide eyes couldn't figure out where to stare. She looked at Peter for help, but he didn't offer any. "No—No, thank you," she stammered. "But I need to talk to you about the email you sent me this morning. I've got a call with Jake in about twenty minutes."

I joined West by the door. "We can talk about the video stats when I get back. Please schedule some time with Jake to record a couple of short teaser videos to post over the next week. Just short clips to remind people that he'll be streaming live from the party next Saturday. The clips don't have to be live though."

"I agree. I'll talk to him about it today." She looked down at the clipboard. "I'm thinking he should post them on Sunday and Thursday."

"That's a great plan. We can put them on all his social-media accounts and send it out to the fan club. All he has to do is record them."

"Will you be available for the recording session?" she asked.

I smiled. "Of course, just let me know when and where after I get back from lunch." Instinctively, I almost clamped my hand over my mouth and apologized, but I didn't. Behind Audrey's back, Peter was struggling to keep a straight face. West and I passed by them into the hall. "Can you pull the door closed on your way out?" I asked her, shocking no one more than myself.

I heard a tiny snort from Peter's direction.

"Um, sure," she said.

As we walked toward the front office, West was struggling to keep a straight face. I couldn't even look at him. We heard my office door shut behind us, and he lost it. I covered his mouth with my hand to stifle the laugh as we stumbled into the reception area.

"Oh man. That was so funny," he said.

"I've never talked to her like that. Maybe roll—" I stopped myself from saying "maybe roller derby is starting to toughen me up." I laughed to cover my blunder as the door to the hall closed behind us. "Did you see the look on her face?"

West nodded, still chuckling. "Priceless."

Claire looked up, confused.

"We're going to lunch," I told her. "Please send my calls to voicemail."

"OK. Have a nice time." She waved as we walked out the door, unable to mask the pleasant surprise in her voice.

My phone buzzed with a text message on our walk through the lobby. It was from Peter. You just made my life —P.B.J.

I snickered as West pressed the button to call the elevator. "I hope I didn't get you in trouble back there. Maybe I should have called first," he said.

I waved my hand. "Don't worry about Audrey. That was her resting bitch face. She's like that even on a good day, if she ever has any."

"How do you stand it?" he asked as the elevator doors opened and we stepped inside. He pressed the button for the lobby.

"I avoid her as much as possible. Her sister's pretty great though. Ava. I like her a lot," I said.

He shook his head. "I can't believe she calls you Lily. How long have you worked here?"

"A couple of months."

He turned to face me. "Why don't you say something to her? Correct her?"

I shrugged. "There's a certain window of time for making corrections like that, and that window closed a long time ago. I honestly worry she might fire me out of embarrassment."

"Let her fire you. You can come work for me. What is it you do again?"

"Online marketing."

He nodded. "Our company could definitely use some of that."

I raised an eyebrow. "Audrey was coming in to talk about the views and clicks on the new music video Jake Barrett released to promote his album that drops this week."

He touched his chest. "I could totally make a music video."

"Oh, really?" I crossed my arms.

He leaned toward me, tipping his chin slightly up and squinting with mock disgust. "Don't look at me like you're Audrey Scott. You don't know my life." With that, he popped his collar and put on his sunglasses. He began humming the melody to "Stayin' Alive" and disco dancing for all of downtown Nashville to see through the glass walls of the Summit Tower.

The elevator doors slid open. West froze, mid Saturday Night Fever stance, as the two women waiting to get on erupted in laughter. So did I. He pressed his lips together and slowly lowered his John Travolta disco finger.

"Don't stop dancing on our account," the older of the two women said as they walked inside. "I was just about to break out some dollar bills for you."

West's shoulders were shaking with silent laughter as he pulled off his sunglasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. When he looked at me, happy tears sparkled in his eyes.

"That was impressive," I said as the elevator began its descent again.

He turned his palms up. "But how many views and clicks would it get?"

"Millions, no doubt."

Still laughing, he slipped his arm around my waist and pulled me against his side. My knees felt like jelly underneath me. When we reached the lobby, he wished the women a good day and led me toward the parking garage.

"So about this Jake Barrett party," he said as we walked to his truck.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Is that where all this superhuman charm is coming from lately? Are you trying to get into my good graces so I'll take you to the party at Jake's house?"

"What?" he asked, a slight pitch of offense in his deep voice. He pulled me closer, digging his fingers into my hip bone. "Absolutely not. I'm trying to get into your good graces so I can get into your pants, silly girl."

I laughed so loudly it echoed off the concrete walls of the parking garage. "Seriously?"

He shrugged. "Of course. I'm a dude." He looked at me and jerked his thumb over his shoulder toward the building. "Didn't we just agree to skip the mystery and say what we really mean?"

"Well...yeah, but...um..."

We reached his truck, and he put one hand on the passenger-side door handle and used his arm to maneuver me against the back door. Suddenly his face was inches from my own, and he was smiling as he stared at my lips. "I don't think I've seen you this flustered since the car accident. Are you nervous?"

I swallowed.

He leaned in and lowered his voice to a whisper. "Good." Then, with a forceful jerk, he pulled the door open and laughed. "Relax, Lucy. I'm joking."

I took a deep breath and let it out in a shaky chuckle.

He smiled as I got inside, then leaned in my doorway. "Well, sort of." He winked at me and closed the door.