Page 94 of The Rules of Dating a Younger Man

She’s on a date.

Not that I hadn’t expected her to move on... I swallowed, still staring down at the photo. Alex wore bright red lipstick and a fitted black dress that hugged her beautiful breasts perfectly. She looked absolutely stunning.

Why did I have to see this tonight?

Maybe it was a good thing.

Maybe this was exactly what I needed to move on and accept that date with Lacey on Saturday.

My stomach felt unsettled. I unfollowed Wells. It took me several minutes, though, before I could force myself to move past the post. But once I did, before I could change my mind, I texted Lacey.

Brayden: We’re on for Saturday night.

That should have felt good, but it didn’t. It felt like a desperate act, trying to forget something that would gnaw at me for days to come.

A few minutes later, she responded.

Lacey: Awesome. I can’t wait to see you again.

CHAPTER 22

Brayden

Lacey snort-laughed, then covered her mouth. “Oh my God. You made me snort.”

I smiled and pointed to her cheek. “You also have some ketchup over there.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I was going to, but I got distracted by the hyena that walked in.”

She crumpled her napkin and tossed it across the table at me. “You suck.”

We both laughed. Today was our third date. Things had started out rocky for us, commiserating about our breakups and all, but the more time we spent together, the more I liked her. But we were taking it slow. I hadn’t taken her up on her offer to come over for a no-strings-attached evening. Instead, I’d texted the day before and asked her out to dinner. I was upfront from the start, explaining that I wasn’t sure I was ready for something with anyone, but I liked her. So I thought we should proceed slowly. So slow, in fact, that I didn’t even kiss her goodnight on the first date. After the second date, though, we made out like two teenagers at her door.

“What time do you have to be at the hospital?” I looked at my watch.

“Eight.”

Lacey was a third year OB/GYN resident, so she worked ninety hours a week. Which was why tonight, and on our last date, we could’ve qualified for an early-bird discount.

“What made you pick obstetrics anyway?”

“In my first year of med school, I found out that babies are born with three-hundred bones.”

“I thought we only had something like two hundred.”

She picked up a fry and shook it at me. “We do. Two hundred and six, to be exact. But a baby skeleton has cartilage that becomes bone during ossification, and some bones fuse together. That got me interested, and then I watched a birth. A woman’s body is a walking miracle.”

“I don’t want to get ahead of myself. But I have to admit, it’s a little intimidating to date someone who has more experience with vaginas than I do. You surely know how to handle one better.”

She laughed. “Like the average man doesn’t have more experience with his dick than a woman?”

I leaned forward and bit the French fry from her fingers. “I suppose you have a point.”

Lacey wiped her mouth. “I want to ask you something, but I don’t want an answer today.”

“Okay…”