Speed Dating In The Cold - Excerpt

"Speed Dating In The Cold" by Eve Summers



Red Rose Publishing


November 2011



EXCERPT

I can’t help the question. “How old are you?”



“Of legal age,” one of his dark eyebrows goes up, “and then some in experience. In case you’re wondering.”



We’re on the same wavelength, all right. Before I can stop him, though, the stranger and his jacket are gone.



“Here for the Speed Dating Evening?” The guy who welcomes me has hair that’s not too short and lips that aren’t too prominent and perfectly chiselled cheeks. When he leans in, I catch a whiff of aftershave too gorgeous to be cheap. I fill in the paperwork while my subconscious longs for the scent of fresh pine.



Stupid. Where would I look for Mr. Of Legal Age And Then Some?



Someone taps his folder. “Let’s get started.”



About time, too. Nobody in Anchorage obeys the clock. They think that’s a good thing.



“Remember the rules, folks. Girls remain at their tables. Boys rotate clockwise when the melody sounds.”



My first bachelor is the organizer. The one of perfect hair and lips and cheeks.



“Are you just making up the numbers?” If he’s available, I want to know, even if he looks nothing like my jacket–bearing stranger.



“I’m not just making up the numbers. I want a date as much as everybody else here. Tell me what movies you like.”



We talk movies and books and holiday destinations. He enjoyed Inception, which I found too cerebral. He doesn’t read fiction. We both wish we could be in Hawaii right now, which means we do have something in common.



“I hate Anchorage,” he minces the word like a piece of offal.



Not good. I change tack. “What do you do for work?”



We do the other twenty–one questions straight off the website titled “The 25 Best Speed Dating Questions You Can Ask A Prospective Date.” He must have Googled them too, for his answers are ice–smooth.



All too soon, the switchover song chimes. Snow Patrol. Apt.



Bachelor Number Two has the fashion sense of a computer geek, and he is indeed more into flash drives than flash personalities. Still, we have a nice enough time until –

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