“Sure,” he said easily, lifting the lid off the grill. “Any trait in particular you want to avoid?”

“Mean,” she said quietly. “I’d really like to avoid the mean ones.”

Chapter 16

“You’re sure about the suit?” Lincoln asked as Daisy flipped through the limited tie selection he’d brought with him to Charlotte.

“Positive,” she said, holding up a purple-and-silver-striped tie alongside a solid black one, trying to pick her favorite.

Apparently prepping for his first “date” in Charlotte was a group affair, with Daisy picking out his tie and Kiwi appointing a pair of his socks her new favorite chew toy. The scene didn’t feel the least bit weird, and Lincoln refused to let himself dwell on why it felt so normal.

It was Wednesday, one day after the Taco Tuesday with Whitney that had actually been steak Tuesday. Steaks that he’d pretty much mastered, if he did say so himself. They were in the master suite of Daisy’s guesthouse, which was about twice the size of his entire apartment back in New York.

Better decorated too. Like most guys, Lincoln didn’t give two shits about things like accent pieces and bedspreads, but he had to admit the room was comfortable. The floor was a dark wood, punctuated with sage green area rugs. The bedding was plain white but thick and soft, the bathroom well-appointed with a walk-in glass shower, jetted tub, and marble vanity. For a guest bathroom.

Daisy Sinclair was loaded. Or at least her ex-husband had been.

“Strictly speaking I don’t have to wear a suit,” Lincoln said, turning to face the full-length mirror. “I mean, I’m going out on the town for work, but it’s not actually work. I need to blend in.”

“You will blend in,” Daisy said. “Downtown Charlotte isn’t small-town USA with one road and exactly two local watering holes. It’s a city. Not big like New York, but big enough that a man in a suit won’t be out of place at five o’clock on a Wednesday. At least not in the bar we’re going to.”

“So you decided to come then?” Lincoln asked as he finished buttoning his white shirt.

She bit her lip and then sat on the bed. “I don’t know. Won’t it be weird?”

“Well, seeing as my three prearranged meetings are all friends of yours, I shouldn’t think so. It’s just me talking to them. Asking what they look for on the dating scene.”

“They’re not friends, exactly,” she clarified. “More like…friends of friends. My actual friends are all married. Except Whitney, of course.”

Lincoln thought there was just the faintest note of sadness in her voice as she made this proclamation—or perhaps it was just resignation. He wanted to tell her that there was no shame in being in your thirties and single, or single at any age, but he supposed that for Daisy, it had a lot less to do with her relationship status itself so much as the fact that she was lonely.

He knew all too well the feeling of being the odd man out in a group of friends.

He didn’t know what would be worse—never having the opportunity for your best friends to get to know the woman you love, or having your friends see you as part of a couple, only to find yourself on the outside when the relationship crumbled.

“These friends of friends know it’s not an actual date, right?” Lincoln asked, reaching for his suit jacket hanging on the back of the closet door.

“Um.”

He stilled. “Daisy.”

“I told them it was more like a Bachelor group date.”

“A what?”

“You know. One guy, multiple girls…”

“An orgy?”

She laughed. “Don’t sound so hopeful. No, just…trust me. It’ll be fine. Fun, even.”

“I’d trust you more if you’d come with,” he said.

Daisy smiled and put the black tie back in the travel case, apparently having decided on the silver-and-lavender option. “Lincoln Mathis, are you nervous right now?”

“About?”

“About crashing and burning with us North Carolina girls. You’re afraid your New York charm won’t translate.”

“I know it won’t translate,” he said, meeting her eyes in the mirror.

“How’s that?”

He watched as she stood and walked toward him. He turned to face her. “Because not counting Whitney, who I don’t know well enough yet, I know two North Carolina women, who look an awful lot alike, neither interested in the legendary Mathis charm. The first never even saw me, too wrapped up in my boss. The other…”

She lifted her eyebrows. “The other?”

“The other had me friend-zoned the moment she saw me.”

“Which is lucky for both of us,” Daisy retorted, not bothering to deny it. “Seeing as you’re unavailable.”

Unavailable.

Present tense.

She hadn’t said he had been unavailable, past tense.

He supposed he should be relieved she thought of him that way. He was unavailable. He still felt too raw from the loss of Katie to even think about starting something with Daisy or anyone, but he couldn’t deny the ripple of displeasure that went through him at her early dismissal.

But then she stepped toward him and, before he could register her intentions, had looped the tie around his neck, moving even closer as her quick, adept fingers pulled the tie into a tidy half-Windsor knot.

Then she froze, and he realized she was every bit as surprised at her gesture as he was.