Fast Connection (Cyberlove #2) by Megan Erickson, Santino Hassell Page A

life for so many years.
    I’d started Rawlings Landscapes when I had only a couple thousand dollars to my name. No assets. An ex-wife. And two kids. I’d been terrified that one bad job would put me under, but I’d worked my ass off and people had kept hiring me. While I certainly wasn’t buying a mansion in the Hamptons with a sunken tennis court, I could pay my bills with enough left over for the kids as they got older.
    So yeah, I knew where Dominic was coming from, and it’d been hard to hold back from telling him my life story.
    I’d already broken enough rules for the kid.
    But I’d do my best to help him navigate through this time in his life. I was fond of him. All right, so I
liked
him. Fuck, I was acting like a teenager.
    When we talked, sometimes I worried about revealing more than I should, but it was so easy online. In person, I was hyper-aware of the people around me—what were they thinking? Feeling? Online, I could just type it. Send it out into the ether. And getting a text response didn’t put me on edge.
    Dominic wasn’t the first man to try drawing me into actual conversations on an app, but he was the first I’d responded to. Maybe it was because he seemed so unaffected by my brusqueness, or maybe it was just this genuine affection I was starting to feel for the guy. Just seeing his name in my messages made me smile. It wasn’t a reaction I’d had with anyone in years, which was alarming.
    Shaking off the thoughts, I glanced at the clock. I’d just come home from work and showered, but Nadia was stopping by. She claimed to be dropping off a pair of Chelle’s boots, but she was bringing Anderson.
    I’d grumped to Nadia about the surprise meeting, and she’d asked when a good time would be. When I’d said, “Never,” she’d laughed and informed me they’d be over in a couple of hours.
    Someone knocked, and I opened the door to see her standing beside a tall—but not as tall as me—guy wearing dark slacks and a polo shirt. Nadia said he was an accountant, and he sure as hell was dressed like one. Wardrobe aside, he was good-looking with his deep russet complexion, dark brown eyes shielded by black frames, and broad shoulders. He scanned me, clearly sizing me up, and held my steady gaze once he was done. There was a wariness there that was probably echoed by me.
    Nadia laid a hand on his arm. “Anderson, this is Luke Rawlings. Luke, this is Anderson McCompsey.”
    He reached out a hand. “Pleasure to meet you.”
    After shaking, I managed, “Same.”
Small talk. Small talk.
I was rusty. “So, Nadia tells me you’re an accountant?”
    He nodded. “I have my own firm in Brooklyn. Actually, we need the landscaping redone, so I might be calling you.”
    That was an olive branch, which I appreciated, even if he never called. “Sure. Nadia’s got all my numbers.”
    I glanced at her, and she was looking between us with delighted hearts in her eyes.
    “Thanks for coming over to meet me before the kids. Nadia probably told you I’m protective…” I shrugged. I didn’t think I had to make apologies for it, but I wanted him to see where I was coming from.
    “I have kids too, man,” Anderson said. “My ex doesn’t understand why I ask for an introduction to anyone who may be spending a lot of time around my boys. It would be hypocritical of me not to understand your feelings on the matter.”
    I looked him right in the eye. “Appreciate that.”
    “Oh!” Nadia said. “I came over here to drop off Chelle’s shoes and forgot them in the car.”
    She started for the door but stopped when Anderson gripped her hand. “I’ll get it, baby. You said your heels were hurting your feet.” He smiled at her, the affection clear on his face.
    “You’re sweet. That’d be nice.”
    After he left, she started to speak, but I cut her off. “I don’t need to like him. If he smiles at you like that and treats you well, that’s what I care about.” After a beat, I added as an