Four years ago, Dimitri Petrov had his leg blown off by a landmine while in military service. Suffering from PTSD, he doesn’t do crowds, and he doesn’t do people. If he had his way, he’d never leave his house at all. Dimitri’s sister, Irina, runs a dating agency, and despite that it would be better for business if they had a pretty woman working the front desk, Irina insists Dimitri’s the man for the job.<br><br>In a whirlwind of pink shirts, flapping hands, and outrageous flirting enters Elian Hubert. Elian needs a date. Invited to speak on love through time in fiction at a Valentine dinner, there is no way he’s showing up alone. When Dimitri tells him The Single Pursuit is unable to help on such short notice, Elian suggests Dimitri be his date.<br><br>Dimitri doesn’t do dates, and he doesn’t do dinners, but Elian’s made him happier in the last few minutes than anyone’s been able to do in years. He might not do Valentine's, and he might not do gatherings, but maybe he can do Elian ... a favor and accompany him to his presentation? If things go too badly, he can always hide behind a curtain and pretend he’s somewhere else.

Be Still, My Heart

“It’s gotten worse since the magazine published my article. It gives me credibility.” His fingers curled around the edge of the front desk. “If he finds out I don’t have evidence for my assumptions in the essay, he’ll have me fired.”


Dimitri glanced at the street and scanned the sidewalk before he rubbed his forehead. “You’re talking about love in books through time? How much evidence is there to be had? Isn’t it all assumptions; subjective interpretations?”


“Ah, yes, but I still have to have examples of why I think the way I think and present proof of how it’s changed.”


Dimitri didn’t understand. “It’s already published, right?”


“He’ll use it to discredit me. He’ll point out the flaws in my theory and make it look as if I made it all up…” Panic overtook his face, and he threw his hands in the air, “…which I did. I made it all up.”


Chapter 5