He nodded, but didn’t elaborate. She tried to convince herself for a half second that she wouldn’t pry, but who was she kidding?

“Will you force me to ask the obvious question, or will you just spit it out already?”

His laugh echoed around the empty office space. “I’m not sure which question is most obvious.”

“Throw some answers my way and I’ll tell you if you’re hot or cold.”

“Okay.” He nodded. “We were together for about six years, off and on, but that’s not all that unusual when one half of the couple is enlisted and then goes off to California to finish school. That answer enough for you?”

“You’re warm.”

“We broke up about eight months ago.”

Eight months wasn’t very long considering they were together for six years, but it was long enough for him to have gone through a few rebound women.

And just why are you worried about his rebound ratio?

Because being a rebound girl sucked. That’s why.

Samiah still wasn’t sure she wanted to be his anything, but if being his rebound chick was a part of the scenario, she knew she didn’t want any part of it.

“Am I still just warm,” Daniel asked. “Or am I hot yet?”

Soooo fucking hot. But that’s not what he meant.

“You’re a quick wash off in the tub kind of hot. I’m looking for a nice, long soak with a really good book kind of hot.”

“The hot that scalds a normal human being. I don’t know how you women can sit in a tub of boiling water.”

“Because we’re not babies,” she said. “And since you apparently can’t figure out the obvious question, I’ll just come out and ask it. Why did you and your ex-girlfriend break up?”

He set his elbows on the table and rubbed his hands together. After a lengthy pause, he finally said, “She didn’t agree with my career choice.”

Samiah frowned. “But you left the military for her. Or did I interpret that wrong?”

“Nope, you got it exactly right. She asked me not to reenlist. Said she wanted me to do something safer.”

“So what was her problem? What could she possibly find unsafe about you being a software engineer?”

“She didn’t have a problem with that part. She had a problem with me choosing to return to Philly instead of staying out west to make the big bucks in Silicon Valley. My well-being wasn’t nearly as important to her as the well-being of my future stock portfolio.”

“Ouch.” It couldn’t be easy to discover that someone you’d given six years of your life to was only in it for the money. “Did you consider doing what she asked? I know Silicon Valley isn’t for everyone, but it’s a pretty common dream in our industry.”