Lion's Love Read Online Free Page A

about my birthmark, affect my mood. I had to stop letting people mess with my head. It would be hard, but I had to do it. And I had to stop blaming everything on my birthmark, which was something I had to admit to myself that I did.
    No one said anything as I walked back to my desk, but I made sure to walk with my head held high and pretend that they hadn’t bothered me. When I got to my desk, I reread Adrian’s email. He seemed so sincere. He was looking for love and to get married. 
    According to the site we were a ten heart match—the highest possible. The ‘Luscious Lads and Ladies’ site used personality quizzes to determine if you were a match or not. You could email anyone you saw on the site. But when you clicked on someone, empty hearts would fill up with the color red. The number of hearts that filled up was decided by how much of a match you and that person would be according to your personality tests. You could email someone even if only one heart filled up, but the site advised you to stick to writing potential matches that had at least a six-heart match or above. 
    I decided I would gather up the courage to write back to Adrian. I spent just a few minutes composing my message. I knew if I thought about it too long I would probably lose my nerve and wouldn’t send it.
    I was a little anxious as I tapped on my computer’s ‘send’ button, but I kept it simple. I told him that I would really love to learn more about him and I asked him to tell me about Shifter Villages. I didn’t mention the birthmark though. What would I say? My co-workers had listed me on the site as a joke and uploaded a retouched picture? I would have to wait to get to know him first, and then tell him I had a birthmark.
    I didn’t have to wait long. I was thrilled when Adrian wrote back almost right away…a sweet, tender message about himself and how he wanted to get to know me better. I sure couldn’t wait to get to know him!
     
    ~*~
     
    I sighed as I checked the computer again. Ugh, no message. For the past few weeks, Adrian and I had been writing back and forth—several times a day, every day. I felt joy in my heart every time I heard the alert signaling a new message on my computer. At first we talked about what we did and our families. I learned more about his everyday life working as a barber in Shifter Villages. He lived in an apartment above his shop and he was close to his mother and father who lived in Maryland. He had a fun sense of humor and he loved sports, watching them, and participating in them.
    Adrian had moved to Shifter Villages several years ago, along with a group of friends to help build the town. He was close to his buddies but he wanted to find a soul mate—a loving woman to settle down with. The more we talked, the more we shared how much we both wanted to find our true match and raise a family. It seemed crazy, but I knew I was falling deeply in love with him. Today I hadn’t heard from him at all, and it worried me. In my email to him early in the morning, I’d finally told him about how Roxanne and her friends had set up my ‘Luscious Lads and Ladies’ profile without my knowledge. And I didn’t hold back. I told him that they had digitally altered my face, removing the big birthmark I had. I’d taken a selfie of my face and included it in the email I sent to him. He needed to see how I really looked.  Normally, I would hear back quickly, but not this time. I had not heard from him since I sent the message.
    I heard a light tapping on the side of my cubicle and turned to see Jill standing behind me. Unlike Roxanne, who creeped up on me all the time, Jill was polite and let it be known when she was nearby.
    “How’s it going with Mr. Lion Man?” Jill asked, flipping her blonde hair to the side. Jill was one of two new co-workers my company had hired to help out with the workload, and we got along well. It was refreshing to work with nice people who genuinely cared about how my day was