Book Summary:

Rick tells the story of his search for lasting love after making it through a difficult time with his first marriage. He is starting a new life with a new and unique philosophy. A life and philosophy focused on attracting his soulmate. Rick creates his soulmate list, then embarks on a journey to find her. 

In his search, Rick becomes best friends with a beautiful, strong, and independent woman, Tabitha, who, unbeknownst to her, is searching for her soulmate. As the two friends navigate difficult and, at times, lonely waters, they discover and connect with their respective fantasy lovers. Once Rick attracts his soulmate, the steam begins to rise until it threatens to boil over into a lustful affair. 

Rick takes you deep into his sensual, intimate, even erotic experiences of learning to pleasure, and be pleasured by, the woman of his destiny.

Chapter 1: A New Beginning

I’ve just crawled out from under a rock. I escaped from a terrible marriage a couple of years ago and survived the oppressive alimony. I'm finally having a new beginning. For the last five years, I’ve been preparing for this day. After two years of preparing to exit the bad marriage, a year for the divorce process, and two additional years of alimony, I'm finally fully liberated with a clear conscience and a purified heart. A heart looking for someone to radiate its love into.

Today is move-in day. I'm finally moving out of my low-budget, cockroach-infested apartment in the inner city and moving into a new complex in a trendy suburb on the outskirts of town, known for its “singles scene.” My work is only five minutes from here, so I drove by this spot every day as they were building this complex of up-scale, yet affordable, town-homes/apartments.

In late October of last year, I pulled into the leasing office the first day I saw the “Now Leasing” sign up. The ladies in the office walked me around the model and told me, if I was to sign a lease that day, they would give me a two-year lease at a greatly discounted price compared to a one-year lease. They also told me I would, basically, have my choice of apartments. They informed me that the earliest move-in was June of the next year. There was a lot of construction and finishing to be completed. I said that was perfect as my current lease was over at the end of June. The price, location, and timing were right, so I said I was interested in seeing more of the complex.

The rental agents walked me around the site, which was still very much under construction. The ladies showed me drawings of the buildings and placements. The complex was being built in a large oval around a central courtyard. Each building would be made up of four town-homes/apartments; two facing out of the oval and two facing into the courtyard. The ladies pointed out a nice area across the street with a number of current and proposed shops, restaurants, bars, and coffee shops. As they walked me around the far back of the complex, I noticed a small city park directly adjacent to the east of the development. The park had a running/walking path around it. The park looked quite tranquil with large, colorful oaks and maples. A tall hedge ran along two sides with arbors leading out to the streets. A small stream separated the park from the apartment complex. 

“Will there be an entrance to the park from this complex?” I asked.

“I believe so.” The lady with the drawings replied and pulled out a detailed site map. Sure enough, there was to be an entrance right about where we were standing.

“What building is this?” I asked, pointing on the map at the building closest to where we were standing.

“Building fifteen.” She replied.

“Do you know if this apartment here is still open?" I inquired, pointing to the apartment in the southeast corner, knowing my feng shui primary direction for attracting love was southeast.

The other leasing agent pulled up the list of available apartments on her tablet. “1503. Yes. It is still open to lease.”

“Perfect. Let’s sign.” I had the cornerstone of my new beginning set.

Life seems to prickle with potential by the time I pull my loaded pickup truck up to my apartment on the first Saturday in June. I received a promotion recently at my job. I now manage two larger teams of professionals. The promotion gives me a nice cushion financially. I decide to take a walk around the complex after picking up my keys. It feels like a college campus for adults. People are walking all over, meeting their new neighbors. Most everyone I see appears to be in their mid to late twenties. There is a very diverse group of people moving in. Everyone from single men and women, to married couples, to gay couples, and even a few couples with kids. All kinds of nationalities and cultures seem to be represented as well.  “Well, if there was ever a place to meet my soulmate, this would probably be it,” I mumble to myself as I near my apartment. 

I meet a number of people during the first few days. Most of them seem well educated and have professional jobs. I make acquaintances with a few of the guys around by offering a helping hand when I see them struggling with a big piece of furniture. In response, most of them offer to come help me if I need anything. I don’t have a lot of stuff as of yet due to my financial condition over the last couple of years, so I have no problem moving myself in.

I meet a number of single women while walking around. I meet most of them by simply smiling and saying hi, then stopping to introduce myself if they return the greeting. Most of these greetings are quick and cordial. All I really want to do is get used to interacting with people, especially women, after the long and lonely road I have been on. Things are definitely looking up in that category. It seems more than half of the residents appear, at least on the surface, to be single women.

I decorate my new apartment nicely. Well, at least I think I do it well for being a bachelor. After settling in for a few days, I decide it is time to complete a very important, maybe my most important task regarding my future. I need to create my soulmate list. Over the last few years, I have read a variety of books about different theories, philosophies, and approaches to dating, sex, love, and relationships. The soulmate list is what I think is my best option. I know I’m not the most outgoing guy in the world. I also know I’m different from most men. I’m definitely not the typical guy, by any means, when it comes to my approach to male/female relationships. My hope is if I can attract my soulmate to me, the rest should be simple. That’s what the books I’ve read say, anyway. The difficult part will be keeping the relationship from going stale later on as natural tendencies and human instincts take precedence over what starts as natural attraction.

Sunday night, after a week in my new place, I sit down to make my list. It takes an hour to get the bulk of my list created on my computer. I’ve prepared for this day for quite some time. Some of the top-of-mind requirements are:

- Best friends, first and foremost

- Highly intelligent

- Beautiful inside and out

- Well educated

- Good family values

- Desires to be married and have a family (i.e. Kids)

- Okay with me being divorced (maybe divorced herself)

- Has faith in God

- Likes to cook and be cooked for

- Confident, strong, and independent

- Interested in practicing Taoism, Tantra, and the Kama Sutra

- Has a vibrant, even erotic, imagination when it comes to intimacy

- Conservative appearance and behavior in public

- Able to receive pleasure without feeling guilty or entitled

The last part of my list is more difficult to write. I get an idea of what I want in a life partner, but have trouble getting the words out on paper. I spend the next two to three hours adding only ten to fifteen lines to my list.

At the end of the night, I commit myself to finding the person my list describes, my soulmate. I need to be cognizant, because my soulmate may not present themselves, at least at first, in an obvious way. I truly feel in my heart I’m ready to commit myself and the rest of my life to my soulmate, and I’m ready to meet her. I know I have a busy day at work tomorrow, but I’m not worried as fate will take care of bringing my soulmate into my life somehow, some way. I just have to be ready when it happens.

The next day, I'm awake fifteen minutes before my alarm. The sound of songbirds fills my ears. They are beautiful. I lay listening to their beauty. My heart feels different. It feels like it is filled with warm, radiating love. I feel a fire burning in my chest. A fire I have not felt in a long time.

“I'm ready to meet her. I'm ready to, with love, rejoice in each other’s flesh." I whisper into the early morning air above my bed. A few minutes later, my alarm rings. I jump out of bed excited and full of energy. I get ready for work and exit my apartment into the pleasant summer morning about ten minutes sooner than planned. Since I have a few extra minutes, I take a detour toward the local coffee shop across from the complex instead of going straight to my bus stop.

As I round my building, I hear a door slam. Out of the corner of my eye a girl, no, a woman, walks briskly away from the apartment in the opposite corner of my building from my apartment. The woman steps out onto and walks along the sidewalk leading through the courtyard and out to the main street. She is heading in the same direction as me. She is about fifty feet in front of me.

The woman is dressed conservatively in what appears to be professional work attire. I cannot help but notice her confident gait, her flowing shoulder-length hair, and a figure, though hidden mostly by her conservative attire, to be exquisite. I pick up my pace, but she is walking too quickly for me to close the gap. Like a gazelle, she crosses the street as the signal in the crosswalk flashes the no-walk warning. She looks like she is heading to the same coffee shop I am.

A few seconds later, as I approach the crosswalk, the walk sign turns solid red. The cars waiting for the light move, cutting me off from her. I watch as the woman approaches and enters the coffee shop. I find a gap in the traffic and cross against the no-walk sign.

As I approach the shop, I lock eyes momentarily with a stunningly beautiful woman on her way out. 

Wow! She is beautiful. Flows through my mind. 

Without letting my gaze follow the woman with the beautiful face, I enter the shop looking for the woman I followed here. I don’t see the woman I was following inside. Where’d she go? I turn around and see her walking, with her confident gate, away from the shop.

Was that the same woman?  I try to match the woman with the beautiful face to the woman with the exquisite figure, but cannot remember if they were one and the same. She turns her head, and I see her profile.

“They are the same woman. She is stunning.” Escapes my lips with an astonished whisper. 

I stand, literally stunned, with my jaw hanging open in the middle of the shop as she walks away. She flows like water; cool, crisp, clean water.

The line in the coffee shop is long. How did she get in and out of here so fast? I miss my bus and get to work about ten minutes later than I want. For the rest of the week, I leave fifteen minutes earlier, hoping to see the beautiful woman again at the coffee shop so I can introduce myself. Alas, we do not cross paths again.

Chapter 2: Be Bold

On Saturday, I awake again to the sounds of the beautiful songbirds outside my window. I take my time getting out of bed and out of my apartment. I plan to get a coffee and take a walk in the park outside, across the way, but as I exit, it looks to be threatening rain. I choose to take the risk and walk to the coffee shop anyway. I get my standard black coffee. As I'm about to exit, a downpour comes. I sit outside under the awning to have my coffee and wait for the rain to stop.

While sitting there, I answer some emails, check the weather for the rest of the weekend, and perform a few other tasks on my phone. About the same time I finish my coffee, the rain stops and the warm sun shines down. All the moisture still on the ground sparkles like diamonds. I answer a couple more work messages, throw away my empty cup, and prepare to exit the shop through the main doors. 

There are only a few people in the shop and no one in line. As I turn to exit, I notice there are very few people out and about. One person is walking toward the shop. I exit and realize the person walking toward me is the woman, my neighbor, I followed on Monday. I didn’t recognize her at first, because she is dressed in a tee-shirt, shorts, cross-trainer running shoes, and her phone is partially hiding her face.

Be bold. My heart encourages.

Extremely uncharacteristically for me to be so bold, I stop and stand directly in front of the entrance, effectively blocking both doors. As my neighbor approaches, she almost collides with me due to her focus on the phone in front of her face. She stops and looks me in the eyes. “I’m Rick,” I say with a smile and a soft, hopefully friendly voice while extending my hand toward her in a greeting. I cannot help but smile doing such a silly childish thing. 

She ignores my greeting and moves to go around me. I slide to block her way. 

“Good morning, I’m Rick,” I say again, giggling. I extend my hand again, trying to keep my voice soft and non-threatening.

“Morning, Rick, I’m uninterested.” She says sternly, not shaking my hand or making any attempt to be friendly. Her cheeks flush pink. She tries to go around the other side of me.

I slide once again to block her way. This time, the beautiful woman chuckles and takes a step back, maybe trying to consider her options. “Third time the charm? Good morning, I’m Rick.” I say again, and extend my hand toward her.

She half smiles and finally shakes my hand. Her cheeks are completely flushed. “Tabitha.” Her hand is warm and soft in mine. She has an energy about her that I can feel. It makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

“I’m your nei-”

“I know, and I'm still uninterested.” She cuts me off. “Can I get my coffee now?”

“As you wish, mademoiselle,” I say, opening the door for her with a silly bow like I’m making way for a queen. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Tabitha," I say, letting go of the door after she passes through. I spin and walk away.

“Play it cool. Don’t look back. Don’t look back.” I whisper to myself. I feel like it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done to not look back to check if her eyes follow me, but I succeed.

At least she knew I lived in her building. It’s a start. I walk back across the street and into the park across from my place.

A couple of mornings later, I’m late leaving for work and have to run to get to my bus. As I run through the courtyard, I see Tabitha walking ahead. “Morning Tabitha,” I say as I run by her.

“Morning, . . . eh?”

She forgot my name. 

“Rick," I yell over my shoulder, and keep running.

Saturday morning, I go for an early run before coffee. I finish my run, then shower before heading to the coffee shop around ten a.m. As I approach, I see Tabitha just about to sit at a table, by herself, under an umbrella on the patio. I order my coffee and approach Tabitha’s table. She is looking at her phone while sipping her coffee. 

“Morning Tabitha. May I join you?”

“Sure, but don’t hit on me. I'm uninterested, and you are definitely not my type.” Tabitha responds coolly, giving me a once-over with an almost disgusted scowl on her face.

“Fair enough,” I state.

After a couple of moments of neither of us saying anything while she stares at her phone, Tabitha’s eyes briefly look in my direction. I sense she is, maybe, checking to see if I had given up and left yet. There is a paper on the table about new employee screening.

“Are you in Human Resources?” I inquire.

“Yes.” She responds, without looking up from her phone.

“Can I ask you a HR Question? Or do you leave work at work and the weekends are your time?”

“Shoot.” She says, still not looking up from her phone.

“So... um.“

“Yes?" She scowls, finally looking at me.

“Okay. I don’t have an HR question for you. I’m just trying to get you to talk instead of being so damn standoffish.” Tabitha scowls and looks at her phone again. I see her screen is blank. “Am I really so annoying that you would rather stare at a blank screen than talk to me?”

“Busted," Tabitha says as she smiles, obviously a little embarrassed for being called out. She pulls her phone down away from her face, but seems to keep it at the ready, just in case. She turns to look at me. “Okay. First, why are you here?” Her tone is cold and matter-of-fact.

“Like, here on Earth, or here in this chair, annoying you?” I ask, purposely trying to be a little silly.

Tabitha chuckles, her eyes finally turn soft and bright. “Why are you here, annoying me?” She says, still smirking at my silliness, then continues with, “For now. We might get to the other one later.”

“I would like to be your friend,” I respond confidently with no hint of a silly tone.

“Do I look like I need a friend?” Tabitha sets, more like slams, her phone face-down on the table, jiggling our coffees.

I look around. Everyone else in the coffee shop, outside on the sidewalk, and seemingly everyone within eyesight is with someone else. Tabitha looks around as well. 

“Seeing how you are the only person, other than me, of course, who doesn’t seem to be with a friend right now. Yeah. I think we both do.” I respond.

“Just a friend?”

“Just a friend.”

“What if I said I wanted to date you, would you turn me down, because all you wanted was to be a friend?” Tabitha’s tone is suddenly confrontational.

“No. I would date you.” I respond tentatively, but honestly.

“See. Just here to try to get a piece of ass.” She picks up her phone again and turns away.

“Um. No. Actually, since you made it very clear you have no interest in dating me, I just want to be your friend. I mean, if I ever want love, I also have to be the woman’s best friend too, right? If you told me you wanted to date me, I would like that, but I would also insist we take it slow and be friends first.”

She scoffs. “Love. Ha!” She exclaims, still not looking at me.

“You don’t believe in it?”

“Nope.”

“Anyway, for the record. Just to share something about myself. Most of my best friends in life have been attractive women like yourself.” I admit, while leaning over the table a little, trying to make eye contact.

“So, if most of your best friends are attractive women, where are they now?” She still does not look at me.

Wow. She is quick on her feet. She seems to be highly intelligent. If she weren’t in HR, I bet she’d make a good lawyer.

“Well, they have run off with their new best friends, some of them are actually married and have families now.”

Tabitha considers me carefully for a moment. She looks around at everyone else who seems to have a friend with them, and sighs. “Well, what do I have to lose?” Her voice sounds defeated.

“Time.” I quip.

“Time, I have,” Tabitha says. “Too much of it.” She then sits back in her chair comfortably for the first time and takes a sip of her coffee.

After earning her trust, Tabitha warms quickly and actually does most of the talking. This is perfect for me as I’m fairly introverted. We talk for hours. We walk next door to try the new restaurant/bar, Jacob’s, for lunch. She insists both of us buy our own, so it doesn’t look like a date. I’m completely cool with that. We discover we actually have a lot of similar interests, education levels, upbringings, family values, as well as numerous other values. By the end of the day, my earlier thought about her is confirmed. Not only is she highly intelligent, but she is also extremely intelligent.

I walk her home in the early evening. She thanks me for a pleasant day, and for not hitting on her. We decide to meet the following Saturday for coffee at nine a.m. As I walk away, I feel great. It’s been a long time since I felt true friendship with someone who I can have good intellectual conversations with.