He realized that a business conversation that expresses interest in a woman without intentions to follow up is lust.

I’m a silent partner with a drug and alcohol recovery clinic in Atlanta. (For anonymity purposes—I’m not from Atlanta and don’t live there). Last May, I flew down for a grand opening for our newly relocated facility. Grand openings are an opportunity for all the people in the industry to come and see what the new location is like, to see each other again, and have some fun chatting with each other. 

When I was there, I met a nice lady from the industry. We had a fun time chatting together, and that was that. Because she knew I was a partner with the clinic, she gave me her business card. 

The next week, I flew down to Atlanta to visit with my business partners. The thought came to mind to call that lady and go out on a business lunch with her to chat some more. I was thinking it could be an innocent lunch to discuss business, but also to express my interest in her. I’ve had this thought several times now over the past few months, and it seemed like an innocent enough idea. 

Since it was time to go back to Atlanta, I thought I had better start talking about it. I mentioned it that morning to my check-in partner, and after I had said it out loud, I realized the insanity of that thought. I was only focused on that one event—that one lunch date. The thought never occurred to me that there must be follow-up and continuation after that date, because that’s the only reason you start a conversation to express interest in someone in the first place. And since I’m not interested in starting a long-distance relationship with follow-up conversations, that one lunch date is not going to happen.

LOL—I’ll keep coming back.