Beyond Control (29 page)

Jason turned to me. “Did we suddenly step into the Outback?” he asked.

“That’s the booze talking,” I whispered. “The girl’s name was actually Sheila, not ‘that Shelia’,” I started laughing as I saw Brandy revving up.

“Girl, I was so proud of you.”

Oh boy. Here it came.

“The way you went over to him and picked him right off of her…” She shook her head. “It was brilliant.” She turned to Jason. “The next thing I knew Gabby throws the dude off the porch, and he was like double her size. I don’t know where that power came from.”

I felt Jason’s body shudder, trying not to laugh. “I believe it.”

“It was just the steroids I was on,” I said laughing, poking Jason in the side.

Brandy’s eyes widened and I threw my hand up. “Only kidding. They weren’t the same kind. They don’t do the same thing.”

Brandy took another sip of her beer as the door opened again. This time I was pretty sure it was her date. He matched the description Ashley gave me. He was tall, about six feet, and had short blonde hair and blue eyes. He was really attractive, like really attractive.

Jason lowered his mouth to my ear. “Don’t forget who’s on the date,” he teased.

“Not even my type,” I said, smacking his knee.

“What exactly is your type?”

“Tall, dark, and handsome,” I whispered, in his ear, letting my lips hover just close enough to tickle his ear lobe.

I watched the guy make his way through the crowd and gave him a slight wave as Brandy sat dumbfounded. I don’t think she was actually expecting to see someone who was so good looking. She glanced at me and then her Guinness.

“She wants another,” I whispered to Jason and he nodded.

“Hey, are you Brandy?” the blonde guy asked.

“I am,” she said, looking very sheepish. “And this is Gabby and her boyfriend Jason.”

I stiffened at her introduction. Would that totally freak Jason out?

“I like the way that sounds,” Jason murmured, warming me up before I stuck my elbow into Brandy’s side as inconspicuously as possible. I couldn’t tell if her blind date had a chance with her or not. Her demeanor changed, but I wasn’t sure in which direction.

“I’m Evan. Nice to meet you all,” he said, taking a seat.

The table held an awkward silence, and I knew Jason was busting at the seam to save the guy, but I kept squeezing his leg, hoping Brandy would take the bull by the horns.

“So this is my first set-up,” Evan replied, glancing at me and then Brandy.

The server delivered another Guinness for Brandy, and she blushed but still took another sip.

“I wish I could say the same,” she confessed.

“Really?” he asked.

“Yup, we’ve both been on them,” she said, pointing at me.

Jason scooted a few inches away so he could better see my expression.

I bit my lip and shook my head. Boy, she was on a roll.

“I’m assuming it didn’t work out?” Evan shot back. “If we’re here…”

Brandy started laughing. “Definitely not.”

Phew! She wasn’t elaborating.

“Have you ever watched Laverne and Shirley?” she started up again.

Oh God!

Rather than Evan replying, Jason spoke up. “Yeah? What about Laverne and Shirley? That’s a great oldie.”

“Well, not when Squiggy shows up as your date,” Brandy replied, looking over at me. “Poor Gabby had to entertain Squiggy all night.”

“It wasn’t
that
bad and it wasn’t
all
night,” I said, brushing it off. Not wanting to get into the details.

“Really?” Jason asked, puzzled. “Not that bad?”

“I don’t know what she’s talking about,” Brandy continued. “Not only was Squiggy her date, but he also had to be driven home because his mom wouldn’t let him borrow her car, and bus service had stopped for the night.”

I glared at her, while I tried to kick her ankle to shut her up.

“And the best part was on the way home, he asked if we both wanted to join him at the hot tub place…”

I was completely red.

“Why don’t you tell them who was by your side in that car ride, Brandy?” I said, grinning. “The one who got so excited at the prospect of a dip in the hot tub with you.”

“Yes, It’s true,” she said, acknowledging defeat. “My date was Father Time. Beard, belly and all.”

Both guys started busting up at her admission, and I watched Brandy, noticing her gaze fall to someone out in the crowd, but I couldn’t catch who she was looking at.

“Well, how was the hot tub?” Jason asked, wiggling his brows.

I threw my napkin at him and missed terribly. It landed in the plate of nachos that our server had just brought over.

“Nice one,” Brandy giggled.

The rest of the night at the pub went smoothly. We all shared a lot of laughs, but I didn’t see that spark I thought I might between Brandy and Evan. It definitely ended in the friend zone, but I think it was mutual. And I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t end up as one of her many friends showing up for a Sounders’ tailgate party.

Brandy had slowed down on the shots and Guinness so I felt perfectly fine when Jason and I dropped her off at home on our way to the ferry. She gave me a big hug as we let her out in front of the building.

“You two are made for each other,” she whispered. “And the date with Evan wasn’t bad. I actually enjoyed it so you’re forgiven. But I think I might have my eyes on someone else. I’m just not sure yet.” She pulled back and gave me a wink.

“Well, now I’m completely intrigued.” I huffed.

“Only time will tell,” she sang into the night air as she turned around to walk up to the lobby.

So true.

“I’ve been thinking about it and I’m going to go for it. If I was being smart, I’d wait a couple years until my trust fund opens up, but I’m tired of being that girl and I don’t want to wait,” I said, looking up into Jason’s eyes. “I’d like to buy the espresso shop. I’ve gone over all of your balance sheets and expenditures and you’re right on. Outsourcing all of your pastries is what’s making it less profitable. The fact that you’ve been able to turn a profit at all is pretty impressive.”

Jason’s eyes sparkled with amusement as his grin widened. “I’m so proud of you,” he said. “When are you going to give your notice to your father?”

I shook my head, popping a grape into my mouth. “I’m not. I can do both. If I continue to draw my salary and dedicate all my evenings and weekends to getting everything going then I think.”

“Whoa,” he interrupted. “Isn’t that a lot to handle?” The worry in his eyes was evident as he took a step closer.

“There’s apparently a lot about me you still don’t quite understand,” I said, folding my arms.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” he whispered. “It only seems that if there was another way to do it, you might enjoy it more.”

“I don’t want to ask my father for help, if that’s what you mean. And I’ve got a really nice savings built up that I can use in the beginning.”

“I don’t want you making me any payments until—”

“No special treatment,” I interrupted, holding up my hand. “I want to do this on my own. The whole thing. If I keep the staff, the transition will go smoothly and…”

“You are so damn incredible,” he said, sliding his fingers along the waist of my jeans.

“Is that so?” I smirked.

His expression clearly bemused, he pulled me into him. “Yeah. That’s so.”

“Well, I might need to bunk in your guesthouse a few nights a week. You know to make the travel less cumbersome and all,” I said, looking up into his eyes.

“Guesthouse, huh?” He laughed.

I stood on my toes and planted a soft kiss on his lips. “Yep. You said it yourself. That’s what happens when you live on the islands.”

His eyes were smoldering as he drank me in. I had never had someone look at me in this way, and I absolutely loved it.

“If you are anywhere but in bed next to me…” he growled, bringing his mouth next to my hair.

A spike of desire ran through me as I imagined myself curled tightly next to him in bed, and I wondered if this would ever wear off.

“I prayed for so long that I’d somehow experience joy in my life again,” he whispered, caressing my hair.

My chest tightened at his admission, and I couldn’t help the tears that wanted to escape.

“You’re definitely the answer to my prayers,” he said, taking a step back. “I want to do anything I can to help you succeed in this business. I know once you really get into it, you’re going to love it, and cheese sales and distribution will be a distant memory.”

His prediction made me giggle. I knew he was right. Worrying about cheese displays and product placement wasn’t something that came easily. I tried to act like my world was shattering if cheddar was down, but I honestly didn’t feel that way. It was cheese for crying out loud. Every time I heard that someone on my team had to drop everything or stay late because of a ‘fire drill’ that they had to complete, all I could do was cringe. Really? A fire drill? It’s cheese. No one’s going down with the ship over cheese. Yeah… Maybe I wasn’t destined for the cheese industry. Unless it was in one of my Danishes.

“I hope so,” I said, smiling. “Do you mind if we stop by the shop on the way to the ferry?”

“I already planned on it,” he said, his eyes sparkling.

“Sweet.”

“Wow. You’re spoiling us nonstop,” Brandy chirped as I brought a platter of oatmeal-cranberry cookies by her cubicle.

“Just practicing and Jason and I would gain a hundred pounds each if I didn’t spread the love.” I stopped so she could grab one off the tray.

“It’s nice to see you doing this again.”

“I guess when you really enjoy doing something, it’s impossible to completely ignore.”

“Yes, and I think the word for that is passion,” she chuckled. “So whatcha doing for lunch?” Either she displayed an odd expression on her face, or I was just being paranoid.

“I’m actually having lunch with Aaron.”

“Really? That’s awesome,” she said, grabbing another cookie.

“Why do I feel like you already knew that? And why don’t I want to know how?”

She shrugged and I rolled my eyes. “I’m gonna drop these off in the conference room. Could you send an email?”

“Of course. But they’ll probably be gone before they make it there,” she laughed. “They’re delicious.”

I dropped the tray off on the conference table and quickly walked back to my desk. I double clicked on my email and saw several emails from my father, questioning the latest numbers from the Southern division. It wasn’t a division I oversaw, but when my father saw a discrepancy he always liked to include everyone under the sun. Poor Peter. He was the guy in charge of the South.

I let out a sigh and looked at my calendar. There wasn’t anything too huge coming up in the next month, which was a relief considering everything I wanted to get done at the shop.

An email came over from Aaron wondering if we could move up the lunch. Apparently dad was on a rampage over there, too, and scheduled an impromptu meeting at one o’clock. I wrote a quick reply letting him know that was totally fine and began working on a PowerPoint deck that I’d be presenting to the execs at the end of the week. It was pretty bland, but I tried making it sizzle a little here or there. On one slide, an arrow spun in place three times, and on another page the positive growth number flashed in bright red on the screen. I started laughing as I realized I couldn’t even lie to myself about this job any longer. It didn’t matter what type of special effects I added to this cheese presentation, it just wasn’t cutting it for me.

My phone buzzed, delighting me to no end.

Ain’t nothing but a cheese thang

I started giggling and texted back to Jason.

Seriously? Do you not have anything better to do?

He texted back

Apparently not

I stuffed my phone back in my purse and felt extremely giddy. That was all it took—hearing from Jason, and I had the energy to continue bedazzling my presentation. I spent a couple more hours on it and was pleased with the outcome when my calendar reminder for lunch with Aaron popped up.

I grabbed my purse and went to say bye to Brandy, who was staring at her textbooks. As long as there wasn’t anything pressing, she knew she could sneak in reading and it would be fine with me.