Date Night (Wish Come True Book 1) (7 page)

I scratched my head thinking of the
best way to approach this without hurting her feelings. Of course she was like
my family. But damn it all…this wasn’t my birthright.

“Yes, you’re like family, but—”

“Did I change your diapers when you
were a baby?”

“Probably. But—”

“Have I been to all your birthday
parties and football games?”

“Yes. But—”

“Have you called me Grannie your whole
life and kissed me hello and goodbye every time you’ve seen me?”

“Yes, Grannie, I have.” I sighed in
frustration. Why did I have the sinking feeling I wasn’t going to win this
argument? “But that’s not the point. You’ve already given Derek a car with prepaid
insurance. This is twenty-five thousand dollars. I would feel terrible
accepting this money when in my heart I know it belongs to Jordan. And Jared.”

“Well you don’t have the right to
tell me what to do with my money,” she said tartly. She must have seen the
determination in my eyes because she added, “But would it help if I promise you
that I’m quite wealthy and you’ve no need to worry about the sum I plan to
leave behind to my other family members? I had planned to live well into my
nineties and have the funds to do just that.”

I sat back in my chair and ran both
my hands through my hair in defeat. I could feel the threatening sting of tears
in my eyes and forced myself to breathe deeply to calm my racing heart. Did she
have any idea how much this generous gift meant to me? Words could not express
the range of my emotions. So I kept it simple.

“Thank you, Grannie,” I whispered and
buried my face in my hands.

“It’s important to me that you know
how very proud we all are of you JT.” She rested her hand gently on my
shoulder. “Your mother and father included. Raising your thirteen-year-old
brother, when you were arguably a child still yourself, well, that was both a
blessing and a burden. I confess I didn’t understand your parents’ decision to
grant you legal custody of your brother, but having watched you in the past
five years, I can see the wisdom in their choice. You’re a strong, intelligent,
patient and caring young man. Pretty cute too. But stubborn as a bull.”

She knew me well. I stood up to offer
her my hand and then enfolded her in a bear hug. “I’m going to miss you so
much, Grannie.”

Jordan

“Two chai tea lattes for the
beautiful ladies.” the young man behind the counter called out while flashing
me his killer smile, the one clearly meant to let me know he was interested. 

Or maybe it was the phone number he’d
written on the side of the cup that clued me in.  Either way, the guy
definitely looked like jail bait; I guessed him to be in high school. I thanked
him politely and handed one of the cups to my best friend before weaving my way
through the tables to the corner booth overlooking the crowded street where a
couple was just getting up to leave. Perfect timing. The cafe was a favorite
hot spot with its trendy music and contemporary décor so finding a prime seat
was difficult.

I had been going crazy thinking about
JT and our messed up situation over the past few days and jumped at the
invitation from my best friend Leah to go shopping for the afternoon. Anything
to take my mind off JT. After hours of trying on clothes and browsing through
shops it was time to take a break and enjoy a drink and gossip. I couldn’t wait
to hear about Leah’s recent family vacation. Leah settled onto the bench seat
and brushed her rich auburn hair out of her hazel green eyes. She leaned in and
rested her forearms on the table, getting comfortable.

“I’m so glad we finally got back from
our vacation. I’ve been dying to get you alone. Well? Come on. Dish about the
blind dates. How’s it been going? I still can’t believe your grandmother came
up with this whole scheme. And that you agreed to it. I’m so jealous.”

I inhaled the rich cinnamon scent of
my latte and let the warm liquid ease down my throat. A grin lifted the corner
of my mouth as I contemplated her question. Entertaining? Catastrophic?
Depressing? Oh, where did I start? So much had happened in the past few weeks
while she had been gone. How did I tell Leah that the blind dates weren’t
really the highlight?

“Honestly?”

She nodded her head vigorously with a
face splitting grin, barely able to contain her excitement. If she was a dog,
her tail would surely have been thumping against the seat. I felt bad that I
was about to crush all of Leah’s hopes.

“Epic fail.” I said, burying my face
in my hands for a moment before exhaling sharply. “It’s worse than my worst
nightmare.”

The transition from enthusiastic
voyeur to crestfallen puppy eyes was enough to set me off into a fit of
giggles. I could hardly blame her for being disappointed. What girl doesn’t
dream of being swept off her feet on a first date? Only this was going to be a
thousand times better because it would be happening twice a week. My choice of
so many men.

A grin played on my lips at my
naïveté. “Sorry to burst your bubble. I thought it was going to be a wonderful
adventure, full of excitement, and love and romance. Instead it is one
ridiculous situation after another. Most of the time I wish I could just go
home within thirty minutes of the date starting.”

“Bring it,” Leah said, settling back
in her seat for the long haul. “I’ve got to hear this; eight losers in a row?
How is that possible? Grannie must be pissed. Sounds like a big fat waste of
money to me.”

“Yep.” I started counting off my
dates on my fingers. “First there was the guy still totally hung up on his last
girlfriend. Ugh. I felt like Dr. Phil.”

“That’s just so wrong.” Leah said
with a disgusted look, followed closely by a giggle. “Don’t guys know they’re
not supposed to talk about an ex-girlfriend unless asked?” Still, her curiosity
seemed to get the best of her. “But did he say why she dumped him?”

I chuckled and then bit my lower lip.
“Maybe it had something to do with the fact that he asked her to marry him
after their third date?”

“Can you imagine that?” Leah snorted
and arched a brow. “Who in their right mind would consider getting engaged to
someone they’d just met?”

I stuck my tongue out. “Shut up. Do
you want to hear more or not?”

“I’m all ears.” She laughed and made
a confession of her own. “I haven’t had a date in over two months. Hearing
about a bad date is better than not having any dates at all. I couldn’t even
score a date on our vacation in my bikini. How depressing is that?”

I giggled. “That’s pretty depressing.”

“Right?” Leah shook her head. “Keep
going.”

“Next was the photographer,” I said,
drumming a finger on my pursed lips. “The guy was actually pretty hot and had a
good sense of humor. But he was sleazy.”

“What’s sleazy about a hot
photographer?”

“He wanted me to pose nude for him.”

“He asked you that on a first date?”
Leah squeaked and threw her hand over her mouth. Her head was shaking back and
forth in denial.

I rolled my eyes. “Umm…hmm. Made my
skin crawl; but not as much as my third date. He launched immediately into a
story about why we might never have kids if we got married because he had to
have a testicle removed. Can you believe it?”

Leah’s mouth dropped open in utter
shock and then she burst out laughing. “Who says that shit on a first date?
Seriously. T.M.I.”

“I have no idea what some of these
guys are thinking. Add to my dates a total name dropper (ugh), and then a guy
that couldn’t keep his eyes from roaming the restaurant for other women. I
mean, come on. I shudder to think about being with
that guy
for the long
haul.”

I didn’t even want to repeat the
horrors of Mac ‘N Cheese guy.

“What a pig,” Leah said and took a
sip of her latte.

“In hindsight maybe I should’ve taken
Bryan up on his offer to set me and some friends up with a front row table at
the male strip club where he works,” I said, wagging my brows at Leah. “He was
date number six. It would’ve been the most fulfilling evening of this whole
dating scene.”

Excluding my epic dates with JT, of
course.

Leah’s brow rose in anticipation and
she grinned. “Still got his number?”

“Not happening.” I laughed. “But he
did show me his six pack abs out in the parking lot after our date. JT almost
had a heart attack when he found out how much the guy made in tips every
night.”

“How is JT these days?” Leah asked
with a sly smile playing on her lips. “I wouldn’t mind seeing
him
up on
a stage in a thong. Or without.”

“Leah.”

“What?” She crossed her arms lightly
over her chest. “JT is hot and we both know it. Too bad he’s your brother’s
best friend. It kind of makes him off limits. Huh?”

I bit my bottom lip and wondered if I
should bare my soul to my best friend. Leah would keep my secret—of that I was
sure. Truth be told, I was worried that Leah would try to convince me to stop
pursuing JT. And I simply didn’t want to hear it. But I felt like I owed it to him
to think about what he’d said.

Could it be true that I was only
attracted to him because of my failed dates; that he wasn’t my Prince Charming?
My heart rejected the thought immediately. I had enough boyfriends in my
twenty-two years to know that the fire JT ignited within me was something
special. I wasn’t imagining our attraction. But did we have enough emotional
connection and shared interests to sustain a long-term relationship? My heart
screamed YES. But my brain told me I was only one side of the equation and
couldn’t speak for JT’s feelings. I owed it to him to at least consider the
validity of his concerns and prove our feelings would last forever.

“Funny you should say that.” It
suddenly felt very warm and I opened the top button of my shirt to fan my neck
with my hand. Grabbing my cup, I took a fortifying sip before dropping the bomb
on Leah. “JT and I kissed.”

Leah stared at me wide-eyed for a few
moments and then shouted, “You what?!”

I sank into my chair a few inches as
all heads in the coffee shop turned to stare at us. Maybe I should have eased
into the conversation a little better.

“Kissed,” I said sheepishly. I didn’t
know why I felt like I needed to whisper, but I did, and then leaned into the
table so Leah could hear. “Actually three times—to be exact. Well, the last two
were more like make-out sessions than just a kiss. And let me tell you…he’s a
really
good kisser.”

I could feel the blood rush up my
neck and into my cheeks just thinking about it. I’d better not tell her about
what happened in JT’s basement or she might have a heart attack right there in
the coffee shop. But it felt so good to talk to her about it. Like it somehow
made the situation more real. I wanted to be able to shout out from the
rooftops, not keep our attraction shrouded in secrecy.

Leah stared at me for a few seconds,
probably trying to digest the shocking news. “Does Jared know?”

“What do you think?”

“Hell no.” She sank back into the
cushion of the bench seat and ran her hand slowly through her hair. “Holy shit.
You really kissed JT? What does that mean? Are you two dating now?”

“Ummm…not exactly.” I chewed at my
thumb nail for a few seconds. “I want us to date. In fact, I think I’m already
well on my way towards falling in love with him. But he isn’t ready to commit
to dating yet. He’s worried about what would happen if we broke up. And he
thinks that maybe I’m overreacting to a few hot kisses; like I’m giving up on
dating because of my poor prospects with the dating service. He’s open to
thinking about dating but he wants to take time to think it through. He gave me
some crap about needing to be
focused
this year on his studies.”

“JT always did have a strong head on
his shoulders.”

“What?” I said, furrowing my brows at
Leah. “So you think he’s right and we shouldn’t date?”

“I didn’t say that. I’m just saying
he makes good points. What
would
happen if you dated for a while and
then broke up? Wouldn’t that get weird?”

“Not for me. I’m still friends with a
lot of my ex-boyfriends.”

“Yeah, but you rarely see them,
Jordan. JT is your brother’s best friend. The guy comes over to your house
multiple times per week. And even if you’re cool with it, he might not be. Have
you ever seen JT hang out with his ex-girlfriends?”

“No,” I said and sighed, hating the
fact that Leah made a good point. “He’s a love ‘em and leave ‘em kind of guy. I
can’t recall him dating anyone more than a few months. And then it is goodbye
forever. No looking back.”

“Maybe he has good reasons for not
wanting to get too attached to anyone? Could it be that he’s using his studies
as an excuse and there is a bigger issue he’s afraid to discuss?”

“You mean his parent’s death? Do you
think he’s afraid to love someone that he may lose?”

Leah shrugged her shoulders in a sympathetic
gesture. “Just saying. He was young when his parents died and he was forced
into a caregiver role. Derek was a kid when it all happened. That’s a lot of
responsibility to take on—both financially and emotionally. It had to have left
some kind of mark on him. Made him ultra-cautious?”

“He’s worried he’ll lose my whole
family if we date and then break up,” I confessed and took a sip of my latte.
“We’re the only family he has left.”

“Hard to argue that point,” Leah
said, staring down at her cup. “If you move forward in a relationship, you
better be damned sure this has a happy ending, Jordan. So what’re you going to
do?”

“I told him I’d keep dating these
jerks from the agency and prove to him that he is
The One
. But I know
what I want and how I feel. This is real. I’ve known JT all my life. There’s no
doubt in my mind what an incredible person he is and that we get along. I
respect him so much. And after having been kissed by him…well…I’m definitely
attracted to him. What else is there to know?”

Leah smiled broadly. “Hard to argue
those points as well. It sounds like a good plan. Maybe now that you’ve kissed,
he needs to see you dating another man for it all to hit home? Don’t sweat it.
You’ve got time.”

“Yes, we do,” I sighed and peered out
the window.

But Grannie does not.
The thought screamed through my head and broke my heart. If only I could get JT
to see that his friendship with Jared wasn’t an obstacle, and how right we were
for each other, in time for Grannie to share in our happiness.

“Any chance you want to date my
brother, Leah? You know, get him warmed up to the idea of best friends dating
siblings and all?”

She smiled at me and folded her arms
over her chest. “I might consider a short affair. Jared’s pretty hot and I
haven’t scored any dates recently.”

“Leah!” I said in mock horror. “He’s
my brother.”

“I’m joking!” She rolled her eyes and
giggled. “You know how I feel about men in the medical field. It just wouldn’t
be fair if Jared fell madly in love with me and then found himself dumped because
of his career path.”

I pointed my finger at her and shook
it with force. “You need to see someone about that attitude. You can’t discount
every single male in the medical profession as a possible mate just because
your father is an asshole surgeon who puts his work before his family at
all
times. That’s one person, Leah. I’m sure there are many, many males in the
medical profession that are loving spouses, devoted to their families.”