Perfect Match (11 page)

“You’re just hoping for that guy to make one
wrong move with her.”

“You got that right. That will be the last
thing he does.”

“So do you think that we can go to a show
sometime?” Tim asked as he motioned for the waitress to bring
another beer. Noelle felt the date going downhill fast, especially
after she told him about her father. Tim took it as an opportunity
to tell her his life story and how this had to be fate that they
met and are here together tonight. She tried hard to change the
subject, but it always seemed to go back to wrestling. She should
have known that is the type of show he was referring to.

“What kind of show?” She asked with her best
fake smile plastered on her face.

“One of your dad’s shows! I always wanted to
meet Larry Reid! Wow! I think you and I were meant to be. Damn, I’m
out with Ruckus Reid’s daughter! I can’t wait to tell my buddies!
I’m so glad to have run into you at the gym. I knew we had a
connection but I couldn’t figure out what it was. Now I know.” Tim
reached over and picked up her hand and kissed it, leaving a sloppy
wet spot on in. She politely moved her hand to her lap and tried to
discreetly wipe it on her jeans. Noelle was disgusted, and suddenly
prayed that she would run into someone she knew. She needed a way
out of this date and fast.

A half hour later Jackson was still keeping
his eye on the table by the deejay booth. He was not only very
angry that Noelle would even consider going out on a date with that
guy, and he was dealing with a strong sense of hurt. He tried to
tell himself that it was because he considered her such a good
friend, and was hurt that she made a date and didn’t tell him But
he knew it was more. As off- limits as she was, he fell for her. He
did the moment they laid eyes on each other a few weeks ago at this
very place. So yes, it did hurt him like hell that she was here on
a date with a sleazeball. They were at a comfortable place in their
friendship and it was good to have his friend back, but it had to
be more than that. He felt this overwhelming need to protect her
from a jerk like Alex the other night, and now with this new Mr.
Evil. He woke up thinking of her. He found himself asking Larry
about her, and made sure that he had some sort of contact with her
before he went to sleep each night. Text messages, Facebook
comments, or a quick phone call was what got him through days that
he didn’t see her. He just knew that he had to be in contact with
her each day. He hated that he hasn’t spoken to her today, and at
this moment, he could no longer lie to himself and reason that she
was just a friend because these feelings that were going on inside
of him went far beyond that. He never even felt this way about
Kayla. Noelle was starting to mean more to him than was allowed,
and the extreme jealousy he was feeling was confirming that.

He knew her pretty well and he could tell
that she had a fake smile on her face and from the way she was just
pushing the food around on her plate.

“Just go over there. Please,” Chad
pleaded.

“I can’t just barge in on her date.”

“Okay, so can we stop watching her then? This
is not my idea of an exciting night catching up with my favorite
cousin. Besides, Tommy and Josh are going to be here soon.”

“I’m just waiting for that perfect moment to
make my move.” Jackson looked over at the booth again to see Mr.
Evil get up and move to her side of the booth. He put his arm
around her and kissed her cheek. He saw Noelle cringe and looked as
if she pushed him away from her. Then he tried to kiss her on the
mouth.

Jackson drank the rest of his beer, and
slammed the bottle down on the bar. “It looks like Bullet will be
making an appearance tonight after all.” He headed over towards the
back of the bar where their booth was. He got there in time to hear
him say, “Come on, Noelle. Let’s get out of here. I think that we
can really be great together. Damn, I’m already falling for you.
Don’t fight it, baby.”

Jackson slammed both his fists down on the
table and leaned down to be eye to eye with him. “What’s going on
here?”

“Jackson!” Noelle cried.

“Bullet!” Mr. Evil said at the same time. Mr.
Evil had an excited but surprised look on his face. Noelle tried to
look mad, but Jackson could see she was relieved to see him.

“That’s right, dude. I couldn’t help but
notice how unhappy my girl is looking over here. If she is unhappy,
well, that pisses me off. So I came over here to see if you are the
reason she is looking so unhappy.” Jackson never felt so much anger
towards anyone in his entire life, and the reason scared him. He
really felt as if he would beat the shit out of this guy if he
tried anything with Noelle again. Mr. Evil’s arm around Noelle was
not helping the situation.

“Jackson, it’s fine,” Noelle said. He could
see that she was angry with him. He’d deal with that later. He also
could see that she wanted to be away from her date. She’d actually
thank him later for helping her out of this situation.

“Yeah, Bullet. It’s cool. Noelle and I were
just getting ready to leave.” He squeezed her shoulder and smiled,
“You really are cool as hell. Your father is Larry Reid. Your best
friend is Bullet. Who’s your mother? Lady Liberty?” He asked
referencing the first Goddess Champion. He saw Noelle wince. She
politely moved his arm from her shoulder. “Jackson, it’s fine.
Really. I have this under control.”

He could see that she was trying to be tough,
but he saw the uncertainty in her eyes.

“Yeah, it’s cool. As I said, we were just
getting ready to leave.”

Finally, Noelle looked at Jackson and he saw
in her eyes for the first time that she did want his help. Jackson
cleared his throat and stood up straight. He had to make this guy
know just how dead serious he was about Mr. Evil staying away from
Noelle.

“Noelle? Do you want to leave with this
guy?”

“No.”

“You heard the lady. Now you can leave on
your own or I can walk you out. It’s

your choice, but Noelle is not going anywhere
with you.”

Mr. Evil got up slowly, not taking his eyes
off of Jackson, finally realizing that Jackson’s visit was not a
friendly one. He pulled out some cash and threw it down on the
table. He looked at Noelle and said, “I think you are making a huge
mistake.” He walked away without looking back.

Noelle let out a breath she was holding as
soon as he was no longer in sight and Jackson slid in the booth
across from her. He counted the cash and said, “I can’t believe he
only paid for half the dinner.”

“Jackson, really!” Noelle said. He could tell
that she was trying to act like she was mad at him.

“What? You’re mad at me for getting rid of
Mr. Evil for you when you so clearly wanted him to get lost. You
should be thanking me.”

She slowly smiled at Jackson. “Thank you. I
guess I am a little bit glad to see you.”

Jackson smirked. He liked hearing her say
that. God, she was beautiful. She wore her light brown hair pulled
back from her face and the rest was curled and hung loosely down
her back and she just glowed. Her green eyes showed her true
feelings and he could see she was happy to see him. She took his
breath away. He had no idea until this moment just how strongly he
felt towards her. He had no regrets about scaring off her date. “Oh
and by the way, what the hell was with Mr. Evil?”

“Excuse me?”

“Long hair? Really? I never thought someone
like him would be your type.”

She shrugged. “Maybe I have a bit of a rebel
in me.”

Jackson smiled. He knew that was true with
the way she kissed him that first night. He was hoping that her
rebellious side would show up again. He was beginning to feel a lot
towards her, and he needed her to go a bit wild if they were to
have anything together. “There is just one thing that I am trying
to figure out.”

“What’s that?”

“Why were you not returning my calls and
texts? If you did you could have told me that you were going to go
out with this guy and I could have stopped it.”

“You are so full of yourself, Jackson. I
wanted to go out with him and you would not have been able to stop
me from going.”

Smirking, he said, “You didn’t answer my
question. Why were you not speaking to me? Did I do something to
piss you off?”

“Let me ask you this? Were you with Kayla
tonight?”

“What?”

“Answer my question.” Noelle said.

“I was at Kevin Donnelly’s party and Kayla
was there. I was not with her. Is that why you are mad? You thought
I was with Kayla?”

Noelle had only gone out with Tim because she
thought Jackson was with Kayla tonight, but she could never tell
him that. She was jealous about it, but she could never admit that
to him. She didn’t know how she was going to answer his question,
especially since she wanted to believe him when he said that things
between him and Kayla are over. She didn’t know if she could ever
trust him, or anyone for that matter. That was also something she
didn’t want to admit to him. “Kayla made a big deal about you and
her hanging out tonight. I’m not mad, I just couldn’t understand
why you tell me one thing and she tells me something else.”

“That is why you didn’t return my calls.”

“I figured you were busy, and don’t smile at
me like that. Jackson, I just thought that we were getting close as
friends, and I feel like you are lying to me about where you and
Kayla stand.”

His expression turned serious. “I’m not lying
to you. Kayla and I are long over. I don’t know what she is telling
you, but it is not true. I don’t know how else to make you believe
me.” The other thing she didn’t want to admit to him was she may
never believe him. Partly because of the way he broke her heart
when they were kids and partly because of her terrible relationship
with Derek. She had to tell herself that Jackson was a kid when he
broke her heart, and truthfully he was total opposite of her ex.
She liked spending time with him, and was hoping that she’d get to
spend some more time with him. She didn’t want to tell him that so
she shrugged and said, “It doesn’t matter. Oh, I do want to thank
you for getting rid of Tim for me.”

“Why him? Noelle, you could do so much
better.”

“Here’s the thing. Jennifer, Pop, and my
friends get on me all the time because I don’t go out with people
much, so I went out with him because he asked.” Noelle paused
because she found herself sounding pathetic and didn’t want Jackson
to pity her. She didn’t want to tell him the real reason she went
out with Tim so she told him a half truth. She didn’t have a
problem getting dates, she just hadn’t found anyone she liked
enough…until Jackson that is. “I instantly regretted it when he
started gushing over my Pop.”

“How’d that even come up?”

“He commented on my collection of wrestling
t-shirts that I wear to the gym.”

“You wear wrestling t-shirts?” Jackson
laughed. She found the sound of his laughter comforting. She
couldn’t help but smile. She loved to see him laugh.

“I do. I work out in them.”

“Do you have a Bullet t-shirt?” He asked
raising an eyebrow.

“Not yet.” She smiled and her gazed locked on
his. His look sent butterflies to her stomach. She had to remind
herself that this was her best friend Jackson, and that sexy
Jackson was gone. They couldn’t complicate things by getting
involved with each other. No good would come from it. She wouldn’t
change the fact that she would not date a wrestler, even though she
was starting to believe that Kayla was lying to her every chance
she could. She looked away at last and said, “Oh, by the way, you
just ran off my ride home.”

Jackson gave her a sexy look and simply said,
“I’ll take you home. You know that.”

She knew that even before saying it. Just
hearing him say it the way he did made all kinds of sexy images pop
into her head. Jackson shirtless - and not the way he was on
television. Whoa, where did those come from? Noelle had to change
her thoughts and quickly. “Hey, I’m not keeping you from anyone, am
I?”

“No. I came with Chad, but he seems to have
found himself a girl for the night, so I’m glad to have you for
some company. You want to hang out some or do you want me to take
you home.”

Noelle was finally beginning to enjoy
herself, “Let’s stay awhile.”

Jackson ordered them some drinks, a beer for
him and a margarita for her. The deejay was playing some great
music and she actually wanted to dance. She knew that Jackson liked
to dance, so after they finished off their drinks, she suggested
that they dance. Jackson looked surprised but showed no hesitation
in dancing. He was good, as she knew he would be.

Noelle thought that she could dance like this
forever, as long as the man standing before her was who she was
dancing with. That thought unnerved her. She thought of him way
more than she even admitted to herself, even though she was
constantly trying to keep him on a friend level, she needed to
forget about that one amazing night with all those incredible
kisses, and since they have been hanging out more, that has become
more and more difficult. Damn it if he was breaking down her
resolve.

She was in such deep thought that she didn’t
notice the song end and switch to something slower. Jackson stopped
in front of her. He reached for her hand and leaned down. He rested
his forehead on hers . They both just stood there, trying to catch
their breath. Noelle looked directly into Jackson’s eyes and saw,
in his grey-blue pools, something that made her heart skip a beat.
He was feeling this too. He was feeling every bit of emotion that
she was.

She thought that he was going to kiss her.
God help her, for every nerve ending in her body desperately wanted
him to. He leaned in a bit more, but instead of his perfectly full
lips moving to hers, they sort of frowned and the tip of his tongue
brushed his top lip quickly and bit his bottom lip. She actually
felt her knees go weak at the enticing display. She took a step
back, breaking Jackson’s spell that he had put on her. He reached
for her to make sure she wasn’t going to fall. “Are you okay?” She
nodded and managed to smile, but inside she was thinking that she’d
never be okay as long as he was around.