Dating by Design Series Box Set

by Jennifer Peel

  Zander stretched his neck and took a deep breath. “That’s not what you said when I talked to you Friday.”

  “Things change.” She obviously wasn’t picking up on his discomfort.

  I reached up and rubbed his neck. “I could throw something together if we wanted to stay here.”

  “You are a sweet girl, but it’s not necessary.”

  Zander met my eyes. Exasperation was written in his.

  “I’m exhausted from traveling all day. Would you mind if we did takeout?” I didn’t want to be bold, but I would have done anything in that moment to make it better for Zander.

  His mom paused to take a drink of the wine in front of her before holding it up as if she was toasting us. “Why not.”

  Zander turned and kissed me. “Thank you,” he mouthed so his mother wouldn’t see or hear.

  “You two are so cute together.” She took another drink.

  Zander removed the glass from her hand. “I think you’ve had enough for now.”

  I tensed, thinking she may argue, but she didn’t. “You’re no fun.” She fell back against the couch and passed out. I had never seen anything like it.

  Zander set her glass down. Waves of anger and embarrassment were rolling off him.

  I rubbed his back. “How do I make this better for you?”

  He leaned over and rested his arms on his legs. “That feels good.”

  I continued to rub, making sure to get his shoulders and neck where his tension seemed to lie. “Do you want to talk?”

  “What’s there to say?”

  “You don’t have to say anything.” I ran my hands through the back of his hair.

  It was silent for several minutes while my hands got to know every inch of his back and neck.

  He sat up and faced me. His gaze was piercing. It ran through my whole body.

  “How do you do that?” I smiled.

  “What?”

  “Make me feel you without even touching me.”

  He leaned in. “I think you’re just good at reading me, probably too good.”

  I ran my fingers lightly down his face.

  His eyes closed and he let out a cleansing breath. “I don’t want to end up like my parents.”

  “You have a say in that.”

  His eyes fluttered open. “You think they chose this?”

  “Maybe not consciously, but yes. They still have a choice.”

  His eyes narrowed, but there was a hint of a smile in them. “Thank you, Meg.”

  “For what?”

  “For getting to me.”

  “That’s my pleasure,” I whispered above his lips.

  “I’m going to ruin that lipstick.”

  “It’s about time.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  I stretched and yawned in my own bed Monday morning. Jasper pawed at me. Zander had taken me to pick up my furry friend at my aunt’s before he took me home. Aunt Beth was tickled to meet him. It was the oddest Christmas. Zander’s dad had finally returned. He, too, was a surprise with his balding head and paunchy stomach. He was dressed in holey jeans and a baggy t-shirt. I saw hints of Zander in him, but he looked defeated by life. There was an underlying current of anger between father and son. It was understandable after what Mrs. Marshall and Zander had told me about him.

  Zander had been reluctant to leave me last night. We ended up eating takeout Thai food at my place in front of my dried-out Christmas tree. After the Thanksgiving and Christmas we’d had together, I was wondering what New Year’s was going to look like.

  I knew I would have to worry about that later. I had work and the wedding to get through. Kenadie was gracious enough to say I didn’t need to come in, but I could hear the stress in her voice. It was a busy time of year and I had left her shorthanded for a week. She was relieved when I told her I was coming in, along with Zander. I’m sure everyone in the office knew we had been together. That was weird for me, and satisfying.

  I was looking forward to when more personal relationship managers were hired and Zander moved on to his new role. It would make it easier to work together, but for now, I would have to deal with it. I was anxious to see how our coworkers were going to react. Zander had no intention of keeping it secret that we were seeing each other. That surprised me.

  I had to admit, I didn’t miss dressing in layers when I got ready in the morning. It was in the fifties and fair. I wore my burgundy sheath dress Zander liked. I also made his favorite cinnamon crumble muffins. I tried to forget Eva’s slight about the treats I brought in every Monday. I was who I was.

  Zander’s car was already there when I arrived. I purposely parked by him.

  I made a beeline for his office after saying hello to Daphne. She couldn’t quit smiling at me. I knew the day would be interesting. I waved to Kate as I walked past her office. Her look was more I hope you know what you’re doing. I hoped I did too.

  I paused at Zander’s door. He looked deep in thought staring at his screen. I felt like every day he was becoming more and more attractive to me. Though I wouldn’t mind if he went a little rogue again with the rugged look. My insides whooshed just thinking about it. “Good morning.”

  He looked up, but the intensity remained from whatever he was looking at on his screen.

  I tilted my head. “Something wrong?”

  He studied me.

  I invited myself in. His eyes followed me as I walked toward him and landed near him. I sat on his desk before setting my basket down. He looked me over and landed on my crossed bare legs.

  “Do you like what you see?”

  He showed a hint of a smirk before turning back to his screen.

  I was curious and took a peek too. I grinned when I realized what he had been doing. “So now you know the truth.”

  He looked between the screen and me. “You already knew?”

  “For a long time.”

  “That’s an unusually low number.”

  “Kenadie said you don’t put much stock in the compatibility percentages.”

  “You talked to Kenadie about us?”

  “She tried to talk me out of writing you off.” I grinned.

  He turned toward the screen and let out a heavy breath.

  I inched toward him on his desk. I leaned in and pointed at the large screen. “You know, this man chased me to Wyoming. That goes against what his profile indicates. And how many women have you been out with in the last couple of months?”

  He met my eyes and smirked. “One.”

  “Do I know her?” I loved teasing him.

  He ran his hand up my leg. Raised skin trailed as he went. “What’s your point?”

  “That maybe we aren’t all that improbable.” I jumped off his desk. “I should get to work.”

  He reached for my hand . “We should probably do lunch or something.”

  I couldn’t help but grin at him trying to be a good boyfriend. “Probably. I’m in the mood for Italian.” I set a muffin on his desk, grabbed my basket, and waved goodbye. “See you in the meeting.”

  I knew he watched me walk away. I could feel it everywhere.

  I walked back to my office feeling less anxious about the day ahead. I didn’t even flinch walking past Eva’s and Cara’s offices. I knew they saw me, but chose to keep their heads down. Fine by me.

  My unread email was daunting, but it kept me busy until our scheduling meeting. Zander was in charge this week. Kenadie had planned on coming in, but Jason’s family was in town and apparently there was some crisis with the wedding favors. Mrs. Marshall was up in arms that Ellen, the wedding planner, was only planning on doing personalized candies in a tiny drawstring bag. That was pitiful by her and her friend’s standards. Now everyone was getting personalized mugs with gourmet hot chocolates and teas. I was being recruited to help after work and when I wasn’t on my client dates. Poor Kenadie and Ellen.

  I walked into the meeting with my muffins, not sure what to expect. Zander was already there at the head of the table whe
re Kenadie normally sat. He was looking over some papers in his hand. Will and Andy were also there, seated on the far side of the conference table, per their usual. They both smiled at me and the muffins. They didn’t hesitate to grab a few when I set them down in the middle of the table.

  “Welcome back.” Will smiled at his muffin.

  Andy nodded, his mouth was already full.

  At least the men were happy I had returned.

  I took a seat near Zander.

  He looked up from his papers and gave me a small smile. He looked good being in charge. He had a serious brooding thing going on and it worked for me.

  Cara and Eva were last. They kept their heads down and sat down near Will and Andy. That left Kate, Zander and me on the opposite end.

  Zander got right to business as soon as everyone was seated. “This is another short week, so we paired down the number of clients we are seeing. You will need to get everyone in by Wednesday night. Our connection meeting will be Thursday since we are off Friday. Let’s get down to assignments.” He divvied out each new client; everyone got several more than my two.

  We all looked to Zander, asking why with our eyes, especially the steaming women at the end.

  Zander glared directly at Eva and Cara. “Meg has outside obligations this week that will be keeping her busy.”

  Eva and Cara tried not to show any emotion. They had to swallow it down. I tried not to rub it in by smiling. Maybe a little smirk came out.

  Zander went right back to business and turned to Kate. “Is there anyone on the schedule you would like to discuss?”

  She set her pen down. “I don’t have anyone specific to report on, but as always, make sure to report any unusual or odd behavior to me.”

  “Does anyone have any questions?” Zander asked.

  No one said a word.

  “Meeting adjourned.” Zander pushed back his seat and stood up.

  I sat there waiting for everyone else to file out. Cara and Eva looked like they wanted to put their heads together and talk about me, but they took a look at Zander’s stern face and decided against it.

  “Are you determined to make them hate me even more?”

  He gripped his chair, sights zeroed in on me. I could see him deliberating internally.

  I waited patiently to hear what he had to say.

  “I’ve always had Kenadie when dealing with my parents,” he trailed off.

  “Are you trying to say you purposely rigged the schedule because you want me to be with you this week?”

  The internal debate raged in his eyes.

  I kept on smiling.

  “You want me to say it, don’t you?’

  “Oh yeah.”

  “Darlin’,”

  “Yes.”

  He took a deep breath. “I want you—”

  “That’s all I need to hear.” I popped up out of my seat. “I’ll see you at lunch.” I watched him watch me walk by.

  Before I exited the conference room, he grabbed my hand and pulled me back. He brushed back my hair. “I do like you.”

  “I know.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Things were starting to get serious. I don’t mean between Zander and me, though that was going well, too. Very well. No, I was talking about the wedding. The Nanettes were living off adrenaline and sweet tea, and it wasn’t pretty. We were all at their beck and call. That included Jason’s family, the wedding couple, Zander, his mom, happily engaged Renee and Rick, Lana, and all the women from church.

  Every night before the rehearsal dinner, which was on Friday, we worked on the wedding favors. Three hundred personalized mugs that had to be perfect. Don’t even think about putting the vinyl even an eighth of an inch off center. You would be brow beaten by the Nanettes. And each mug with the contents had to be wrapped perfectly and uniformly. They were task masters.

  The only one off the hook was Charlene. She couldn’t put vinyl on straight to save her life. Maybe she would be able to if she didn’t think every hour was cocktail hour. I watched Zander observe his mother. I could see the pain as she talked about the characters in a soap opera she loved like they were real people. Most everyone laughed with her, but those like me and Mrs. Marshall saw what it was doing to Zander.

  I wondered if Zander’s dad stayed away because of her behavior, or if she drank because of his. It was a chicken and egg kind of question.

  Despite the craziness of Zander’s mom and the Nanettes, there was a lot of happiness to be had that week. Mrs. Marshall was thrilled I was back with Zander. She asked me to help her in the kitchen so we could be alone. I think she was about burst into tears when I kissed Zander on my way past him. I felt like crying too, tears of joy. He was a fantastic kisser, even when it was only a small peck. It filled me with excitement every time.

  Mrs. Marshall strung her arm through mine on our walk from the dining room to the kitchen. “Sugar, I’m so happy for you two. I knew you would eventually figure it out. Who knows, after Rick and Renee, you could be next.”

  “Please don’t say that to him. We aren’t even close to that point and he’s trying to adjust.”

  “Looks like he’s doing just fine. You two look cozy together.”

  I wanted to tell her that was because there were too many of us in her dining room trying to do the unconquerable task, but I never would. She was too sweet. “We like each other.”

  “Looks like more than that.”

  I didn’t argue with her.

  Once in the kitchen, where Mrs. Marshall could talk discreetly, she brought up a pressing matter. “Dear, I need your help.”

  “Sure, anything.”

  She smiled like she had caught me. Never good. “We have got to convince Charlene that she needs to wear a bra for the wedding. There are children attending. Did you see my poor new grandsons, Heath and Cole? They got themselves an anatomy lesson tonight. Rick had to hurry them out and take them to ice cream.”

  I did notice that, and unfortunately, Zander did too. He had gripped my hand under the table. All that said, I wasn’t sure what I could do. I hardly knew the woman. What I knew of her was from Zander and the car ride over here, where she talked non-stop about her trip to Australia and how crazy her daughter-in-law, Jessa, was. “What do you suggest?”

  “Maybe you could take her shopping and get her something with some Lycra in it. Anything to keep those bad boys in check.”

  I almost laughed at her talking that way, but it was a good way to put it. But I wasn’t laughing at the thought of shopping with her. “Mrs. Marshall . . .”

  “I know, dear.” She gripped my arm. “But think of Zander.”

  She was good. Like Jewish mother good. “Okay.”

  On the way home that night I knew I had to make my move. We only had three days until the wedding. Looking at Zander gave me courage. I turned back to Charlene, who was a little more coherent; she hadn’t had anything to drink since we’d left Zander’s place, so she had dried out the last few hours. “I was wondering if you would like to go to lunch tomorrow and do some shopping for the wedding?”

  Zander’s head whipped my way. “Darlin’?”

  I placed my hand on his leg. “I was thinking it would be nice if we all matched for the wedding.” So lame, but I didn’t know what else to say.

  Charlene’s normally groggy eyes lit up. “Look at you. You are the sweetest thing. I didn’t know what the wedding colors were, so I brought the only dress I had.”

  “Perfect. We’ll make an afternoon of it.” That hurt to say, but I wanted Zander to feel comfortable at his best friend’s wedding. And let’s be honest, I wanted it for all of us.

  Zander caught on to what I was trying to do, and he thanked me in his own way when he walked me to my door that night. He pressed me up against my door. His fingers floated through my hair. “You.” He brushed my lips.

  “Me?”

  “Yes, you.”

  “What about me?”

  He nuzzled my neck, driving me crazy. M
y hands ran through his hair.

  “Meg, you get to me.”

  He got to me too. I was having a hard time breathing. “Even if we are statistically improbable?”

  He kissed his way up my neck and found my lips. He danced around them with his own, driving me crazy. “I’ve always been a rule breaker.”

  My lips captured his and parted. I had never felt more compatible with anyone in my life.

  The kiss didn’t last nearly long enough, but I understood his reasoning for pulling away. “Darlin’,” he whispered in my ear, “I better go.”

  “Probably a good idea.”

  He groaned in my ear. “You’re killing me. I’m going.”

  I took his hand. “It means a lot to me. You mean a lot to me.”

  He squeezed my hand before walking away.

  “I hope that doesn’t scare you,” I called out to his disappearing figure.

  I heard him laugh as he headed down the stairs.

  I took lots of deep breaths trying to regain my equilibrium. He wasn’t the only one having a hard time pulling away. I spent the rest of my night cuddled up with Jasper, missing Zander, and trying to figure out a way to get his mother in a bra. How did I get myself into these things?

  ~*~

  I was going to do my best to get her into a real bra by first taking her bra shopping and showing her how beautiful she could feel in a pretty bra. If that didn’t work, I was going to make sure we got a dress that required a cami, and that cami was going to have a shelf-bra. It wouldn’t do much for someone her size, but it should help. I hoped she didn’t like to dance.

  Lots of nerves coursed through me on the elevator ride up to Zander’s apartment. He was holding things down at the office and presenting my clients that needed to be matched up. I only had two and I had discussed who I thought was best. He agreed and would present them to the group. We both felt my mission with his mom was more important. Zander had talked to his dad about keeping her away from alcohol during the morning hours before I picked her up. I don’t think it went over too well. Zander was agitated when he mentioned it, but didn’t give any details and I didn’t press. All he did was give me a good luck kiss before I left the office. It did make me feel lucky.