Dating by Design Series Box Set

by Jennifer Peel

  I did my best to focus on the mass influx of questionnaires we had received this past week knowing it would only get worse from here, especially once the interview Kenadie and Nick were doing today aired, not to mention the commercial he was doing. Kenadie may need to hire another psychologist if this kept up, or that raise I was getting better make up for the new chaos in my life. I wondered how long his contract was with us. His profile didn’t say and when I tried to access it, the information was blocked.

  I was so distracted, I only got through two questionnaires in an hour and a half. Before I knew it, I heard the rumblings of a camera crew and unfamiliar voices in the office. I walked over to my door so I could close it to drown out the sound, but before I did, my curiosity got the better of me. I peeked out to see what was going on. They were staging some chairs in front of the wall of bliss where a picture of each engaged and married couple we had matched hung. It was Kenadie’s pride and joy.

  I observed Nick perusing the wall with interest. That was, before he turned around and caught me staring at him as if he knew I was watching. What gives? Even from the distance, I could tell how gratified he was that he found me paying attention to him. I slipped back into my office and shut my door. I took a deep breath. And another.

  I’d barely sat back down when there was a knock on my door. Kenadie popped her head in before I could acknowledge it.

  “Hey, Nick thought it would be a good idea if you came out to watch the interview since you’re his relationship manager.”

  I blinked a million times hoping I heard her wrong. I was ready to give her an excuse to why I couldn’t, but she didn’t give me the chance.

  “I think it would be nice too. It would show that we’re a team here.”

  How was that going to be conveyed? I had a sneaking suspicion he was only doing it because he knew it would get under my skin, and that would amuse him. Which, I might add, was a sign of a narcissist.

  I reached for the ibuprofen in my top desk drawer. “I’ll be right there.” I couldn’t say no to her. She was lit up from the inside and it obviously meant a lot to her.

  She flashed me a huge smile before leaving me to try and remedy my headache. I had a feeling it wasn’t going anywhere. Along with the two pills I popped, I took several sips of water, delaying walking out there. I resigned myself to my fate and headed to the crowd gathering near where the interview was going to happen. Additional lighting had been brought in, and there were a few people from the news station prepping. Jason, Kenadie’s husband, was there looking on with pride. It was sweet of him to come and support his wife. Zander stood next to him, still looking unsure about his current circumstances, but doing his best not to show it.

  The women in our office were in herd mentality and clustered together. They followed every move Nick made, from the way he ran his fingers through his thick, styled hair to the way he flirted with the lifestyle reporter, Dana Zimmerman. I noted how he was like two different people when the spotlight came on. He was all ease and please while talking to Dana. Here was an idea, he could take her to his “event” if Chanel wasn’t available. Dana certainly looked interested.

  Which reminded me. I made my way over to Todd, who was the only other person in this office showing any signs that he was still sane. He was more interested in his phone than the hullabaloo.

  I sidled up near him. “Have you heard back from Chanel?”

  Todd smiled up from his phone. “I was just checking my email. Not yet.”

  I smiled back to hide my disappointment. It was almost 4:00 p.m. and we closed at 5:00. I would volunteer to stay late if I had to. “Thanks.”

  Todd went back to his phone, leaving me on the edge of all the action to watch the man causing me more consternation than I’d had in a long time. Nick glanced my way for a split second while talking to the reporter. Before I knew it, though, he was making his way to me through his admirers.

  Every eye in the office took notice.

  I stood tall, doing my best to act unaffected and professional about it. “Mr. Wells.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “Should I start calling you Dr. Morgan now?”

  A small smile escaped. Dang him. “No.”

  He took that as invitation to stand too close. “In that case, I spoke to Kenadie about my dilemma tomorrow night during our meeting.”

  I leaned away with an air of skepticism. “Dilemma?”

  “I’m in need of a date for the charity event I’m attending.” He kept his voice low.

  I tucked some hair behind my ear. “I’m still waiting to hear back from Chanel.” My eyes drifted toward Dana Zimmerman applying some taupe lipstick to her luscious lips. She looked like an exotic beauty with dark hair and skin. She was perfect for a charity event. “You could ask the reporter.”

  “Now how would that look since I’m using Binary Search?”

  He had a point, but . . . I had one too. “Client dates don’t include doing charity events.”

  “They do now.” His blue eyes electrified with his declaration.

  My stomach dropped as well as swirled with feelings reminiscent of my twenty-year-old self. His eyes had an effect on me that I didn’t wish to acknowledge.

  I swallowed. “What do you mean? I just talked to Kenadie. She didn’t mention me going.” I could barely speak above a whisper.

  His head tilted forward in a seductive manner. “I wanted to be the one to give you the good news.”

  I had no words.

  “Kenadie is excited to not only make a sizable donation, but to have a representative at the Fallen Officers Charity Gala supporting the spouses and children they left behind.”

  “Sounds like a worthy cause,” was all I could think of to say that would be appropriate given the audience nearby.

  “One that’s close to my heart.” It was the sincerest thing I had ever heard him say.

  I wasn’t ready to give in. “I really think Chanel—”

  “Sorry to interrupt,” Todd was holding up his phone. “Chanel emailed and she wants her brother who’s a lawyer to look over the NDA before she signs it.” Todd gave Nick an apologetic smile. “Don’t get me wrong, she’s ecstatic, but she’s nervous about signing an NDA.”

  “Understandable,” Nick responded. “Tell her to take her time.”

  Todd nodded and walked off, leaving me with nothing left to cling to.

  Nick gave me a real smile and it was heart stopping.

  I had to turn from it. I caught Kenadie staring at us, and she gave me two thumbs up. This was all a great business opportunity for her and I’m sure she thought this was playing into the whole I needed to spend more time with him to fix him angle, which I understood, but . . .

  I looked back to Nick. “I may be polishing my resume after this.”

  He came dangerously close and whispered in my ear, “I wouldn’t be too sure. You haven’t seen me in a tux yet.”

  Oh, I had.

  That was part of the problem.

  Chapter Ten

  I sat curled up on my couch ripping cherries off the stems and spitting the seeds into a bowl after I masticated the delicious fruit. It was satisfying after the day I’d had. And it helped me keep my emotions under control while I watched Nick’s interview during the late news. I was irritated that they hardly kept a thing Kenadie had said about our company in it. It was obvious that Dana would have liked to pet Nick while she hung on his every word. But come on, Kenadie was a brilliant woman who had written some amazing software. Not only that, but she was successful. That was all skipped over so that Nick was the shining star of the entire thing.

  Dana asked him questions like, “So, Nick, tell us what qualities you look for in your ideal woman?” She might as well have asked do I fit into that category?

  He responded, “It’s hard to define, as that changes over time and circumstances.” How PC of him. He sounded like a politician who would not be getting my vote.

  After that, Dana made a huge deal about the gala tomorrow ni
ght since she would be in attendance too, covering it for Channel 15. Oh joy. Another thing I didn’t like was that she made it all about her instead of what that event supported.

  The only decent thing to come out of the interview was when she asked Nick why out of all the matchmaking services available he chose Binary Search. I will admit to liking his response: “After doing my homework, I liked the personalized attention Binary Search gives their clients, as well as the intuitive software that is used in the process. No other service does what they do.”

  I clicked off the TV and threw the remote next to me. I leaned my head back against my chenille tweed couch and sighed. I couldn’t believe I had to endure more of that man over my weekend. The arrogant man who offered to have his assistant in LA call me for my measurements so he could have a gown delivered to me. What? Was that a thing? I declined. I could pick out my own clothes, thank you very much. And if he thought that would impress me, he was going to be disappointed. All that said to me was he was only thinking about himself. That the way I looked reflected on him. If I wasn’t representing Binary Search and I had enough guts to show up in something outlandish, I would contemplate it for the sake of knocking him down a notch or two. He’d probably just have someone escort me out.

  I remembered Douglas picking out my clothes for me whenever I attended his lectures. At first, I thought it was sweet. He did it under the guise of buying me a present. For too long I was so taken by the older, debonair visiting professor on the lecture circuit for ancient Egyptian studies that I fell for everything he said or did. He only wanted me to look a certain part. I needed to look worthy to be his girlfriend and then his wife. He saw someone he could mold, and he was right. I gave him so much power and he abused it. Never again could I allow that to happen. It was part of the reason I sat at home alone on a Friday night.

  I knew I needed to find a happy medium, someone I could trust enough to be vulnerable around, knowing that they wouldn’t be perfect. They would hurt me, and I them. It was inevitable and human. But I wanted—needed—to do all I could to make sure they were worthy of the risk and that they would take every care not to hurt me. I would do the same for them. So I had my rules in place and a list of warning signs. Things I wished I would have had ten years ago. My parents said I was young and I should cut myself some slack. After all, they fell for Douglas’s intellectual and charming persona that he knew how and when to portray. It wasn’t all that comforting. I was still embarrassed by it. Not by my parents. No. My gullibility.

  Lingering embarrassment meant I had never worn the beautiful black gown in my closet. I bought it for a weekend reunion last year in New York with some of my girlfriends from graduate school. The women who were there when I found out my “husband” was a bigamist, making him a felon, and I was pregnant with his child. All this before my twenty-fifth birthday. It was a titillating tale that had gotten around the university. Right in the middle of it all, I miscarried. My girlfriends were fantastic, supportive women, even if a couple made comments like at least you won’t be tied to him forever now. It was true, but I wanted my baby. The sound of my baby’s heartbeat was the most beautiful sound in the world. It carried me through some of my darkest days and reminded me there were good things to come. That something beautiful would come out of the ugly. Its absence was deafening and devastating.

  Like a coward, I couldn’t face them last year. I didn’t want Douglas to come up in conversation. And they were all married now, with at least one child. Meanwhile, I helped people get what I wanted. I was happy to help, truly I was. If only I could help myself.

  At least I knew better than to be taken in by Nick Wells, even if sometimes my body forgot. We can’t help who we are attracted to, but we can control our behaviors. Believe me, I planned on keeping a tight rein on my natural desires for him. It was all biology. And though some small part of the Nicholas Wells fangirl still resided deep inside me, it didn’t mean I couldn’t overcome it or think rationally when I saw him in a tux tomorrow night. I wouldn’t be the woman who used to watch every awards show he was part of back in the day so I could drool over him.

  I patted my copy of The Science of Why Good Girls Love Bad Boys that was tucked up next to me. I had been refreshing my memory earlier of what it was that drew women to men like Nick and why we shouldn’t engage with them. I had to remind myself to separate attraction from what I really desired. I wanted someone who was confident, but not arrogant. And we as women seemed to be attracted to this ride-off-into-the-sunset sort of guy. I was guilty of this too. But what we truly wanted was someone who would be there to watch each sunset with us. To top it off, I had to be extra careful this time of the month since I was ovulating. My ovaries would lie to me in a heartbeat about Nick and make me think the sexy cad would be an amazing dad and partner. Well . . . he did appear to be an amazing father already.

  That was an aspect of him I couldn’t put my finger on.

  That was okay—he had so many other things going against him in my rule book, it didn’t matter. And it’s not like he wanted anything to do with me other than amusing himself. I was only making sure I didn’t do anything I would regret or be ashamed of, like ogling him in his tux.

  I needed sleep and a pair of dark shades, you know, just in case my eyes wandered.

  ~*~

  Though it was a muggy July morning, I walked the mile to my parents’ place. Walking soothed me, and I needed all the help I could get today. I took deep, cleansing breaths while I admired all the large trees fit to burst with greenery and the variety of flowers in each yard. My favorite were the hydrangeas. Several people were out mowing their lawns, trying to beat the heat of the day. Still, sweat could be seen pouring off them. I too was a little sticky, even with only running shorts and a tank top on. It was summertime in Georgia and I loved it. I’d known after I graduated that I would never live in cold weather again. I was a warm weather girl. Besides, I loved this community. There was something safe and secure about it.

  Before I knew it, I was in front of my parents’ two-story brick home with plantation shutters. We moved there when I was twelve. It looked the same, except the trees were taller and the climbing roses my mom had planted back in her horticultural experiment days were overtaking a good portion of the front of the house. Pink blooms could be seen all over. Dad wasn’t all that thrilled with the maintenance of it all, but Mom insisted they stay. Something about them being a moderator of emotional health.

  I skipped up the brick path and only tapped on the door before I walked right in. “Mom, Dad,” I called out into the two-story foyer while I shook my head at all the plastic tarps covering the furniture and the lingering smell of sawdust. I didn’t even want to know what Dad was up to now.

  Mom came walking down the large staircase to the right of the entryway, dressed in a yellow muumuu with her spiky pewter hair sticking up like a crown surrounded by a bright cloth headband. She grimaced at the mess Dad had made before acknowledging me.

  “There’s my Katie.” My parents were the only people who called me Katie. Her arms were open wide, making her look like a muumuu tent.

  I move forward to hug her as soon as she finished descending the steps.

  Instead of hugging me, she took a minute to look over me. “Your auras are all over the place this morning.”

  Oh no. Here we go.

  “You have some muddy orange right about here.” She was pointing to the thin air around me. “You must be worried.” She moved her hands all over my body without touching me. “And red, lots of it, and there is some of your usual pink in there.” A smile played on her well-preserved face. I hoped I inherited those genes. “You’re obviously ovulating and . . . attraction is rolling off you like a freight train. Care to tell your mother what that’s all about?”

  I hugged her before she could say anything else. “Hi, Mom.”

  She patted my back. “You don’t want to talk about it.”

  I gave her one more good squeeze. “There’s nothing to
discuss.”

  “Honey, you can’t fool your mom; you have some major sexual tension vibes coming off you.”

  I backed away and waved her off. No sexual tension here. Nope, nada, zilch.

  Dad could be heard walking in from the garage. “Stella, do you know what happened to my drill?”

  Mom rolled her eyes before he came into view. “Glenn, our daughter’s here.” She didn’t answer his question. Why did I think she had something to do with that missing drill?

  My once put together, wear a dress shirt and dress pants every day to his chiropractic clinic dad, was now wearing overalls, and his gray hair was about a month past a haircut. He’d also gained a little weight around his midsection. But his smile for me was as big and bright as it always was. Though his brown eyes told another story. They were subdued. “There’s my girl.”

  “Hey, Dad.” I met him in the hall that led to the kitchen and hugged him as well.

  “You’re tense,” he remarked.

  “It’s sexual tension,” Mom said like it was a fact.

  Dad pulled away and I wasn’t sure if he thought that was good news. On one hand he looked hopeful, on the other he looked like most dads who didn’t want to think of their daughters in that sort of way. I knew both my parents worried I would never find anyone again.

  “I’m not seeing anyone,” I let them down.

  Or maybe not. Mom’s face lit up like she remembered something. “We saw on the news last night that Nicholas Wells is using Binary Search. Why didn’t you tell us?”

  I walked back toward the kitchen to get a drink of water. “I’m not allowed to discuss our clients. Except . . . well . . .”