Dating by Design Series Box Set

by Jennifer Peel

  So the biggest thing I learned today was that I was a dolt. Followed by, there were a lot of strange people who got paid to eat bizarre things on YouTube. That knowledge came courtesy of Skye. We watched YouTube videos together while her dad and grandpa cleaned the kitchen. That probably wasn’t the best thing to do after eating. One of the guys ate congealed pig’s blood. Sadly, she informed me, he made five times what I did.

  Speaking of Skye, she was adorable and had her dad wrapped around her finger. When she came down wearing what she had purchased, he beamed and didn’t even ask how much she paid for it. Skye also asked if we could do something this week. Of course I said yes. I mean, I might as well do a thorough job of erasing any professional lines that were left. Not to mention the connection I felt to her. Something I’d never felt before, like I’d always known her. It’s as weird as it sounded.

  My list didn’t stop there. Not that this was any surprise, but I had indisputable evidence now that Nick was born with Greek god status. To Nick’s dismay, but admittedly to my delight, his dad brought out some photo albums. The Gerber baby had nothing on Nick. His cherub cheeks and big blue eyes had my biological clock in hyperdrive. And he used to smile when he was little, like huge-rays-of-sunshine smiles. That smile had my heart melting and my ovaries begging to let him put them to good use. Then there were the family pictures. Gorgeous. His dad was one handsome sailor, and his mom exuded grace. She obviously adored her son by the way she smiled at him in several photos.

  Jack spun a good story. I loved hearing about his days in the navy. He told touching stories of all the men in the barracks singing Christmas songs while lying in their bunks. For many of them, it had been their first Christmas away from home. Jack also had me sold for life on his restaurant. We had flamiche, which was like quiche, and the best dessert of my life, tarte tatin, which was a fancy French way of saying apple tart.

  Nick also gave me the inside scoop on Hollywood. See, producers were involved in a broad range of roles. If you were an executive producer, it meant you probably shelled out some serious cash for the movie or TV show that you’d produced. Producers also raised money, managed books, hired the crew, including the director, editor, script consultants, and casting directors. If you were a TV producer, you ran the show. To get your idea greenlighted to make a movie, you had to create a pitch package that included a treatment, which was a two to five page synopsis, or the broad strokes of the plot line. If the studio liked it, they would send you a contract, but that contract was just the first of many contracts, and at any point in the process they could kill your project. Other steps included outlines and drafts of the scripts. In between, you got notes from the studio executives on what you’d given them. And if you were lucky, in two to three years, you might have your movie made. It was a lot of information. He seemed to enjoy talking about it as we strolled through his dad’s flower gardens and along the river walk.

  One thing he wouldn’t discuss was what he was working on now. He did leave the door open to telling me someday, but only after I confessed all my rules to him. So I would never know. Unless it got made into a movie. But how would I know it was what he was working on now? As soon as he was done using Binary Search, I planned on cutting all ties with him. Except maybe Skye. I would keep in touch with her if she wanted to. And Jack.

  I rolled to my side and squeezed a pillow for comfort. Sleep was going to be hard to come by. I hadn’t relived the biggest failure of the day. I shut my eyes tight, trying to forget it, but my cheek was still burning from where he kissed me goodbye. I told him he didn’t need to walk me to my car, but he’d insisted.

  It was there in front of my car that I let him get to me. I should have seen the question coming, but I’d hoped he’d let it drop since he hadn’t mentioned it right away. But there we were under the starry Georgia sky, cicadas singing in the background, a light breeze ruffling through my hair. The breeze didn’t help with the intense heat I felt from Nick’s gaze. It was like being in an episode of On the Edge. He was channeling detective Talon Fox, wanting answers and using his wiles to get exactly that.

  I wasn’t having it. At least that was my intention.

  “Good night,” I’d said, reaching for my car door and hoping that would be the conclusion of what was admittedly a great day with his family. I hadn’t had that much fun in too long.

  He had other plans. He pressed his hand against the door and dialed up his searing stare. “I make you nervous.” He didn’t ask or surmise, he stated it like cold, hard truth.

  “No,” I breathed out an octave too high. Lying like I’d never lied before. He made me nervous on so many levels, but mainly because I thought I was smarter than to be attracted to him.

  The corners of his mouth lifted, but never made it to a smile. “Then why didn’t you tell me we’d met before?”

  “I . . .” I couldn’t think. That was my moment. We were never supposed to talk about it. What happened at Serendipity stayed at Serendipity. I think it was a rule of serendipitous moments, if not, it was my rule.

  “Let me guess, you have your reasons.”

  That was the perfect answer. I nodded.

  “Did you despise me then too?”

  And this is where the fatal error occurred. His darn sexy eyes had me mesmerized and before I could stop my mouth, it said, “Not at all.”

  He flashed a brilliant, self-satisfied smile at me before leaning in and kissing my cheek without warning. Which only spoke of how well he could read a situation and me. He knew he’d never have gotten away with it if I’d anticipated it.

  “You shouldn’t do that,” I whispered.

  “Why?”

  There were so many reasons why that couldn’t be voiced. “I’m your relationship manager.”

  “Where I come from, it’s a natural greeting or parting for business associates . . . or friends.”

  I tilted my head. “You want to be friends?”

  He pushed off my car. “That’s a start. Good night, Kate.” He strode away, whistling low like his character used to do after he’d gotten his way.

  I threw myself back against my pillow. What did he mean by that was a start? A start to what? We shouldn’t be friends; not even sure we could be. It wasn’t only that I was attracted to him physically, but I was confused about what kind of a human being he was. Narcissism was so hard to diagnose and even harder to treat because they could mimic a range of emotions to get what they wanted. Once they got what they wanted was when you had to start worrying.

  I knew that from experience. Douglas got exactly what he wanted out of me. A young, naïve wife who he thought he could mold, while feeding off my insecurities. He also got the envy of his colleagues—he had a wife thirteen years his junior who worshipped the ground he walked on. Or at least, I had until his true colors came out. It was terrifying how fooled I was. My only consolation was it wasn’t only me. He’d taken everyone for a ride. The debonair lecturer who could deliver a presentation with such finesse and skill it was breathtaking.

  Like Nick, Douglas was an actor. Perhaps Nick’s hubris wasn’t as big as Douglas’s, but his self-confidence and self-importance was higher than average. Douglas’s was off the charts. My pregnancy was all about him. Having a child with me meant the fake life he’d created with me was bound to come undone. He would be caught in the web he’d spun and tangled me up in. Even when I lost the baby, all he could say to me was he didn’t know why I even let him know—it meant nothing to him. I meant nothing to him. It was his final blow. He wanted me to feel like nothing. And for a while, that’s exactly how I felt.

  I would never feel like that again.

  The problem was, in my quest to never be with such a person again, something had been lost. Desire, passion, butterflies, all the magic that should exist when you pursue a relationship had disappeared. I’d had some nice dates, good conversations, even some sweet kisses, but nothing that stirred my soul or made me feel.

  I brushed my cheek with my hand. I felt the
lips that lingered there. That simmering moment where you breathed each other in. Where desire and passion stirred and made the butterflies take flight. Feelings I feared were once gone had erupted. The connection I’d been longing for since that chance meeting so long ago clicked into place. Why must fate be so cruel to give me what I had been longing for all while knowing it was wrapped up in all that I should distance myself from?

  Why, then, was I lying in bed thinking of Nick?

  The better question was, what was wrong with me?

  Chapter Seventeen

  Mondays were busy and for that I was grateful. Less time to think about a certain someone. I came in early to put together my notes on all the clients I had seen last week who were ready for the client-date stage. Each new client would be assigned a relationship manager today. I attended those meetings to discuss any concerns I had. They were minor things. Anything major meant that they would have been rejected unless we were talking about our famous client.

  There were a couple of clients who concerned me. One admitted to being a recovering alcoholic, which I gave him major props for. That was no small feat. He’d been sober for five years, but he had confessed it was still difficult for him and he attended regular AA meetings. Obviously, I didn’t want his relationship manager to drink in front of him, but I also wanted her to let us know if he drank in front of her. He had to agree to allow us to inform whomever he was paired with that he had dealt with the disease. He was actually relieved that we would. He said it was always awkward to bring it up in conversation.

  My other concern dealt with a woman who seemed overtly anxious in my office, though she denied dealing with anxiety or depression. She made it sound as if those were weaknesses that were beneath her. I wasn’t sure if she was anxious or if it was the situation. Sometimes people were nervous to meet with people like me. I needed her relationship manager to see how she responded in a relaxed environment over dinner. We also needed to be sure not to pair her with anyone who had dealt with anxiety or depression since she spoke so ill of the conditions.

  There were no perfect people in our databases. We did our best, though, to match imperfections.

  I gathered my notes and headed to the meeting. I slipped in right before the meeting started. My workload had me squeezing everything in whenever I could, which meant I didn’t have time to come early. Everyone looked my way when I entered, even Kenadie was there. She normally didn’t attend these meetings anymore. But there she sat next to Zander, bright-eyed and looking like she’d had a great weekend. Maybe her mom stopped giving her sex tips. That would surprise me, though. Nan was the most persistent woman I’d ever met.

  I took a seat across from Kenadie and next to Jade. Everyone was still looking at me. Suddenly I was afraid my blouse had come unbuttoned, so I took a peek. Phew, no wardrobe malfunctions. I smiled nervously. “Good morning, everyone.”

  There was a low murmur of replied greetings. Kenadie beamed at me. So maybe Nan had laid off the pregnancy badgering.

  Wrong.

  “Kate, Nick’s interview over the weekend was so amazing. Maybe we should make you a full-time relationship manager.”

  She better be teasing.

  Why did I feel like I was the only one who had no idea what she was talking about? I had to play this the right way. I started by laughing, albeit with a fake ring to it. “Oh, no, I’ll leave that to the professionals.” I gave props and smiles to my colleagues, some of whom didn’t look all that pleased, aka, Cara and Eva. Believe me, I didn’t want to hone in on their territory.

  “Regardless,” Kenadie responded, “you obviously did us proud representing us at the Fallen Officers gala. The way Nick talked about Binary Search, I might have to think about hiring more staff and opening another location.” Her eyes went all dreamy thinking about the possibilities.

  I was going to have to find that interview. “Um . . . I’m happy it all worked out.”

  I couldn’t think of anything else to say that wasn’t a lie. I couldn’t tell her the truth about how uncomfortable it was and how I’d left him there. I especially couldn’t mention to her how he came to my house or how I spent most of the day with him and his family yesterday.

  Kenadie stood up. “Keep up the good work, everyone. Now that we are in the spotlight, we must be more diligent and professional than ever.”

  I hadn’t been all that professional.

  “Get out of here, Kenz. This is my meeting now.” Zander was ready to get down to business.

  “Fine.” She rolled her eyes at her best friend before zeroing in on me again. “Kate, drop by my office when you’re done here.”

  Now I was more nervous than ever. Did Nick say something to her? Did she want to talk more about the interview I had no idea about?

  I nodded. “Sounds good,” I lied. It sounded more like heart palpitations.

  Zander gave Kenadie a nudge and out she went. Zander stood up, all business, and wasted no time handing out assignments; there were more this week than last. He seemed to be in a hurry. I wondered why, which made me think I should text Meg to check on her. I should have over the weekend, but I was dealing with things, lots of things. Things I thought I’d prepared myself for but had not. Or had I just not expected a Nick?

  “Any concerns, Kate?” Zander got me out of my head.

  I focused back on the meeting and voiced my two concerns, as well as gave my normal spiel to report any inconsistencies or if any red flags popped up. We could still reject people at this stage.

  Zander flew out of the meeting while I stalled, reading an email on my tablet. Anything to postpone my meeting with Kenadie even though I had a lot of work to do and several psych evaluation appointments. Most of them were women. Not surprising, but soon our dating pool was going to be female heavy.

  When I could no longer stall, I made my way to the executive offices where Kenadie, Zander, and I were located. Kenadie’s office was at the end of the hall. Her office wasn’t exactly what you expected a CEO’s to be. She, above all, was the architect of our software, a fact she took great pride in, as she should. It was a phenomenal solution. Her desk looked more like you would expect to see for a software designer, with two large monitors. Her door was open as if she were waiting for me. She was still all smiles.

  “Kate, come in and shut the door.”

  My nerves crept up. I really hoped she didn’t want to talk about that interview or Nick in general, but I had a feeling it was about him. Everything in my life lately seemed to be about him.

  I decided to direct the conversation up-front. Anything to avoid the inevitable. “Is everything okay with Zander? He flew out of the meeting.” I said while shutting her door.

  Kenadie gave the smile of a sister who was enjoying torturing her brother. It was fitting of Zander’s and Kenadie’s relationship dynamics, but normally it was Zander doing the torturing.

  “Oh, he’s fine,” she let out a laugh that had a hint of evil to it. “He’s meeting Meg at the doctor. She has her first OB appointment today.”

  “Is he nervous about that?” I took a seat in front of her desk.

  The delight in her eyes was off the charts. “Oh, yeah. Serves him right. Nothing has ever rattled him, well, except Meg, but this takes the cake. They came over yesterday to talk to Jason about having him design them a house. I had to keep from laughing as I watched him become an adult before my eyes. He followed Meg everywhere and must have asked her a hundred times if she needed anything.”

  “How did Meg handle it?”

  “You know Meg. She teased him about it. I think she’s hoping he’ll relax. I think he’s overcompensating because he’s afraid he’s going to screw it all up. He never saw Meg coming, and he’d probably never say it out loud, but he knows he’s the lucky one.”

  I couldn’t help but smile. “I’m excited for them both.”

  “Me too, except for the grief my momma keeps giving me about it. I need to get her a new hobby, maybe a man.”

  That caught
me off guard. “You would be okay with that?”

  She took a breath and thought. “My daddy’s been gone for a long time and Momma’s never complained, but I think she stays so busy because she gets lonely. It’s a little weird to think of her with anyone else, but I don’t want her to be lonely.”

  An odd thought tickled my brain. What about Jack? Was I insane? I couldn’t suggest that my boss’s mom and Nick’s dad go out. I pushed that crazy thought out. “Maybe she could use our service.”

  Kenadie laughed. “Oh, no. I love her, but I value my sanity more. She’d be in here every day trying to retrain the relationship managers. Speaking of people using our service, that’s why I wanted to talk to you.”

  I sighed internally. I would much rather talk about Nan.

  “Nick—”

  I knew it was about him.

  “—has requested—”

  Oh, here it came. He probably wanted us to roll out a red carpet, or something along those lines, every time he came in here. Or maybe he wanted more gorgeous reporters to interview him.

  “—that we help one of his friends.”

  That I wasn’t expecting. I perked up in my seat. “How?”

  “He’s paying for his friend Janelle Whitman to use our services. She’s already filled out the questionnaire online and he’s hoping you can squeeze her in this week.”

  Janelle Whitman. The name sounded familiar. She was . . . she was one of the widows at the fallen officer’s event. Interesting. Very interesting.

  “I rushed a background check. I know it’s out of step, but this is a special circumstance.”