Dating in the Dark (Dating Trilogy Book 1)

by Alexandria Bishop

  “Whatever, just hand me what you have, and I’ll try it all on.” She reaches for the huge pile from Tara’s hands. “Happy now?”

  “Yep. Now get your cute butt into that fitting room and model everything for me.”

  With a huff, Tinley throws the pile of clothes over her shoulder and trudges her way over. She doesn’t see an employee in sight when the rooms come into view and hopes she doesn’t need a key to get in. She’d rather not have to drag herself all over the store with this ridiculous pile of clothing. She tries the first door in front of her, and of course, it’s locked. The doors go all the way to the floor, so there’s no way she can slide her body underneath even if she wanted to.

  She starts to walk back out into the store when she spots a door slightly ajar at the end of the hallway. She shuffles past all the other rooms and pushes the door wide open. For a split second, she has that awkward panic moment—her feet glued to their spot on the floor and a look of horror on her face. She can’t look away, but what’s in front of her is absolutely terrifying.

  The woman screams, which finally pulls Tinley out of her daze. She slams the door shut, the clothes tumble from her hands, and she hightails it out of there. She doesn’t even stop to tell Tara she’s leaving as she speed walks by her. The only thing on her mind is getting out of this store as fast as humanly possible without making a scene.

  As soon as Tinley steps foot out of the store, someone pulls on her arm and whips her around. “What just happened? Why did you leave?”

  Tinley tugs against Tara’s grip and releases herself. She continues walking, not caring where she’s going as long as it’s far away from that store and that dressing room. “I just walked in on a woman in the dressing room.”

  “And?” Tara’s hand goes down to her hip and the other rests on top of her belly. Sometimes Tinley wonders if she realizes she’s doing it or if it’s just instinct, mama bear mode automatically kicking in or something weird like that. She taps her foot and when Tinley doesn’t say anything, she continues, “What’s the big deal?”

  “She was completely naked. She was trying to wiggle into a bathing suit that looked like it should be worn by a toddler. There was so little fabric and the hair…oh, my gosh, the hair. It was everywhere.”

  Tara rolls her eyes and lets out a huff. “What are you talking about?”

  “I think she was one of those naturalists or something, you know, those people who don’t believe in shaving their body hair? Well, her entire body was covered with super thick black curly hair. Super coarse pubic type hair. Come to think of it, that could have been a man in there. I don’t know, I just saw all the hair, and it was painful.” A shudder travels through Tinley’s body as she tried to erase the mental image permanently branded on her brain. That shit is going to scar her for life.

  Her voice gets louder near the end of her rant and a few people look over as they walk by. She didn’t mean to draw a crowd, but she can’t help how rough that whole situation was. She needs to bleach her eyes and stay in the shower all day long.

  Tara is outright laughing, and Tinley can’t tell whether or not she’s laughing at her or with her. Either way, it’s still embarrassing. “Do you realize how many times you just said the word hair? It couldn’t have been that bad.”

  “You don’t even know. I’m scarred for life. I might need therapy now. And you’re paying for it because you forced me into this shopping trip in the first place.”

  “Okay drama queen, how about you save yourself the money, and we go grab a Frappuccino.”

  “Yeah, because caffeine is exactly what I need right now.”

  “They make those kiddie ones, vanilla bean or something like that, I think. Besides, I’m not drinking caffeine either, but I need something sweet. A large chocolate brownie or something.”

  They round the corner toward the coffee shop near the food court, and Tinley stops dead in her tracks. Standing at the counter is none other than Marek Outlaw. What are the odds? It’s not like they have a lot of options for shopping in this area, just the one mall, but still, he doesn’t really seem like a shopping mall kind of guy.

  “What’s going on? Why did you stop?”

  Tinley’s voice is caught in her throat as she tries to get the words out. Looking at him from this perspective, she can’t deny how attractive he is. He’s wearing a pair of dark jeans that hug him in all the right places. Fuck how did she never notice how amazing his ass is? And he has on a button-up with the sleeves rolled up. Hello, arm candy. She never knew she could be attracted to a forearm before, but Marek has fantastic forearms.

  She’s practically panting as she licks her lips and turns toward her sister. “The guy standing at the counter right now is Marek Outlaw.”

  “Oh, the jackhole you work with?” Tara’s attention turns toward the counter where Marek is still standing, and her eyes practically bug out of her head. “Holy shit he’s good-looking—like straight out of GQ good-looking. If I weren’t madly in love with Clark, I would totally consider throwing my marriage away for a night alone with that guy. How do you get any work done with him in the same room?”

  “It’s easy: he’s a giant jerk. He’s a gorgeous jerk, but a jerk nonetheless. Why don’t we go somewhere else?”

  “Don’t be such a baby. I need a sugar fix, and this is the only place in the mall where you can get baked goods. It’s not like we have to say hi to him or anything.”

  Tinley begrudgingly follows her sister into the shop, and they join the line. As Marek finishes his order, it doesn’t take him long to spot the two of them standing at the back of the very long line. Their eyes instantly meet, and Tinley’s heart rate picks up as he walks closer to them. The connection between them is strong, and she almost steps out of line to get closer to him. What the heck is going on with her?

  He nears her, and his voice is only slightly above a whisper as he breathes out, “Tinley.”

  She almost swoons right there on the spot, but her sister interrupts her thoughts. “Hi, I’m Tara, Tinley’s sister.”

  He reaches his hand out and shakes hers. “Marek. Tinley and I work together.”

  “Oh, so you’re the famous Marek.” Tinley whips her head to the side and watches as her sister smiles a big bold smile then she switches her focus to Marek, who has the sexiest smirk on his face.

  “So, you’ve heard of me? All good things I hope?”

  Tara laughs and shakes her head. “No, I was totally kidding. I just like embarrassing my little sister here any chance I can get.”

  As they continue their conversation, a tall woman sidles up next to Marek and hands him a cup. She’s got jet-black hair that falls down her back and has an exotic Victoria’s Secret supermodel look to her. She smiles and sizes up both Tinley and Tara.

  Awkward.

  “Tinley, Tara, this is—”

  She possessively wraps her arms around Marek’s middle and smiles in that wicked claiming-my-man kind of way as she says, “I’m Giselle.”

  Even her voice is sexy in a sultry I’ve smoked a pack of cigarettes every day of my life way, with that low rasp Tinley would kill to have rather than the childlike voice of a twelve-year-old that she actually does have. Some women just have all the luck.

  The silence becomes uncomfortably awkward as they all just stand there staring at each other. Tinley doesn’t know whether or not she should say something or just let the silence continue, but she chooses to do the latter. Her sister is unusually quiet as well, probably enjoying how uncomfortable Tinley is getting. Awkward silences always make her nervous.

  “Well, it was nice seeing you both. See you at work on Monday, Tinley.” Marek pulls himself from the claws wrapped around his arm and walks out of the coffee shop. The conversation between him and Giselle seems to be very heated, which makes the whole situation even weirder.

  “That was weird, right?”

  “The fact that she was claiming her territory? I mean, we’re not hideous, so not really that weird at al
l—although I am very pregnant, so I don’t think she was too worried about me.” Tara adds that last bit with a wink.

  Yeah, because the gorgeous woman standing in front of them would have anything to worry about. There’s no competition. Tinley has an extra fifty pounds she’s been trying to lose for nearly a decade, and she didn’t get lucky in the looks department. She’d describe herself as average at best. And that woman? She probably has a line of men throwing themselves at her feet. Even her name is gorgeous. Giselle.

  Tinley shakes her head and says, “No, that’s not what I meant. He just seemed really uncomfortable about the whole thing. I’ve never known Marek to be uncomfortable about anything.”

  “I don’t know, some people are just different outside of work than they are when they’re at work. That’s probably all it was.”

  “Maybe.”

  But Tinley didn’t think so. There was definitely something weird about the way Marek was acting. She just can’t figure out what that is.

  Chapter 5

  Tinley’s sweaty palms slip on her steering wheel as she turns the corner, pulling into the parking lot next to the restaurant. Her nerves are through the roof, but more than anything, she’s mad. Why did she give in to something as stupid as this? Those bitches—the audacity to say she was in need of this? Just because her thirtieth birthday is right around the corner doesn’t mean she has some kind of biological clock ticking away. Plenty of women focus on their careers and then worry about settling down later. That’s actually become the norm, although if Tinley were being honest with herself, she doesn’t really have much to show for her almost thirty years of life. What does she have? An extra fifty pounds that she could work toward losing but loves cupcakes way too much to part with, a dead-end job selling cruise packages to people over the phone though she’s never even been on a cruise herself, and to top it all off, she lives with her best friend because said job doesn’t pay her well enough to afford the rent on her own.

  Yeah, Tinley, your life is looking really promising and exciting, and—ugh—a cupcake sounds really good right about now. She still has a couple from her last batch of strawberries and cream waiting for her at home. Her mouth salivates just thinking about the burst of flavor from the juicy strawberries. Not to mention the chocolate espresso ones she made last night still need to be frosted. Tara’s little shopping trip interrupted her plans of doing that today. The cold metal of the gear shift meets her fingertips as she considers backing her car right up and driving home.

  A tapping on her window causes her to jump in her seat and scream as she sees a smiling face looking back at her. What in the actual fuck? The excessively perky blonde does a small finger wave, and Tinley reluctantly lowers her window. Her senses are overwhelmed by a disgustingly sweet floral scent as Barbie widens her smile.

  Her voice is overly peppy, and Tinley silently wonders if she used to be a cheerleader? “Hi there. Are you here for Dating in the Dark?”

  Now is her chance. All she has to do is say no and turn right back around toward the comfort of her home and delicious cupcakes. Dakota said she wasn’t going to be home at all tonight so no one would ever know…but Tinley would know. She would feel the weight of guilt as soon as the cupcake hit the pit of her stomach, and there’s no way she could lie to her sister or Dakota if they asked how tonight went—scratch that, when they ask because they both will.

  Screw it. Her signature call center smile goes up, and she says, “Yeah, looks like I am. This is my first time, so not really sure what to expect.”

  Blondie’s entire face lights up, and she checks something off on the clipboard she’s holding. “Oh, yay! I’m so happy you’re here with us. I was just coming out to round up any stragglers. We’re looking to get started in about five minutes, and I just wanted to let you know. And don’t worry. It’s totally not scary at all. Do you have any questions before you come inside?”

  Why the hell are you organizing something as stupid as this? Will stabbing myself in the eye with a fork be more exciting than what I’m about to participate in? Are you single too? Am I at risk of being murdered when I step foot in that restaurant? Do you run background checks on the people who sign up for this or can anyone just come in off the street as long as they have the cash to drop? “Nope, not that I can think of.”

  “Okay perfect. Well, I’ll see you inside in a few then.” She walks away toward a group of women walking through the parking lot, and her very perky voice carries back to Tinley. If there’s one thing that woman doesn’t have an issue with, it’s projecting her voice. “Hey ladies, are you here for Dating in the Dark?”

  Does she have to fill a quota or something? Or maybe they have situations where people sign up and then never show up. That would be kind of awkward to have people waiting on the sidelines…unless they have to turn those people away, so everyone has a date the entire time. To be honest, the whole thing sounds kind of stressful, but then again, Tinley was never one for the whole party-planning thing. She was in charge of organizing an event in high school once, and it didn’t go over well. By the end, she wanted to pull all of her hair out and murder her entire team. Luckily, she didn’t do either.

  Begrudgingly, she gets out of her car and slides her still sweaty palms down the front of her dress. After the shopping trip ended up being a disaster, Tinley stole something from Dakota’s closet. The dress hugs her in all the “right” places, but Tinley is the furthest thing from comfortable right now. Part of that is due to the Spanx sucking all of her extra baggage in. She takes one small step, and her heel gets caught in a crack in the concrete. Just great. She has all the luck in the world. She goes to take another step, but her heel won’t budge, and she’s stuck in place. Adding a little more force to her stride, she tugs and hears the one sound she doesn’t want to hear. The heel cracks and she falls down due to the momentum, leaving the heel of Dakota’s shoe completely broken.

  Her ass is the first thing down on the asphalt, and the impact sends a shockwave through her body. She cries out in pain, and the skin on both of her palms is skinned from where she tried to break her fall. She looks around and fortunately, no one was around to witness her misery, but now she’s really tempted to get up and go home. If her klutziness is any indication of how the evening is going to go, it’s a disaster waiting to happen. Regaining her composure, she slips both heels off her feet and stands up not so gracefully. She tugs on the heel still stuck in the pavement, and magically it comes right out; she probably should have just taken the shoe off in the first place. Tossing all the pieces into the trunk of her car, she pulls out her trusty Chucks and slides them on. Good thing she doesn’t have to impress anyone with her outfit.

  She hobbles toward the restaurant trying to go as fast as possible. But with each step, her ass screams in pain. That is going to leave one nasty bruise that is for sure. She can already feel the size of it growing. Hopefully, it isn’t too bad because she has to sit on her butt for the next hour and being in physical pain will just make this whole night that much worse. When she makes her way inside, she is kind of shocked at the turnout. The tables in the middle of the room are completely empty, but the walls are lined with at least thirty different women. She thought for sure this whole thing would be a bust, but it looks like she was very wrong.

  Tinley glances around the room, and for the most part, everyone looks normal, but if there’s one thing she has learned from her job at the call center, it’s that looks can be deceiving. She swears most of the old ladies with the foulest mouths are probably the sweetest-looking ones in person. Everyone is hiding something, and you definitely can’t always judge a book by its cover—except for the busty blonde in the corner. Her hair is bigger than the state of Texas, her top is cut all the way down to her belly, and Tinley can just imagine the cloud of perfume floating off of her right now. She’s definitely not hiding anything unless of course, she stashed it in her hair; then who knows what she’s got concealed.

  The unassuming redhead stand
ing next to Miss Texas looks like a librarian. She’s wearing a dull colored cardigan, an ill-fitting pencil skirt, and a pair of Mary Jane’s on her feet. Her outward appearance is the epitome of boring, but if Tinley had to guess on the kink scale from one to ten, this woman is definitely an eleven.

  Well, maybe they’re not all so normal. Off in the corner, there’s a woman standing all by herself. She’s got mousy brown hair and is wearing some crazy leggings that are covered in cats, which matches perfectly with her oversized sequined tunic that has a giant cat in the middle. Yep, that one is a crazy cat lady for sure.

  She continues her judgment of the “competition” and finds herself rather entertained making up potential stories about each of their lives. There’s the single mom with the bags under her eyes, the perky sorority girl who is probably also a cheerleader, the surgical intern who is looking for a night off but keeps looking at her phone every time a beep goes off in the room, the former beauty queen turned stripper, and so on. She has a story for almost every woman in the room when the door from outside opens up.

  The blonde from outside comes in a few seconds later with her clipboard in hand. She closes the door to the room and steps in the middle, calling everyone’s attention to her. “I want to thank you all for joining us tonight for Dating in the Dark. It should be a really fun evening, and we’re just about ready to get started. First off, I’m going to have you all take a seat at the tables. Please sit on the far side of the table facing toward the door. Your dates will all be seated across from you.”

  She pauses and motions for everyone to start moving. The click-clacking of heels echoes throughout the room as they all make their way to the various tables. Tinley takes a seat at one farthest from the door and patiently waits for the woman to continue explaining everything.