“You’ve never talked about it with me.”
Shrugging, she slid the papers into the backpack and zipped it closed. “It’s always been something I’ve dreamed about.”
“And you’d go if you were accepted into the program?”
“Of course.”
“Even if we were a couple?”
Uh oh, that chin was getting stubborn again. I’d clearly stepped in it.
“But we’re not a couple, Josh. So I can’t sit around and not live my life or make plans while you figure out what you want in this world. Frankly, your track record with women isn’t all that comforting and it doesn’t make me want to cancel all of my plans for the future so I can spend it waiting for you.”
Her words were like sharp knives slicing my flesh but I couldn’t argue her premise. I did have a lousy history with relationships. Hell, my own family probably wouldn’t put money on my making this work with Mia.
“Fair enough. But I hope to change your mind. I’ve changed.”
“I have, too.”
I’d noticed and couldn’t help but admire her backbone while at the same time cursing it.
“I’m going to show you I’ve changed because I can see that you don’t believe me.”
“I’m looking forward to it. Now I really do have to go.”
“How about Friday night? Dinner and a movie?” A terrible thought occurred to me. “Unless you already have plans?”
“I guess that would be okay.”
Such enthusiasm. Mia was acting like I’d just made her an appointment for a root canal.
“Then it’s a date.”
It was going to be the best damn date she’d ever been on. I’d make sure of it.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Mia
After work I ended up at Shelby’s house leafing through bridal magazines. My sister was trying to decide what kind of dress she wanted to wear and I was trying to decide if I’d folded like a cheap tent.
“I gave in.”
Shelby shook her head. “No, you stood your ground and Josh came to you. He’s agreed to the rules you’ve laid down. That’s not a defeat.”
“Is it a win?”
“It’s progress. Did he say the L-word?”
“No, but neither have I.”
If Josh had I’m not sure I could have survived it. It would have been far too dangerous in a situation that was already fraught with emotion. He’d said he had feelings and that was enough to turn my backbone into water.
“Make sure he’s the first one to say it. You make him come after you. After all these years of you pining over him, it’s the least he can do.”
“That wasn’t his fault. He didn’t know.”
Shelby snorted and the magazine almost slid off of her lap. “He should have. Anyone with half a brain would have figured it out. He’s supposed to be some sort of gaming genius but I think he’s not very bright.”
Speaking of not too bright…
“Have you heard from Brad? When will he be home from his business trip?”
“Friday. I’m meeting him in Chicago for the weekend.” She held out the open magazine. “What do you think of this one?”
No. Just…no.
“That dress is huge. You’d be swamped in it. You need to pick something simpler where you won’t just be a head and a dress.”
“Why am I drawn to dresses that aren’t good for me?” she sighed. “All the ones that I should gravitate toward I don’t like.”
That was my entire history with men. In a nutshell.
“I think this might be a case where you have to try them on. Looking at these pictures are all well and good and it does help you know what interests you but you may love something once you put it on.”
Tossing the magazine onto the coffee table, Shelby gave a huge yawn and then a burp. Got to love my sister. She knew when to be polite and when to let her hair down.
“You’re probably right. We need to schedule a trip to try on dresses. Now how about we order some dinner and you can tell me all about what you’re going to wear on your date this weekend.”
Body armor. Preferably head to toe with a double thickness…right over my heart.
* * *
Mia
I wasn’t this nervous on my very first date when I was fifteen. Rich Gabler, a year older, had taken me to a football game and we’d held hands in the bleachers. Then afterward a bunch of us had gone out for pizza, and later I’d kissed him goodnight on my front porch.
Ah, innocence. I miss it sometimes. Back then it never would have occurred to me that this one date could make or break my future.
Since I had no clue where Josh was taking me, I was in the dark as to what to wear. Eventually I decided on a black maxi skirt, a white sweater, and brown boots. It was casual but dressy at the same time. I took extra time with my hair and makeup, cursing myself the entire time for caring what he thought about my looks. Secretly I hoped he was primping in front of a mirror, worried as well. Technically he had more at stake here because he wanted me in his life and I wasn’t supposed to care either way.
So when he picked me up I was elated to see the appreciation in his eyes as his gaze raked me from head to toe. Josh looked damn good too, his normally dark curly hair tamed slightly with some product. He was freshly shaved and smelled delicious, his scent curling around me as I sat next to him in the car on the way to the restaurant. He wasn’t playing fair tonight.
“You look beautiful.”
I certainly did but then so did he.
“Thank you.”
I barely knew what to say or do, which wasn’t normal at all. The air between us was thick with tension and a whole lot of unspoken angst. This was the scene of the crime so to speak and I couldn’t even put my elbow on the armrest without a million hot and sexy images flooding my brain. He had to be remembering it too because where he was sitting was ground zero. I was never going to look at a BMW the same way ever again.
A couple of times I thought Josh was going to say something but then he didn’t, letting the silence stretch on until I thought I might scream just to hear something…anything. He hadn’t even turned on the radio and it was so quiet I was sure I could hear him breathing. I could definitely hear me breathing along with my pounding heart. And then there was the matter of the sweat pooling under my hair at the back of my neck.
So far this wasn’t the date of my dreams. This was more like a subtle form of torture.
It was when he took a right on Hastings that I finally broke the silence. “Where are we going? Downtown is in the opposite direction.”
“We’re going to Henry’s Cafe. The movie theatre is right next to it.”
Henry’s Cafe was kind of fancy and I was suddenly glad I’d rejected the pair of jeans I’d been contemplating wearing this evening. Adults went to Henry’s Cafe. There were no televisions on the walls and the college kids stayed away because of the prices. They marketed the restaurant as a haven for foodies, which to me meant that the portions were small and the menu filled with dishes that I’d never heard of. The last time I’d been there was on my dad’s birthday. I’d had the truffle macaroni and cheese. It didn’t taste or resemble the usual orange stuff that I fixed at home and grew up on.
Now I was more nervous than ever because I was going to have act like an adult when I sure didn’t feel like one. I didn’t feel any older than maybe sixteen right about now and my teenage self was on an improbable date with the most popular guy in school.
Josh parked the car in between the restaurant and the theatre before hurrying around to open my door. I was more than capable of opening my own and he’d never done it before so I wasn’t quite sure how to react, allowing him to grab my hand and help me out the vehicle. He didn’t let go either as we walked into the restaurant, his hand warm around mine. It felt…nice. It wouldn’t hurt anything to hold his hand. It didn’t mean that I was giving in or anything. I’d held hands with Rich Gabler after all and he’d only gotten a kis
s goodnight at the end of the evening. There had been no sex or declarations of love.
We were seated at a lovely table in a quiet section, far away from the more lively bar but not near the bathrooms or kitchen. I couldn’t take the silence between us anymore. At this rate, I wouldn’t last through the salad course.
“I didn’t realize you liked this restaurant. I’ve never heard you talk about it.”
A really horrible thought occurred to me at that moment. Was this where Josh brought all of his girlfriends? Was this his “official” date restaurant? And the barbecue joint was where he took his “friends” like me?
“I don’t come here often. Just special occasions.”
Okay, that wasn’t so bad. He thought this was a special occasion.
“We came here on Dad’s birthday last April.”
Smiling, Josh chuckled and took a sip of his ice water. “Now that explains why my mom wanted to come on her birthday in May.”
Our parents did talk to each other a lot. Would they be happy about me and Josh?
I placed my menu down on the table, determined to make this evening the best it could be. Walking on eggshells all night wasn’t my idea of a good time and I wasn’t enjoying being nervous. Josh and I used to like each other’s company. Surely we could do that again even with all that was at stake tonight.
Finally, a waitress appeared at the table to take our order. She looked harried and rushed, which didn’t go with the vibe of the restaurant at all. She just wanted to take our drink orders but Josh managed to convince her to take our food order as well, which appeared to upset her a little. My request to substitute potatoes for rice didn’t go over well, either. Eventually she bustled away and disappeared into the kitchen.
“That was weird,” Josh said, his brows pulled down into a frown. “Normally this place has great service.”
“Maybe she’s having a bad day. She kind of looked like it.”
Perhaps she didn’t get the memo about it being a special occasion. I was actually kind of glad that the waitress had been acting strangely because it gave Josh and I something to talk about.
“She did seem upset, didn’t she? I have a feeling our order is going to be wrong.”
I had the same feeling. I was getting the rice and I might as well get used to the idea.
“How was your week? Are you making progress on the storyboard?”
Josh loved to talk about his work so this should do the trick.
“I’m about ready to finalize it. I’d really like you to look it over first though, just to be sure. Maybe you could come by this weekend?”
Assuming that this date didn’t explode into a million pieces.
“Sure, I can do that. Are you unsure about any particular issues?”
We chatted about the game but my stomach didn’t want small talk. It wanted food and sooner rather than later. Funny how I could be nervous but still starving. My stomach growled loudly right in the middle of Josh discussing some deeply technical problem that I didn’t understand in the least. I pressed my hand to my stomach and groaned in embarrassment.
“I’m so sorry. We had an assembly today and I missed lunch.”
For a laidback guy, Josh looked super perturbed, which wasn’t like him at all. He might be more nervous than he was letting on. “It’s been thirty minutes since we ordered and she hasn’t even brought out the salads yet. I’m all for giving people a break when they’re busy but this is ridiculous.”
Flagging down another waitress, Josh asked to speak to the manager. I was uncomfortable with any sort of confrontation in eating establishments because I’d heard way too many stories of food being spit on, but Josh had a point here. It shouldn’t take half an hour to get a tossed salad and a few bread rolls.
A rather scared-looking man approached our table, clearing this throat and wringing his hands together. Whatever he was going to tell us wasn’t good news. “Uh yes, I’m so sorry. I’m the manager here and I’m so sorry you’ve had to wait for your food. I believe you already placed your order?”
“Thirty minutes ago,” Josh said, his tone laced with frustration. “We don’t even have salads yet and our glasses are empty. We haven’t seen our server since she took our order.”
The manager nodded and pointed toward the door to the kitchen. “We’ve had a few issues tonight. I hope you’ll accept our most sincere apology. Your meal will be on us. I’ll just get Tracy to take your order again.”
I didn’t understand. We’d already done that. “Again?”
He cleared his throat again and shifted uncomfortably on his feet. “Well, it seems that your server took orders from several tables…and then quit. We had no idea what she’d done until the complaints started coming in.”
I’d made a server quit her job. Was it because of the potatoes instead of the rice?
The good news was the ice was officially broken between the two of us. We had plenty to talk about now and ample time to do it.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Josh
It was supposed to be the best date ever but the entire evening had gone downhill at sixty miles per hour. Our waitress had quit so it took forever to have dinner and we were starving by the time they fed us. All we could do was wolf down our food like animals after making awkward small talk the entire time. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. I was supposed to be dazzling Mia and sweeping her off of her feet.
Because it had taken so long to have dinner, we’d missed our chosen movie and ended up watching another that started later in the evening. It wasn’t too bad actually, a murder mystery with an excellent cast. For the first time during the date it felt comfortable between Mia and I. Sitting next to her in the dark I held her hand, my thumb caressing her palm. She didn’t pull away and if anything seemed to move a little closer to me. She smelled so amazing it made my head spin, although if I asked her what her perfume was she’d probably just tell me it was body wash or shampoo. It was hard to believe I’d ignored her allure all these years. Clearly, I’d had my head up my ass but I’d pulled it out now.
“It’s him,” she whispered softly for my ears only. Our faces were inches apart and her warm breath caressed my jaw. “He’s the killer, I bet.”
“It’s the girlfriend,” I replied just as quietly, enjoying the closeness. This was more like the relationship that we’d had in the past. “She has stronger motive.”
Neither one of us were going to find out who was right. An hour and a half into the film, a blaring buzzer went off and the lights came on. Mia clapped her hands over her ears as people stood and began to file out of the theatre. A voice came over the loud speaker asking us to evacuate because the fire alarm had been tripped.
Son of a bitch.
Wrapping my arm around Mia, I led us both to the nearest exit which put us outside but on the opposite side of the building from our vehicle. Sometime during the movie, a storm had moved in and it was raining cats and dogs out there. There wasn’t even a question of waiting it out and hoping that they let us back in to see the end of the movie. By the time we got to the car we were both soaked to the skin, our coats barely any protection from the wind and rain.
I bundled Mia into the passenger seat and then myself behind the wheel, finally shutting the door against the storm. What a crappy night this had been. I’d set out to make it the best date ever and it was a definite contender for worst date in history. Right now she had to be wondering when this night would ever end. I wanted to howl out loud in frustration that the dating gods were working against me.
“I think I have a blanket in the trunk,” I remembered, reaching for the door handle. “Let me get it for you.”
“No way,” she said, grabbing my arm. “You can’t go back out there. It’s pouring.”
“I’m already wet. I can’t get any wetter. We’re practically ducks.”
I turned the heater on even higher when she shivered and tugged her coat around her more tightly. We were probably both going to get pneumonia, a l
ovely reminder of our romantic date. We could have side by side hospital beds and oxygen tanks.
“Let’s just head back to my place and get dried out.”
With a sinking heart, I pulled out of the parking lot and headed to Mia’s home. I already knew how the evening was going to end. I’d get a polite thank you and then pushed out the front door. Wet, cold, and alone.
The night was a total loss.
* * *
Mia
We were both chilled to the bone and a sodden mess. We’d have to strip out of our clothes until they dried or risk dying a painful death from pneumonia. The universe was a funny thing. I’d been so sure Josh wouldn’t get me out of my panties tonight but here I was anxious to get rid of them.
I’d started the night determined not to let Josh get under my skin, romancing me with flowers and candlelight, but somehow I’d been charmed by his incredible run of bad luck. He was simply adorable when the world was against him.
The question now was what did I want to do about that? A wise woman would send him home right now no matter how cold and wet he was. But the soft-hearted part of me couldn’t do it. Instead I was going to have a romantic fire in the fireplace and offer him a hot, soothing beverage. It was a foolish move almost like playing with matches in a fireworks factory.
“If we don’t get out of these wet clothes we’re both going to catch our death of cold.” I flipped the switch for the gas fireplace and then inched toward the bedroom. “You should park yourself right in front of the fire. I’ll be right back.”
Josh was standing by the front door, seemingly not sure if he should come all the way in. For a confident man he appeared to be hesitant at the moment, unsure of his next move. Certainly nothing had gone to plan tonight… for either of us.
“I should go–”
“You’re not going anywhere.” I used my best schoolteacher voice and to my surprise he listened. Hmmm…this was an interesting development. I’d have to do this more often. “You’re cold and wet. We need to get those clothes dried out. Give me a minute. I’ll be back in a jiffy. Seriously, you should get closer to the fireplace.”
Tempt Him Page 16
