I stalled again, trying to recover some of my composure. “I don’t know. I don’t even know your name. You might be anybody.”
“Tyler Bennedict, and I’m not anybody. I’m just a guy asking you out to dinner. Will you have dinner with me on Saturday night?”
“Carrie, are you coming?” Allie’s less than patient voice reminded me this was a job, not a place to pick up men.
“Right, Allie. Yes, I’m coming.” I turned back to Tyler as levelheaded Carrie tried to convince in-lust Carrie to refuse flat out. Save herself the heartache. But the word “no” just would not come out of my mouth.
“I’ll meet you at Sedona’s at eight on Saturday night.” Tyler promptly dismissed both Carries’ arguments.
“But you don’t know who I am either.”
Tyler Bennedict turned back to me one more time and grinned. I didn’t care who he was at that point. I was in lust and I wanted to kick myself. This was the last place I needed to be right now. Since David, I’d promised myself to focus more on the business and put aside my personal life—aka sex—for the time being.
“Don’t worry. I’ll find out all about you on Saturday.”
The rest of the evening went by in a mindless blur of activity. Nothing penetrated my euphoric state, not even seeing Tyler, my date for Saturday night, chatting with a stunning redhead who was actually a guest and not the hired help. What did it matter? He’d asked me out. I mean, she could even be his sister, right? The fact that I was already making up excuses for him should have been my first clue of the trouble I was walking into—if I had actually been looking for clues.
By the time the party had ended, the cleanup finished and all the equipment safely stored away in my little rented shop on Thirty-Eighth Street, it was after three-thirty in the morning. Exhausted, I finally trudged up the steps to my fourth-floor corner apartment. You can probably imagine my surprise as I stood before my bathroom mirror to face my best tangy raspberry sauce plastered across my cheek. I’d added the sauce to the white chocolate cheesecake minutes before my run-in with Tyler.
My heart sank. Now I understood why someone as breathtaking as Tyler Bennedict would ask me out in the first place. It wasn’t as if he were interested in me. He just wanted to know what choice of food I would be wearing next.
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About the Author
Jill Steeples lives with her husband, two children and a high maintenance English Pointer called Amber in a lovely house surrounded by Monkey Puzzle trees in a small market town in the UK. When she’s not writing, she loves spending time with family and friends, and enjoys reading (of course!), films, musical theatre, walking, baking and eating cakes and drinking wine!
Her short stories have appeared in anthologies and women’s magazines around the world and she is the author of four romantic comedy novels.
Email: [email protected]
Jill loves to hear from readers. You can find her contact information, website and author biography at http://www.totallybound.com.
Molly Matthews Meddles in Marriage Page 17
