Matched Online: Anthology Bks 1-4 (Contemporary Romance)

by Lacy Williams, Julie Jarnagin, Robin Patchen

  And it was obvious he wasn't going to find the same with Angela. He might be attracted to her, might like her, but it hurt him too much to be with her.

  And he was leaving.

  She hadn't been enough to keep Rob's love. Hadn't been enough to make him stay. Why did she think she would be enough for someone like Drew, who already had a life far away?

  So she kept smiling at Brian, kept laughing at his description of one of his high school basketball coaches whom she remembered seeing at away games. He was nice enough, even if he didn't make her heart leap. Maybe she'd set her sights too high, wanted passion when she was only good enough for mundane. Mundane was easy. Mundane didn’t hurt.

  "Wanna go get some real food?” Brian asked. “The cafe down the street doesn't close for another couple hours."

  That sounded better than sitting here all too aware of Drew behind the counter.

  "Sure. Let me go freshen up."

  As she passed, she kept her eyes averted from Drew, who was in a quiet conversation with his brother behind the counter.

  She made a quick stop in the restroom, then washed up. She hadn't slept well the last few nights and looked it.

  She splashed her face with water, then patted dry with a paper towel.

  It didn't help. Maybe because the exhaustion she felt was more than skin deep.

  She reapplied her lipstick. She could try to look good, even if she didn't feel it.

  She took a deep breath before she pushed out of the small room. And emerged into chaos.

  Brian and Drew were both standing, in each other’s faces. Brian said something she couldn’t hear.

  And then Drew shoved Brian, shouted right in his face.

  "Stop!" she cried.

  The tussle continued as Brian shoved back, and a chair was knocked over. The table she and Brian had been sitting at was already on the floor, the remains of her coffee spilled across the tile in a brown mess.

  She darted forward, ready to slug someone herself, but Wes blocked her way and held her there. “Why don’t you stop them?”

  Wes didn’t answer, and she struggled to get away when she saw Brian throw a punch.

  Drew ducked out of the way. Brian wasn’t so lucky as he caught an elbow with his nose and mouth.

  "Stop!" she cried again.

  With one last shove, Drew pushed Brian several steps back, though Brian remained on his feet.

  "Get out," Drew growled.

  "Drew!"

  He glanced at her, ran an agitated hand through his hair.

  She moved toward Brian. What had provoked the fight?

  "You can't go with him," Drew said.

  And that put her hackles up. "You can't tell me—"

  "He spiked your drink!" Drew burst out. "I don't know what he put in there, but—"

  "I did not."

  Wes, still with his arm holding her in place, looked at her. "I saw it, too.” He turned to Brian. “I’m calling the cops." He let her go, but there was no reason to keep holding on to her now. She felt frozen in place.

  Brian's eyes darted to her, but this time she read the guilt on his face, the slump of his shoulders. She turned away, turned her back to both him and Drew, her chest suddenly banded tight.

  She clutched both her elbows, arms crossed over her middle, as fear and hurt crashed over her. She started shaking.

  The chime over the door rang. Probably Brian was leaving. Hopefully he was never coming back.

  "You wanna sit down?" Wes was back and he drew her away from the center of the shop to a more secluded corner, though she felt the eyes of other patrons following her every move. “Sheila’s calling the cops for me.”

  Most of the folks in town had been quietly curious about her dating habits, watching but not commenting, which she was thankful for. But this...when word got out that she'd almost been the victim of a date rape drug or whatever it had been, what would they think? Would her reputation suffer? What if word got back to Rob and he tried for full custody, claiming she was a bad mother?

  This whole thing had been a mistake. She should never have made that pact with Jo, Morgan, and Mary Beth.

  The whirlwind of emotions caught up with her. The events of just now plus everything that had happened with Drew. She cried, covering her face with both hands to hide her tears, as if they didn’t all already know.

  She turned to face the wall and wrapped her arms around her middle to try to hold in the sobs. She could leave. She should leave, but she didn’t know if she could see past her tears to get to her car.

  "I f-felt like I knew him," she mumbled through her tears. "We had some of the same friends back in high school."

  Wes patted her shoulder. "This isn't your fault."

  How could it not be? She'd been the one to accept his online friendship, accept a second date.

  She was aware of Drew's presence, could feel him hovering nearby.

  "I just f-feel so stupid." Why couldn't the good guys, the guy she wanted, return her feelings?

  Wes murmured something she couldn't make out above the sound of her own sniffles.

  He moved away, and then Drew was there, gently touching her hunched shoulder. "Angela..."

  She couldn't stand it.

  "No!" She pushed out of the seat, whirled on him. She pointed a shaking finger at him. "You don't get to do this. You can't pick and choose when you want to be a part of my life. "

  "I know." Drew's hair was mussed, and one cheek had a small scrape across it. She'd never seen him so disheveled, and his eyes reflected a matching chaos.

  Wes shifted from foot to foot, anxiously watching them.

  "Why don't you guys go somewhere more private and talk?"

  She shook her head. "I don't think it's a good idea for us to go anywhere together."

  Drew shoved his hands in his pockets.

  "You made me care about you." She pointed her finger at him. Her hand was still shaking. "I know you didn't make any promises, but I started having feelings for you anyway."

  "I never meant to hurt you." Of course he hadn’t meant it, but that didn't change anything. It didn't change her heart.

  She couldn't absolve him of his guilt even if she wanted to.

  "I'm leaving town," he said.

  "I know."

  "Soon," he said. "Not like I originally planned. I'm leaving in a couple days."

  She knew it was for the best, but it still hurt to hear.

  She wrapped her arms around her middle, trying to hold herself together. She bit her lip, and then shored up what courage she had left.

  "I'm going home now."

  But home was no better. Her house was empty. Thad gone to play at one of his new friend's houses for the evening and wouldn't be back until later.

  She had a cake order for next week, but she couldn't work on it yet. Without her son in the house, with no distraction from her thoughts, everything was too painful. She broke down in tears.

  Why couldn't she be enough? What was so wrong with her that she couldn't find a man to stick?

  10

  Which family member are you closest to?

  ChefEric: "My sister. I'm twenty-six, and she still bosses me around."

  Angela would’ve given up on the online dating altogether if not for her three friends and the pact they’d made. When she showed up for her next online date at the coffee shop, one week later, Drew was nowhere to be seen.

  11

  It took a month.

  Drew went back to his job, back to the small one-bedroom apartment he'd shared with Jennifer. He ate at their usual haunts, places he hadn't been able to visit since she'd died.

  But nothing went back to normal. Wes checked on him twice a week, though his brother was careful not to mention Angela or Thad.

  It didn't keep Drew from thinking about them.

  Fine. He'd fallen in love with her. And his feelings about it had begun to change, maybe before he'd even left Ross. When he'd seen that creep spike her drink, he'd gone a little cra
zy. In the split second he'd imagined what could have happened to her, he'd gone berserk. He'd wanted to pummel the man, and it had been good to have Wes at his back. He'd barely controlled himself.

  That’s when he’d known his feelings were more than just caring about Angela. That’s when he knew he’d fallen in love with her.

  The night she'd asked him to talk to her about Jennifer had softened his grief somehow. Talking about and remembering the very things he'd loved about his wife had brought the good times to the forefront of his memories. Those long, aching days at the end had been hard, filled with grief even before Jennifer had passed. And it had stuck with him.

  Until he'd met Angela and her crazy dating antics had cemented her place in his heart.

  The question was, what was he going to do about it?

  "I thought I'd find you here."

  He looked up at the female voice. Brittany. Jennifer's younger sister.

  "What are you doing here?" He hopped off the bench overlooking Central Park, one of his and Jennifer's favorite places to sneak off to on the weekends. They loved to people watch, loved guessing where the tourists came from.

  Jennifer's little sister lived in New Jersey, and he hadn't seen her since the funeral. He shared a friendly hug with her.

  "Wes called me."

  "He did?" Drew hadn't known his brother even had Brittany's phone number.

  "He said something about you falling in love with a gal back in Oklahoma."

  Heat flushed his face, but he didn't look down. His feelings were so muddled. Should he feel ashamed?

  Brittany sat on the bench and he joined her there. Looking out over the water, it was a little easier to say, "Yeah, I did."

  She was the first person he'd admitted it to, and saying it aloud released something in him, like helium leaving a balloon.

  "What's her name?"

  "Angela. She has a seven-year-old son." He couldn't help smiling a little as he said it.

  They stared at the water for several moments. "If you think the family would judge you for marrying again, we won't."

  He shook his head slightly. "It isn't that... I just... At first, it felt like I was betraying Jennifer to have feelings for someone else."

  "At first?"

  He squeezed the back of his neck. "I dunno. I—lately, I've been rethinking everything."

  She touched his hand. "Jennifer's gone," she whispered, and her eyes were wet. "No matter how much we wish she weren’t, she's gone. And if you fell in love, then I say, good for you."

  Her words were freeing, an echo of what he'd begun feeling since he'd left Ross.

  The question was, what should he do about it?

  It took him another week to make it back to Ross.

  It was lunchtime when he hit town. He didn't go to Wes's house or the coffee shop. He went straight to Angela's place.

  She and Thad were playing in the front yard. It was still fairly warm, and it looked like she'd been gardening. Now she was chasing her son around the leaf-strewn yard with a hose. Water squirted in swirling arcs, droplets spraying every which way. Thad shrieked with laughter. Halloween decorations spilled out of two boxes sitting in the open garage doorway.

  Drew pulled up to the curb, parked the car, and got out. He leaned one elbow on the top of the car as he stood inside the open door. Just watching, letting his heart fill up at seeing them again.

  Thad saw him first. "Drew!" The boy darted in his direction, and Angela's water spray followed.

  "Hey!" Drew ducked, letting the spray fall on his back. It stopped quickly.

  He straightened in time to step around the door and catch Thad in a fierce hug when the boy vaulted toward him.

  "Mom said you had to go home," Thad said, looking up at Drew but still holding on.

  Drew ruffled Thad's hair, letting the boy scoot back. "I'm back now."

  "Thad," Angela called from the middle of the lawn.

  The boy started back and looked over his shoulder to make sure Drew was following. He was, even if the back and shoulders of his shirt were a little damp.

  "Hey," he greeted her as his feet hit the lawn.

  But she looked more wary than welcoming.

  His heart thumped hard against his sternum. Was he too late?

  She'd turned off the water from the spigot and now held out the dripping end of the hose to her son. "Please wind up the hose and then go into the house."

  "Aw, Mom." Thad looked over his shoulder again, and Drew winked at the boy. Thad smiled a little and went to do as she’d said, though Drew noticed he was moving as slowly as molasses and kept sneaking glances their way.

  Angela didn't say anything until he was close to the corner of the house, almost out of earshot. "What are you doing here?" She crossed her arms. Not exactly the welcome he'd hoped for, but that was his own fault.

  "I'm here to ask you out on a date."

  Her eyes widened infinitesimally, but other than that, her expression remained neutral.

  "Isn't that a long way to travel just to ask someone out on a date?"

  He grinned. "Not if you're in love."

  Her arms dropped, and he could read the naked hope on her face. But he wasn't done yet.

  "I wasn't sure the best way to get this to you, so I printed it out." He held out a single sheet of white paper and was gratified when she accepted it. She started reading.

  He already knew what it said. He'd written it.

  Username: Not2Late

  What are your three best life skills? Driving in bad traffic, being a shoulder to cry on, making a mean espresso.

  How do you typically spend your leisure time? I sometimes get too caught up in work. Looking for someone to challenge me on this. Playing catch could be a start. Maybe helping with homework?

  Other than appearance, what is the first thing people notice about you? My temper.

  Things I'm looking for in a woman: Someone with a kind heart, someone who loves her son, someone who is patient with me when I'm being stupid.

  Interests: Bakers, golden retrievers, rock collecting, and reading comics.

  What I hope to get out of this date: Spending time with the woman I can't live without.

  He watched her eyes scan back and forth across the page. It went on front and back. When she finished and her gaze rose to him, she was biting her lower lip. Her eyes were a little moist.

  "Do you really mean it?" she whispered.

  "With all my heart."

  He reached for her and she came into his arms, settling there like she belonged.

  "I love you," he murmured into her temple.

  She gave a little half-sob. "I love you, too."

  He squeezed her waist, emotion filling his throat in a hot knot.

  "But I thought—"

  "You thought I was going to be stupid forever," he said.

  She pressed a kiss into his shoulder. "What changed?"

  Everything. "Nothing changed in the way I felt about you. I started falling for you from the beginning. As to how I feel about Jennifer—I think I'll probably always love her, always miss her. But she's not here, and I don't want to miss out on living the rest of my life."

  And he wanted Angela and Thad to be part of it.

  He touched her cheek.

  She leaned up on her tiptoes to meet his kiss, and he obliged her. This kiss was even better than their first, a tender promise for today and all their tomorrows.

  When Thad ran back around the side of the house, shouting enthusiastically, they broke apart. Drew chuckled.

  She brushed her hair behind her ears.

  Thad ran around them in circles, talking so fast Drew couldn't understand half the words.

  "I guess we should talk logistics," she said softly.

  He raised his brows in question.

  "With us here and you in New York..." she prompted.

  "I'm not going back to New York," he said. "I already packed up my apartment. It's all in a truck somewhere in Ohio right about now."


  Her eyes filled, her smile tremulous. "Really?"

  "It's time for a fresh start. In a lot of ways. For now, Wes is taking me on as a partner. In the future...? Who knows. I might even learn how to bake."

  She held up the printed paper he'd given her, now slightly crumpled from her grip. "I might decide to frame this."

  "As long as you close down your online profile, you can do whatever you want with it. No more superheroes or bug dudes for you."

  She laughed. "Agreed."

  "Drew, can you play catch with me?” Thad said. “Can you stay for dinner? Are you gonna marry my mom?"

  He laughed, joy pulsing through him so fast, it felt like it was emerging from every pore.

  He held Angela's gaze. "Yeah, buddy, I'll play catch with you. And I'll stay for dinner, if your mom wants to cook. Or we can crash over at Wes's place if she doesn't."

  He held a pause, sensing the boy was listening hard but still not daring to look away from Angela.

  "And yeah. Not today, but soon, I'd like to marry your mom."

  "Whoohoo!" Thad's shout rang out in the neighborhood, but Drew had pulled Angela in close again and was only half paying attention as the boy made wild war shouts and danced across the yard.

  Drew was all wrapped up in her, and he couldn't be happier about it.

  "I love you," he whispered as their foreheads touched. "To heaven and back."

  "Me too.”

  He didn't know what he'd done to deserve two happy endings in his life, but he wasn't going to complain.

  He'd never have guessed that online dating would bring Angela into the coffee shop—and into his life. All it had taken was ten dates.

  Dear Reader

  Thanks for reading HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DATES. This book came to me in snatches. I got the title very early on in the brainstorming process and knew I’d have to develop 10 bad dates for my heroine (she’s much more stubborn than I am—I would have given up after 2 or 3). My local writers’ group gave me many hilarious suggestions and unfortunately I couldn’t fit them all into the book. Maybe someday Wes can get his own love story and I can use some more of those bad date ideas. We’ll see.

  This book is the first of four in the MATCHED ONLINE ANTHOLOGY. Don’t miss Jo, Morgan, and Mary Beth’s stories. Turn the page for an excerpt from A PACKAGE DEAL, the next book in the series.