by J. S. Cooper
“What do you love?” I said.
“I love making memories with you.”
“I love making memories with you as well, Jack.” I pulled him to me and pressed my lips against his, loving the way he tasted and smelled. I pulled away reluctantly after a few minutes and we both just stared at each other for a few seconds, letting our eyes say how much we meant to each other.
Then he gave my hand a gentle tug, and we made our way to the airport.
“Well, this is awkward,” Jack said as we got onto the plane.
“It’s not awkward.” I laughed. “Why do you say that?”
“Because I wanted it to be a surprise when we got there, but I guess I didn’t think about the fact that the sign above the doorway would say where we were going, and that the gate host would say have a fun trip to London.” He chuckled with a rueful expression on his face.
“I think that the fact that you wanted this to be a surprise is amazing, but I think what’s even more special is that you’re even taking me to England in the first place. I can’t believe it. I’m going to London. Like those are words I never expected to say in my life.”
“Really?” He raised an eyebrow. “You never expected to go to London? You told me that you wanted to go.”
“Well, I mean, okay, I’m exaggerating Jack. Of course, I would have gone eventually, but I didn’t have any plans to go anytime soon, and you’re making this a reality for me. Thank you.”
“I would do anything to make you happy, to see you smile.”
“Well, you have made my day.”
He looked smug and happy at my words, and I touched his arm lightly. I loved being able to just touch him when I wanted to.
“When we get to London, what do you want to do?” he asked as we settled into our seats in first class. I knew this would be luxurious, but wow. They were wide and leather and comfortable, and I sat back, looking out the window, feeling even more excited.
“Well, when we get there, we have to go to the Tate.”
“Of course.” He nodded.
I grinned at him. “That’s probably the museum I want to see the most.”
“And you said you wanted to go to the Victoria and Albert Museum as well, right?”
“You remember?” I asked him.
“Of course,” he grinned. “I remember how special you thought a trip to London would be. Remember, I was in the garden that day when you were telling my grandmother about your grandmother and how she spent that time in London, and how you really wanted to visit. And I knew as soon as I heard you telling her that story that I wanted to be the one that made that happen for you. I wanted to be the one who was there to share those memories with you.”
“Oh, Jack.” I stroked his cheek and leaned over to kiss him. “You’re so romantic and sweet.”
“I know,” he grinned. “What else do you want to do when you get there?”
“Hmm, let me think. I want to have bangers and mash. And I want to try Scotch eggs. And I wanted to try cheese and onion pasties. And they have this thing called toad in the hole. I don’t even know what it is, but I want to try it.”
He laughed. “Anything else?”
“Oh, and bubble and squeak.”
“What’s bubble and squeak?”
“I don’t know, but I read about it in a book once, and it just sounded amazing.”
“You’re amazing.”
“Oh Jack, I’m not, I’m really not. I’m just a regular woman but I will never ever take you for granted. And I will never ever use you, and I will—”
“I know.” He took my hand and squeezed it. “You know, there was a point in my life when I thought there weren’t any women who cared more about friendship than they cared about money. I thought there weren’t women who were kind and sweet, only greedy, but I was wrong. I was absolutely wrong. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since the first day that we met, and I am totally 100% in love with you, Isabella. I love you, and I know that this trip is going to be amazing. And I want to show you all the things and take you to all the places and explore the world with you.”
“You’re perfect, Jack, and I already know that this will be the best date ever in my life. Ever, ever.”
“Remember it will also be your last first date ever.” He kissed me on the cheek. “I know that this might sound kind of crazy, but I know I want you to be my wife, Isabella. I want you to be the mother of our children.” He bit his lower lip. “I don’t want to scare you by rushing things but from the moment I let down my guard and let you in. That was it for me. You’re it for me.”
“I love you too, Jack.” I grinned and squeezed his hand. “I think that I loved you from the first moment I saw you as well. Crazy as it seems. “
“It’s not crazy. You know, you just made my whole day, my whole week, month, year, lifetime. You’ve made everything that I’ve had to experience so far in my life worth it. Just to be here in this moment with you. It means everything.”
“It means everything to me as well, Jack. We will savor it. Not everyone’s as lucky as us.”
“I know,” he nodded. “We are lucky. We’re lucky in love.”
“You’re so cheesy.” I laughed giddily.
“At least I’m not trying to do another knock, knock joke,” he said.
“That is true. No more, knock, knock jokes.”
“At least not until we have kids.”
“Okay,” I said, “it’s a deal.”
And then he leaned over and he kissed me. “You want to join the Mile High Club?” he whispered in my ear.
My eyes widened. “Maybe,” I whispered back, “if you’re lucky.”
“Well, if we do,” he sat back and flashed that wicked grin, “then this might just become the best date ever in the world for anyone.”
“I think I can drink to that.” I took a glass of champagne from the flight attendant as she walked by our seats.
We clinked glasses and I stared into his beautiful green eyes. I knew then that I would never, ever enjoy and love a man as much as I loved Jack Morrison. We were on our way to London for the best date in the world. And I knew that I would appreciate every single moment of it because I was with him.
Abby had been right. Maybe she’d gone about it a weird way, but if it hadn’t been for her, I never would’ve met Jack. I never would have fallen in love. And so maybe, just maybe friends really did know what was best for each other. I just had to make sure that she got her Prince Charming as well.
That was the least I could do for the friend who had found me my soulmate.
The End
Thank you for reading Worst Date Ever. I hope you enjoyed it. You can read a bonus epilogue by joining my mailing list here. Please leave a review if you enjoyed the book as that is one of the best ways to help me as an author.
Continue onto the next page for a teaser from Abby’s book, Worst Boss Ever.
Excerpt From Worst Boss Ever
Chapter One
Abby
The stack of bills sat on the edge of my bed like a mountain that I had no energy to climb. By my calculations I owed more than a hundred thousand dollars. Thanks for nothing school loans and David Adams. David Adams was my con artist of an ex boyfriend. We’d only gone on three dates before he’d convinced me to buy him materials for his flooring business. “I’ll pay you back after I finish the job.” He said. I hadn’t heard from him since. That was an awful way to lose $5000, but as my best friends said as least it was only $5000 and at least I hadn’t slept with him. I would have felt even more betrayed then.
“Hey Abby,” Emma knocked on my door before poking her head inside my room. “Isabella is going to come over with a pizza. She wants to know what kind you want?”
“Tell her to surprise us.” I grinned and jumped off of the bed. The stack of letters didn’t even move. It was solid and going nowhere. I glared at it as I walked across the room. “Is Jack coming with her or is it just her?”
“I’m pre
tty sure she said she wanted a ladies night.” Emma glanced down at her phone. “So it will just be us girls.”
“Sounds good to me.” I grinned. Jack was Isabella’s new boyfriend. He was great, but now that she had moved out of the apartment we shared, I was happy to have some alone time with her; without him. “Will Chloe be joining us?”
“No, I’m actually not sure what she’s up to tonight.” Emma shook her head as she typed rapidly into her phone. “Okay, I’m going to have a quick shower before she gets here.” She wrinkled her nose and sniffed herself. “I went for a run this afternoon and I’m stinky.”
“You’re not stinky.” I laughed. “Next time let me know when you’re going on a run and I will join you.”
“Sure thing.” She grinned and I laughed slightly as we both knew that I had no intentions of running with her. I hated running. I’d tried one through Central Park and had ended up running out of breath after five minutes. I’d collapsed onto the ground after ten minutes and I still hadn’t gotten over the shame. My body was not made for running. Not at all.
* * *
***
"Hey, Isabella." I jumped up as soon as I saw my best friend entering the living room wearing a summery yellow dress and white wedges. She looked beautiful and happy and I "I feel like I haven't seen you in ages."
"You haven't seen me in two days, Abby," she grinned, walking over to me and giving me a hug. She smelled like peonies and I wondered if her new scent was a gift from her new boyfriend.
"Well, it feels like ages."
"I know. I missed you too." She stepped back and I noticed that she had a glow to her that I’d never seen before. I guess that’s what happened when you found love.
"So how's it going with you and Jack?"
"Would you hate me if I said it was going absolutely fantastic?" She grinned at me and I shook my head.
"No," I laughed, though I was slightly envious. Her boyfriend was absolutely gorgeous. He was a famous NFL player. He was a billionaire. He was handsome. He was hot. And he loved her. I mean, what more could you wish for than that? And, to top it off, I was the one that set them up. If it wasn't for me, they wouldn't be together which, if I did have to say, made me very proud of myself. I mean, maybe in another lifetime I could have been a matchmaker or something.
"So, are you excited for the new job?" Isabella asked me and I nodded slightly.
"Yeah, tomorrow's the big day. I can't believe I’m finally starting."
"You must be absolutely excited," Emma said with just a tinge of jealousy in her voice, "You're going to be making so much money."
"I mean, it's good money for sure, but it's going to be a lot of work. I'm almost positive. I mean, I'm working for Dylan McAllister. I've heard he's absolutely crazy to work for."
"Those are most probably just rumors," Isabella said. "I mean, he can't be that horrible, right?"
"I mean, I don't know," I laughed. "I've never been a secretary before and I don’t even know if he does or doesn't know this. I don't know how he’s going to feel about me learning on the job." I shrugged, trying to play off my nervousness. "I mean, I went through the employment agency. It's not like I lied. I told them that I have been a PA before."
"Weren't you a PA for your uncle?" Isabella said with a small smile. “For like a month?”
"Yeah but..."
"But what?" Emma said. "That's a slight stretch, right?"
"It's not a stretch. I was a PA for one summer, it was like three months."
"And you told the employment company this?"
"Well, maybe I didn't tell them it was for one summer." I laughed. "But I didn't say that I have any skills that I don't have. To be honest, I got the feeling that they were desperate for applicants."
"That's not a good sign," Isabella said, laughing.
"No, it's not. I don't want to think about why they settled for me as the secretary to a billionaire at a multi-billion dollar company, and I don't have that much experience, but hey, beggars can't be choosers. I was just doing my finances and those interest rates are killing me. I'm paying so much money each month on these loans and the balance just doesn't seem to be going down."
"Yup, it's going all to interest," Emma nodded. "You gotta make some huge payments to start getting the principal down."
"I know that now. I loved my time at Columbia, but man." I made a face.
"I feel ya," Chloe said.
"Me too," Isabella nodded. We all looked at her and she shrugged. "What? It's true. I've got loans to repay as well."
"But you're also dating a billionaire."
"It's not like I'm going to ask him to pay off my loans."
"Girl, I bet you don't even have to ask him. I bet he'd do it as a six-months anniversary gift or something."
"Maybe," she grinned.
"Oh my gosh, he hasn't done it already has he?"
"We haven't been together for six months yet." She laughed. “So no, I won’t let him pay it off.”
"So he's already brought it up?"
"Yeah, he's generous, but you know I'm not going to just have him paying off my stuff. I'm not in the relationship because he's rich."
"I know," I sighed, "and that's why he loves you. Because you truly aren't with him because of what we can do for you."
"I'm truly not. I love him for who he is and he just so happens to be rich as well."
"I know." I laughed. "So I have a couple of different outfits that I'm thinking about wearing tomorrow. You guys will have to tell me which one you think looks the best."
"Ooh, I can't wait. And where's the pizza, Isabella. I'm hungry."
"I ordered it. It should be here any minute now."
"What did you get?" I said, excitedly.
"I got anchovies and pineapple."
"Anchovies and pineapple?" Emma made a face. "That sounds absolutely disgusting."
"Well, I heard it's meant to be really good. And you know how much Abby loves trying new pizzas."
"Yes we do," Emma said, and grinned.
It was well known among my friends that I was an adventurous eater. I always liked to try new things, especially on pizza. I love to try different topping combinations, even if they sound gross. I guess I was just adventurous like that.
"Okay. So I'm excited. I guess I'll try on the first outfit and you guys can tell me what you think."
"Sounds good," Isabella said. "And I have a bottle of wine. Actually, Jack sent it over. He sends his regards."
"He is too sweet." I grinned at her. "Ugh, maybe I should have set him up with myself."
"Maybe you should have." She laughed. "I bet you regret it huh?"
"No way." I laughed. "He was made for you. We all can see that."
"Yeah. You guys are perfect together," Emma said. "Chloe and I were talking about it and you've actually made us believe in love again."
"No way." Isabella blushed, but I could tell she was happy.
None of us had ever expected to really and truly meet the loves of our lives. Yeah we'd always talked about it, but I think at some point we'd always figured we'd just date around and continue living with each other and complaining about men. But when Isabella had met Jack and it worked out, it had given all of us hope and even I was secretly hoping that I'd meet someone. The one good thing about Isabella moving out was that we all had our own bedrooms now. We'd been four girls in a three bedroom apartment, but now we each had a bedroom. So now we could invite people over to hang out without it being awkward.
"So," I jumped up, "Hold on, guys. Let me go and try on my first outfit." I ran to my bedroom excitedly. I like to look good. I like to wear clothes that flatter me. At five foot five, I wasn't very tall, and at 160 pounds, I was a little bit, shall we say, curvy? I loved my body, but I knew I couldn't get away with this sort of outfits that really skinny girls could get away with. I had boobs and I had a waist and I had hips for days and I had long legs and thicker thighs. So I wasn't really comfortable wearing really tight clothes because they
emphasize my large butt too much and I wasn't really comfortable wearing short skirts because, well, I didn't want to show too much leg. And I was going to be working at a Fortune 500 corporation and I was pretty sure that HR would frown upon me looking too sexy. I grabbed the first suit that I'd gotten at Nordstrom's and grinned at myself. I looked sexy, hot, yet very, very intelligent.
I heard my phone beeping as I put on the outfit and I grabbed it as I walked back into the living room. "So what do you guys think about this?"
Isabella whistled as I walked into the living room. "Girl, are you going to the catwalk or what?"
"You're not going to an office, are you?" Emma said with a laugh. "Just wait till Chloe sees you. You look amazing."
"You don't think I look too amazing?"
"I mean, it's sexy, but it's not overly sexy. It's not something you'd wear to the club." Isabella shrugged. "I think it's fine."
"Me too, girl. You look hot."
"Hold on," I said, as I looked at my phone. "I've got a text message from the HR department. They said to check my email."
"Uh oh," Isabella said and frowned. "I hope that's not something bad."
"Me too. I hope they haven't delayed my start date again. It's so annoying."
"Why did they delay it the first time again?" Emma said.
"I don't know, something about him being on a business trip and he didn't like his new secretary to start while he wasn't in the office. I'm not really sure. It didn't really make sense to me, but I'm gathering by the way everything is run, that he's super OCD and type A."
"Oh, I can't stand type A bosses," Emma said.
"Me neither, but for this amount of money, I guess I can put up with it."
"True that," Isabella laughed.
I opened the email and read it quickly. "Okay, so they sent me an attachment of files. There's some tips and pointers from the previous secretaries that worked for him, I guess to help me."
"Oh, that's weird," Emma said. "I've never heard of that."
"I think it's pretty standard," Isabella said. "So that she knows what projects they were working on and that sort of thing."
