Love at Blind Date Complete Series: Books 1-4

by Lorelei M. Hart

  But he didn’t give up. A hand covered my phone, and I took a deep breath and looked my brother in the eye. “You have my full attention. Shoot.”

  He pointed a finger gun at me. I brushed his hand away. “You know I hate that.” He’d almost poked my eye out when we were kids, and I could still hear our omega dad yelling at him as our alpha father drove us to the hospital.

  “Sorry. But this is important, Rex. For me. Please.”

  And there it was. He could always pull my heart strings with that plaintive voice and his big, brown eyes. I ruffled his hair that flopped over one eye. Alphas fell at my omega brother’s feet, but he was mostly oblivious, preferring to concentrate on his work.

  In that he was like me. We were both focused on our careers, though my brother got out more than I did. Our fathers often reminded us we should have more fun. “Is there something I can help you with?”

  Colin was an IT whiz while I could barely manage a to-do list on my phone. Poor guy. I often phoned him in the middle of night asking a question that a five-year-old could answer after screaming at one of my devices.

  “There is, actually.”

  I swiveled around. There was something ominous in his voice. I don’t like the sound of that. What’s he up to? “Go on. No, wait. This isn’t some elaborate scheme you’ve cooked up with our parents to get me to date, is it?”

  “It’s nothing to do with our dads.”

  I knew it. “But you’ve promised some omega I’ll go out with him.”

  “No.” Colin placed his hands on my shoulders. “Let me start again. Remember the app I’ve been developing?”

  I screwed up my nose. “The dating thing?”

  He snapped his fingers at me. “Get with the program, Rex. It’s a blind dating app.”

  “Sorry. Explain the difference between that and an ordinary online dating app.”

  My brother sighed. “People place too much focus on looks. Many great opportunities are dismissed because they don’t like the shape of the other person’s nose or the way they smile. And the next thing is employment. Again, they reject a great alpha or omega because of their job status. My app matches people who have something in common. And they get to hear the other person’s voice rather than seeing a photo or video.”

  “Got it. But what’s it to do with me? Are you trying to sell it?”

  “Not yet.” He twiddled his fingers and avoided my gaze. “I need to trial it first.”

  A silence hung between us. Damn! “Oh no. I’m not being your guinea pig. I don’t go in for blind dates. Not the usual kind or your new high-tech version.”

  My brother leaned forward and smirked. “I hate doing this, but you owe me.”

  “How do you figure that?”

  “Remember that time our dads went away for the weekend and you invited your friends for a party? And while you were sleeping off your hangover the next morning, I cleaned up.”

  “Really? You’d tell our parents about that? It was years ago when we were teenagers.”

  Colin grinned. “In a heartbeat.” He rubbed his hands together.

  We were both adults and our fathers could hardly give me a time out for something I’d done back then. But my brother had spared my ass that day, and damn, he’d been saving this and was ready to hold it over me. I could say no, but I loved him and wanted his project to be a success. “Fine.”

  “It’s just dinner, Rex, not the torture rack.”

  It may as well be. “This is a one-time thing. I’m not looking for a relationship. It’s a favor to you, okay?”

  “Okay. Give me your phone.” I sat back on the couch while my brother downloaded the app and set it up. “Ready?” he asked.

  I shot up and glanced around, half-expecting my omega date to appear. “For what?”

  “You need to choose someone, silly,” Colin said.

  Oh thank God. “Can’t you do that?”

  “No. What would be the point?”

  “This is so going to blow up in my face.”

  “Don’t be such a negative Nellie. Pay attention.” My brother scrolled through a list of omegas that showed their likes and dislikes. “Picnics on the beach?” he suggested.

  “Nah. The sand gets in everything.”

  “Hiking in the countryside?” Colin took one look at my horrified face and kept scrolling. I closed my eyes and thought of my early meeting the following morning. “Oh my God! This is unbelievable.”

  I opened one eye. “Don’t tell me. He likes getting up at five a.m. and jogging for ten miles.”

  “Look.”

  “The things I do for you, little bro.” I peered at the screen. “Blue-and-white Chinese pottery.” Holy shit! Glancing over my shoulder I caught sight of the large ginger jar that was part of my blue-and-white collection. “How strange.”

  Colin made an odd choking sound. He tapped at the screen and I read the words, “Dislikes people talking in the movie theater.” That was one of my pet peeves. Colin hated going to the movies with me because I’d been thrown out so many times after yelling at people to shut up. “This isn’t a joke, is it?”

  “No.” He shook his head. “I’d never ruin my professional reputation just to trick you.” His hand hovered over the mute button. “Wanna hear his voice?” We shared a glance, and I nodded.

  A husky, melodic voice recited his reasons for mentioning his one like and dislike. I didn’t hear the words. But his matter-of-fact tone sent a message to my head, my heart, and I’m almost ashamed to say, my cock. All three reacted.

  My head wanted to know more about him, my heart thundered, making me wince and catch my breath, while my cock swelled. I cleared my throat. “Is that it?”

  “No, he has to agree.”

  I shrugged and went back to what I was doing. “It probably won’t work out.”

  “Don’t be so sure. You’re perfect for one another.”

  “Doubtful,” I grumbled as my brother forced me to list a like and dislike, and he glared at me as I recorded a short message. I kept my expectations low but was intrigued by the unknown omega. I’m doing Colin a favor. Nothing more. But the words, “Pick me. Pick me,” rumbled through my head.

  68

  Jason

  “So how many dates do you have lined up?” Keith looked up from his phone. We were supposed to be getting ready for the next fitting, a wedding party of ten—who needs ten people at their side when getting married? Not that I was complaining. The afternoon could parley out into some decent sales.

  “Me? None.” I hadn’t opened the stupid thing. Who wants to date someone because they like one thing you like—one? There was a reason so many sites had one hundred forty-three compatibility points or whatever they were. You couldn’t make a relationship out of one commonality. That was ridiculous.

  “You should change your like,” Keith told me. “Listen to mine.” He played his sound bite which had him talking about eating in. I assumed he was talking about food. He sounded like he was propositioning them. No wonder he was getting so many dates.

  I inhaled deeply. “You sound like you’re looking to get it on. You might’ve well said Netflix and chill.”

  “That’s what I’m hoping for—so, nailed it.” He slid his phone back into his pocket.

  “Did you even check yours?” He held out his hand. Sometimes he knew me too well. Made sense since we were together forty hours a week or more. I conceded and put my phone in his hand. Might as well get it over with.

  “You have someone looking to date you—even with your...pardon my French...dumbass answers.” They weren’t dumbass. They were honest.

  “He’s probably a weirdo.” Goodness knows I was too.

  “But is he a sexy weirdo?” Keith played the alpha’s responses. I paid no attention to the words, instead letting his rich voice fill the air. “Whoa...you could have some amazing phone sex with this guy.”

  “Inappropriate,” I scolded. Not that he was wrong. “And when you sound that good…”

 
; “Please don’t tell me you’re worried about his looks, Mr. Everyone-is-beautiful,” Keith said.

  “I wasn’t. Thanks for thinking so highly of me.” I snatched my phone back from him. “What I was going to say was that he probably has a ton of dates from this stupid thing. Who wouldn’t go out with a man with that sexy voice? Riddle me that.”

  “So you’ll meet him?” And just like that I somehow found myself agreeing to meet the owner of that sensual voice. Oh well. What could one date hurt?

  What could one date hurt? My pride was what.

  I tapped my finger on the table wondering how long I should freaking stay and wait for his ass. Part of me just wanted to order and say fuck it and have a nice meal. The other part of me wanted to pick up my tail and head on home to lick my wounds.

  I knew better than to agree to a blind date.

  It was a shame, though. I’d been wanting to try this place for a while. I grabbed the menu to take a picture for later. Maybe I could order takeaway one night or something. But of course, I had to mess even that up, knocking my water over and making a mess of both the table and myself. I was winning all over the place.

  “Let me help you.” The bus boy stood there holding out a rag with one hand and crumpling up the tablecloth with the other.

  I took the rag and got the worst of it dried up. “Thanks.” I set it down on the table and started to pick things up so he could remove the cloth before any more dripped on the floor. At least the alpha wasn’t here to see this mess.

  “I’ll get this cleaned up before your date arrives, sir,” he promised, and I believed him because my date wasn’t coming. I needed to just accept that.

  It wasn’t until that moment that I realized how much I’d been looking forward to it. I’d been so good at pretending that even I believed I was okay with the fact it might not work out, when deep down, I longed for it to. I mean, how many alphas like blue-and-white Chinese pottery? How many people under sixty did, for that matter?

  Oh well. No harm done.

  “At least it wasn’t fruit punch.” I reached in my pocket to grab my wallet, throwing some money on the table. “I think it’s safe to say my date’s not coming. Thank you for your help.”

  This sucked. It royally sucked. How long had it been since I’d been out on a date? Long enough my date shirt had been so far in the back of my closet I almost couldn’t find it...that long.

  Maybe it was for the best. Work had to come first for a while. I could look for picket fences and children later.

  I hightailed it out of there. Sticking around any longer was only more pathetic than I already was. Ten minutes after he was to arrive, I should’ve gotten up and left while I had some dignity intact and not waited until I put on the klutz show for all to see.

  I headed through the doors and smacked into someone. No. Not just someone. An alpha—an alpha who smelled like jasmine and the woods on a crisp spring morning—an alpha with crystal green eyes...eyes that showed kindness underneath the glare of frustration—an alpha who under normal circumstances, I’d have loved to have an excuse to say hello to. These were not normal circumstances.

  Could the night get any worse?

  “I’m really sorry,” I mumbled. “My fault.”

  69

  Rex

  Fuck! I’m going to be so late and Colin will be pissed. I’d just finished a conference call with a guy who owned a construction company. He was screwing with me, and I’d told him to stop jerking me about. When he’d finally agreed to have his crew ready to start on my latest project next week, I ended the call and sent off a slew of messages.

  After glancing at the time, I wondered if I should call off the blind date. How would I do that? I scanned the app, but being a tech-know-nothing I couldn’t see a way of doing it. Damn!

  But in my heart, I wanted to meet the guy, though I’d played it cool around Colin. I’d told my brother I hadn’t bothered to look at the damned app when he called me saying the omega I’d chosen had agreed to a date. But that was a lie. I’d been obsessively checking the stupid thing every hour hoping the omega would agree.

  One of the downsides of doing this trial with my brother was that I’d given him access to my account. Without thinking, I’d agreed when he asked. Was he monitoring me every time I took a peek to see if Mr. I-Hate-People-Talking-At-The-Cinema had responded? God, I hoped not.

  Colin was no fool. If I asked, he’d tease me and give me a graph showing the times my stabby fingers had looked for a response. And then he might tell our dads, and they’d be planning a wedding before the week was over.

  I had to go. For Colin who was counting on me. For the omega, who’d be wearing a red shirt, and who’d agreed to the date. And for me. If I met him and was disappointed—as I expected—I’d never give it another thought. But I had to find out. The omega intrigued me, and that voice was something I had to hear in person.

  Luckily, I had a bathroom in my office—one of the perks of being the company owner—and I always kept a change of clothes there. But as I stared at myself in the mirror, my gray suit was way too formal for a blind date, or any date. After removing the jacket and tie and making sure I had nothing stuck in my teeth, I noted the time, swore, and raced to the elevator.

  Traffic was heavy, and I cursed the decision to drive myself when I could have caught a cab. Banging my fists on the steering wheel and shouting at a jerk who cut into my lane didn’t make things go faster. Who knew?

  Fifteen minutes late! I prided myself on always being on time, something that drove Colin and my parents nuts as they were always running late. The omega had probably left already and told Colin his app was shit.

  And when I finally got to the restaurant, it had no valet parking. What the ever-loving fuck? I’d agreed to a place the omega suggested because it was new and in his neighborhood, and he liked to support local businesses. That was another plus. He cared about his community.

  I was about to give up on finding a place to park when a car pulled out, and I nabbed it, though some ass with his hand on the horn thought otherwise. I gave him my best fake smile and was rewarded with the finger. You can’t please some people!

  Racing toward the restaurant entrance, I slowed and brushed hair out of my eyes. Taking a deep breath, I adjusted my collar when an omega barreled out of the double doors and ran straight into me. “Hey! Watch where you’re going!”

  The guy glanced at me, his piercing blue eyes sending what I thought was an apology. But it was his scent that caught my attention. It reminded me of an early morning walk on a deserted beach. The aroma caught me in its grip and tickled my nostrils.

  “I’m really sorry,” he mumbled. “My fault.”

  I opened my mouth to say something, but I recognized that voice. My gaze went to his shirt. Red. He’s wearing a red shirt. And he’d spilled something on it as there was a soggy wet patch on his chest. “You,” was all I could manage. “Red shirt guy who likes blue-and-white pottery and…”

  “…hates people who talk at the movies. Yes.”

  I held out my hand hoping my palm wasn’t sweaty, and his fingers gripped around it. “Rex.”

  “Jason.”

  We stood near the restaurant entrance, clutching one another’s hands as other patrons pushed past us. I was sure I was supposed to say something other than my name, but I had no idea what.

  “I thought you weren’t coming.”

  I very nearly didn’t. “A meeting ran late and traffic…” I waved my hand toward the street as a way of explanation. “Sorry.”

  “Do you want to…?” Jason jerked his head toward the restaurant. He chewed his bottom lip which was adorable as my eyes roamed over the stubble on his chin and his strong jaw. He was slightly shorter than me, but it was the sapphire-blue eyes that held my attention and his intoxicating scent.

  I do. I did want to sit opposite him, enjoy a beer or glass of wine, and hear his story. Everyone had a story and I wondered what his was. What made him take a chance on me on an
app that was still in development? Or, like me, was he also doing someone a favor?

  Perhaps we needed to start afresh. “I’d love to have dinner with you but how about we try this again tomorrow night. If you’re free, that is.” I held my breath as a silence stretched between us. Maybe he has another blind date.

  “I’d like that too.” I exhaled as he agreed.

  “Can we make it eight not seven, and I promise to be on time?”

  “Perfect,” he added.

  Now what? This is awkward. “Do you need a lift?”

  He shook his head. “I live close by.”

  “Oh right.” He’d said this was his neighborhood. “Okay. See you tomorrow, Jason.”

  “You too, Rex.” He gave a half wave and sauntered along the sidewalk with his hands in his pockets. I stared at his ass until he turned the corner. I must ask him where he gets his clothes. The cut and fit of his shirt and pants were amazing. The body inside them wasn’t half bad either.

  70

  Jason

  “Earth to Jason—come in, Jason.” Keith waved his hand in front of me as I stared blankly at the invoice in front of me.

  “I’m trying to deal with the bills,” I scolded. “Don’t you have phone calls to make?”

  “I made those over an hour ago and put away the new shipment and worked on a possible social media promotion for you to look at.”

  Over an hour ago? I’d barely gotten the mail open, much less dealt with. “What time is it?”

  “It’s almost noon.” He held the back of his hand to my forehead all paternal like. “Are you feeling okay?”

  “Yeah. I guess I’m just spacey. So much for getting things done before we opened today.” It was our half-day, where we opened only in the afternoon. I was going to have some long nights this week if I didn’t snap out of it.