“Have faith, Nash. I have a reputation to uphold.” And that rep had been built over the years. “I want to dance at your wedding.”
The older man laughed, but it had a bitterness to it Crease wanted to wipe away. “Think you’re clutching at straws.”
“Not me. I believe in you. Call me if anything happens and you need any guidance, okay? I’m here for you, Nash. You only need to ask.”
“Never thought I’d see you as the dating doctor when you went away to college. Always thought you’d come back and work for one of your brothers. Let’s hope your education pays off, for me anyway.”
“It will. Start today when you swap your books. Talk to everyone you come into contact with, and if they look like they want to make conversation, stick with it.”
“I’ll try.”
Crease stood up and held out his hand. “I mean it, Nash. Call me anytime you want to. Now go out and put what I taught you to good practice. I expect to hear you have a date by the end of the week.”
*
“I’m here to see Crease.” Tall, dark, and handsome paused at her desk, his hand on his hip and a grin that would melt the asphalt on the road outside aimed in her direction.
Great, someone who thought they knew it all and was God’s gift to women. Why was he even here? Oh, that was right. Because he couldn’t get a date doing what he’d always done.
“Right this way, sir. Crease won’t be long. He’s on his way back to the office as we speak.” She stood up and guided the client to the conference, but at the door he grabbed her arm.
“Any chance I can score a date with you? You look like the kinda girl I’d like to take home.” His smarmy grin made Alice’s insides roil.
She hated this overconfident type of male who thought every woman was fair game and he was capable of drawing any of them in by merely being alive and breathing the same air as her. He was the guy at the party who thought the crowd was there for his benefit, his own personal smorgasbord. Hence the reason he was still looking for the right one. Nobody wanted him when they found out all he cared about was adding a notch to his belt. How these guys still existed was beyond her. She couldn’t wait to see what his data showed her.
“You’ll have to go past me.” Crease walked in the door.
Perfect timing! He strolled over to Alice, slipped an arm around her waist, moved her out of Mr. Sleaze’s way and kissed her senseless. She clung to him, savoring the feel of his lips on hers, the way her heart raced in excitement. Alice couldn’t have stopped him if she wanted to. She was so lost in the moment she forgot the guy standing beside her or the room full of clients just waiting for Crease to teach them the perfect way to win over the woman of their dreams.
Her heart pounded when he pulled his lips from hers, but the heat in his eyes sent it up another notch. This affected him, too, from the look of things—or was it just that they were on display and Crease was the ultimate salesman? She would never know unless she asked him, and that was too embarrassing to contemplate.
Whistles came from the conference room. “Man, I want what he has.”
“You sell that kind of charm by the bottle, pal?” Even the overconfident man who hit on her was gobsmacked. He stood watching with his mouth open and a stunned look in his eyes. Take that, sleaze!
He pulled himself together enough to ask a question. “That’s some kind of move. Can you teach me that?”
“And that, gentlemen, is how you treat the woman of your dreams, as though there is nobody else around.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “Let’s get this show on the road, gentlemen. See you later, my dear Alice.” Crease winked at her and shut the door to the conference room.
Holy crap. That kiss was amazing! It reverberated right down to her toes and made her hair follicles stand on end. Alice stumbled back to her desk and fell into her chair. Her skin was buzzing and a burning heat bristled over her whole body. She’d never felt this way before. She dropped her head in her hands. How was she going to pretend that their relationship was built on fake feelings after that kiss?
It was the insistent buzz of the telephone that snapped her back to the present. “Hello, Alice speaking.”
“Hey, Alice. This is Lianne. You know, from the coaching class last week. Listen, I did what Crease said and I have two dates lined up and I haven’t even had my session with you yet.” She squealed so loud Alice had to tear the phone from her ear. “I don’t believe it. I’ve never had the nerve to approach anyone like this before. Usually, I hide in the corner of the room at a party and wait for it to be over but not last night. No. This shy little duck did what Crease said. I worked the room like I owned it, baby.”
“That’s fantastic.” Alice couldn’t wait to tell Crease. He’d be thrilled for Lianne.
“And guess what else. One of the guys I met came to the bar to ask me out today. That never happens. It’s only the drunks who hit me up at work.”
“Amazing what a little confidence and a few pointers can do, Lianne. I’m so happy for you. Crease will be too.”
“He’s so amazing. I was jealous of you at first having such an awesome man to call your own, but now I’m thankful I met the two of you. Tell Crease I won’t be there today because I’m out on a date, but I’ll call him later, okay? And I’ll be sure to catch up with you soon too if things don’t work out.”
“Sure thing. I’ll email your profile over anyway so you have it to look at. Now you have fun, and please let us know if we can help anytime. I mean it. All part of the service.”
“I will.” Lianne hung up.
Jealous of them. That was funny. There was nothing to be jealous about. It was all fake, all for the business. But Alice wished it wasn’t so.
An hour later, just as Crease was seeing out his coaching class, the phone rang. “Alice speaking.”
“Um, I need to speak to Crease, please.”
“Sure, who’s speaking?”
“This here is Nash Mitchell.”
Alice caught Crease’s attention as he shut the door behind the last man. “For you,” she said. “Nash Mitchell.”
Crease hurried over and put the call on speaker. “Hey, Nash. What can I do for you?”
“Oh, man. Heck, Crease. I don’t know what to do.” The poor guy sounded like his world was going to end.
“What’s wrong? Talk to me, my friend.” Crease sat down on the edge of Alice’s desk. She leaned back in her chair and watched him try to calm Nash, who sounded like he was going to explode from tension.
“Oh, man. I went to the library like I told you I was going to do.” The sound of a truck rattling along the highway came over the line. “I did what you said; I spoke to everyone I saw.”
“Good for you. Where are you, Nash? You could come in if that’s easier for you. I’m free now.”
“I’m on my way back to the ranch. But here’s the thing. It worked better than I thought it would.”
Crease grinned at Alice and they did a quieter version of their high five hand slap. “I’m glad.”
“Heck, I’m not. Got me into all sorts of trouble and now you have to get me out of it.” Nash muttered something they couldn’t decipher, but it didn’t sound good.
“What kind of trouble? Are you okay? Pull over, Nash, and calm down. Way you’re going you’re likely to run off the road.” They could hear road traffic noise in the background.
A curse followed by the sound of gravel crunching under tires, and then a door slammed. Finally a clear voice came over the line. “Damn fool thing to do, I’m telling you now. I don’t know why I listened to you in the first place.”
Crease grinned at Alice. “Because you want to find your life partner, that’s why. Now tell me calmly what happened.”
Nash sighed. “Went to return my books and greeted everyone including Taylor, the librarian.”
“Go on.”
Alice linked her fingers and listened intently.
“You know she’s going on maternity leave, right? Well, her fill-in
lady was there and we got to talking.”
“That’s good, Nash.” Crease winked at Alice. He was loving this matchmaking.
“No, it’s not. I got carried away and asked her out to dinner. Fool woman said yes. What the heck am I going to do now? I’ve never taken a woman out to dinner before.”
Alice’s mouth dropped open. “Never?” she mouthed to Crease.
“Don’t you worry about a thing. I’ll help you out. We can discuss it all before you go.”
“You’re going to do better than that. You and your girlfriend are going to come with me or I’m going to cancel.” He sucked in a breath. “Graff Hotel at seven thirty. Don’t be late.” He disconnected the call.
Chapter Eight
“How do I look?” Alice turned full circle in front of him and Crease’s heart flipped. The raspberry-red dress showed her delicate shoulder blades, tiny waist, and gave off a happy vibe he found hard to ignore. She had no idea how gorgeous she was.
“Perfect.”
“I can’t believe we’re doing this, Crease. I know we want the business to take off, but if word gets out that we double date, can you imagine how much time it will take up if other clients want the same thing? Everyone will want the one-on-one treatment.”
He doubted there were too many people as unsure of themselves as Nash. “It’s okay, honestly. Poor guy is a social misfit and I want to change that for him. Besides, he’s almost family.”
Alice placed a hand on his chest and gave him a tender smile. “You’re such a sweet guy. I can’t believe more people don’t take advantage of that. You do so much for everyone.”
“Not everyone, Alice. That guy who was hitting on you today, he’d never get this kind of treatment. I’m not silly. I can see who’s genuine and who isn’t. I happen to like Nash even though he and his brother gave my brother Nate a hard time when he was courting Joy.”
“They did? You never told me about that part. What happened? You rarely talk about your family much.”
“It’s not like I want to try to get sympathy, and if you knew the whole sordid story, you might feel obliged to send some my way. I’d rather focus on now, not back then. My life is better than it’s ever been.” He pushed her glasses back up the bridge of her nose. “Mainly thanks to you.”
Alice blushed so prettily he wanted to kiss her again. But that would be pushing the friendship if there was nobody to play up to. Crease didn’t want to step over the line and embarrass her.
“How much longer do we need to keep up this farce?”
“Can we give it a couple of weeks? That’s what we discussed, and I think we need to stick to that. It won’t be so hard tonight, you’ll see. Nash just needs someone to hold his hand a little. Look how fast he picked up on the meet and greet. He got a date out of it, so I’m pretty sure he can handle himself once his nerves calm down.”
Alice smoothed her dress down over her hips and picked up her purse, flashing him her usual bright smile. “Right. Let’s get this show on the road. It’s almost time and this girl needs feeding. As much as I appreciated those chocolates you brought me today, they don’t really constitute a full meal.”
“Sorry, ma’am. Next time I’ll make sure the box is bigger.” Crease hooked a hand through her arm and walked her downstairs. He locked the door behind them, and, hand-in-hand, they walked toward the Graff Hotel. They didn’t have far to go and the temperature was still nice this time of the evening.
As they crossed the street to the Graff, Nash pulled in and parked out front. His shoulders visibly relaxed as he spotted them. “Crease, Alice. Glad you could make it.” He hurried around to the passenger side of the truck and held the door open for his date.
Apart from his nerves, Nash didn’t need much in the way of help as far as Crease could see. All he needed was a confidence boost. And someone to convince him to stop stressing out.
“Crease, Alice, I’d like you to meet Sandra Wallace. She’s filling in at the library while Taylor goes on maternity leave. Sandra, these here are friends of mine. Crease and his lovely lady, Alice.”
Sandra smiled and held out her hand to the both of them. “Nash has told me all about you. It’s a pleasure to meet you both.”
Alice shook her hand. “A librarian. Wow, I envy you. There’s nothing I’d like more than to lose myself between the shelves of the local library. I haven’t had a chance yet, as we haven’t been in town that long.”
“Oh, you must come over and say hello. Join in with some of our library activities.” She put her hand on Nash’s arm, making his eyes flicker. “Nash is going to be at the book club meeting tomorrow night. Why not join us, Alice?”
“I’d love to, but we have training tomorrow night. I might pop in during the day though. I’d love to see what books you have. I need some good spy stories to keep me awake at night.”
“My favorite genre. I have some new ones in that are just going on the shelves now. Lee Child and David Baldacci, my automatic go-to authors. When you do come in, make sure to give me a shout, Alice. I’d be happy to help you find what you need.”
Crease put his hand on Alice’s back and urged her into the hotel. They waited at the restaurant door to be seated.
“Table for Nash Mitchell. I booked earlier.” Nash gave Crease a quick glance, his eyes full of hope and desperation.
“Sandra, tell me, where do you hail from?” Crease gave the lady his full attention to take the focus from the nervous man.
She turned toward him, giving Nash a reprieve. “Washington, actually. But in the last few years I’ve been traveling around, seeing something of the country while helping out whatever library needs me. I love temp work, and it gives me a chance to see places I haven’t been to before.”
“That must be exciting.” Alice picked up some menus and handed them to Crease as they followed the waitress to their table. Crease held the chair out for Alice and Nash followed suit for Sandra.
“It is. I’ve enjoyed seeing different towns and making friends, but I have to admit to being ready to settle down for a while now. I’ve missed having that community connection, and keeping friends is harder when you’re not in one place for very long.”
“It must be difficult saying goodbye once you get to know people.” Crease passed them each a menu. “I’d find it a challenge.”
Sandra gave Nash a winning smile and rested a hand on his arm. “I might be tempted to stay in Marietta if I find the right house to buy and a job after Taylor comes back to work. So far, I really like what I see here.”
Nash choked on his water and Sandra patted him on the back as he spluttered. Crease found it hard to keep a straight face, but the pressure from Alice’s hand on his knee helped keep things under control.
“That’s good to hear. I’ve been away in college for the last five years, but I have to admit to really enjoying being back. What they say about there being no place like home is true. I just didn’t realize it until I came back.”
“And what were you studying, Crease?”
“Business management. Alice and I both majored with honors.”
“You are a couple of clever kids. And Nash tells me you have your own business in town too. He didn’t say what you do exactly.” Sandra took a sip of water and gave them a smile while Nash fidgeted beside her.
“We’ve started up a matchmaking business.” Crease could feel Nash’s gaze burning into him, but there was no way to avoid giving the true answer. She was bound to find out sooner or later, and in his opinion, it was better to get it out of the way earlier.
There was a pregnant pause before Sandra replied. “Well now, if that isn’t the most interesting thing I’ve heard all week. A matchmaking business. Tell me, Alice, what made you so interested in being part of the latest trend of finding love online?”
“Actually, it’s nothing like Tinder or It’s Just Lunch. While we do have online signup forms, we like to have face-to-face contact with our clients. What we do is way more involved than most companies, and
we don’t actually supply people you can match with. We drill down in the data of what you want in a partner, what your best match will be, and coach you how to find your own date.” Crease listened while Alice expanded on their business model. Once she got to talking data and figures, her face became more animated, her voice excited, and she spoke with her hands. A lot!
Sandra turned to her date. “Don’t tell me you’ve been listening to Crease, Nash?”
Nash squirmed in his seat, blushing furiously as he searched for words, his hand out beseeching Crease to help him.
“I’ve been watching him over the last few weeks, trying to gather courage to talk to him when he came in for new books, but believe it or not, I’m a bit shy in that department,” Sandra continued. “I never did have much luck with the dating scene and gave up until Nash came along.”
Beads of sweat rolled down Nash’s forehead.
“When I first saw Nash, he avoided all eye contact and I knew exactly how he felt. Today something changed, and if it was because of you, Crease, I’ll be eternally grateful. I never would’ve had the courage to ask him out no matter how much I wanted to.”
Nash’s mouth dropped open as he stared at her. “Really? You wanted to ask me out?”
Sandra nodded and two identical spots of color washed over her cheeks.
Before Crease’s eyes, Nash changed. The once rounded shoulders sat taller, his chest puffed out, and the hound dog look in his eyes disappeared. In its place sat a man who wore a confident smile, a certain swagger of pride he’d hidden behind self-doubt. He was coming into his own and it made Crease proud to see his most nervous client in a much happier place.
*
Alice gripped Crease’s hand under the table. It was so sweet to see how he had changed Nash’s life with a short coaching session. Crease had that way about him that resonated with people. He filled them with drive and passion to take their life into their own hands and make it better. Often only simple changes were needed, but they gave such brilliant results, and seeing him work his magic on his hometown crowd gave her all kinds of warm and fuzzy feelings that hadn’t been there before. It made her love him even more.
Dating the Cowboy Page 7
