Page 19 of No One Else Can Have Her

“Okay,” Carly said, frowning.

“And I wanted to ask the guys for some help in bringing these two people together.”

“You wanted to matchmake?” Carly asked. “Have you talked about this couple before?”

“Yeah, totally all the time, Carrie and Nathaniel. You know, I talk about them all the time, and anyway, I was trying to think of a way to kind of help them come together, and the guys shut me down.”

Carly couldn’t remember Sarah ever talking about a Carrie and Nathaniel. She was a little confused, but she kept listening. Sarah was still talking.

“Don’t you think it’s a good idea that if two people like each other a lot and they don’t see it, it might be good to set both people up with different people?” Sarah clapped her hands together, and her eyes went wide.

“That sounds terrible,” Carly said.

Sarah huffed. “Why?”

Carly was about to give all the logical reasons Sarah’s suggestion was terrible. Instead, she took a deep breath and smiled at her friend. “Why don’t you tell me all the reasons you think it’s a good idea?” This would perhaps be easier for her to understand and maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea.

“Okay, get this, the guy is on a date with another girl. The girl is on a date with another guy. I make sure they go to the same restaurant, and I book the tables so they are close, where nothing gets in the way of their view of one another.” Carly wasn’t liking this idea, not one bit. “And there’s intimacy, the promise of something happening later. You know, all the good stuff, and then the couple sees each other, and they realize they would rather be with each other more than anyone else. There is pining, longing, but it cuts out all the time waiting. Come on, Carly, this is a fabulous idea.”

Carly continued to frown.

Sarah’s smile slowly began to fade.

“Although by the look on your face, you’re feeling it’s anything but.”

“What about the guy and the girl?”

“What guy and girl?” Sarah asked.

“The other guy and girl who are being used on this date.”

Sarah blew a raspberry and waved her hand in the air as if it was no big deal. “No one cares about them.”

“I think you should,” Carly said. “That’s not fair to them. It’s a terrible idea. I know you want to bring your friends together, but have you ever thought of just pushing them together, or bringing them together naturally? Don’t hurt other people’s feelings in the process. Imagine that other guy or girl is you or Dalton, or Reese, or even Mitch, or me. I’d hate to be used in that way, and in truth, so would you.”

****

Nate finished his coffee and stared across at the bar. He owned the fucking bar, and he was the one who placed one of his men as a fake manager of said bar. Everything had been set up so Carly would have somewhere to work, to be safe, earn some money, so she could focus on what she was passionate about—her writing.

He wanted Carly to have everything her little heart desired. The only thing he couldn’t do for her was to write the books he knew were inside her head.

Mitch approached the car and climbed inside.

“I thought I gave you the night off,” Nate said. He was the one who asked Mitch to walk Carly home. Even though he was here every single night to see her out of work, and to follow them both, he still asked Mitch to be here.

“You did, and I decided to take a walk and see how you were doing,” Mitch said.

Nate had never been one to talk about his feelings, so he stared at his friend, waiting.

Mitch snorted. “Thought so. I just wanted to let you know Sarah is trying to come up with plans to push you and Carly together. The first one was terrible. Don’t worry, me and the guys didn’t agree to it.”

“Do I even want to know what it was?” Nate asked.

Mitch explained it to him and Nate shook his head.

“Yeah, I don’t know who Sarah was hoping to have killed for her suggestion, but either way, I put a stop to it.”

“Good.” He didn’t even want to think of Carly with anyone else.

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