Page 44 of I'd Never Date my Brother's Best Friend

“Okay. What else?”

“Conversation,” he answers after a beat. “I know you both have a shared love for thrillers, but you’ve got to make sure you have other things in common. Make sure you ask him questions about what else he does and what he likes. Does he like sports? The type of movies he likes, that sort of thing.”

“Like you said before, I’m a good conversationalist.”

“Yes but can you do it without throwing subtle jabs?” Sean asks. “Without getting grumpy?”

I frown. “You couldn’t just let me have that? And yes, I can hold conversations without throwing jabs or getting grumpy. Unless it’s you. What can I say, you tend to bring out the worst in me.”

“Wow.” Sean shakes his head while holding my gaze. “So you only reserve the jabs and grump for me? I feel honored.”

“You seem to know exactly what to say,” I smirk at him. “Maybe you need to ask yourself what it is about you that makes me grumpy.”

Sean doesn’t have a comeback, and I feel like I got one up on him.

“So what else?”

“I don’t even know why I’m helping you.” He grabs the soda can and throws it into the trash.

“You said you care about me and want me to find a man so I won’t be lonely,” I spit his words back at him. “That’s quite noble.”

“Shut up.” He leads me back to the living room. “You know what, I’m not entirely confident in your abilities to get through this date and leave him wanting a second one.”

“What?” I laugh. “What do you mean? Sean!”

He shrugs and sits on the couch, tapping the space beside him for me to sit. I do.

“So what do you propose?”

“That we go on a date.”

Our gazes clash, and I rear back, expecting him to burst into laughter and say it’s a joke. But he doesn’t, which causes my mouth to fall open in shock.

“What did you say?”

“Let’s go on a date.”

“Do you mean that?”

“Yes.” He says with a small nod. “I mean, it’s not really a date. Just a test run. To help you practice.”

My heart falls, and I struggle to hide my disappointment. “Oh.”

“Yes. Me and you, on a pretend date. As your coach I think it’s important for me to make sure you put your best self forward. That includes working on not getting grumpy and fine tuning your flirting.”

My heart drops into my stomach. I force out a laugh, pretending this was what I thought all along. The image of Sean and I on a date is permanently stamped into my subconscious, and I shake my head to clear it.

“I don’t know how to flirt.”

“I’ll teach you,” he says offhandedly, clearly not affected by the idea. To him, this is business. “Let’s have our date sometime this week. You can call Rick and let him know you’ll be available to go out with him next week. How does that sound?”

“Sounds good.” I stand, suddenly eager to leave his presence. “I’ve got to go.”

“Busy?” Sean catches my eye.

I look away. “Yeah, I was writing before Rick called. I have to get back to it.”

“Okay.” He nods. “Does Thursday work for you?”

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