Page 33 of Devoted

Chapter 11

Brooks

“No… no… ugh, nope. Excuse me?” An employee wearing a red shirt and khaki’s strides by and I catch her just in time. “Do you have any other flower arrangements?”

Her shoulders slump as she displays a thin frown. “No, I’m sorry. The flower shipment comes in tomorrow, and usually by the afternoon, we’re pretty well picked clean.”

“Yes, I can see that. Okay, thank you.” I turn back to survey the handful of bouquets left and turn up my lips in disgust again. “Well, shit.”

This is what I get for not thinking about this sooner, but I guess between work and stopping by my mom’s house every chance I could get, the urgency to get flowers for Jess before our date this afternoon didn’t arrive until this morning. I had to make a stop at Target today anyway for laundry soap, shampoo, and a few other necessities, so I figured I’d kill two birds with one stone. Well, Target killed all of my birds by having nothing but five half-alive bouquets left to choose from. And of course, now I’m running out of time before I told her I would pick her up, so the panic is coming on strong.

I take off in another direction of the store, pushing my cart with finesse between aisles, mothers with kids hanging off of their carts, and those giant red baskets strategically places around the store—whose idea were those anyway?

“A card?” I ask myself out loud as I come to a stop by the greeting cards, dozens of overly priced colored notes taunting me as I assess the selection.

No, you fool. Since when has a guy given a girl a card before a date?

‘Hey, thanks for agreeing to go on this date with me. Here’s a card.’

Stupid.

I race past the greeting card aisle while checking my watch, realizing I don’t have much time left, and ultimately just decide to show up empty-handed. I won’t be the first guy to show up for a date without flowers—I just didn’t want to be that guy for Jess.

As I load up the belt of the register and the cashier starts to scan my items, I glance up and see the display of mints and gum straight ahead.

Bingo!

The cashier looks at me in shock as I nearly clear the shelves with a giant grin on my face, but she says nothing while I bask in my genius idea.

I rush home to shower, shave, and dress. It’s been a while since I’ve worried about how I look outside of the hospital, but Jess is worth the little extra effort, even though the attire for our date isn’t too fancy. I instructed Jess to dress comfortably and that she could bring a change of clothes if she wanted, but it wasn’t necessary.

Once I’m clad in black track pants, an olive green cotton shirt, and a dark grey hoodie, I grab my gift for Jess and then head for her apartment that’s only a few minutes away.

The past few days have crawled at a snail’s pace as I anticipated my date with her, even though I filled every extra minute being at my mom’s house helping her out. We learned that the week after her treatments tends to be the worst, so that is the time she needs the most assistance. Between my aunt, Ethan, and myself, we’ve managed to keep her laundry done, bills paid, and her plants watered, as well as make sure she’s not alone for too long at a time.

Beneath the layers of fear and guilt for my mom is a blossoming hope, and Jess is the biggest source of that. It’s weird how in a time of my life where I feel the most uncertain about how things might pan out, in comes this woman that has me intrigued more than I ever have been by a woman before.

Jess and I still have so much to learn about each other, but from what I’ve gathered and learned so far, I’m enthralled. And I find it funny that she even admitted that I make her nervous because after our first encounter at Skye’s, I didn’t peg her for the timid type at all. It makes me wonder if her dating past is really making her more inhibited to open up to me, particularly since we’ve both been open about how attractive we find one another. But I know there’s more to a relationship than physical attraction, and perhaps today during our date I’ll get another glimpse into the personality and life of the woman that has quickly taken over real estate in my mind.

My nerves are running hot as I close in on her place. I have a surprise for her on our date that I’m not sure how she’ll react to. But after our conversation at Tony’s, I knew this was something that could be a pivotal experience for the both of us. Given that I haven’t really dated much, or at least put that much thought into what we’d be doing, I knew this choice was a risk, but it’s one I’m hoping will pay off.

Pulling into an empty parking spot, I turn off my car and make my way towards her door, the same door where I kissed the shit out of her less than a week ago. Memories of what her lips felt like against mine flood my mind and wake up my dick. The last thing I need is for her to open her door to the vision of me hard and holding a present like some sick joke, so I pause for a minute, channel my inner highlight reel to make me less ‘excited’, and then finish the last few steps.

“Coming,” I hear on the other side of the door as I shuffle back and forth between the balls and heels of my feet. I focus my eyes on the ground until I hear the clink of metal and the door opens, forcing my head up to see Jess. She looks gorgeous—her hair down in loose curls, her black leggings and maroon sweater covering that curvy little body that I know is hiding underneath, her stormy eyes in natural make-up, and her lips a soft pink that makes them look even more kissable.

“Wow. I say casual and somehow you manage to still look stunning.”

Her cheeks pink as she looks away from me bashfully. “Thank you. Do you wanna come in?” She faces me again, opening the door wider so I can step through.

“Thanks.” I take a moment to scan her apartment before focusing back on her. “I brought you something.”

“Oh, okay. Well, thank you.”

“Before I give it to you,” I warn while holding the bag behind my back still, “you have to promise not to take offense to it.”

She eyes me suspiciously. “Okay…”

“I didn’t hear you promise.”

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