Page 50 of Worth the Chase

Do not show up on my date.

THOMAS:

Maybe I’ll just work late.

PATRICK:

Same. I could find something to build.

I hate you both. But I look good, right? Downright fuckable.

THOMAS:

Bye.

PATRICK:

See you later.

No. Do not show up.

Hello?

Jerk-offs?

Neither one of the two assholes responded to me again, and I was pretty sure I didn’t deserve the silent treatment they were dishing out or the anxiety they’d just crippled me with. I started wondering if they’d really fuck with me and show up on my date, before convincing myself that they wouldn’t do that to me. Thenagain, if the shoe was on the other foot, I’d probably show up to theirs just to be a jackass.

Great.

If there was any time for them to want to pay me back for my previous antics, it would be now. There was nothing more for me to do than sit still and wait for the clock to tick closer to seven. It was taking forever.

When I drove over to Bells’s apartment complex, I realized that I was actually nervous. I rarely felt that way, but something about this date seemed to wreak a little havoc on my insides. Taking the steps two at a time, I knocked on her front door and waited, feeling like a kid picking up his prom date in front of a crowd.

I inhaled a few breaths in through my nose and out through my mouth, but all the calming mechanisms were shot to hell the second she opened the door. I felt like the wind had gotten knocked clean out of me.

“Bells, holy shit. You look beautiful,” I said as my eyes drank her in, wanting to do very non-ladylike things to her.

She was wearing a long black dress that hugged every inch of her body with a slit up one side that went all the way up to her thigh. It was downright scandalous in the hottest fucking way. Her tanned leg peeked through the dress as she moved. Stepping out, she turned her back to me to lock the door, and I almost fell right over again.

My hand reached out and my fingertips ran down her back as I brushed her long, dark hair out of the way. “Bells, this dress…” I swore I had to stop myself from drooling.

“You like it?” She spun around to face me, her hazel eyes blazing.

“It’s stunning.”

“You don’t look half bad yourself,” she said with a grin as she fingered the top button of my shirt that was undone.

“Now, I know that’s a lie. ’Cause I look damn good,” I teased as I extended my hand toward hers, and she stared at it before putting her tiny little hand in mine.

“This suit is gorgeous,” she said as we reached the top of the stairs.

“Want me to carry you down?” I asked, realizing that her heels were precariously tall, and she laughed.

“No. I can walk. Just not very fast,” she emphasized the word.

I took the steps slower than I’d ever done before.

Once we were in my truck, it was a quick drive over to the resort. She seemed to be as nervous as I was, which actually made me feel better.

---