Page 38 of The Dating Game

“Brooke, hey.” Will waves a hand in greeting.

“Hey, Will.” I look him up and down. “You look nice tonight.”

“Thanks.” He gives me a similar once over. I’m wearing one of my favorite dresses. It’s scarlet red and tapers at my waist before flaring out into a wide skirt with the perfect amount of twirl. I’ve paired it with some comfortable heels and a jean jacket to ward off the cool evening air. My hair hangs loosely around my shoulders, though I’m sure I’ll tie it back later. All in all, I think I look pretty good. Meredith told me I did anyway. Lucky Shortie. That’s what she said when she saw me. But Will, Will makes no comment. For a second I could swear I see appreciation flash across his features, but it’s there and gone so fast I may have imagined it.

“Hey, Brooke, what a coincidence,” a voice cuts in and I rotate to see a familiar face smiling at me.

“Corbin?” I smile at the face of the man I’ve been wanting to set Sydney up with. “Hey, what are you doing here?”

“You two know each other?” Will looks between us in surprise.

“Sure do.” Corbin nods. “Brooke is Ophie’s dance teacher.”

“Wait, you two came together?” I look between Corbin and Will in confusion.

“Uh, yeah.” Will rotates back to me, but his eyes continue to ping-pong between me and Corbin. “I had plans with Corbin, but I still wanted to seeyou so I figured why not combine the two.”

“I tried to talk him out of it.” Corbin lifts his hands up to his sides with a laugh. “I told him no woman wants a third wheel on a date.” He laughs again. Will does not. He actually looks a little irritated.

Well, join the club, Will, because I’m pretty irritated too. I like Corbin. He’s a really nice guy. But it’s going to be super awkward going to a salsa club as a threesome!

“And I told you that Brooke is super low-key,” Will supplies. “You don’t mind, do you Brooke-a-doodle?”

Before I can stop them my eyes pop wide in horror. Did he just turn my name into a dog breed? He did, didn’t he? I eye Corbin to see if he too thinks this is a horrible nickname, but his expression is unreadable. Oh well, at least looking at him is a good reminder of what’s at stake here. He and Sydney are going to have their date even if I have to be Brooke-a-doodle for the next seven weeks.

“Of course not,” I say tightly. “The more the merrier.”

“Thanks, Brooke.” Corbin smiles widely at me. “You look great by the way,” he adds.

“Thank you, Corbin.” I smile back, glad someone noticed. I turn back to Will to find him scowling at Corbin. Weird. “Shall we head out?” I ask them both.

“Let’s go,” Corbin agrees, leading the way. He pushes the door open, then pauses to hold it for me.

“Thank you, Corbin.” What a gentleman he is. Sydney is lucky to have a friend like me who picks out such a good guy for her. Meanwhile she picked Will Flipping Barrett for me—a guy who hasn’t held the door for me once. Though I suppose he did prop open the door on the plane for me to jump out of it.

That really doesn’t have quite the same Emily Post feel to it, though, does it?

Corbin also grabs the car door for me, offering to let me sit in the front seat. I slide in, grateful to see that it’s much cleaner in here today. Glad to see that Will is only gross some of the time.

When I buckle my seatbelt I again spot Will glaring at Corbin.

I have no idea what’s going on between the two of them right now, but I’m not going to ask. This may be shaping up to be another dud of a night, but salsa dancing will turn it around.

Salsa dancing turns everything around.

Chapter 14

Will

IknowI’magrown man, but I’ve never wanted to give someone a swirly as badly as I want to give Corbin one right now. He’s totally screwing this whole thing up. First off–he knows her! That’s an unfortunate coincidence. I’d like to ask him if he’s interested in her, but I can’t exactly do that with Brooke in the car.

Second, he has the nerve to tell my date that she looks great. Great is so far an understatement for how Brooke looks tonight. Saying she looks great is like saying the desert is warm.

The desert is burning hot and Brooke looks stunningly gorgeous tonight.

Not that I’m going to tell her that. Not part of the operation.

And then, on top of both of those things, he’s opening her doors and giving up his front seat for her. None of that was part of the plan. A plan I specifically laid out for him.

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