Page 11 of The Anti-Bachelorette (The Anti-Bachelorette 1)

He just bumps me with his hip and grabs another piece and smiles right at me as he pops it in his mouth. I just laugh.

My dad walks in from outside and walks into the kitchen. He is grabbing the various meats from the fridge to get ready to start grilling. “Wow! What is this? You two actually getting along and working together?” He asks sarcastically.

I just glare over at Alaric. “No. Alaric is just eating all my hard work.” He just grins at me, and then the doorbell rings as the first guests arrive. I turn to go get the door. “Dad, why don’t you take this guy out back with you so no guests accidentally run into him. I’ll finish here in the kitchen.” Alaric rolls his eyes, and my dad laughs as I walk out to answer the door.

After I greet my dad’s guests, I head back into the kitchen and finish preparing all the side dishes. Many of the people here tonight are family friends, so I am preoccupied talking with them when seven o’clock rolls around and Tyler shows up.

I finally sit down with him and eat some of the delicious food my dad grilled up, and then we go and sit in front of the waterfall and dip our feet in the pool. I point out all the different projects I told him about that me and my dad have been working on back here. Tyler is telling me how great everything looks and basic chit chat, but I am having a hard time focusing on what he is saying. My eyes keep wandering over to Alaric talking to some pretty blonde.

He actually looks happy, and he is smiling at her like he isn’t a complete asshole all the time. I don’t know why it is bothering me. She is laughing at some joke he just made and leans over and places her hand on his arm.

Tyler says something to me and is looking at me like he is waiting for an answer to something. I just stare back at him because I have no idea what he just said. “I’m sorry what?”

Tyler just laughs. “Something distracting you?”

I glance over and see Alaric is heading into the house. I look back over to Tyler. “Yeah, sorry. I was just thinking if I should go bring out the dessert for my dad. Do you mind? I’ll be right back.”

Tyler gets up with me. “You want some help?”

I shake my head. “No I got it. My dad actually will probably want to show you inside the work shed he is finishing up.” I call over to my dad. “Hey dad. Want to show Tyler the shed now? I was just going to go grab the dessert plates.” My dad smiles and comes over, and I head into the house.

I walk into the kitchen and see Alaric cutting the cake and putting it on serving plates. I walk in and glance at him. “I see we had the same idea.”

He just smirks at me. “Yeah or you’re just stalking me.”

I roll my eyes, but then I add on. “Well, I was pretty fascinated with that act you were putting on with miss blondie out there. I didn’t realize you were capable of putting on the charm when you are trying to get in a girl’s pants.”

He just grunts out a laugh. “Yeah, well maybe that’s how I always act. You never stopped to think maybe you are the problem?”

I turn toward him with the knife in my hand. “Me? What did I ever do to you?”

He just grins at me. “You get on my nerves.” Then he grabs the tray of plates he just finished and heads back out to the party. I finish cutting a few more pieces and then follow him out.

After dessert my dad starts up a fire, and we all go sit around it. The sun is just starting to set. Alaric and his blonde are all cozied up on one of the benches. I swear he looks over to me every time he says some nice, charming thing to her. Almost as if he is only doing it just to annoy me further.

Tyler pulls my attention back to him. “So you said you live on your dad’s property.”

I smile and point over to the guest house. “Yeah, over in that guest house. My dad wants me to stay until I have enough for a twenty percent down-payment.”

Tyler looks over to the house. “Well, that’s not a bad deal. You still have your own place and everything.”

I just shrug. “Yeah, I mean my dad can still walk in anytime he wants, but yeah I don’t mind. Me and my dad get along really well.”

Tyler smiles at me. “Yeah, I can see that.”

I hear the blonde girl laughing again at something Alaric said, and I involuntarily roll my eyes. I need to get away from them. I look over to Tyler. “You want to see it?”

He looks back at me. “Your house?”

I realize that might sound kind of forward and that definitely is not my intention. We haven’t even really been on a real date yet. “Yeah, I mean we can watch a movie or something. It’s kind of getting chilly out here.”

Tyler stands up and extends his hand out for me to grab. “Sure. Sounds good.”

I take his hand, and then we walk over to my place. We walk inside, and now that it is just us behind closed doors, I feel a little uncomfortable. I don’t actually know Tyler that well. We’ve never hung out outside of work before, and so I am not exactly sure what to say. I walk into the kitchen. “Do you want something to drink?”

I go to open my fridge, but then Tyler’s hand comes over top of mine, and I feel him right behind me. I turn around and look up at him. He leans his head closer to mine and whispers. “I’ve waited a long time for this.” Then he lowers his mouth all the way to mine. At first I kiss him back, but then his hands grip onto my hips, and I can tell he is trying to take this further than just a kiss, so I pull back. “Tyler…”

He doesn’t seem to notice my hesitance and moves his lips down to my neck. I gently nudge his chest, but he just presses his mouth to mine again. I press harder this time. “Tyler. I said no.” I try to make myself clear that I am not just playing shy, and I really don’t want him touching me. I expect him to step away, but he is just back on my neck again. “Stop being such a tease Emory.”

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