Date Night (Wish Come True Book 1) (4 page)

“Just don’t tell your brother,” I whispered
before I captured Jordan’s lips in a long, searing kiss that robbed me of all
previous thoughts and set my heart drumming at a ferocious pace. I finally pulled
back and inhaled deeply while giving my head a bit of a shake. Her lips were
slightly parted when her eyes slowly opened. Grabbing her chin, I gazed into
her eyes.

“I guess you got to kiss your first
frog,” I said with a hoarse voice.

“Hmmm…” she said with a little sigh
as the corner of her mouth turned up. “I didn’t know frogs were such good
kissers. So many opportunities wasted in the past few weeks.”

A chuckle rumbled deep in my chest.
So cheeky. Perhaps I should give it another go; for purely scientific reasons,
of course. She would need a good basis of comparison on her future dates and it
had felt pretty damn good.

I winked at the photographer. “Do you
need another kiss or did you catch that one?”

***

Jordan

I waited in breathless anticipation
for the photographer’s response. A hummingbird seemed to take flight in my
stomach, its wings fluttering at a hundred miles an hour. Kissing a frog? More
like Prince Charming. But if that was a frog’s kiss then bring on the warts.

“Ah, young love.” Mr. Rogers smiled
and assured JT he had captured the kiss. “Can you write down your email address
on the back of my card? I’ll notify you lovebirds when the samples are ready.”

I suppressed my urge to pout and
reluctantly admitted to myself that I had really wanted another kiss. I would
not soon forget the heat of his lips and the way they brushed softly over mine
again and again, tugging and nipping. Was it wrong that I desperately wanted to
know what it would feel like if he slipped his tongue into my mouth? A little
nagging voice at the back of my head screamed unequivocally ‘yes’. It was wrong.

I glanced sideways at JT through
thick eyelashes while Mrs. Walberg led us to her office. He was wearing a smug
smile and it made me chuckle. Even with just his profile visible, one could see
he was a handsome man. His square jaw line and chiseled nose combined with his
tousled brown hair made him a near dead ringer for Rob Pattinson. I had been so
right when I made that connection. But I had been so wrong about one thing; my
feelings for JT were far from those for my brother. In fact, I struggled to
define what I was feeling at the moment.

Mrs. Walberg’s office was spacious
and inviting. She ushered us to a large mahogany table situated near the window
overlooking the extensive lawns of the property. It was cluttered with various
brochures and wedding pictures taken at the gazebo, in the wedding chapel and
throughout the banquet hall.

“Oh my…check these out JT.” I pointed
to the layout of pictures depicting the garden gazebo in all of its glory. The
assortment of photos was amazing and offered great insight into how different
color options played off of the backdrop.

“The gazebo is a lovely choice for a
summer wedding,” Mrs. Walberg said. “As you can see, it can be decorated many different
ways to give it your own personal touch: flowers, balloons, garland, fabric.
We’ve seen it all.”

“The etched glass in the wedding
chapel is gorgeous too,” I said, turning to JT. “What do you think?”

He didn’t hesitate, “Definitely the
gazebo. Why would we want to be cooped up inside when we can be out in the
fresh air? We can always take pictures in the church after the ceremony.”

I smiled at how smooth he acted and
nodded my head in agreement. “I think so too.”

We spent the next hour talking through
all of the options for the wedding ceremony. My head was spinning with all of
the choices I had to make: wooden chairs or fabric covered chairs, flowers or
bows decorating the aisles or nothing at all, colors, music…and on and on. I
was sincerely grateful to have JT with me to lend a hand in deciding. And he
offered his opinions freely—whether or not they mirrored my own.

“Are you making your own arrangements
for an officiator?” Mrs. Walberg finally asked.

Good question. I hadn’t thought about
it yet. Not having any older siblings or cousins who were already married, I
hadn’t appreciated how much work went into planning a wedding. It could get
complicated if my future fiancé had strong religious preferences that differed
from my own. Or maybe the situation was unlikely to occur? It would probably
mean we weren’t compatible. Either way, my head spun thinking about it.

“Well,” JT said, winking at me. “Our
priest is already booked on our wedding day, you know with us making the
arrangements last minute and all. Do you offer to make the arrangements?”

“Of course.” It was obvious Mrs.
Walberg was dying to ask the reason behind our hastily planned wedding, but she
remained professional and held her tongue. “We have a non-denominational
officiator who can conduct the ceremony with as many or as few religious tones
as you prefer.”

I sighed with relief. The further I
got into planning for the wedding, the more I began to wonder if the idea was
as far-fetched as JT thought. What man would propose to a woman within a few
weeks of meeting her and then readily agree to a pre-planned wedding in which
he had not played any part in?
Perhaps a man who was deeply in love?
And
therein lay the problem. Who fell in love in a matter of weeks? But for
Grannie’s sake I still had to give it my all. If nothing else, at least Grannie
would have participated in the planning, much of which I could carry out when
and if I ever did get married.

“Perfect,” I said. “It’s one less
thing for us to have to worry about.”

JT reached out and squeezed my hand
as if to say everything would turn out just fine. How was he able to read my
mood so well? I glanced up to find Mrs. Walberg smiling at us gently. We must
look to her like a normal, loving couple. JT was fulfilling his role to a T. I
owed him big time for tonight.

“Well,” Mrs. Walberg said. “That’s
all we need to discuss for the ceremony. Jordan you have a copy of the banquet
menu so you both can decide if you’d like buffet style or the plated option. I
have you down for the plated option but if you change your mind I just need to
know two weeks ahead of time. We’ve notified the bride and groom that you’ll be
attending the banquet to taste the food tonight. We would ask the same courtesy
of you on your wedding night if the need should arise.”

“Of course,” I said. “It’s important
to pay it forward.”

The evening turned out far better
than I could have imagined. I loved the cozy feeling of the soft white
Christmas lights twinkling from the ceiling. There was still time to think
about my table centerpieces but I was leaning towards a fresh flower
arrangement like the current bride had chosen. The seductive smell of the
flowers combined with the splash of color was enchanting.

The food was delicious; I should know
since I ate every last bite on my plate. And the bride and groom graciously
invited us to stay the whole evening to enjoy the live band. That was another
item on my list which needed to be taken care of, along with the flowers. After
dinner and several drinks from the bar, JT pulled me out on the dance floor. We
danced all night long—even the silly chicken dance.

I glanced over at JT as he pulled the
car into my driveway well past midnight. I couldn’t stop myself from grinning
ear to ear.

“I had a great time. Best date I’ve
had in a long time.”

“Me too.” His words were softly
spoken and full of some emotion I couldn’t define. He reached out to caress my
cheek with the back of his hand. “I’ll see you at the restaurant on Tuesday.”

As I settled into bed that night, I
replayed the events of the evening in my head. The evening had been perfect.
Why then did I have the feeling JT was somehow sad or full of regret when he
had dropped me off? Hadn’t he enjoyed it too?
I’ll see you at the restaurant
on Tuesday
had been his parting words.

Tuesday.

And then it dawned on me.

Tuesday was date night.

Maybe—just maybe—JT had indeed
enjoyed the date as much as I had.

J.T.

I watched as Jordan drummed her
fingers idly against the bar waiting for her Tuesday night flavor of the week
to appear. She usually waited out in the lobby for her date but after fifteen
minutes of sitting out there alone, I convinced her to enjoy a drink on me at
the bar. What kind of a jerk doesn’t show for a blind date; especially with the
amount of money he must be dishing out for the dating service? The guy would be
kicking himself in the ass if he knew what he had missed out on. Jordan looked
hot in her little white camisole covered with a form fitting knit sweater in
hot pink. She had paired it with white Capri pants and rhinestone studded
heels. Her hot pink toe nails peeked out over the edge of her shoes.

After thirty minutes it seemed pretty
safe to assume the date was a flop. I walked over and sat down next to her. It
was a pretty slow night and I was between tables so I had time to kill.

“Hey gorgeous,” I said, trying the
cheer her up. I shoulder bumped her while giving her a sideways smile. “Sorry
about the date, Jordan. What a bummer you had to get all dressed up for nothing.”

“Whatever.” She ran her hand through
her hair and faced her body towards me, giving me a sad attempt at a smile.
“Maybe I’ll go to a movie. I wish I could call Leah but she doesn’t get back
from her vacation until next week.”

“Let me ask Chloe if she can cover my
tables and I’ll go with you,” I heard myself say. I could already feel
adrenaline beginning to rush through my body. She seemed so sad and I easily
convinced myself I was just doing a friend a favor. “It’s pretty quiet around
here. I don’t think it’ll be a problem.”

“Really?” she asked with a brilliant
smile spreading across her face.

Now that was more like it. Her smile
was lighting up the room again. “Sure. I haven’t been to a movie in a long
time. Why not?”

“You’re sure you can handle it?”
Jordan teased. “I was planning on seeing a chick flick. Seems like a lot to ask
of a guy unless he’s my boyfriend.”

“Yeah, I’m sure,” I said with a smile
tugging at the corner of my mouth. If she was opening up the door to flirting
then she’d better watch out. “I’ll let you extend the temporary fiancé thing if
you tack on dessert at the end of the meal you owe me.”

She laughed and held out her hand to
shake mine. “It’s a deal.”

And like the time before, I shook her
hand firmly then lifted it to my lips for a soft kiss. My eyes never left her
face as my lips grazed her skin. Her lips parted ever so slightly at the moment
of contact. There was no doubt in my mind she was reliving the feel of my mouth
on hers. I dropped her hand before she could feel the way mine trembled from
the thought of our kiss. It was all I could think about for the last three
days.

I cornered Chloe a minute later and
all but begged her to cover my tables. I would’ve gotten down on my knees if I
had to, but thankfully she agreed under a condition that was not ideal but
still palatable. All she wanted was to be allowed to come over and plant
flowers in front of my house for Derek’s graduation party. She’d been bugging
me about it lately and I kept putting her off, insisting it was an unnecessary
expense.

I didn’t have the heart to tell Chloe
that gardening had been my mother’s favorite pastime and the idea of planting
flowers seemed sacrilegious to me. My mother’s garden had been immaculate and I
couldn’t envision doing her memory an injustice by planting flowers which were
sure to be lacking in comparison. But I was willing to face those demons for
another chance to spend an evening alone with Jordan. 

My subconscious was cursing at me
something fierce; warning me I was playing with fire. But in some sick and
masochistic way I needed to know if the trembling she’d started in my gut the
other night was a fluke. What I planned to do once I had my answer? Well I
hadn’t gotten that far yet. I guess I’d cross the bridge when I came to it. Right
now I just wanted to feel the trembling again.

We drove in separate cars to the
movie theater and met outside the box office. Doing so made it feel less like a
date and eased my conscience whenever I thought of Jared, who I tried hard not
to think about. Jordan had arrived first and, to my dismay, had already picked
up the tickets. So I pitched in for the Slurpee’s, hotdogs and popcorn since
neither of us had eaten yet.

“So what movie are we seeing?” I
asked as we settled down into the middle section of the back row. Tuesday
nights were pretty slow for the movie theater as well. We were only one of four
couples in the whole place.

“
Before Midnight
. It’s the
sequel to
Before Sunrise
. It picks up the story nine years later. Did
you see the first movie?”

“Definitely not,” I said, glancing at
her with a devilish grin. “I didn’t have a fiancé back then.”

She chuckled and elbowed me before
taking a bite of her hotdog. She filled me in on the premise of the first movie
so I wouldn’t be completely lost and we debated which movie was the best chick
flick of all time. It wasn’t a fair debate, considering I hadn’t seen a quarter
of the movies Jordan rattled off, but I tried my best to argue the merits of
Knocked
Up
as the best chick flick. Not only did it deliver romance, I argued, but
it was funny as shit. Seth Rogen and his buddies were hilarious. But Jordan
assured me it wasn’t even in the top ten. Still it was fun yanking her chain
and listening to her fits of giggles.

When the lights dimmed and the movie
preview trailers started, I leaned back in my chair and stretched out my legs.
With my head resting against the back of my chair, I turned to gaze at Jordan.
I wondered how she would feel if I fell asleep during the movie. It wasn’t my
intention, but I’d been known to crash during particularly boring movies. She gazed
at me too and we stared into each other’s eyes for a few seconds with silly
grins on our faces. I felt a slight trembling in my gut and returned my focus
on the big screen. It was there. The feeling I’d had when we kissed the other
night. Only this time all it took was gazing at her.

The movie was better than I expected
and even made me laugh in a few spots. It was the sexual tension vibrating
between us that I hadn’t expected. It was especially torturous during those
moments in the movie when Celine and Jesse were kissing…on the bed…while they
were walking. It didn’t matter where. It was the fact they were kissing. And we
were seated in the back row. Alone.

I don’t know how I made it through one
hundred and nine minutes without pulling Jordan onto my lap and making out like
I was a senior in high school again. But I knew the answer to one question. The
trembling was not a fluke. What I was going to do about it—well I needed to
think on that a bit.

***

Jordan

I rested my arms on the table and
leaned in hoping it would give the impression I was actually interested in
hearing what my date had to say. I was seriously considering cutting my date
short for the first time since I had started using the dating service. Could a
guy be any more boring or disgusting than Zachary? I doubted it. Five minutes
before I had watched him turn discreetly toward the back of our booth to fish
out a booger and wipe it under the table. How I had contained the violent
gagging noise threatening in my throat I could not say. At least he’d made some
small effort to conceal it. For that I was grateful.

My dates seemed to be going downhill
lately; Tuesday’s date was a flop and now this. In fact, the only decent dates I’d
had since starting this adventure had been with JT on Saturday and Tuesday
evening but those didn’t qualify as real dates. I peered over Zachary’s
shoulder and my eyes connected with JT who was motioning for me to come to him
with his crooked finger. The conspiratorial grin spread across his face was
inspiring. Maybe he had a plan to save me from Zachary because justified or
not, I didn’t have it in me to dump a guy in the middle of a date. It seemed
impolite. But I had no problem telling a little white lie.

“Um,” I said, unable to meet his
eyes. “Can you excuse me for a few minutes? I need to go to the restroom.”

“Sure, no problem.” Zachary pulled a
device out from his pocket as I stood up. “Take your time. No hurry.”

Was it a Nintendo DS?  I rolled my
eyes and then followed JT as he led me over to the bar on the far side of the
restaurant. I tried to focus on his broad shoulders as we walked but my eyes
slipped down and down again until I found myself narrowing in on his perfect
butt, the outline of which I could just make out in his relaxed fit jeans. He
didn’t need to wear tight jeans for me to know what it looked like; I’d seen
him work out in biker shorts with Jared often enough in our basement. I plopped
down on a stool and the bartender slid a strawberry margarita in front of me.

I eyed it skeptically. “This place is
a brewery. What’s up with the fruity drink?”

Mike grinned and winked at me, “I
thought you might need something a little stronger.”

“Thanks Mike, I hope you mean this
has a lot of alcohol in it.”

“JT told me to make it a double shot.
But I’ve been watching you and decided maybe a triple was in order. Rough date,
huh?”

“Don’t get her shit-faced,” JT
scolded as he leaned against the bar next to me. “She has to drive home tonight
and she’s already had one beer.”

He was so close to me I could smell
his fresh masculine scent. I had no idea what soap he used but he smelled yummy
and I couldn’t help but imagine what it would be like to snuggle into his chest
and inhale deeply.

After taking a long draw from the
straw, I swallowed and allowed the alcohol to wash over me. It tasted
really
strong. I could drink these all night and was sorely tempted to do exactly that.
And while I was at it, I might allow myself to daydream about the movie theater
with JT. Only since it was my daydream, this time he would lean over and draw
my face to his for a long, searing kiss followed by a full-on make out session
in the back row. I finally snapped out of my daydream to find JT and Mike
staring at me curiously.

I cleared my throat. “By the way, do
you guys ever wash underneath your tables?”

“Shut up!” Mike’s eyes widened to the
size of half dollar coins. “He didn’t go fishing and leave some bait behind did
he?”

“A fairly sizable one far as I could
tell,” I said, shuddering and then stared at my date. I took another fortifying
sip of my drink. “I can’t believe he brought a Nintendo DS with him. How much
do you want to bet on which game he’s playing?
Please
give something fun
to salvage this disastrous date.”

“My bet is on Angry Birds,” JT said.
He ruffled my hair and then left to check on his tables. I sighed at the feel
of his hand in my hair, imagining he just couldn’t resist touching me.

I sipped on my drink and dug deep
into the recesses of my childhood memories. “I have five bucks that says he’s
playing Super Mario Brothers.”

“I’m in,” Mike said, looking over to
my date. “The dude looks like he wants to blow something up.  Mark my words. 
He’s playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.  Can’t you just see him hooked up
to his station at night with all the special headgear on and talking smack with
his buddies? Come on, Jordan. Tell me you’re not dying for some of that?”

I snorted as I wrote our guesses down
on a napkin. I pulled out a five dollar bill and placed it on top. Mike slapped
his five bucks down, which was quickly followed by another fiver from Chloe.

“What are we betting on?”

“The Nintendo DS game Jordan’s date
is playing while he waits for her to return,” Mike said from across the bar as
JT rejoined us. “He doesn’t even realize Jordan hasn’t made it back to the
table yet. What a loser.” We all stared across the restaurant in amazement and
laughed.

“Star Wars,” Chloe called back to us
over her shoulder. “The force is definitely with him right now.”

“I guess I should be getting back,” I
sighed. “Our order will be up any minute. I’m going to need some food to absorb
this alcohol.” Grabbing my drink, I wiggled my brows at Mike and JT. “Let’s see
if he notices my new drink.”

“Hey. No lying about which game he’s
playing,” Mike called after me. “You’re a crappy liar so don’t think I won’t
know.”

I slid into my bench seat and discreetly
cleared my throat. Zachary’s head popped up at the distraction. Was that
disappointment I read in his eyes? A wide grin spread across my face as a
thought dawned on me. He found my company equally as boring.
Priceless.
The
thought made me burst out in laughter. Of course the alcohol wasn’t helping
any. Other than it made me bolder than usual.

“What’re you playing?” I asked after
I gained control of myself.

“Why,” he asked with lifted brow. “Do
you play?”

“Oh sure.” I shook my head vigorously
and pumped my fist up in the air. “Super Mario Brothers all the way. I haven’t
played in many,
many
, years, but I know my way around a DS.”