Speed Dating (Preston's Mill Book 2) Read online

  She gave the plates a quick rinse and put them in the dishwasher—since Jace had made dinner, she thought it was only fair to clean up for him—and then she returned to the living room.

  Jace was on the floor, slouching back against the couch. His long legs were stretched out, and something about the set of his shoulders looked tired, almost glum.

  She frowned, her chest tightening in both concern and affection. She hated to see him look like that.

  She was trying to think of something encouraging to say when her phone chirped. Picking it up from the coffee table automatically, she blinked when she saw she had six messages from the dating site.

  Six different men were interested in connecting.

  “What is it?” Jace asked, evidently reading her expression.

  “Wow. Things move really fast with this site.” She smiled and lowered herself to sit beside him, showing him the messages on her phone. “Look at all these guys.”

  “Well, what did you expect?” Jace asked after a minute, sounding slightly gruff. “You’re gorgeous. Of course, they’re going to be interested. But don’t jump into anything too quickly. You know there are going to be creeps on sites like this, don’t you?”

  “Of course I do.” She couldn’t help but flush with pleasure at his calling her gorgeous, despite his less than encouraging comments. “I’m not going to jump into anything without being careful. And I’ll have you for big-brotherly advice on vetting every potential date. I’m not too worried.”

  She’d reached over to ruffle his hair, feeling very fond despite his grumpy mood. But his body clenched strangely, and she felt a little awkward at her affectionate gesture, so she pulled her hand away.

  Clearly, she’d need to wait to talk about her dating prospects until Jace was in a better mood.

  Two

  Great. Just great.

  Isabella was going to start dating. Actively dating. Like… men coming and taking her out all the time dating.

  Fan-freaking-tastic.

  Not.

  For the most part, Jace had held it together until Isabella had left. That meant he’d had to hold his tongue for a lot longer than he wanted while she made awkward small talk about the guys who were already reaching out to her for dates.

  He hated them all already.

  Why now? Why did she now—all of a sudden—have to get into this dating zone. Hell, if she had just given him a bit longer, he would have finally asked her out. Really! Pacing the room, Jace kept telling himself that he would have done it. Soon. Really soon.

  Well… eventually.

  He’d been thinking about it for a while, and he had been confident that he was ready to do it. Or… almost ready to do it. Or…

  “Dammit!” he muttered.

  So maybe he’d been procrastinating and overthinking this for a while. Okay, years. But how was he supposed to just throw it out there that he was hopelessly and completely in love with Isabella when it meant that she could completely reject him? Then he’d not only lose any hope of having a romantic relationship with her, but he’d also lose his best friend. It wasn’t a risk he was willing to take—at least not take lightly.

  And now look where he was.

  Having to sit back and watch while she went on a dating marathon to find her perfect man.

  Me! I’m the perfect man for her! Just why…why can’t she see it?

  The problem was him. Jace knew that. He was quiet and shy and never wanted to do anything to rock the boat. They were comfortable with one another, and even though they’d known each other since high school and he felt that he knew everything there was to know about Isabella, he was still afraid of doing anything to jeopardize what they had together.

  Then there was Brock, who had dated Isabella all through highschool. Jace and Brock had been fairly tight in school—that’s how he and Isabella had become such good friends—and on some level, it just seemed awkward to make a play on a friend’s ex.

  Even if that ex was a complete and total jackass.

  Yeah, that had really turned into more of an issue than Jace had ever imagined. At first, he had felt ashamed of his feelings for Isabella, since she’d was dating a guy who was supposed to be his friend. Then he’d settled in and accepted the fact that he’d never be with Isabella in the way he wanted.

  But then Brock had cheated and Isabella had been free.

  True, it had taken years for that to happen—or at least for Isabella to find out about all the times Brock had cheated—but at least she’d found out at last.

  Unfortunately, by that time Jace had been utterly and completely locked into the friend zone. Not that it was a bad place to be. He just didn’t want to be there forever and had hoped that Isabella would eventually come to discover that he was the one for her.

  But she hadn’t.

  And apparently never would.

  “Shit,” he muttered, raking a hand through his hair. “Now what?”

  There was no time to give it more of a thought because there was a knock on his door. With a heavy sigh, he walked over and pulled it open. And froze.

  “Oh, uh, hey.” Standing in the doorway was his sister Erin, holding a very large… “Um, what is that?” he asked, nodding toward the covered case in her hands.

  “Nice to see you too, Jace,” Erin said with a grin as she stepped around him and into the apartment. “I really appreciate you doing this for me. Dale and I are so excited about this trip, and Beau was the only thing tripping us up. So you are truly a lifesaver. Thank you.”

  Slowly Jace closed the door and took in his sister’s words and racked his brain for what the hell she was talking about.

  It didn’t take Erin long to figure out that he was still confused. With a bit of fanfare, she pulled the sheet off the case she was carrying, and Jace saw it was actually a cage. With a bird in it.

  Shit. He’d totally forgotten.

  “Erin, I, uh…”

  “This is Beau!” she said cheerily and then squatted down so she could be eye level with the bird. “And he’s a handsome boy! Isn’t he? Who’s a handsome boy?”

  Jace just stared at the bird in the cage, colored in bright blues and greens.

  Erin stood and studied her brother for a moment before crossing her arms over her chest and making a tsking sound at him. “You totally forgot about this, didn’t you?”

  What was the point in lying? “Yes.”

  Rolling her eyes, she put her large purse down on the sofa and began pulling out papers and bags of food. “I don’t have a whole lot of time because I need to get home and finish packing. Our flight tomorrow leaves really early in the morning so pay attention.”

  “Erin, maybe this isn’t the best idea. I’m totally not prepared for this and… honestly, it’s not the best time right now.”

  God, he hated how pathetic he sounded!

  Erin froze for a minute, and her gaze narrowed. “Why? What’s going on with you?” With a sigh, she sat down next to her purse.

  “Didn’t you just say you don’t have a lot of time?”

  “Jace, could you for once just say what’s on your mind and not make me work for it?”

  “Fine.” He told her all about Isabella’s dating marathon plan. His sister had known for years about his feelings for his best friend, so none of this came as a shock to her. “How am I supposed to sit back and let this happen?”

  “You don’t,” she said simply.

  “What?”

  “You get out there and throw your hat into the ring and get off your ass and do something! Seriously, Jace. It’s time.”

  “But how? And what if she’s not interested? What if I finally do thi,s and she freaks out and then ends up hating me?”

  Reaching over to take one of his hands in hers, Erin squeezed it. “Sweetie, that is a risk we all take. But it’s time you at least tried. This has been going on for years, and it’s time for you to find out where you stand. If it’s going to happen, great. If it’s not, then you can finally move on
because—believe it or not—we’d all like to see you settled too.”

  “Oh God,” he groaned.

  She nodded and then smiled. “Uh, yeah. We’ve all been patient, and I’ve had to talk mom off the ledge a time or two where you’re concerned, but you’re not getting any younger either, and I’d love it if you could take some of the pressure off me and Dale and find someone that mom can harp on about grandchildren.”

  This was so not the conversation he wanted to be having.

  Ever.

  “So the bird…”

  Erin took the hint. “Beau. And he is just going to make you fall in love with him! He’s an Amazon parrot. He’s a good boy and, let me tell you, he’s extremely playful! You just need to pay attention to his body language to figure out how he’s feeling. For example, his feathers will all go up and out if he’s excited about something.”

  “Excited? What the hell could he be excited about? He’s a bird. Sitting in a cage.”

  Erin leveled him with a glare. “Don’t talk like that about him!”

  “Seriously?”

  Ignoring him, she went on with her lecture on Beau. “I’ve brought his food with him, but he’ll expect to get some people food as well.”

  Jace looked at her with disbelief.

  “It’s true. He loves to hang out at the table and have whatever Dale and I are eating. It’s adorable. He’s really part of the family, and you should let him have dinner with you too.”

  Jace decided to keep it to himself that that particular scenario was never going to happen.

  “And then there’s his bath,” Erin continued with a smile toward the bird. “He really loves a bath, and you can really do it however you want. He can get in the shower with you, or you can give him a spray bath. Or you can just give him a bowl of water and he’ll splash around in it.”

  “There is no way that bird is taking a shower with me!” Jace had reached the end of his rope with this ridiculousness. “I’ll feed him—in his cage—and let him… splash around in his water dish, but I draw the line at taking a bath with him!”

  “Don’t be so dramatic. It’s not like you have to share a bubble bath by candlelight. Sheesh. All I’m saying is that it’s not such a bad thing to just let him… hang out in the shower with you.”

  Jace shook his head. “No.”

  With a huff, Erin handed him the sheets of paper she had pulled out of her bag earlier. “Fine. Whatever. Here is a complete list of his likes and dislikes and general care and directions.” She jumped to her feet and picked up her purse. “Don’t be an ass to my bird.”

  As much as Jace wanted to give her some sort of snarky retort, he just didn’t have it in him. The bird was the least of his problems. In a few days, Beau would be gone, and he’d still be struggling to come up with a way to convince Isabella that her plan to become some sort of serial dater wasn’t smart.

  “Okay. I think that’s everything!” Erin made her way toward the door. “We really appreciate this. You have no idea how badly Dale and I need this trip.”

  “So, you’ll be back… Saturday? Sunday?” For the life of him, Jace really couldn’t remember anything about his sister’s travel plans.

  Erin looked at him oddly.

  And then a slow smile crossed her face.

  “Sunday,” she said, smiling.

  “Oh. Okay. Sunday. Four days. Great.”

  Then she stepped in closer. “Not this Sunday, Jace.”

  “Sooo… next Sunday.”

  She shook her head.

  And then it hit him. “Seriously? You’re going to be away for two weeks?”

  “Ding, ding, ding! You got it!”

  “And when did I agree to this?” he demanded, all traces of humor gone. “I might have forgotten having a conversation, but I know I did not agree to bird-sitting for two weeks. Uh-uh. No way.”

  “Remember the barbecue Dale and I hosted last month?”

  “Yeah. Pool party. Burgers, ribs. There’s no way I would have agreed to this. The ribs weren’t that good.”

  Erin shrugged. “No, but you were, shall we say, a little distracted by a certain someone in a bathing suit.”

  Jace’s eyes went wide. “You are just…just…”

  “Just?”

  “The devil. You’re the devil.”

  That made her laugh. “Maybe. But I get the job done.” She looked at her watch and then back at him. “But now I really have to go. Take care of Beau, and I’ll call to check on him.”

  “Erin! Wait!”

  “It’s too late—you’re stuck bird-sitting. I have no other options!”

  “It’s not that,” he said with a weary sigh. “I just…What do I do? How do I convince Isabella to not…”

  “Date?”

  He nodded.

  “You’re going to have to put in some serious effort into wooing her.”

  “Wooing? Really? That’s a thing?”

  She nodded. “A pretty important one.”

  “I don’t even know what it means!”

  Sighing loudly, Erin’s shoulders sagged with defeat. “Jace, romantic gestures. Talking to her about how you feel. Be honest with her, and quit dragging your feet on this. Because if you don’t step up and let her know how much she means to you, some other guy is going to swoop in and sweep her off her feet.”

  “Yeah but…”

  “Sweetie, I really have to go!” Leaning in, she kissed him on the cheek. “You’re going to be fine.”

  “Somehow I doubt that. If she turns me down… if she’s not interested… I’m gonna be alone. There’s no one else that I want to be with.”

  Reaching up, she cupped his cheek. “You’re not going to be alone, Jace.”

  Hope sprang up in his chest. “You really think so?”

  “You’ll have Beau.”

  Yeah. His sister was the devil.

  ***

  Spending the night with the bird wasn’t the worst thing in the world.

  It was actually a really good distraction.

  He talked, the bird listened, and really it was kind of helpful.

  But now by the light of a new day, Jace had to face the fact that the person he had to start talking to was not a bird. For starters, the bird agreed with everything that he said without talking back or disagreeing.

  He had a feeling it was going to be a completely different scenario once he started showing Isabella how he felt.

  It was Thursday, and they normally went out for pizza on Thursday’s after work. His plan was to up his game and take her someplace nice. Special. Romantic. Then, over dinner, he’d talk about how much she meant to him and how much he appreciated her and then transition to where he saw them heading together in the future.

  Easy.

  Simplicity at its finest.

  Beau had seemed to think it was a good place to start, if all his nodding was a sign.

  As he got ready for work, Jace ran every scenario in his mind about how Isabella would respond. There was the obvious and most-wished-for choice of her being thrilled and admitting that she felt the same about him.

  That had him smiling.

  Then there was the possibility of her being disgusted by his suggestion of them being more than friends. He envisioned her tossing a plate of spaghetti at him and then doing the same with a glass of red wine—because the combination would leave a lasting stain to remind him of his total humiliation—and her storming out of the restaurant and demanding that he never speak to her again.

  Less smiling and feeling a little like throwing up at that one.

  And then there was the middle ground which—honestly—was no better than being rejected. It was her smiling at him patiently and telling him how he’d always been like a brother to her. And then, because he was a glutton for punishment, he pictured their waiter being some sort of male underwear model type who would charm her and share that he was a veterinarian whose specialty was special needs animals and Isabella would leave with him. Of course she’d ask Jace
if he minded and he’d say no.

  Because he was a schmuck like that.

  They’d leave together—her and Mr. Saving-the-World-One-Injured-Animal-at-a-Time and he’d hear her talking about what a great buddy Jace was.

  That wasn’t anything new. She said it all the time, but somehow Jace knew in this scenario it would just…well, it would hurt.

  A lot.

  Looking at his reflection, he shook his head and did his best to clear it. “Positive. Think positive. It’s all going to be okay. We’re stronger than this, and no matter what, we’ll make it work.”

  That was his mantra all through the day. Whenever he felt his resolve slipping or negative thoughts creeping in, Jace simply reminded himself that everything was going to be okay. By the time he showed up at the salon, he was feeling pretty damn good. He’d picked up a bouquet of Isabella’s favorite flowers—tulips—and had gotten them a reservation at her favorite Italian restaurant.

  He couldn’t wait to see the surprised look on her face.

  When he walked inside, she smiled at him, and everything in him softened and relaxed.

  “Hey, beautiful,” he said as he approached. She had worked all day. Her makeup was a little faded, and her hair was a little disheveled, and yet she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

  “Hey, you!” she said happily. “What do you have there?”

  Jace held out the bouquet to her. “Just a little something special for you.”

  Gasping, she readily took the flowers and held them to her face to smell them. “Oh, Jace! What a great surprise! Thank you! You know how much I love… ouch!”

  “Are you all right?” he asked, instantly concerned.

  “No!” she cried. “I think… oh my God! I think I just got stung!”

  He swatted the bouquet from her hands, and sure enough, he saw something fly away and saw a small red bump on her cheek. Reaching out to touch it, Isabella pushed his hand away. “I just want to look at it,” he said softly, doing his best to not alarm her, but to no avail.