I’d shed enough tears over the man in the past five days. Then again, it might not have been the man, but the fact that I could see a future with him. It had been the first time in several years that I’d felt so connected to someone.
“Well, shit,” Davide sighed as his head dropped forward so he could stare at his toes. “That just sucks all the way around.”
“It does. I just wish I’d brought all this up when he said he wanted to see me again. When he suggested we spend more time together, I assumed it was because he wanted to date, not that he wanted a regular casual hook-up. I should have clarified.”
“Maybe,” Davide agreed. “But he definitely shouldn’t have waited a month to bring it up. Or acted like you were a dirty little secret. I’m disappointed that he didn’t even take you out to dinner or a movie or something.”
While we were seeing each other, I hadn’t cared that we didn’t go out. I liked having him all to myself. I didn’t want to share his attention. Or see the way other women looked at him. At least not yet. I was a homebody. Nothing made me happier than hanging out at home with someone I liked, comfort food, and playing games or watching a movie together.
After a few moments of silence, Davide spoke, “You know what you need?”
My eyes widened. Knowing him, it could be anything from finding a witch to hex Elijah or taking out an ad online proclaiming that I was trying to get in touch with him because I found out I had an STI and he needed to get checked.
“You need a date for Yancy’s rehearsal dinner.”
Okay, that was a suggestion I hadn’t seen coming.
“You remember my friend, Seth?” he asked.
I nodded. Seth came into the gallery every couple of weeks or so. He would bring coffee for Davide and, when I started working there, me. He’d also come to happy hour with us once and had me crying with laughter almost the entire night. It had been a lot of fun.
Seth was extremely good-looking, almost to the point of being pretty, and he possessed a dry wit that never failed to make me laugh. He confided in me that his relationship with Davide had started as a hardcore crush, but he’d quickly realized they were better as friends.
“Well, he’s had a huge thing for you since you started working here. He’s been asking me to set y’all up since the night we went to happy hour, but I’ve been putting him off because I worried it would be a conflict of interest or something. Or that you would feel pressured to say yes because I’m your boss.”
My mouth moved, but no sound came out, so Davide continued. “I’ll call him tonight and see what he’s doing Saturday. Though, even if he has plans, I’m confident he’ll ditch them for you.”
I knew that Seth dated both men and women, but I hadn’t realized he felt that way about me. I hadn’t seen him as a potential romantic partner. Just as a friend.
“Davide, I’m not sure this is a good?—”
“I’m not saying you have to declare your undying love, Grier. Just a date. He’ll be excited to have a chance to impress you. You’ll have a date for the evening that makes you laugh, and, if Elijah is there, it’s going to chap his ass when he sees the adoration in Seth’s eyes when he looks at you.”
“I doubt that, D. He’d have to care about me to be jealous.”
“Oh, I think he cares a lot more than he’s willing to admit.”
“He wouldn’t have felt the need to put me in my place the other night if he truly cared.”
Davide scoffed. “A guy like Elijah? Oh, he cares so much that it scared him to the point he had to tell you he didn’t want anything more than a casual fling. Otherwise, he would have just come up with a fib as to why he couldn’t make it.”
I shook my head but stopped arguing about Elijah. Just hearing and saying his name made my chest ache.
“Okay, I’m going to call Seth and give him your number. I’ll make it clear you just need a date for this one event, and he’s not allowed to keep bugging you if you decide it’s not your cup of tea.”
“Davide—”
“I promise you, Grier. You’ll have fun, and he won’t make a pest of himself.”
I could tell by the expression on his face that he wasn’t going to budge. “Fine,” I sighed. “Call him and give him my number so we can plan for Saturday night.”
A wicked grin spread across Davide’s face. “I promise that you won’t regret it.”
“Ha!” I exclaimed. “I’ll remind you of that when things go sideways.”
“There’s no guarantee it’ll go sideways.”
I shot him some serious side eye. “Have we met before? Because things always go sideways when you and I are involved.”
