I slapped his arm. “Seriously?”
He shrugged. “Okay, I admit. I’m shallower than that. Did you see the size of her arms? I had no doubt if we got into a physical altercation, she could take me in two seconds flat.” He wrinkled his nose. “She wasn’t good for my ego.”
I threw back my head and laughed…then winced as the headache became more pronounced.
“Let me get you some pain reliever.” He guided me inside the house and stopped in the kitchen. “And then maybe I can tuck you into bed?”
My breath caught in my throat. With all my heart I wanted to say yes. “Brody will be home later tonight.”
Jacob winced. “Sorry. I forgot.”
“Not any sorrier than I am,” I mumbled.
“Where do you keep your pain reliever?” he asked.
“There’s a bottle in the small cabinet above the stove.”
He took down the pain reliever and handed two capsules to me. I grabbed the wine I’d left on the counter and swallowed the pills.
“You have one more date you have to go on,” I reminded him. “This time with a woman Mom and the girls think you will be physically attracted to.”
Although how they expected to top Bodybuilder Barbie I had no idea.
“Then after that,” he said, “you and I need to talk. Seriously talk.”
Chapter 17
“He wants to talk.” I handed Kieran a glass of iced tea and we sat down at my kitchen table. Usually we’d be outside enjoying the Sunday afternoon weather, but today there was a light drizzle in the air.
“Talking is good.”
“I can’t figure me out,” I said. “One minute I think I want to date him and get to know him…the next minute I’m scared. Scared of what people will think. Scared of my feelings for him. Scared he’s going to wake up one morning and wonder what in the world he was thinking, getting involved with a woman with so much baggage.”
Kieran took a drink of her wine. “Youarea mess.”
I laughed. “Shut up. I’m trying to be serious here.”
Footsteps pounded down the stairs, and a few seconds later Brody came sliding into the kitchen.
“Guess what?” he asked.
I shrugged. “I give up. What?”
“Jayden just texted me and said her sister, Jessica, is going out with Jacob on Wednesday evening. How cool is that?”
My heart pitched. Jacob and the former Miss Oregon going out on a date? Could my life get any worse?
“Hey,” Brody said, “if they hit it off, maybe Jayden and I could double date with them sometime.”
Well, what do you know, my life actually could get worse.
“How did the cronies manage to get her to agree to their setup?” Kieran asked. “How far reaching is their influence?”
I snorted. “I learned not to ask long ago.”
“I wonder if Jacob knows?” Brody mused.
“Not unless he was just told,” I said. “I’m sure he’d have mentioned it otherwise.”
