“Oh, but that’s not the challenge. The challenge is you can’t sleep with her until fifteen dates in.”
The gauntlet thrown, Thad stared at his best friend. “You think I can’t make it fifteen dates without sex?”
“I know you can’t.” Jared’s smug smile made Thad lean in to growl in response.
“Want to bet on it?”
“What’s the point? You’d only lose.” Jared shot back.
“Fine, if I win…” Thad grinned eagerly. “You have to name your next little tyke after me.”
“And if I win, you name your next new hotel ‘Jared’s Place.’”
Thad snorted. He could make it fifteen dates just hanging out with a woman.
“Deal.” He thrust his hand out and Jared shook it.
Thad glanced over at the young woman in question. She’d abandoned the smoothie machine and was now on the phone, still angry. She looked kind of cute when she was pissed. His eyes moved over her body, noting how the baby blue apron hugged her curves.
“Batter up,” Jared chuckled and sat back to watch Thad go to work.
Thad headed for the counter, catching snippets of the woman’s conversation.
“The warranty’s still good. Yes, that’s why I’m calling. I need a replacement. It’s been giving me trouble since the day I bought it. It’s a lemon, okay?” She paused, then closed her eyes and sighed. “Yes, that’s my address. Please expedite the shipping if you can. Thank you.” She hung up and turned to face him only to gasp and go red.
“Oh gosh! I’m so sorry. Can I get you something?”
“Veronica, right?” He was fairly certain that was what she told him half an hour ago.
“Yeah…” Veronica’s eyes were that lovely storm blue and held a hint of gray. She was very pretty, and he was going to enjoy proving Jared wrong. He had self-control. He could make it fifteen dates with this girl. She couldn’t be more than twenty-three or twenty-four. He’d be careful not to break her heart. She looked so damn innocent, not like some of the women he’d dated. Those girls he’d been with always tried to look older than they were, sophisticated and sexy…but Jared was right about them. It was all a performance, completely unreal. It hadn’t bothered him, though, until today.
God, he’d become jaded, hadn’t he? Maybe it would be nice to be with a real woman for a while, someone whose beauty was natural, who wore clothes not designed to seduce, and whose unguarded smiles were its own reward.
“Sir?” Veronica broke through his thoughts.
He smiled at her but didn't lay it on too thick. Go slow, he reminded himself. “This is going to sound crazy, but can I have your number?”
“For the Chi-Bean? Sure it’s—” she started to pick up one of the coffee house business cards on a little stand. Thad reached out and gently caught her wrist.
“No, your number.” He never let his eyes leave hers. He was beginning to become obsessed with that shade of blue. What would those eyes look like when she was gazing at him in full arousal, her body writhing beneath him as she as he covered her with kisses? Thad slammed the door shut on that mental image before he got too carried away.
“My number?” Veronica stared at him. Her gaze darted toward the table with Jared and then back to him.
“Yeah, I’d take you out for coffee, but you seem to have that covered here. How about drinks instead?” Thad gave a charming chuckle that made her flush an even deeper red.
Veronica continued to stare at him. Suddenly the other employee, the cute college kid who’d tried to flirt with him earlier materialized next to Veronica.
“Here’s her number.” She nodded toward Jared as she handed Thad a slip of paper with a number on it. “We both thought you were taken.”
“Thanks. I’m definitely not taken. That’s a friend of mine.” He glanced at Jared who was watching him intently, a smile twitching at the corners of his lips.
“I’m Zelda,” the girl said and nudged Veronica out of her state of shock.
“Look sir, I’m sorry. I really don’t think—”
“Don’t,” Thad smiled. “Think that is. This is just a drink, a chance to get to know each other when you’re not on the clock. It’ll be fun. How about tonight?”
“I…” Veronica’s expressions were so easy to read. She was trying to find a way out of this. That was interesting…
“We close at ten tonight, but she can meet you here at eight,” Zelda said.
At this, Veronica shot her glare. “I’m sorry, but I can’t. I need to be home at nine, remember?”
Zelda shrugged. “Talk to Katie. She can cover for you for one extra hour, right?” Zelda’s face had hardened to stone, but there was nothing mean about the expression. More like she was determined to win the argument.
“It’s one hour,” Zelda continued.
“I won’t keep you past that. Scout’s honor.” Thad winked at her.
“Okay,” she agreed slowly. “But I really have to be back by nine.”
“Excellent.” He typed her details into his phone and sent her a text with his name.
“I’ll be here at eight to pick you up, Veronica.” He turned and went back to his table, excited but also curious about the woman’s hesitation. Was his game off?
Back at his table, Jared was grinning even more smugly than before.
“Real women aren’t so easy, are they? Even starstruck, she still had to be pushed into it. You might make it fifteen dates after all. I think I made this too easy for you.”
Thad clenched his jaw. He definitely hadn’t expected so much resistance from the girl and while a challenge was fun, he didn’t want Jared to think he had a chance of winning.
“I can’t wait for you to tell Felicity her next kid is going to be named Thaddeus or Thadosia.”
“Thadosia?” His friend laughed, startling a few of the customers drinking their foaming lattes.
“Shut up before you scare your kid.” Thad grumbled as they got up and left the Chi-Bean.
“You are so off your game. I have to call Angelo. He has to hear this.” Jared pulled out a cell phone to call Angelo, Thad’s other best friend.
Today was going to be a long day. But tonight… Tonight he was taking Veronica, a cute coffee barista out for drinks. A nice, normal girl on a nice, normal date. How hard could it be?
3
“Zelda, I’m going to kill you.” Veronica snapped the moment Thad and his gorgeous plantonic friend walked out the door.
Zelda turned wide and guileless brown eyes on her. “What? Me?” she asked before dissolving into giggles.
“You know I don’t want to go out with him.” Well, that was a bald faced lie. There was something about Thad—a lot of somethings, honestly—that made her skin tingle. That hadn’t happened in a long time. She really didn’t need this, not today when everything was going wrong.
Their blender had broken and she’d yelled at the customer service rep when they’d tried to avoid honoring her warranty. Veronica began stacking cups aggressively. Now she was going to spend the next several hours freaking out over a date she never asked for and worrying about whether Katie would agree to watch Lyra a little longer this evening.