She was right.
Serena knew she was right.
But after years of being the only scholarship girl in her group, it was hard not to feel like she always had to earn her place.
BY THE TIME SATURDAY actually arrived, Serena’s excitement over Keith’s date had shifted into a weird, inexplicable reluctance.
Since it was a silly response, she kept pushing it down, telling herself it didn’t mean anything and would go away soon. But all her bright anticipation had transformed overnight into something like dread.
She spent the afternoon helping Keith clean out his “junk closet.” It was full of random stuff from the past few years that he’d put in it to get out of the way until it was finally too packed to even close the door. That was evidently the last straw for Keith, who was usually a fairly neat person. He declared the Saturday junk-closet-clean-out day and asked Serena if she wanted to help.
Eva was at her dad’s this weekend, so Serena had nothing better to do. They had a surprisingly good time pulling out every crazy item from the closet—from a brand-new winter coat to an ancient humidifier—and making piles for what needed to be kept, given away, or dumped.
By 5:20 they’d finally sorted the final item and closed the door on a perfectly tidy and half-empty closet.
“It looks so good!” Serena was grinning as she opened the door again to peek inside at all their work. “You’ve got tons of space in there now.”
“So I can start filling it up with more random junk.” Keith looked particularly warm and sexy at the moment, sprawled on the floor next to the pile of giveaway items.
“Don’t you dare! Not after all our work. Now you’ve got to keep this closet perfectly organized.”
The muscles in Keith’s arms rippled deliciously as he leaned back on his hand. He wore a heather-gray T-shirt, and the sleeves hugged his biceps. He’d never been obsessive about working out and didn’t have hugely developed muscles, so she wasn’t sure where those biceps had even come from. Or why she was noticing them right now.
“We’ll see,” he drawled, laughter and affection in his eyes as they rested on her face.
The twirly feeling in her chest and stomach prompted her to say, “So are you excited about your date tonight?”
His expression shifted to dry skepticism. “I’m not sure I’d call it excited, but I’ll definitely give it a try.”
“It will be great. You’re going to love Kelly.”
“So you keep saying.” He gave his head a little shake. “We’ll see.”
“Yes, we will.” She hefted herself to her feet and smoothed down her top since it was hiked up above her ass. She was wearing leggings today, so the shirt definitely needed to stay pulled down. “What time are you picking her up?”
“I’m meeting her at the restaurant at seven.”
“You’re not picking her up?”
“I would have, but she suggested meeting there. I assume she’s more comfortable with that since I’m a stranger to her.”
“Oh. Yeah. That makes sense I guess. Just because I know both of you doesn’t mean you know each other.” She glanced at the clock. “Well, I guess you’re going to want to start getting ready soon.”
He chuckled. “Exactly how long do you think it takes for me to get ready for a date?”
“I don’t know. It takes me about an hour.”
“It takes me about fifteen minutes.”
“You’re going to take a shower, aren’t you?”
“Of course. But showering and putting clothes on doesn’t take very long. It’s not like I ever do much primping.”
She sniffed as she checked him out from slightly mussed hair to his bare feet. He’d always been a low-maintenance-type person. He’d clearly shaved that morning, so he wouldn’t have to do that. It didn’t seem quite right that guys could just jump in the shower and throw on some decent clothes and be ready for a first date, but evidently that was Keith’s habit.
“You’re not going to inspect me before I leave, are you?”
She hadn’t been thinking anything of the kind, but his tone was so wry that he deserved a little punishment. So she said primly, “Yes, I am. Since I arranged this date, I’m going to make sure you look up to par. So stop by my place before you leave please.”
He rolled his eyes but didn’t argue, so she took that as agreement.
AT FIFTEEN MINUTES till seven, Serena heard a knock on the door. Knowing it was Keith, she ran to swing it open.
She gulped when she saw him standing at her doorstep. He wore khakis and a nice green shirt. He looked really good. He’d never been movie-star handsome. Or the center of attention. Back in school, he’d been a little bit cute, but not in a way that appealed to her, so she’d never thought about him as attractive until the past few years.
But he was.
Attractive.
Not traffic stopping. Not like you might expect to see on the cover of a romance. In a regular, natural way. But hot.
His brown eyes. Broad shoulders. That hint of a cleft in his chin. Long, agile hands.
Definitely hot.
For a minute it felt like he was here to take her on a date.
That was when the weird flutters got overpowering.
“What?” he demanded when she just stood frozen and stared at him with cold hands and trembling knees. “Do I not look okay or something?”
“No! You look great. Really great. I mean, you look... great.” Oh my goodness. She was seriously losing her mind here, and she needed to pull it together right now.
He frowned slightly, narrowing his eyes as he peered at her face. “What’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing. I’m just... out of it, I think. You do look good. So have a great time with Kelly this evening, and let me know how it goes.”
It took far more effort than it should have for her to get those words out. Because the truth was she suddenly didn’t want him to have a good time.
She didn’t want him to go out with Kelly.
She wanted him to be here—looking like that—for her.
KELLY WAS SWEET AND smart and pretty, just as Serena had promised. They made easy, pleasant small talk as they met in front of the restaurant and went inside. The food was good, and nothing was off-putting about Kelly as they told each other about themselves and moved smoothly from books to movies to local politics.
In a different situation, Keith might have believed this was a decent first date and that it was worth another try to see if there was any potential in a relationship with her.
But by the time they finished dessert and were sipping coffee at the end of the meal, he was ready for the evening to be over.
Kelly was fine. Absolutely fine. As fine as anyone could hope for on a blind date. But she wasn’t Serena, and that was evidently an insurmountable roadblock for him.
He wished it weren’t the case. He wished he was more rational and realistic in his approach to romance. He knew a lot of guys who woke up one morning and decided it was time to get married and start a family, then looked around at available options and just picked one. That would be so simple. Easy. Practical. But the fact was simply this.