Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 56603 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 226(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56603 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 226(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
I was going to have to explain about the dumb blind date that Jaelyn had set me up on and hope that he'd understand I wasn't interested in some other guy. I would’ve much preferred to have been going out on a date with Tyler tonight, and my hope was he’d understand the situation. It’d be super difficult to refrain from strangling Jaelyn if a blind date I hadn’t wanted to go on in the first place ruined my chances with Tyler.
I was pondering the possibility of talking him into getting out of here before my blind date showed up as I moved closer. I didn’t notice what he was wearing until I came up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. A button-down shirt the same shade as his eyes. Feeling immensely relieved, I asked, “Hey, stranger. Any chance you’re the blind date I’m supposed to meet tonight?”
“That’s a loaded question if I ever heard one.” His blue eyes flared with heat as his gaze drifted down my body. “If I wasn’t the guy Rand had picked to go out with you, I’d be forced to lie my ass off right about now. There’s no way in hell I’d be able to sit by and watch some lucky bastard sit down to dinner with you.”
His flash of jealousy was more than flattering, but it was also a touch ironic, considering he was here to meet a blind date just like I was. “No worries there. Since I couldn’t call to cancel, and Jaelyn has been ignoring my calls, I showed up to let the guy down easy before heading home.”
“My plan was to let whoever they’d set me up with know that the situation had changed, and I was now a taken man.” He tapped the menu sitting on the bar in front of him. “Then I was going to place a carryout order and bring dinner over to your place.”
“I was going to call you once I got there,” I admitted with a smile, happy to know he didn’t want to be set up on a date with someone else any more than I did.
He grinned back at me with a gleam in his blue eyes. “I would’ve done the same before showing up at your door unexpectedly, but you haven’t given me your number yet.”
I’d been in such a rush to make it to the hospital for my clinicals after he’d stitched me up that it hadn’t even occurred to me. Pulling my phone out of my purse, I found his contact information—I’d added his information before I’d left my apartment since I’d been nervous about losing it—and typed out a quick text to him. His grin widened when his phone beeped with my message. “Problem solved.”
“I’m good like that,” I bragged just as my stomach let out a loud growl.
“So am I.” He stood and held his hand out to me. “The least we can do is stay for dinner since Rand and Jaelyn went to the trouble of setting us up on a date. Unless you’d prefer to go with my original plan and grab a to-go order to eat at your place?”
Sliding my palm against his, I considered both options. I still looked forward to the moment that I could slip into my pajamas, but the lure of a real date with Tyler was too strong to resist. “I’d love to stay for dinner.”
5
Tyler
The relief I’d felt when I realized I was the guy Mia had been here to meet was huge. Rand must’ve been more off his game than I realized to have not mentioned that vital piece of information when he’d asked me to stitch up Mia’s leg. Or maybe he just liked fucking with me even more than I knew. Either way, I’d gotten exactly what I’d wanted ever since I first saw her—a date with Mia.
With my hand at the small of Mia’s back as I guided her to our table, I felt like the luckiest bastard in the place. Spending time with Mia was well worth the shit Rand was going to shovel my way about how badly I tried to get out of this blind date.
Mia must've been thinking something along the same lines because as soon as we were seated, she laughed and said, “Jaelyn is going to give me heck for the message I left her when I first got here.”
“You won't be alone in that,” I reassured her. “I was kind of a dick to Rand about the whole thing, too.”
After scanning the menu to choose her meal and giving the hovering waitress her order along with the drinks, Mia added, “In Jaelyn’s defense, I get why she avoided my calls all day. Not only does she have a lot going on right now, but she knows my stance on dating.”