Chapter 12—Interference

Jared had dreamed about Steph last night, and his dream had been X-rated.

It had been so real, so full of passion, so fucking incredible that he couldn’t think of anything else. He woke to morning wood and a vivid vision of blue eyes full of desire and pink lips he could taste.

He was a demon during practice usually, but this morning he’d been too preoccupied by Steph and his own carnal needs. He wanted to date her, no one else. He’d give her all the time she needed to see how good they could be together. He’d never push her into something she wasn’t ready for, but he could sure as hell hope she’d be ready sooner than later.

After lunch, he texted Steph.

Thinking of you.

He waited. A few seconds later, his phone pinged.

Thinking of you too.

He grinned like an idiot. Friends, hell. They were more than that. If only he could get the sisters to cooperate and give him the green light.

Dinner tonight? We can talk about this friends thing.

Okay. Will you be on time?

He laughed. I’ll try.

A half-hour later, he was ringing the doorbell at the McIntyre mansion. Giles opened the door and bowed low. If he was surprised to see Jared, he didn’t show it.

“Are Agnes or Iona available?”

Giles perused Jared as if assessing his worthiness. He must have passed muster, because the butler stood back and gestured for him to enter. “Both ladies of the house will be pleased to see you. Please wait in the parlor, and I’ll inform them you’re present.”

“Uh, thanks.” Jared followed Giles to the parlor and took a seat on a Victorian couch, which was about as comfortable as sitting in the Sin Bin. The room was large, like all the other rooms he’d seen in this house, with fussy old wallpaper and big, thick drapes.

About twenty minutes later, Agnes and Iona entered the room, Giles on their heels with a tray of appetizers and tea. Jared’s stomach rumbled as tried to recall the last time he’d eaten. He’d had breakfast early this a.m., worked out, practiced, and skipped lunch. No wonder he was hungry.

Arching a brow, Agnes handed him a china plate. He loaded up on the bite-sized munchies, while the ladies poured tea.

“To what do we owe the pleasure of this visit?” Agnes asked.

“You’re aware my last date didn’t show either.”

The ladies exchanged looks with each other. “Yes, dear, what a shame,” Agnes said. She gave him a pointed glare. “Were you late again?”

“What? Steph promised she wouldn’t tell.”

“Oh, she didn’t.” Iona cackled as if he’d said the funniest thing she’d ever heard.

“Then who— Oh, never mind. I don’t want to know.”

“We’re sorry you’re having such bad luck with matches.” Agnes didn’t look sorry, and neither did Iona. They looked amused, like the cats who had eaten a pet shop full of canaries.

“Millennials. They’re all flakes. Present company excluded, of course,” Iona said.

“We have others in mind,” Agnes said. “Sometimes you have to wade through a few undesirables before you find the desirable one.”

“I never met them,” Jared said. “How do I know if they’re undesirable?”

“They are, or they’d have shown up.” Iona frowned at him as if he were daft and too dense to get it.

“Let me get to the reason for my visit. I’m going to make this easy on you. I’ve found my match.”

Again, that look that spoke volumes between them but said nothing to him other than they appeared to have expected this news—but how could they have?

“And that would be?” Agnes asked primly.

“I want your permission to date Steph without it affecting her employment. I’m very attracted to her.”

“She signed the paper, Jared,” Iona pointed out.

“Attracted? That’s all?” Agnes seemed unimpressed.

“Okay, I’m more than attracted,” Jared said. “I’m crazy about her. I’m falling in love with her. I don’t want anyone else but her.” He looked from one to the other and couldn’t tell if they were pleased or ready to have him buried in the backyard.

The sisters chortled in delight at some private joke, but at least they weren’t pissed.

“You think you’re falling in love with her?” Agnes asked.

“Okay, I know I am. And if you’re both as clairvoyant as you claim, you’d know all this without me telling you.”

“What makes you think we don’t?” Iona said.

Jared’s mouth dropped open as the entire scheme became crystal-clear. He’d been played, and so had Steph, by two geriatric matchmakers.

“You knew? You both knew? This was all a setup. There weren’t any other dates.”

Iona turned to Agnes. “He’s not as dense as I thought he was.”

“You threw Steph and I together because you knew, but why the subterfuge? Why make her feel guilty for going against your rules? You know she’s a rule follower. Why lead me to believe you have the perfect match?”

“We did,” Agnes said. “And Steph is fragile yet strong. She needed to get to know you without the pressure of a relationship beyond friends. She needed to be comfortable with you, learn to trust you, see that not all men are rogues and scoundrels, and I don’t mean that in a good way.”

“If she’d known she was your match, she’d have run like hell,” Iona added. “She had to find it out in her own time and her own way.”

“You’re both connivers,” Jared said. “You knew all along.”

They both shrugged innocently.

“So we have your blessing?”

“One hundred percent,” Agnes said, “but if you hurt her, you’ll answer to us.”

Jared could only imagine. “I’ll be good to her.” He grinned, snagged a few more appetizers, and stuffed them in his mouth. Once he finished chewing, he stood and headed for the door. He paused with his hand on the brass doorknob. “Thank you.”

He left before they could respond and hurried to his car. He had a date to get ready for a woman to win over.

* * * *

Steph should’ve said no. She knew better, but she kept tempting fate.

She couldn’t date a client. She tried to justify her actions by telling herself she wasn’t going on a date. They were friends going to dinner.

Who was she kidding? Jared didn’t want to be just friends. He was just playing along to keep her from panicking.

The man attracted her like a bumblebee to a cherry tree. Just one night. One date. One moment to be normal. She wasn’t asking much. She wanted to be with Jared, to have the entire date experience, from the moment he picked her up to the moment they said good night. She wanted all the stuff in between. She even wanted—

Steph swallowed. She wanted that. She’d been thinking of nothing but for a while now, and she was ready to have sex with someone who did the things Jared did to her with just a smile. Imagine what more he could do. She shivered as she recalled the sensation of his mouth on her nipples. She wanted to feel that again—and more.

She wasn’t exactly Cinderella going to the ball, and she didn’t have a fairy godmother or a ball gown, but she’d make do.

Just one night, and once the night was over, she’d go back to being just Steph, and that would be that. No more dates with a rich, hot guy who could have any woman he wanted. No more fantasies about said guy. Okay, maybe she’d keep those fantasies. She’d allow herself that much.

She was enough of a realist to acknowledge dating Jared on a regular basis was unattainable. Even beyond the issue with her job, she’d danced for some of his teammates. Eventually, they’d recognize her. She couldn’t stand the humiliation, nor could she bear the betrayal she was certain she’d see in Jared’s eyes. He thought she was a good girl. Instead, she was a hot mess with an even messier history, and one she preferred to keep in the past and out of her present.

She didn’t know how she’d accomplish such a feat, but for now, she’d settle for taking her one night, and face the consequences afterward.

Jared took her to a small Italian bistro in the Fremont district of Seattle. Something was different about him tonight, and she wasn’t sure what was going on, but she went with it. Tonight was her night. She’d be daring and bold and so not the person she’d been before.

They ate and talked for what seemed like hours.

Jared told her about his childhood in Minnesota, the cold winters skating on a nearby pond, the summers on the lake. It all sounded so normal, and different from her childhood.

“What was your favorite childhood movie?” Jared asked during a lull in the conversation.

“I don’t have one.”

“Then name a few you liked.”

“I never watched movies as a child.”

“Never?” He seemed incredulous.

“No. My father frowned on TV and movies. He felt our time was better spent reading the Bible in the evenings and discussing passages.”

“Really?”

“I didn’t mind. My father had a way of making it interesting. He was quite the entertainer and had a great sense of humor.”

“You’re very special,” he said gently, and reached for her hand. She tried to pull it away, but he tightened his grip just enough to deter her. Her gaze fell to their interlocked fingers, and her entire body sang with joy. She had butterflies in her stomach fluttering around like it was springtime and the flowers were in bloom. Next thing she knew, she’d be bursting out in song.

“I have a confession,” he said after they finished a yummy tiramisu and were having a sweet after-dinner drink.

“What is that?” Steph asked. He didn’t appear overly disturbed by whatever this confession was. In fact, he seemed amused.

“I stopped by the McIntyre mansion this afternoon.” He met her gaze. His eyes were twinkling. This was good news, whatever it was. Her pounding heart slowed somewhat.

He had her full attention now. “You did? Why?”

“I wanted to ask their permission to date you.”

Steph’s heart attempted to jettison itself out of her chest. “What—what did they say?”

He chuckled. “Well, that’s the funny part of all this. We’ve been had.”

“Had? As in—?”

“Played. Bamboozled. Hoodwinked.”

“How so?”

“Steph, I was never stood up because the only match they had for me was you.”

She was confused. His words weren’t making a lick of sense. “I don’t understand.”

“They contrived everything to throw us together. If you’d been told up front that you were my match, what would you have done?”

She thought about his question for a moment. “I’d have run.”

“Exactly. They’re cleverer than we give them credit for. We started out as friends. No pressure on you or me, and this thing between us grew naturally until neither of us could deny our feelings anymore. At least, I can’t. What about you?” He reached for her hands across the table and held them tightly.

“This is all too much.”

“Steph, I’m crazy about you. Fucking nuts. Looney tunes. I think about you all the time. I want you so badly it’s painful, but a good kind of pain. When I’m with you, my entire world is so much brighter, and I can’t imagine not having you in my life.”

She listened to his words, absorbed them, mulled them over in her mind. Finally, she squeezed his hands. “I feel the same way.”

He grinned from ear to ear, both dimples showing. She grinned back.

“So we can date?” she asked.

“Oh, yeah, the form was bullshit to make you feel comfortable and safe around me.”

“I do feel comfortable and safe around you.”

“I hope so, because I’d never purposely hurt you, Steph, emotionally or physically.”

She believed him so very much. He was everything she’d ever wished for. He was her dream come true. And she wanted so much more—

“And Jared?”

“Yeah?”

“I want you too. Why don’t you pay the bill, and I’ll show you how much?”

She’d never been so sure of anything in her life, and she’d prove it to him.