The Mistake #4
He was on drugs! That was the only rational explanation Jordan could come up with. She was lying in bed, dissecting everything Tyler had done in the last few weeks and drugs were the conclusion she kept coming back to. It was the only thing that could explain his odd behavior.
Staring at her breasts.
Taking her to dinner. Twice.
Handing her the reins to do the presentation at a big business meeting.
Coming to her house in the middle of the night.
Why was he acting like that? And the question that was still bothering her was: Why did she kiss him?
She could still feel his lips on hers. He had left over two hours ago and she could still taste him, could still smell his cologne on her pajamas. Why did she kiss him?
The reason was simple. Because she wanted to.
Tyler had the most luscious bottom lip that had literally begged her to make out with it, so technically it was his fault.
It was also his fault that she now had a mini-crush on him.
She had just been going about her business, crunching numbers and meeting deadlines and then he had to go and be all cute and charismatic.
He was a different man when out of the office.
Their two not-a-dates then playing pool at Q’s.
He was a man who, despite his seriousness, was a lot of fun to be around.
He was incredibly entertaining and she found it so easy to be herself around him.
But kissing him sort of changed things. Kissing him made the crush not so mini.
Damn, he was a good kisser! Not sloppy. Just the right amount of tongue.
It was impossible not to melt into the strong arms of Tyler Evans.
He was made up of all different feels and textures.
Rough jaw. Soft lips. Hard chest. In other words: completely irresistible.
In the two years they had been working together, she had developed a certain comfortableness around him but after tonight, she thought maybe she was a little too comfortable.
She’d kissed him. His hands were on her bare skin, his body so close that she couldn’t stop herself. But that was a mistake. His reaction afterwards told her that it was all a big mistake.
This was too much confusion and complications for this time of the morning.
She kept replaying it over and over again in her mind.
He put his hands in her pants. He ignored his cell phone.
She kissed him. He kissed her back. He broke the kiss.
He started jabbering like a crazy person.
If it had stopped there, she would have been able to ignore it and brush it off as one of those weird mistakes people make.
The hey, do you remember the time I completely lost my fucking mind and made out with my boss kind of mistake.
If it had stopped there, she could have written it off as one of those moments of insanity.
But it didn’t end there. He tried to kiss her again, not once but twice.
So maybe he didn’t think it was a mistake.
But he left immediately, so maybe he did.
She felt silly because here she was, thinking about him non-stop and she shouldn’t be having those kind of thoughts about Tyler.
She reached for her cell phone, hoping that maybe a game of Candy Crush would help take her mind off things.
As she unlocked it, a better idea came to mind.
She decided to text her brother, Max. She needed some advice and she had a feeling he was still awake.
Max was an expert at unrequited affection. He was in love with his best friend, Danny, a woman he had known for six years. Six years and he was still trying to figure out if she had feelings for him. If anyone knew how to deal with mixed messages, it was Max.
Jordan: Can’t sleep?
Max: No. Why are you up?
Jordan: Obsessing over some guy. You?
Max: Worried about Danny. How did you know I was awake?
Jordan: Irish twins have the same psychic ability as normal twins.
Max: Or you’re just bored and looking for company at 2 in the morning.
Jordan: Yeah, that too :)
She waited for a few minutes and when he didn’t respond, she tossed her phone on the bed.
So much for asking for advice. She thought about sending him another text to resume the conversation but the fact that he was worried about Danny made her reconsider.
In early April, Danny’s life had been turned upside down.
Tragedy had struck her in the worst possible way and she was still recovering—or at least trying to.
There was obviously something more complicated going on that Max was not willing to discuss and she preferred to avoid that emotional mess altogether.
Jordan had discovered a long time ago that she had a severe case of foot-in-mouth syndrome, always saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. No matter how bad a situation was, she had the ability to make it worse. It was better to just end the whole conversation there.
She threw herself against the fluffy pillows, her mind immediately flooding with Tyler-thoughts again.
How was she going to face him on Monday?
This was Tyler. Melodramatic, the-world-is-going-to-end, Tyler.
He freaked out about everything and this would be no different.
All she could do was mentally prepare herself for Monday but preparing to see him again was not an easy task because she had no idea how he felt about the situation.
He was so unreadable. The only thing she knew for sure was that he thought she was…
tall. That wasn’t a lot to work with. She sighed, pulling the covers up to her neck.
Tyler was going to be Tyler and all she could do was…be Jordan.
* * * * *
The next evening, Jordan sprawled her legs out on a soft, thick blanket and stared up at the sky.
Roscoe made himself comfortable at her feet while Gemma and Neil bickered inside about what toppings they should have on their home-made pizza.
Neil was trying to become a vegetarian, but Gemma insisted that he’d had more sausage in his mouth in the last month than most people could stomach in a lifetime.
“There’s no talking to her,” Neil muttered irritably as he stepped out of the kitchen into the backyard.
“She makes a valid argument, though,” Jordan said as he threw himself down on the blanket beside her. “Why do you want to become a vegetarian anyway? The only vegetable you like is potato.”
“I watched a documentary. It’s not right that these animals die just so we can eat.”
Jordan smiled. Neil was a sensitive soul who was easily influenced by whatever garbage he saw on television.
Just a few months ago he had sworn off certain designer clothes because of another documentary he’d watched about the poor factory working conditions of these labels. Bleeding hearts of the world unite.
His resolutions to give up anything never lasted, though, because Neil just so happened to be friends with the two most insensitive females on the planet.
“Cows were meant to be eaten, Neilums,” Gemma said, stepping outside as well, the warm summer breeze blowing through her strawberry-blonde hair.
“They can’t even run – well, at least I’ve never seen one run, so they wouldn’t last one day out in the wild.
Besides, if we don’t eat them, then they died for nothing.
I don’t know about you, but I can’t have that kind of guilt on my conscience. ”
She set the hot, freshly-made pizza down on the blanket in front of them and sat down. The pizza was made for carnivores, topped with every kind of meat—beef, chicken and slices of salami.
“I guess you’re right,” he said with a shrug as he reached for a slice.
See? Easily influenced.
Jordan sat up and reached over him to get a slice as well, strings of cheese stretching between her and the plate.
Neil sighed and licked his fingers. “You know you’re getting old when it’s a Friday night and the Fourth of July and we’re sitting at home eating pizza.”
“Speak for yourself,” Jordan said. “I can’t think of anything better than chilling with my two besties.”
“I sure can,” Gemma added. “And it involves a very fuckable Mister Tyler Evans. The things I would do to that man.” She moaned, almost losing herself in the fantasy. “Neilums, did Jordan ever tell you that her boss is an absolute hottie?”
Jordan groaned inwardly. And so it starts. Actually it never ended. Tyler-thoughts had been playing on her mind since last night and all she wanted tonight was a quiet evening with her friends while they watched the fireworks. Her distraction was obviously not working.
“Holding out on us again, Jordan?” The way Neil asked it sounded more like an accusation than a question. “First your brothers and now your boss?”
She rolled her eyes. “In my defense, I have never seen any of my brothers as hot. They’re my brothers! And I didn’t think Tyler was hot either…” She allowed her words to trail off because she didn’t want to admit it out loud that her eyes had taken an entirely different view of her boss recently.
“Well, if you don’t want him,” Gemma said, “feel free to send him my way. I would saddle up that pony and take him out for a ride.”
Neil nudged her playfully and chuckled as he took another bite of pizza. “You’re filthy.”
“I only speak the truth. He’s a total panty-dropper and I am more than happy to drop mine.”
Jordan silently watched as her friends continued their very graphic discussion about Tyler.
“Ass?” Neil asked.
“Tight enough to turn a chunk of coal into a diamond.”
“Hands?”
“Big! And you know what that means.”
“I do. Mouth?”
“The kind you want all over your body.”
“He sounds perfect,” Neil said, looking over at Jordan again with accusatory eyes. “You selfish—”
“I’m not sure he’s perfect,” Gemma cut in, saving Jordan from the verbal attack he was about to unleash. “I think he may be asexual.”
This conversation was becoming too much for even Roscoe to deal with. He stood up and trotted inside and Jordan wished she could do the same.
Neil’s head whipped back to face Gemma as she continued with her explanation. “So you know that cocktail dress you bought for her last year after she broke up with douche-face?”
He nodded. “The man-eater, I call it.”
“Yes, she was wearing the man-eater and he asked her to change. Just spun her around and pushed her back into her bedroom. Do you know how hot she looks in that dress?”
“I am well aware. It is the reason why I bought it for her after all.” He grinned as if he had won a small victory. “I’m sorry to have to break the news to you, ladies, but I have more of a chance with him than either of you.”
“He’s not gay, Neil,” Jordan said quickly.
“Of course, he is, doll. Any straight man who saw your tits in that dress would be pushing you into your bedroom for a different reason. Just give him my number, Jordan. Tell him I can make his dreams come true.”
“He’s not gay!” She snickered and pushed him hard enough for his shoulder to hit against Gemma’s. “I definitely felt a very straight reaction while we were making out last night.”
She pulled her lips in to stop a smile and shut her eyes because if she had to see their faces, she wouldn’t be able to stop her giggles. She heard dramatic gasps followed by several seconds of complete silence.
“Shut up!” Neil said, sounding utterly disbelieving.
“You bitch!” Gemma hurled herself at Jordan right over Neil’s lap, toppled her onto the blanket, and started tickling. “You horndog! You fucking slut! Tell us everything!”
It didn’t take long for Neil to join in as well.
“Okay!” Jordan shouted between squeals of laughter. “I’ll talk! I’ll talk!”
They let her up and she took a few moments to catch her breath before she gave them a quick run-down of everything that had happened from their first dinner to the kiss last night.
“It was amazing,” she whispered. “And now I can’t stop thinking about him and he probably wants to forget the whole thing. ”
Neil put his arm around her, understanding her plight without her having to explain it further. She was feeling a little anti-climatic now. The excitement of re-living the kiss had passed and she was back to being dejected.
“Does he have a twin brother?” Neil asked solemnly, still rubbing her shoulder. “I think I at least deserve a chance with the twin brother.”
That at least got a smile out of her. “No twin brother, either.”
Neil dropped down on the blanket and clasped his hands behind his head. “So now there’s a reason for both of us to be depressed.”
“You know he grabbed my ass?” Jordan asked, turning her head back slightly to look at him.
He shook his head with disgust. “The nerve.”
“Maybe I’m just being sentimental, but that shit means something. You don’t de-romanticize an ass-grab and run off.”
“Fucking disrespectful if you ask me.”
Although Jordan laughed, Gemma must have seen the hint of sadness beneath it.
“You’ve got a major thing for this guy,” Gemma stated. “And not a I-want-your-hot-sweaty-body-on-top-of-mine-humping-my-brains-out kind of thing. It’s more of a… let’s-see-where-this-leads-and-maybe-in-the-future-we-could-have-babies-together kind of thing.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Jordan replied, irritated with herself and her feelings.
“But I like him…and I shouldn’t. I don’t even know why I like him.
He’s so weird and he ran off yesterday like he couldn’t be around me for one more second.
Monday’s gonna be so awkward. Why do I always end up liking the guy who doesn’t like me back? ”
Fireworks went off above them, blazing the night sky with an array of different colors.
“At least Tyler is a big step up from douche-face,” Gemma offered helpfully, green and yellow lights illuminating her skin.
Jordan sighed and cuddled up against Neil.
She used his right arm as a pillow and Gemma did the same on his left.
She looked over his chest at her friend and tried to smile.
“I think Tyler is actually worse. Brian was a douche but at least I knew what his intentions were. I still don’t know why Tyler asked me out to dinner in the first place. ”