CHAPTER 2
brYNN
“That guy is so hot,” Shelby squeals. “I can’t believe he asked you out. No, wait. I can’t believe you even hesitated to say yes! What were you thinking, girl?”
My cheeks flush, and my gaze falls to the floor.
Everything happened so fast that I really haven’t had time to stop and consider it all.
Instead, I keep wiping the counter, scrubbing off imaginary stains and crumbs, giving myself a minute to settle down.
I glance at the table in the corner, but see that Mr Black-Coffee-PI is gone, and I feel a slight pang of disappointment.
“Brynn?”
I shake my head and turn to Shelby. “What?”
She laughs. “Already daydreaming about that guy naked, huh?”
“Yeah, something like that,” I lie.
The business card with his cell phone number on it is sitting on the counter. Shelby snatches it up with a giggle.
“Cole Dosset,” she says and frowns. “What is talent acquisition?”
“He said he worked in the casting department for a couple of reality shows or something.”
Shelby squeals again and jumps up and down. “Is he going to put you in a reality show?”
“Bite your tongue. I’d do porn before I’d do reality television.”
“Rawr,” she teases.
As the last customers filter out of the shop, I snatch the card back and slip it into the pocket of my half-apron, then turn away. Shelby, though, won’t leave me alone. She walks right behind me.
“Seriously, the guy was gorgeous,” she says again. “But you acted like you weren’t interested. Why?”
The truth is, I told him no twice before Shelby strolled up to the counter, but Cole wouldn’t stop asking.
I only said yes to get him to leave. I certainly don’t have any intention of calling him.
I’ve never had good experiences with dating and romance.
My last boyfriend broke up with me because I wouldn’t sleep with him.
He didn’t seem to understand it’s my choice to make. Not his.
To be honest, I’ve never had a good experience with men.
Most are disappointing. So, I’ve pretty much opted out of dating, choosing to focus on my education instead.
I’m planning to be a child psychologist, and my course load and training are both pretty demanding.
And it’s not like I have a lot of time for boys anyway.
“He was gorgeous, girl,” Shelby says, tapping me on the arm.
“Maybe you should go out with him.”
“Give me his card, and I’ll give him a call.”
I laugh and hand his card over. “Sure thing.” I hold it out over the trash can. Shelby stares at it for a moment, a nervous giggle spills from her mouth before she slaps my hand away. I drop the card, and it drops straight down into the trash.
“He didn’t ask me out,” she says. “He asked you out.”
I give her a look. Shelby and I have been friends since we were kids, and she’s always been all bark, no bite.
She poses like she’s this worldly, experienced, sex vixen, but the truth is, she’s as shy around guys as I am.
Shelby could have any guy she wanted. She’s gorgeous.
She’s intelligent. And she’s a lot more outgoing than I’ve ever been.
In a lot of ways, I’m jealous of her and the attention she gets.
I feel absolutely ordinary next to her. Then again, I feel ordinary anyway.
But it’s ten times worse when I’m with Shelby, and the guys flock to her like bees to honey.
“So? What are you going to wear on your big date?” she asks. “We have to make sure you’re on point. I mean, he works in TV and all, so—”
“I’m not going out with him.”
“Babe, you need to go out with him.”
“Why?”
“Because you haven’t been out with anybody in like a thousand years,” she says. “It’s time you go out and have some fun.”
“I have fun.”
“That’s debatable,” she snaps. “But if nothing else, you need to get laid.”
“Shelby!” I say as a laugh sprays from my mouth.
She grins. “Babe, if you don’t use it, eventually it’s just going to clam up from disuse. Game over!”
“Oh my God, you are awful.”
“Yeah, but you love me.”
“Do I, though?”
“Yes, you do,” she chirps. “But seriously, you should go out with him.”
“I don’t know. Not feelin’ it, to be honest”
“Babe, he’s gorgeous.”
“You know I don’t care about that stuff.”
“I know. But it doesn’t hurt,” she says with a wink.
A smirk touches my lips, and I shake my head. “I’m not going out with him.”
“Brynn, you seriously need to get out and have some fun,” she says. “You need the company of a good-looking man, if only for a night.”
“Maybe you should take your own advice.”
“I do just fine on my own, thank you,” she says. “But we’re also not talking about me. We’re talking about you here, so stay on topic.”
“That’s convenient,” I say with a laugh.
“I’m trying to help you.”
“If you wanted to help me, you wouldn’t be trying to fob me off on skeevy guys.”
Her eyebrows shoot up. “Skeevy? He was wearing Armani.”
“Even skeevy guys wear Armani. In fact, I’d say most guys who wear Armani are skeevy.”
She laughs. “That just goes to show how much you need to get out in the world and spread your wings a little bit. Or maybe just your legs.”
I shriek with laughter and slap her shoulder. “Oh my God! Shut up!”
“You know I love you, right?”
“Of course I do. Why? What are you about to do?”
Shelby dashes back to the trash can, fishes out the card, then runs around the counter, laughing like a lunatic.
I gape at her. “What are you doing?”
She pulls her cell phone out of her pocket, and it’s only then that I realize what she’s doing. I shriek and run around the counter, but still giggling like a maniac, she dances around the tables, keeping them between us as she dials the number.
“Shelby, stop!”
She winks at me and laughs as she presses the phone to her ear.
“Shelby!”
“Hey, Cole, this is Brynn from the coffee shop,” she says, trying to stifle her giggling. “I wanted to take you up on your offer to go out. Why don’t you swing by the coffee shop tomorrow around six and pick me up? Great. Thanks. See you tomorrow.”
She disconnects the call, my heart is in my throat, and my stomach’s turning somersaults inside of me. I swallow hard, trying to rid myself of the lump in my throat.
“Shelby—”
“You are going to thank me later, babe,” she says. “Trust me. After a nice evening out and some hopefully mind-blowing, world-class boning, you will thank me.”
“I hate you so much.”
“You don’t,” she says, then winks. “And I dare say, after tomorrow night, when you’re not able to walk right for a week, you’re going to love me even more.”
I sigh and shake my head. Shelby thinks she’s helping me and looking out for what she believes I need.
But there is no way in hell I’m going on that date tomorrow.