Seven #4
But I led her out beside her grandparents, had her put her hand on my shoulder, put a hand on her waist, and showed her simple steps before asking her to follow my lead.
In twenty minutes, we were moving pretty well.
There was no glide, but she was thrilled.
When I dipped her, there was applause. She blushed bright red, but it was easy to see the happy there too.
When I was getting some water afterward, Hayes came up beside me.
“Hey,” I said, smiling at him.
“Okay, so now that you’ve completely charmed my family, what’s your plan here?”
“I’m sorry?”
“David just asked me how serious it was with us because he’d really like to ask you out.”
“What about Derek?”
“Why are you asking that?”
I yawned. “I dunno. Seemed polite.”
“Well,” he said, his voice lowering as he stepped closer, his eyes all over my face, “apparently, Derek’s appeal has waned now that he’s met you.”
“Huh.”
“I told him if anyone in this family is dating you, it’s going to be me.”
“What happened with your divorce?”
“Did you hear what I said?”
“Yep. Tell me about the divorce.”
“Fine, what do you want to know?”
“You got a divorce because you figured out that you weren’t bi, huh? You were just gay.”
He just stared at me before he reached out and put a hand on the side of my neck.
“And you were scared to come out because David already was and you were worried that two gay sons would freak the folks out since he’d had kind of a rough time with them at first.”
“How do you—”
“But now they’re fine with it. They just want you to be happy, and they see that David’s okay, so you will be too.”
“Jory—”
“So, is that it? Or is there more to the divorce drama?”
“Jory,” he said after a long silence, “how did you get all of … who told you what … just from being here tonight?”
“I ask a lot of questions,” I told him. “So, all your secrets might be stuff you’re keeping out of the tabloids, but it’s pretty tame in my world.”
“Oh, yeah? You’re a badass, are you?” He asked a taunting question, but his tone was nowhere near that. In fact, his voice was low and deep as his thumb slid up under my chin.
I took a step back out of his grip. He was a nice man, and his brother was nice, too, but I didn’t do gentle, sweet, easygoing guys. Only growling alpha males did it for me. I was more likely to sleep with Cristo Liron than—
“Crap.” I jolted, realizing that my fantasies were starting to flesh themselves out.
“Jory?”
“I gotta go,” I told him, turning to jog through the living room to the coat closet in the foyer.
As I pulled on my jacket, Hayes stepped in front of me, blocking me in.
“What are you doing?”
“I do this sometimes,” I told him, taking a breath. “I give people the wrong impression.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that I can’t date you or your brother.
And your brother is looking for someone who gets that his kids are great, not me specifically.
And you’re lookin’ for the one, and that’s not me either.
I would, however, mention to the people at Synergy that you’re gay ’cause, as far as I know, they’re looking for a woman for you. ”
“What?” He was trying to absorb everything I’d said at once.
“Synergy,” I reiterated, talking slow, “is looking for the woman of your dreams. Tell them you’re looking for Prince Charming instead.”
“Jory—”
“I would get on that kinda quickly.”
His mouth opened as I stepped around him and walked out the front door.
On the porch, I could breathe, and then I realized I was in Lake Forest. I had to think.
“Jory,” Hayes said as he came up behind me.
But my brain was consumed with the logistics of getting home as I started across the driveway.
“Jory!”
I stopped and waited.
He moved fast around in front of me, barring my path. “Are you just going to leave and not say goodbye to my family and just—”
“Tell them I had a family emergency, but, Hayes …” I sighed deeply. “It’s not fair for me to spend a second longer here. What’s the point of them liking me? We’re not gonna be friends. If I were single, we could date, but—”
“You’re not single?”
I held up my left hand for him. “Do you see the ring? I’m married.”
“To who?” He was aghast.
“Sam Kage. He’s a homicide detective.”
“Where is he?”
“Working undercover.”
“I—”
“I’ll see you,” I said, turning to walk quickly down the driveway.
On the street, I realized I had no earthly idea where I was or how to get home.
I walked down one street and then another and finally turned onto a street where there was some traffic and restaurants.
Crossing it, I walked into the lobby of an inn and asked the concierge on duty where I could get a cab back to Chicago.
“You know that’s gonna cost you, like, a million dollars, right?” she pointed out.
But I deserved to learn a lesson for my stupidity.
Dane was always telling me the things I couldn’t and shouldn’t do with Sam being gone, and I finally understood what he was saying.
I was not a catch or a prize, but I had some good qualities, and maybe someone other than Sam Kage would want to keep me if I offered.
The thing was, I wasn’t offering, so to make it seem as though I were was not fair.
“Yeah, I know.” I smiled at the nice lady. “That’s okay.”
She shrugged and called me a cab.