What?! Another Mistake #4
Another message came through. And then another and another. That could only be Gemma. She was the only person who would send five consecutive messages when one would be sufficient. Jordan quickly grabbed her phone for no other reason than to stop the incessant beeping.
The first one was a meme of a man literally throwing a man at another man and the caption read: Have you ever been so angry that you hit a motherfucker with another motherfucker?
Gemma: I’m so angry!!!
Gemma: And bored!
Gemma: Need someone to talk to.
Gemma: Just spent the last half hour chatting up a super-hottie.
Gemma: Then Neil came in and stole him.
Gemma then sent her a picture of Neil playing tonsil hockey with this guy and she couldn’t help but smile.
Jordan: He’s pretty cute. Sorry for your loss.
Jordan: I’m sure someone else will come along
Gemma: I really thought this guy was the one
Gemma: Well…at least for tonight :)
Gemma: Wat R U doin?
Jordan: Working
Gemma: So lame!
Gemma: We’re going out as soon as you get back home!
Gemma: Get you some dick!
Jordan: Sure. Sounds like fun. The going out part. Not the dick part.
Jordan: Okay, maybe the dick part too :)
Gemma: We won’t take Neil (the slut!). He’ll ruin it for both of us
Jordan giggled but before she could respond she heard a knock at the door. She tossed the phone on the bed and walked across the small room to open the door.
Oh!
Dear!
God!
No Fucking Way!
She didn’t know if her jaw had dropped, but it definitely felt like her mouth was hanging open. Tyler stood on the other side wearing running shorts and a sleeveless black vest. His brown hair was damp and disheveled. His arms were just… And his chest was so… God, he was hot!
Literally.
Figuratively.
Physically.
Just. So. Fucking. HOT!
His eyes were taking her in as well. He had the same look on his face as he did when he showed up on her doorstep at eleven o’ clock at night, the same look of shock.
She could understand why. Just like that night, tonight she was also a total mess and she suddenly felt very self-conscious.
Her hair was untidy. Her shirt was creased.
Her shorts were way too short. There was a tiny consolation. At least she’d waxed her legs.
Why did he have to keep showing up unannounced? He could at least give a girl some warning. She ran a quick hand over her hair as an attempt to tame some of the rebel strands, reminding herself over and over again that Tyler wasn’t the type to judge.
“Hi,” he said.
She took a few moments to collect herself before she spoke. “Hi.”
“So I was out running—”
“I see that.” It definitely wasn’t something she could have missed.
“And on my way back I thought I’d get us some real food.”
He dangled the brown paper bag displaying those beautiful golden arches and she wanted to throw herself at him.
“Oh, please say that you got me a Big Mac.”
“Jordan, we have spent enough late nights at the office for me to know your preference. Of course I got you a Big Mac.” He smiled a heart-stopping smile.
“And for the woman who eats ice-cream for breakfast, I got this too. I know it must have been difficult to go without it for two days.” He reached into the bag and took out an Oreo McFlurry and she had to resist every urge to grab him and shower him with kisses.
“May I come in?” he asked.
She immediately stepped aside and allowed him to enter, the smell of beef and cheese wafting to her nostrils.
She shifted her laptop to the small desk beside the bed to make room for the takeout.
Tyler sat down on the foot side of the bed while she made herself comfortable against the headboard.
She stretched out on the bed and pulled a pillow over her bare legs so that she wouldn’t feel so exposed.
It was a quiet dinner. Both of them were too hungry to talk much. The burgers and fries were polished off in a matter of minutes.
“Thanks, Tyler,” she said, swallowing her last bite. “That was the best dinner ever.”
“The calories were completely counter-productive to my run, but yes, that was awesome.”
Her phone beeped beside her a few times. She read the messages and groaned.
“Bad news?” he asked.
“No, it’s just Gemma. She says she saw my ex…Brian and his girlfriend, and she wants my blessing before she keys his car. She’s such a good friend. She’ll do it whether I give my blessing or not.”
“I don’t mean to pry, but whatever happened to him? He used to come to the office all the time and then he just fell off the face of the earth.”
Jordan shrugged as she reached for her McFlurry.
“It was destined for failure from the beginning. We were never compatible. I don’t even know why I let it carry on for as long as it did…
because he was a prick!” She knew she shouldn’t be telling her boss these things, but for some reason, after last night, she felt comfortable to talk to him openly.
She also wanted to vent, let out all her aggression for Brian, the douche-face.
And, really, if he didn’t want to know, he shouldn’t have asked.
“So firstly, he was shorter than me. I know I’m an…
inconvenient height, so I’ve made peace with the fact that about eighty percent of the guys I date will be shorter than me, but he made it such as issue.
All of sudden, I’m not allowed to wear heels anymore and we can’t walk side by side in public. ”
“That’s a little over-the-top.”
He took the McFlurry from her hand, ate a spoonful, and handed it back to her.
She tried not to get too distracted by the intimacy of what he’d just done and continued with her story.
“I know! Then he tells me he’s not ready for a committed relationship and yet he was so damn clingy!
” She leaned forward, keeping the pillow on her legs as she crossed them, and devoured more ice-cream.
“He was at the office every day, coming to my house every day and all he ever spoke about was himself. It was always about how he came top of his class at law school and how he was the youngest junior partner at the firm. He never bothered to get to know me. He was just all up in my Kool-Ade without even knowing the flavor.”
“Is that a real saying? I-I don’t think that’s a real saying.”
“It is. Then he tells me that I’m a workaholic, which I suppose is partially true, but he had a great career, so why couldn’t I?
He said I needed to get my priorities straight, the same guy who told me he wasn’t ready for commitment.
And a week later, he breaks up with me over TEXT, saying that he found himself a woman who knows how to put her man first. I mean…
what the ever-loving fuck?! Have you ever heard anything more ridiculous? ”
He was stunned into silence for a short while and once again she didn’t know if it was because of the unintentional slip of a curse word.
She was about to apologize for it but then he laughed, that cute little laugh where his nose crinkled a bit.
Something must have gotten lost in translation, because she had never found that story funny.
Maybe it was the way she told it, but she still couldn’t find it the least bit amusing.
“So glad you enjoyed that,” she muttered sarcastically.
His laughter died down, but his smile didn’t disappear. “Jordan, did you ever stop to think that maybe this guy was intimidated by you?”
She shook her head. “No. I can safely say the thought never crossed my mind. Tyler, I was voted most awkward teenager at my high school. I am a nerd to my very core. Nobody finds that intimidating.”
“You’re not a teenager anymore,” he said softly.
“Now you run the finance department of a billion-dollar company. You’re smart, you’re independent, you earn much more than the market average – at some point you should thank your boss for that.
A lot of men would find all of that extremely intimidating.
Some guys feel threatened by a successful woman…
And I guess it doesn’t help that you’re also…
” He cleared his throat awkwardly. “…kinda pretty.” He leaned forward and slowly took her glasses off her face.
“Maybe even bordering on…incredibly beautiful.”
Those words were so sincere, so completely inappropriate considering the circumstances and the deal they’d made just two days ago. She wanted to scream, punch him in the face and scream some more. She was so tired of all these mixed messages.
The close proximity of his body was unnerving.
She wanted to kiss him, just throw herself at him and play out every one of the erotic fantasies she’d had about him over the last week.
He wanted to kiss her, too. She could see it.
She could feel it. The air was tense and electric and she wanted him out of her room before she did something stupid.
Their first kiss had ended up being a colossal slap of rejection and she wasn’t prepared to risk making herself a fool again.
She hated the fact that this man had the ability to get her so twisted and up-tight.
“Why did you have dinner with me last night?” she asked, an edge of anger in her tone. “Why are you in my room right now?”
“I’m still trying to figure that out.” There was a staring contest going on between them, stretching on for so long it became uncomfortable. “I should go,” he whispered, setting down her glasses on the table beside the bed.
His words were a complete contradiction to his actions, because instead of moving away, he was actually leaning closer.
Before she could utter another word, his hand was in her hair and his lips were on hers.
Her mouth was cold from the ice-cream, contrasting with the heat of his, and the sweet taste of vanilla flowed between them.