Dating by Design Series Box Set

by Jennifer Peel

  By Friday, there was no avoiding him. We all had to attend the weekly connection meeting. I gathered up my data and photos before heading to the conference room where we would dissect our clients’ lives and then do our best to grant their heart’s desires. The more I thought about it, the more I recognized what a big deal that was. Sure, the client had a say. They could accept or reject our choices, but they were placing potentially one of life’s biggest decisions in our hands.

  Zander was already situated near Kenadie, who sat at the head of the table. I sat as far away from him as I could on the opposite side. But like previous times near him, I could feel his eyes on me. How he did that, I didn’t know.

  I hung my pictures and profiles on the wall before taking my seat. I smiled at each of my coworkers as they walked in, careful not to look at Zander. I almost felt like I was avoiding an ex, which was ridiculous considering we never dated, let alone broke up. All I did was tell him I thought he was making poor life choices. He probably thought I sounded like I was trying to be his mother.

  I made small talk with Will and Andy until the meeting was called to order by Kenadie.

  “I’m sorry I forgot to order lunch beforehand.” Kenadie ran her fingers through her hair. “My mind has been elsewhere.”

  “Is it only your mind?” Zander bated Kenadie.

  She gave him the best withering glares. “Anyway. Lunch is on its way, but let’s get started. Eva, why don’t you start us off.”

  Eva started with Dane and named off three women she thought would be good matches with him. It was no surprise that Zander made arguments against each one, even the two he hadn’t “dated.”

  I kept my head down and listened to the heated discussion that soon involved every relationship manager except me. But that wasn’t meant to be.

  “Meg.” His voice excited my insides.

  I had no choice but to look up and across the table at him.

  A hint of a smile played on his handsome face. “You’ve been unusually quiet. Who do you think best suits Dane?”

  Unfortunately, I agreed with Zander that Penelope edged out the three women Eva had selected.

  Everyone was waiting for me to answer.

  I was doing my best to come up with a Switzerland type answer, but neutrality was hard in this case. I took a deep breath. “I think given that this is Dane’s third try, we might want to look outside of the box. Olivia, Holly, and Candace all closely match the two women he’s rejected.” I faced Eva. “It says on his profile that he wants adventure, but he doesn’t seem to pursue it on his own. I wonder if he only said that to make himself look better. Did he seem like an adventurous guy when you took him out?”

  Eva, though clearly annoyed, thought for a moment. “No, he didn’t.”

  “Maybe he really wants someone more like him, and Penelope seems like a good match. What do you think?”

  Eva didn’t have a chance to answer.

  “Thank you for your brilliant insights, Meg.” Zander smirked.

  “You’re only saying that because she agreed with you,” Eva tossed back at him.

  “From the looks of it, you do too.”

  Eva rolled her eyes, but nodded at Zander. For me, it was pinched expression.

  Zander caught my eye and gave me a quick smile. Enough for me to melt a little in my seat.

  The meeting lasted all afternoon. By the time it was over, I was ready to be home. I had statistics homework hanging over my head and a test I wasn’t ready for. Some of the formulas weren’t gelling in my mind. I felt doomed to fail.

  I hurried to send my clients their matches and check on the email I had missed while in the meeting. I was about ready to turn off my laptop for the day and head home when Zander snuck in.

  He stood at the door, grinning like he owned the world. He probably could have, if he tried.

  “Can I help you?”

  “Maybe.”

  “I thought you were avoiding me.”

  He stepped in. “Why would you think that?”

  I closed my laptop. “It doesn’t matter.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Besides the fact you’re making our coworkers hate me? Nothing.” I was throwing my phone and lip gloss in my bag. Anything to keep from looking at him.

  “You’re doing your job. Sometimes that means disagreeing with people. And you were right.”

  “You’re only saying that because I agreed with you.”

  “I’m always right, so it’s a good side to be on.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Have a nice weekend.” I grabbed my bag and headed for the door he was standing by.

  His gorgeous green eyes narrowed. “Do you have a date to get to or something?”

  “Yes, with a textbook.”

  He grabbed my arm as I walked by.

  His touch had me taking a deep breath. Why did he affect me like that?

  “Homework on a Friday night? Is this your way of telling me you don’t want to go out?”

  “I don’t need to make things up. I have no problem telling you no.”

  He leaned in. “Is that so?”

  Everything he said had this seducing tone to it. And I found myself falling for it, well almost. I nodded. “I have a test tomorrow. I’m going to fail if I don’t study, or at this rate, even if I do.” Why was I giving him an excuse? I would have said no anyway. I think.

  He let go of me, at least physically. “Is this your statistics class?”

  “Yep.”

  “I’m more fun than that.”

  “Says you. Why don’t you ask Eva or Cara to pretend to be your girlfriend?”

  “I hate training new people, but if I have to . . .”

  “Goodbye, Zander.”

  “Don’t be jealous.”

  I walked off to the sound of his laughter. I wasn’t jealous. What was there to be jealous about?

  For not being jealous, I thought an awful lot about who he decided to ask. My guess was Cara. She was kind of like him. She was always dating someone new and she had a killer body. But I could also see Eva. They fought the most in our meetings, but maybe that was pent up sexual tension. She was pretty flirty with him sometimes. And she had amazing curves and flawless dark skin and hair.

  I did my best not to think about it. I had formulas to memorize and practice tests to take.

  My neighbor Aurora was headed into her apartment at the same time as me. She held up a carton of ice cream. “My date for the night.”

  “Looks better than mine.”

  “What about the hot guy who picked you up last week?”

  “You saw him?”

  “And drooled over him.”

  “He’s a coworker; we’re not dating.”

  “Too bad. You can give him my number.”

  I laughed off her silly thought. I wouldn’t be giving Zander her number. For her protection, of course. “Enjoy your ice cream.”

  “Have a good weekend.” She disappeared behind her door.

  I opened my door to find Jasper waiting for me. He rubbed up against my leg. I bent down and gave him a good scratch. “I bet you had a better day than me.” Though I couldn’t really think how mine was terrible. Other than the dirty look Eva threw me in the meeting. Then she and Cara put their heads together afterward. I’m sure they were talking about me. And I hated that. We had always gotten along, but recently they had been treating me differently. Not horrible, but they had been offish.

  I stood up. I couldn’t worry about it tonight. I needed to pass this test, graduate, and then pursue my real career goals.

  I changed into some comfy sweat pants and a t-shirt. I made myself comfortable on my couch with a bag of baked potato chips. I was determined to master linear regression, sampling, and the likes. I situated my book and notepad on my lap, chips on one side, Jasper on the other. I was living the life.

  After an hour, my head hurt and I wanted to cry. I couldn’t even remember what the formulas for standard deviation or variance were, and those w
ere the basics. I wasn’t sure why I was having such a hard time with this. And did I really need statistics for my major? Regardless, I couldn’t afford to fail this class. I didn’t have the money or time to waste retaking it.

  I was about ready to email my professor—which had been useless so far, but I was desperate—when there was a knock on my door. I reluctantly got up to answer it. It was probably Kelsie from downstairs wanting to hit the clubhouse gym. I could use the stress relief, but I would have to decline. Maybe tomorrow, if I wasn’t weeping over failing my test.

  I looked through my peephole as a precaution. That was a good call, because I had definite cause to be worried about the man on the other side. What was he doing here? I looked down at my slob outfit. Oh well. I opened the door.

  Zander stood there, dressed like he was ready for a date in a black sweater that fit him perfectly and jeans that made my insides burn with less than pure thoughts. Not only that, he was holding a pizza box. The delicious aroma hit me as soon as I was done ogling Zander.

  “What are you doing here?”

  He invited himself right in. “I think you need to try again. Something a little nicer, like, thank you for bringing dinner and your brilliant mind over to help me.”

  I grinned and bit my lip. “Thank you.”

  “That’s better.”

  I shut the door, reminded myself to breathe, and that he was a womanizer. I turned to find him smiling at me. “Cara and Eva shot you down?”

  “Who said I asked? Do you want to eat or not?”

  I took the white pizza box with a name I didn’t recognize on the label. “Make yourself comfortable.” I pointed to my couch. “Do you want something to drink?”

  Zander looked at my small couch with Jasper spread out across one side. “I’ll take whatever you have.”

  “Do you want me to put Jasper in my room?”

  “What kind of a name is Jasper?”

  “What kind of a name is Zander?”

  “It’s Alexzander, by the way, and it means defender of mankind.”

  “Wow. I had no idea I was standing in the presence of such greatness.”

  “Don’t forget it.”

  “Sit down. I’ll be right back. Feel free to push Jasper out of the way.”

  I watched him from the kitchen. He eyed my cat before sitting as far away from him as he could. I saw him grin at my bag of chips before picking up my textbook and thumbing through it. I grabbed a couple of bottles of apple juice out of the fridge. “How many slices of pizza do you want?” I called out to him.

  “Just bring the box out. You don’t need to serve me.”

  Huh? I don’t know why, but I kind of liked that answer. Not that I minded serving him, but I liked a guy who could take care of himself. I walked the pizza and juice back and set it on the coffee table.

  Zander was poring over my nemesis. “This textbook is terrible.”

  “I’ve been saying the same thing.” I picked Jasper up and set him on the ground. He looked up at me, put out.

  Zander set the book aside so he could lift open the pizza box. “This is the best pizza you will ever have.”

  “You said that last week about the brisket.”

  “Does your dad make pizza too?”

  “Not that I know of.”

  He handed me a slice of the pizza topped with mounds of meat and vegetables. “See for yourself.”

  I took the warm gooey piece and before I even took a bite, I knew I would love it. It smelled amazing. It was even better, though, once my taste buds got a hold of it. I chewed and savored every second of it.

  “I told you.”

  I nodded and swallowed. “You were right this time. Thank you. I needed the break.”

  He picked up the bag of chips. “And maybe some better study food.”

  “That too. I don’t know why I’m not getting this. I’ve never had such a hard time with a subject.”

  Zander grabbed his own slice of heaven. “Don’t worry, you’ll be a statistical analysis pro when I’m done with you.”

  “How are you so confident about everything?”

  “Easy, darlin’, I don’t care what people think about me.”

  “You’re lucky.”

  “There’s probably some drawbacks to it.”

  His honesty and thoughtfulness surprised me. “I suppose, but how could you be the king of arrogance without that attitude?”

  He laughed before taking a bite of his pizza.

  We devoured half the large pizza before tackling statistics.

  “You need to forget the book.” Zander grabbed my notepad and pencil. “What you need to do is make a connection between the technique and the formula and how it’s applied in the real world.” He started mapping out a table on the paper.

  I watched his mind at work with awe.

  He explained each statistic, its formula, and the application. He answered every question I had and then a wonderful thing happened. Things began to click and the formulas became more than symbols and numbers. The knot in my chest began to loosen. “I think you might have chosen the wrong career path.”

  He set the pencil down. “Nah. I like money too much.”

  I took the pad of paper from him and looked over the chart that actually made sense to me. “If it didn’t go against my principles, I would kiss you right now. Thank you.”

  “I think a kiss is a fair trade.”

  I faced him and was I ever tempted.

  He leaned in close enough to where I could smell the peppers mixed in with mint on his breath. It wasn’t bad. Except that I wanted a taste.

  I pushed against his muscular chest. “Not happening.”

  He leaned in some more. “Are you sure?”

  “What would happen if I did?”

  “Besides the best kiss you’ve ever had, what do you mean?”

  “Would it mean anything to you other than the fact you got me to give in?”

  He sat back against my couch with his hands behind his head. “Are we back to that meaningful crap again?”

  I curled my feet under me and leaned against the armrest. “No. Let’s change the subject. What have you been up to all week?”

  He turned his head and paused to examine me. “Not so fast. Why do you feel so strongly about this? Don’t tell me that you’ve been in love with every person you’ve slept with.”

  I felt my eyebrows hit my hairline. “That escalated. I thought we were talking about kissing.”

  “We’re going back to Monday night. I think you unfairly judged me. You women have double standards. You expect men to be Prince Charming, but you’re just like us. You have as many one-night stands as us. I mean, who do you think we’re having them with? And we aren’t the only ones who initiate it.”

  “You feel really passionate about this.” I grinned.

  “You know I’m right.”

  “If you say so.”

  He sat up agitated. “I know so.”

  “Okay. Do you want some ice cream or something? I think I have some rocky road.” I stood up.

  He caught my hand and I liked how it felt way too much. I think I needed that ice cream to cool off.

  “Am I wrong about you?”

  “Would you believe me if I told you yes?”

  He dropped my hand. “I don’t know.”

  Chapter Ten

  I sat outside on my small balcony, wrapped up in a blanket. I always thought better outdoors. Even if it was well past midnight. Zander had barely left. We didn’t talk any more about love and sex, but I felt like he studied me all night as we watched The Matrix—his pick. That movie made my head hurt. And Zander was confusing me.

  I couldn’t believe he came over to help me in the first place. Him staying was even more surprising. I got the feeling a night at home watching a movie wasn’t his typical weekend night, especially with a woman who made sure to keep some distance between him and her on the couch. Not to say I didn’t think about closing the gap a few too many times.

/>   I leaned my head against the railing and took in a deep breath of cool air. I missed my Wyoming nights and clear skies. The stars shined brighter out west. What was I doing? And why did I seem to get under Zander’s skin?

  I wasn’t foolish enough to think that I was the woman who would tame the bad boy. That for me, he would change. That’s every girl’s fantasy, but it has no business in the real world. Relationships like Warren Beatty’s and Annette Bening’s were unrealistic and against the odds. And why was I even thinking like this?

  I needed sleep. I had to take a test tomorrow morning. A test that I now felt confident in taking, all thanks to the man camping out in my thoughts.

  I closed my eyes and tried not to think. I failed miserably.

  I woke up in my bed, but felt like I had hardly rested. I got ready anyway. My test was looming over me. I looked over Zander’s notes and chart one more time before logging in. I had to remind myself not to focus on the man who chose to spend his Friday night helping me. I knew he had other options.

  I shook my head to clear him out. I had a test to focus on. I took a deep breath and began. I worked my way through each question. I found I was able to correlate and even find linearity. With each completed question, my fondness for Zander grew. It wasn’t a good thing. But when I finished, I knew I needed to thank him in a big way—well, not too big. I was thinking homemade cookies. No kisses, unless they were the Hershey’s kind. That was a thought.

  I breathed a huge sigh of relief when my test was over. I would say I at least scored a B, hopefully better. I headed straight for the kitchen to make salted chocolate cookies. They reminded me of Zander. Salty, but he had a sweet side. I tried not to eat too much dough, but it was addicting. Kind of like Zander. What was I going to do? Staying away from him was the obvious solution. But I found it was the last thing I wanted to do.

  That’s how I found myself driving over to Zander’s luxury apartment building with a plate of wrapped cookies and a bag of Hershey’s Kisses in my passenger seat. I kept telling myself it was only to say thank you. And there was a running trail near his place I wanted to try out. All believable lies. I pulled into the guest parking lot outside his building. I decided I should text before I headed up. I knew he didn’t like visitors, which was strange, and maybe slightly worrisome.