Dylan walked across the room and stood beside her. “Go on. Ask.”
She stuffed her hands inside her jacket pockets. “There’s no point. I’m not ready.”
“But you could be if the price was right?”
Annie glanced across at John. He’d lost interest in the kitchen and had headed across to the back door. As soon as he disappeared outside, Annie turned to Dylan. “I can’t afford to lease the kitchen. Most spaces this size cost more than I’m earning each week.”
“Would it make any difference if I told you John doesn’t need a kitchen for what he’s planned here?”
“He could lease it to someone else. It’s too valuable to leave empty. Just make sure the ovens are included in the sale price. They’re worth a small fortune.”
John came back inside and locked the door. “There’s enough parking out there for at least a dozen vehicles.”
Annie took one last look around the kitchen and sighed. “It’s a great space. What else haven’t we seen?”
John opened another door. “This is the main access point for all of the service areas for employees. The only rooms you haven’t seen are the main reception area and office space.”
Annie followed John down a long corridor. Dylan followed quietly behind them, opening and closing a couple of storage cupboards along the way. When they reached the front of the building, Annie looked behind her to see what Dylan thought of the room.
“It’s functional.” He walked behind a tall front desk and looked along the floor. “There are enough data cables and power sockets for six computers. We could reconfigure this area to make it more user-friendly.”
Annie followed another corridor behind the desk to four more rooms. The offices were spacious without being enormous. Apart from the musty smell of old carpet, dust, and months of neglect, the building looked okay to her.
By the time she’d made it back to the reception area, Dylan and John were standing outside the building, deep in conversation. She didn’t know what price the bank wanted for the property, but it wouldn’t be in most people’s budget.
Dylan had told her there was a large parcel of land surrounding the building that was included in the sale. With the option of converting some of the land into a residential subdivision, she imagined there’d be lots of reasons why this would be a good investment.
She watched Dylan as he pointed toward the roof. He was quietly explaining something to his boss. John listened intently, adding a comment or two as Dylan stepped back to get a better view.
Dylan pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and made a quick call. Whatever plans they were hatching, they both looked satisfied with the outcome. They walked back toward her. John had a smile on his face and Dylan looked his normal, mysterious self.
“What did you think of our next storage space, Annie?” John watched her closely, as if her opinion really mattered.
“It will need a lot of work to bring it up to the same standard as your other building, but it’s in a good location. The extra land is a bonus, too.”
John nodded. “That’s what we thought. Once we’ve met with the realtor tomorrow, the property will be ours.”
Annie frowned. “Ours?”
Dylan cleared his throat. “As in Fletcher Security. Are you ready to hit the bowling alley?”
John grinned. “Dylan Bayliss? Bowling? That I’d like to see.”
“You can come with us, if you like,” Annie said. “We’ve booked a lane for a couple of hours.”
Dylan snorted. “Don’t be fooled by the innocent expression on Annie’s face. She’s a star in the State bowling league. She came second in their last competition and she’s only been bowling for eighteen months.”
“How did you know that?” Annie hadn’t told Dylan about her competition results. Ten pin bowling wasn’t exactly major league baseball. It didn’t make the news headlines on TV or even a photo in the Bozeman Chronicle.
“Tess mentioned it the other day.”
If Annie didn’t know better, she would have sworn Dylan just told a little white lie.
He covered some of the blush on his cheeks with his sunglasses and stuck his hands in his pockets. “We’d better get to the bowling alley. Are you coming, John?”
“Not today, but keep me in mind for next time. I’ve already got plans.”
“Try not to work too hard,” Dylan said.
John passed him a look that told Annie he wouldn’t be listening to Dylan’s advice. “It was nice meeting you, Annie.” He shook her hand and turned back to the building they’d been looking through. “I’ll lock up. Be gentle on Dylan, he doesn’t like losing.”
“Don’t listen to him,” Dylan said as they walked around the building to his truck. “He’s worse than I am.”
“I have a feeling you’re as bad as each other.”
Dylan opened the passenger door on his truck. “You could be right.”
***
Dylan held his bowling ball to his chest and focused on the pins standing upright at the end of their lane. He tried to visualize his ball smashing into the front pin and scattering the others to the floor. But all he could see was Annie, sitting quietly in their red vinyl booth, waiting for him to throw a gutter ball so she could win their first game.
Her competitive streak and tight blue t-shirt were getting in the way of his concentration. He was just damn lucky that the speed of his shots had made up for his lack of direction.
He took three steps forward, swung his arm back, and with a low sweep of his body, let go of the bowling ball. It flew along the wooden floor, took the first pin out with a resounding crack, then annihilated the rest of the pins. Except one.
The far right pin at the back of the pack wobbled dangerously close to its tipping point. One puff of wind and he’d win the game. But the pin must have been on Annie’s side. It righted itself and stood as proud as a peacock at the back of the alley.
Annie jumped in the air. The smile on her face would have lit half of North America for a year. “I won, I won, I won.”
Dylan crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Not that you’re bragging or anything.”
“Of course not.” Her grin didn’t get any dimmer. “You’re going to have to work hard if you want to beat this maestro, Mr. Bayliss.”
Dylan walked across to Annie and stood nose to nose with her. “I’m not afraid of a little hard work, Ms. O’Leary.”
Annie’s eyes turned a deep, slumbery blue. He felt a jolt of electricity arch between them, pulling his attention away from her eyes and straight to her mouth.
“You want to make a little bet?”
He blinked, trying to figure out if Annie had said bed or bet. One he could do easily, the other would take more effort. Just thinking about the effort required gave him heart palpitations. But what a way to go.
“Dylan?”
“Huh?”
“Bet? How about a friendly wager on the slim chance you’ll beat me in the next game?”
“Umm…sure.” He needed to pull himself together, get out of bed mode and into real life. He couldn’t hold Annie’s hand for more than five seconds without hyperventilating. Making love to her would send him into cardiac arrest.
Annie stepped back and waved her hand in front of his face. “Earth to Dylan. Do we have contact?”
He grabbed hold of her hand and counted to ten. “We do.”
Annie looked down at their hands and smiled. “You’re getting better.”
He let go of her hand, flexed his fingers, then stuffed them in his pockets. He wanted to tell her there were a lot more things he could get better at, but it wasn’t the right time, the right place, or the right life. He didn’t know if he’d ever be normal and he wouldn’t pull her into his crappy world.
A tall guy with blonde hair came and stood beside Annie. “You were lucky with the last pin.”
“I know, but I’ll take the win. Dylan, this is Brad Johnson. Brad’s my bowling coach. Brad, this is Dylan Bayliss.�
��
Dylan didn’t pay too much attention to the fact that Annie hadn’t defined their relationship. He didn’t know what they were to each other either. Right now, he was more concerned with the hand Brad was holding out toward him.
“Nice to meet you, Dylan.”
Dylan quickly shook Brad’s hand before he gave himself time to think about it. He’d seen Brad before, at one of the competitions Annie had been in. He’d wondered then if they were dating and he still wasn’t sure what was going on. There was an easy familiarity between them. He hoped it was the same kind of feeling you got when you wore an old pair of socks.
“Did you get a full team for the competition in Great Falls?” Annie asked.
Brad smiled. “Jack and Felicity are bringing their kids, so we’re good to go.”
“That’s great. Are we still meeting at the Museum of the Rockies at six o’clock?”
“Yep. Sam’s got the name of a café in Helena that’s open early for breakfast. I’ll leave you to your game. I’ve got some practicing to do.” Brad turned his attention to Dylan. “It was good meeting you. Are you coming to the tournament this Saturday?”
Dylan might have been out of the dating game for a few years, but he knew when another male was fishing for information. Brad Johnson was every bit as interested in Dylan’s relationship with Annie, as Dylan was in theirs. And that told him that Brad hadn’t managed to get past being Annie’s coach.
“I wouldn’t miss it.” Dylan smiled at Annie. Brad got the idea.
“I’ll see you in Great Falls, then. Bye, Annie.”
The hair on the back of Dylan’s neck pricked to attention. Annie wasn’t impressed.
“What did you do that for?”
“What?” He’d learned a few things when he’d been in the Army. Pretending he didn’t know what someone was talking about was one of them.
“You don’t know?” The frown on Annie’s face disappeared as soon as she looked into his eyes. “You know exactly what you did. Thank you.”
That blew the wind out of the arguments he had for acting like a jerk.
“Brad’s been asking me to go out with him for the last few weeks. I told him gently that I wasn’t interested, but he keeps trying.”
In any other circumstances, Dylan would have been impressed with Brad’s perseverance. But not when it involved dating Annie. “Is it him in particular or dating in general that you’re not interested in?”
“It’s the whole dating thing that I don’t want.” Annie walked across to the machine that popped the bowling balls out of a chute. She picked up her ball and slid her fingers into the grips.
Within seconds, Dylan’s hope for something more than friendship disappeared along with the ten pins she struck.
Annie grinned at him. “Don’t look so worried. You can still beat me if you try really hard.”
Dylan stared at the back of the alley. The automatic pinsetter had already stacked up the pins for his turn. “I like the sound of the bet you were talking about.”
Annie swaggered toward him. “Are you sure about that?”
The cheeky grin on her face was nearly the undoing of all his good intentions. “I was using the last game as a warm up.” He hadn’t been, but Annie didn’t need to know that.
He’d managed to hold his concentration for at least half of their first game. The other half had been spent admiring the sway of her body when she fired her ball down the lane. And then there was the way she focused on her bowling technique. He admired her ability to block out what was going on around her and beat the crap out of him.
Annie stood in front of him with her hands on her hips. “What are we betting on?”
Dylan stepped forward until their bodies were almost touching. “If I win you go on a date with me.”
Annie’s hands slipped from her hips. “I don’t date.”
“You won’t have to worry if you win.”
Annie thought about that for a few seconds. She must have figured that the likelihood of him winning was pretty remote because her smile resurfaced. “If I win I get your body for the day.”
Dylan swallowed. “Would you care to elaborate on that statement?”
“I want to build a wooden deck off my living room. You could help me.”
He didn’t know if he was disappointed or relieved. “That takes a lot more effort than going to a movie or dinner date.”
Annie frowned. “Not from my perspective.”
“What’s so hard about going on a date?”
Annie folded her hands across her chest. He could have sworn she was pouting. “It’s not the dating part that’s hard. It’s what comes next.”
“You sound like me.”
“I’m not worried about…” She looked around and stepped half an inch closer. “…sex.”
Annie’s voice was a soft purr against his overstretched anxieties. He took a deep breath and tried to focus on something other than Annie’s mouth. “What else is there to worry about?”
Annie rolled her eyes and made a scoffing noise. “Men. That’s all you ever think about.”
She had a valid point. Especially men who were thirty-two years old and had only intentionally touched one woman in three years. “We think about other things, too.”
Annie frowned. “Like what?”
“Like how I’m going to beat you. We can discuss your dating issues over coffee after the game.”
Annie followed him across to the machine that held their bowling balls. “I don’t have dating issues.”
He picked up his ball and held it against his chest. “Yes, you do.”
“I do not. I have men issues.”
Dylan walked over to their lane. He was already looking forward to their after game debrief. Men issues he could tackle, especially if kissing was still an optional extra.
***
“I can’t believe you won,” Annie said miserably. She took a sip of her hot chocolate to try and wash away the bitter taste of defeat.
Dylan shrugged his shoulders. “Beginner’s luck, I guess.”
She knew beginner’s luck had absolutely nothing to do with the final score. “You didn’t tell me you were so good.”
“You never asked. I played the odd game in College. It took me a few frames to get back in the groove. You were doing okay until Milly Anderson sat at our booth.”
Annie hadn’t been concerned at all about Milly sitting with them. Away from the bowling alley they were friends. It had been Milly’s constant questions about Dylan that had rattled her. Annie didn’t know what Dylan’s favorite takeout was, what music he liked listening to, or what color he liked the best. When Milly asked whether he had a girlfriend, Annie wasn’t too keen on sharing the one piece of information she did know.
“That’s no excuse.” Annie picked up her spoon and scooped some froth off the top of her drink. “I’ve been bowling long enough not to let anything distract me.” She licked the creamy froth off her spoon and looked at Dylan.
He was staring at her mouth. A blush of astronomical proportions hit her face. Dylan Bayliss looked as though he had other things on his mind. Date things that Annie didn’t want anything to do with. “I don’t mind if you ask Milly out instead of me.”
Dylan’s gaze shot to her eyes. “What?’
“Milly. She’s interested in you. You could take her out on a date instead of me. It would be good practice.”
“I’m not letting you off the hook that easily.” Dylan’s eyes lit with laughter. “Milly would eat me for dinner, then come back for dessert.”
“And you want to date me because I’m safe?” Even though Annie was opposed to the concept of dating, she started to get slightly annoyed that Dylan saw her as an easy option.
Dylan leaned forward. “Do you want to eat me for dinner?”
Annie choked on her drink. Her eyes started to water and Dylan passed her a paper napkin. “Thanks,” she wheezed out.
She took a deep breath and stared at the man watching her
patiently from the other side of the table. “I can’t eat you. I’m vegetarian.”
His eyebrows shot up and what could have been a smile twitched his lips. “Really?”
Annie wished she’d ordered a slice of cake with her hot chocolate. At least she’d have something to do other than watch Dylan laugh at her.
“Are you sure I can’t tempt you over to the dark side?”
Heat scorched Annie’s body in places that hadn’t been scorched in years. “You’re flirting with me.”
Dylan frowned. “Is that a bad thing?”
Annie nodded. It was better than admitting that she kind of liked it. “I’m helping you with colors options and…things. We have an employee and employer relationship.”
“I’m not paying you.”
“I’m a volunteer. Employment law gives me the same considerations as a paid employee.”
Dylan’s slow, sexy smile almost made her melt against the vinyl seat she was sitting on. A cheer rang out from one of the bowling lanes. Annie focused on the high-fives being exchanged and not the man watching her like she’d just offered him dessert. She didn’t even know if vegetarians ate dessert. And then she realized it didn’t matter. She wouldn’t be eating Dylan Bayliss, and he wouldn’t be eating her.
“So…back to our date…”
“Or not,” Annie said defiantly.
“You can’t go back on a bet.”
“I didn’t think I’d lose.” Annie knew she sounded like a five-year-old crying over spilled milk, but she couldn’t help it. There was no way she’d go on a date with Dylan.
“Why don’t you want to date anyone?”
Annie wasn’t sure she was ready to tell Dylan about her less than perfect life. “I prefer my own company.”
“You could have fooled me.” Dylan looked at her for so long that she felt like a science experiment that had gone wrong.
“I got married when I was sixteen. By the time I was seventeen the marriage was over.”
Dylan picked up his coffee cup, then put it back down when he realized it was empty. “Fast work.”
Loving You (The Bridesmaids Club Book 2) Page 8