The Wrong Perfect Match (Fullilove in the House Book 1)

by Sidney Bristol

  “Night.”

  Jayden lost no time clocking out, securing his desk and ensuring his responsibilities were taken care of before heading to his car. Maddox was already gone, which wasn’t surprising.

  Unlike yesterday, there was a concrete plan for tonight and he was excited about it. Who knew he’d get into restoring old furniture?

  Jayden fired off a text with his estimated arrival to Brandi, who was no doubt already driving herself. He got on the road, only making a brief stop to pick up dinner from a hole-in-the-wall taqueria near Brandi’s house.

  Brandi’s house.

  Yesterday he would have called it Nicole’s house.

  There was a shift happening after last night and he wasn’t going to fight it.

  They’d worked and talked. They’d worked and said nothing. Then they’d talked and done nothing. It had been nice. Pleasant. And more than anything, he didn’t have to explain himself in ways he’d always had to do for other people. Because Brandi got him.

  He hadn’t been ready for that.

  Even with Nicole, who he’d thought was perfect for him, he’d known there would be some things he had to go slow with. Brandi took it all in stride.

  In fact, in some ways she had it worse than him.

  Jayden pulled into the driveway behind the house, parking next to Brandi’s pickup truck. The garage door was open and the lights on, but no Brandi yet.

  He got out of the car, hauling his change of clothes and the food with him.

  Music played softly from the speakers hung on the back wall. Everything else was where they’d left off last night.

  The door to the house opened and Brandi stepped out. Once more she wore skin tight black leggings and a paint stained tank top that might have once had a logo on it. He wasn’t entirely sure. He was too busy looking at her face.

  When she smiled, she seemed to glow. No, radiate. The word still wasn’t right.

  “Hey,” she said brightly.

  “Hey.”

  He couldn’t fight the urge to smile back.

  Brandi had a presence about her. It was infectious.

  Her gaze traveled down his body. “Look at you all, snazzy.”

  “Only way I’d make it on time was if I didn’t stop to change.”

  She lifted a shoulder and took the bag of food from him. “Sounds good to me.”

  He followed her to the workbench and only then realized two of the stools from inside were now outside.

  “How was your day?” She set the bag down and began digging into it, dividing the food between them. She seemed to know what was in each container without having to open lids.

  “Pretty good. You?”

  Brandi laughed and rolled her eyes. “Some days it just seems like everything will go wrong no matter what you do.”

  “What happened? Something go wrong?” He paused and thought back on last night. “I don’t think I know what you do.”

  “I don’t think it came up.” She tilted hear head to the side and considered it a second. “Nope. I don’t think I did. Officially I am the Admin-slash-Office Manager for Three Son’s Construction. We just had two people leave, so I’m wearing a lot of hats right now and it is exhausting.”

  He cringed. These days he was busy with just one job. But three? “That sounds exhausting.”

  “It is. But we’ll figure it out. It’s not really a small company anymore. I’ve been there seven years now. Wow.”

  “Do you think you’ll stay on there?” He opened his food and dug in.

  “That’s a good question. I started as just an office girl. Now, I’m the most senior office employee. The Rice family relies on me to keep the office going smoothly, but on the flip side this is kind of it. This is what the job is, and I don’t know that I’ll be happy doing this one thing for the rest of my life. On the other, working there has allowed me to have a comfortable life, enjoy my hobbies, pay off all my college debt.”

  “That’s nothing to sneeze at.”

  “It isn’t. But I figure if I do want to do something else, that’s a future Brandi decision. For now, I just want to get some more help hired. How’s your food?”

  “I was just thinking Mom might actually eat here.”

  Brandi grinned at him. “Yeah?”

  “She’s like old school Mexican Mom. Cooks everything herself. She’s amazing.”

  “You’ll have to tell me if she likes their rice. It is so good. I mean, it’s all good, but whatever they do to the rice is magic.” She held up a hand. “I swear, when I’m sick all I want is a quart of rice and a spoon.”

  “Rice and a spoon, huh?” Jayden perched on one of the stools.

  “It’s the best.”

  They tucked into the meal with gusto. Every bite was brimming with flavor, and the salsa was the perfect level of spicy. Brandi sure knew her food.

  Mom would like her.

  Asher would no doubt flirt shamelessly with Brandi if he ever bothered coming around. He’d always done that with Jayden’s girlfriends.

  That thought made him pause.

  Brandi was his friend, and yet he knew her better than Nicole. Nicole, who he’d spent a month emailing and chatting with. In all that time, Jayden hadn’t really gotten to know her. He probably knew more about Nicole from Brandi than he had during the virtual courtship. He had no doubts that Nicole was a lovely woman, every bit as sweet as he’d expected her to be.

  But she wasn’t Brandi.

  He took a bite without tasting the food, all the while trying to not openly stare at the woman next to him.

  Last night he’d known there was a shift. He’d felt it increase as they talked. He didn’t know what it meant or where it would take them, but maybe—just maybe—he was focused on the wrong friend.

  Nicole was a beautiful person for someone else. He’d thought he knew what he wanted. Nicole fit that mold. But they hadn’t connected like he did with Brandi.

  She got him. She understood parts of him he hadn’t realized were important. He’d thought he knew what he wanted. Maybe Brandi wasn’t it, but she made him take a closer look at what he thought he knew.

  Nicole had been The One until he met Brandi. His wrong perfect match. But only wrong because he hadn’t been looking in the right place. Yet.

  What did he really know about dating to find a life partner?

  All the ideas he’d had, his plans, they were so off the mark and he hadn’t seen that until Brandi had shed light on it.

  He didn’t know what was happening or where it would go, but he wanted to find out.

  BRANDI SHIFTED A BIT as she ate.

  Jayden kept looking at her. If she didn’t know he was completely into Nicole, Brandi might have said he was looking at her with eat-me-up eyes. But he couldn’t. He was in love, or at least like, with Nicole. Not Brandi. Not her.

  A very important fact that was increasingly difficult to recall when he looked at her like that.

  Like he wanted to lay her out on the work bench and taste her from toe to brow.

  Jayden was methodical and thorough enough the prospect of something like that filled her with dread.

  He had a mean streak to him, no doubt. He’d tease, work her up, and—

  Wait.

  No.

  Brandi blindly grabbed for her drink and took a long pull on the straw.

  Jayden would not tease her.

  He would not work her up.

  There would be no flirty-cruel foreplay.

  Because he was interested in Nicole. Not to mention that Brandi had sworn off men and dating for now. She had her goals. She didn’t need a distraction.

  And Brandi wasn’t about to steal the guy from her best friend. Even if Nicole wasn’t interested in him. At least, she didn’t know the option was still on the table. As far as Nicole knew, Jayden had walked out on the date and never contacted her since.

  Or had he?

  “Have you spoken to Nicole?” she asked between bites.

  “No.” His answer
was simple and yet left so many other unanswered questions.

  “Maybe we should talk about how you’re going to apologize to her?”

  “Well, you said she’ll be back on Saturday, right?”

  “Yeah. She texted something about maybe coming back Sunday. Something about taking a mental day, looking around, or stopping by to see family on her way back. I’m not really clear on what she decided, though. I haven’t talked to her today.”

  “Maybe I come by next week and we all go out to dinner?”

  Inwardly Brandi cringed. The last place she wanted to be right now was with him and Nicole. Brandi bobbed her head and made a noncommittal noise. She would be very busy next week, that was for sure.

  “That was amazing.” He closed the top on his meal. “Where do you want me to get started?”

  “Oh, uh, pick up where we left off?” She couldn’t recall what they’d been doing, but it sounded like a reasonable suggestion at least.

  “I’m good with that. Mind if I change first?”

  “Go ahead.” She gestured at the door.

  Jayden grabbed his things and headed inside. As much as she enjoyed his company, she was also grateful for this respite. She needed to remember she had a purpose right now. Finding out more about who she was, deciding what came next. She needed to know those things before she got serious about anything or anyone else.

  The first impression hadn’t been great. In fact, Sunday had been pretty awful. But the more she got to know Jayden, the more she liked him. And not just as a decent guy kind of like. She was attracted to him. Physically he did great things to a suit, but he also killed it in worn jeans and a T-shirt. He was methodical and somewhat reserved, but that only hid a deep mind. She knew she could talk to him for hours, days, probably even weeks, and not run out of things to share.

  Which was a good thing. Once he and Nicole were together, Brandi would no doubt spend a lot of time around them.

  Most people only joked about getting neighboring homes with their best friends. Brandi and Nicole were serious about it. Or maybe sharing a place.

  That would be torture if it were the three of them.

  Brandi groaned and stuffed her face to try to smother her feelings.

  Of all the men, why did she have to be attracted to this one?

  Never before, in all their years, had Brandi and Nicole liked the same kind of man. They had very different tastes. Brandi liked them rough around the edges and a little bad. Nicole went for polished and classy.

  And yet, somehow, Jayden appealed to both of them.

  It was rotten luck, that was for sure.

  But only for now.

  She’d get over this.

  Besides, she had no business dating, anyway. Not yet, at least. She wasn’t ready. The next time she committed to a man, she wanted to go in with the intent to stay. All her best relationships ended because she ruined them. Even the last one. Yeah, she said he’d broken her heart, but she’d pushed him to do it. And she didn’t want to be that person, so afraid of being hurt that they struck first.

  Which was why she wanted to know more about where she came from. If she had some sense of identity beyond her life experiences, maybe that would help her feel more secure to commit?

  It was worth trying.

  She didn’t want to be alone for the rest of her life.

  Brandi was on her last few bites by the time Jayden came back, once more wearing worn jeans and a threadbare shirt that somehow still looked so good on him. It would be a dirty, ugly rag on anyone else, but he made it work.

  He picked up the bucket of supplies he’d used yesterday and turned a critical eye on the piece they’d worked on. “What do you think of the progress so far?”

  “I think you saved it.” She hopped down off her chair and crossed to stand next to him. “I was trying to imagine it without the glass. It’s sad we have to paint it. That damage is just too bad to really cover up and still make it look right. You did some serious magic.”

  “Maybe this is my new calling?”

  She glanced up at him and found him smiling at her.

  The things that smile did to his face.

  It softened the sharp lines and made his eyes brighter.

  She understood why he was so stern and controlled. He hadn’t come out and said it, but from what he’d said about his biological mother and brother, they were both flighty and not the most responsible people.

  Little Jayden must have felt the pressure to hold it together from a young age. How many times had he scrounged pennies so he and his brother could eat? How often had he taken care of Asher? His mother? Her heart hurt for a child who’d had to grow up before it was his time. Like her.

  He really should smile more.

  She swayed a bit, her knees going weak.

  Jayden’s gaze seemed to touch every bit of her face before he focused on her mouth.

  Brandi stopped breathing. He wouldn’t...

  “You’ve got a little rice...” He reached toward her, plucking a single grain of rice from her hair lying over her shoulder. “Right there.”

  Great.

  Now he was cleaning her up.

  So wonderful.

  “Thanks.” She pasted on a smile and tossed her hair back. “Where would I be without you?”

  “Probably getting more work done.”

  She chuckled and turned her attention back to the furniture and not the man next to her.

  What was wrong with her?

  Wasn’t it just last month she’d said men weren’t worth dating, just fucking?

  Yes, Brandi had issues when it came to men. What woman didn’t? The only positive male influence on her life had been her grandfather. And in the end, he’d been a victim just like her.

  Her gut reaction was to mentally chastise herself.

  Jayden wasn’t like that. Yes, she’d thought so in the beginning, but that was before she’d gotten to know him. But how well did she really know him?

  These feelings would pass and she would continue with her life and her healing. Yet some part of her mourned for this imaginary future with no Jayden in it.

  She’d met him three days ago. How could she have developed an attachment to him?

  She stole a look at him through the warped glass. Her heart did something that felt like a throb and a flip.

  What would happen when he was no longer trying? How would he treat her and Nicole then?

  Brandi couldn’t let herself get swept up in how it felt right now. He wanted something from her. Jayden was earning her goodwill so he could ask Nicole out again.

  It was all very sobering. Almost painful.

  Jayden glanced up then and smiled.

  Her heart stopped beating.

  The man was good, but he wasn’t that good, was he?

  Could he mean it? About Nicole?

  Brandi switched to working on the lower portion of the cabinet. It put her all of four feet away from him, but it was enough to let her breathe.

  “You’ve been quiet tonight,” Jayden said a little before nine.

  “Sorry, a lot is going on at work. The other girls in the office started fighting over who gets what from the desk of the two who left. It’s so annoying.” She tipped her head back and looked up at him.

  It wasn’t a lie exactly. There was always a lot going on with work now that her boss’ assistant had quit and she could think about it nonstop. But she didn’t. No, she’d been too busy trying to work through how to not be attracted to this man.

  “Oh, right. The engineer’s assistant quit. How’s it going?”

  Brandi blinked a few times. He remembered? “It’s going to be an adjustment. The company still has a very small, family feel to it. They won’t move to hire anyone quick.”

  “Which means you’re picking up two people’s extra work?”

  “Something like that.” She grimaced.

  Jayden’s mouth screwed up.

  “What?” she asked.

  “Nothing,” he mu
ttered.

  “Jay.” She used the short name he so clearly didn’t like.

  “Jayden.” He was quick with the correct and a heatless scowl. “I’m told I give a lot of unwanted career advice.”

  “Well, what if I’m asking?” Now she was curious what he’d say.

  He leveled a look at her, all stern and kind of grumpy looking. She had a hell of a time not grinning at him with such a serious expression.

  “You’re one person doing three people’s jobs. It puts you in a position of power to ask for more pay. Women especially don’t demand what they’re owed enough. I counsel people all the time to ask for the raise.”

  Brandi nodded. “The problem there is that as the office manager I’m already getting a really good salary. Way above average. And I like the company. I wouldn’t go so far as to say they’re like family, but they’re pretty damn close.”

  “You can’t do three jobs though.”

  “No, I can’t.” She sighed. “I start work at five and work till five.”

  “Twelve-hour days?”

  “That’s what it takes to have a few hours in the evening to myself.”

  It was his turn to blink at her.

  “And this is what you chose to do instead?” He gestured at the hutch.

  “It’s...calming. Meditative. At least normally it is when it’s just me.” She narrowed her eyes at him, but couldn’t help but smile.

  Jayden grinned and thumbed over his shoulder. “Should I go then?”

  She chuckled. “No. The company is nice.”

  He slid the rag over the wood, a content smile softening his features. He really was handsome.

  “I don’t want to quit. I don’t want to leave the company. I just...” She let her gaze relax as she traced the wood grain. “I want them to make decisions faster. Hire new people to take the load off, mostly me.”

  “Then tell them. Hire quicker or risk burning you out. And don’t rule out asking for even a tiny raise or some kind of compensation.”

  Brandi made a noncommittal sound. She didn’t doubt that Jayden was right. She should ask to be compensated for all the extra work she was doing. And yet, this company had given her so many opportunities. They’d looked out for her. Taken care of her. That wasn’t something she wanted to turn her back on.