Page 44 of Kiss the Girl
Talented Tabitha. She could ruin Thanksgiving a month ahead of time from hundreds of miles away.
Talented Tabitha.
Frustrating freaking Tabitha.
Blerg.
Chapter Fourteen
Noah
I checked my reflection in the mirror and was once again thankful that makeup wasn’t a thing for dudes. All I had to do was make sure I didn’t have any random hairs poking up and that I smelled okay, and I was ready to go.
“Noah?” Paige called from my living room.
“Hey.” I walked out and presented myself for inspection.
“You look fine. Tell me again why this isn’t a date with Grace?”
“I’ve explained it five times already.”
“She’s leaving and doesn’t want to get involved. Right, I get that. Except I think you could change her mind pretty easily.”
I’d wondered about this myself a couple of times, when I’d caught Grace looking at me when she thought I wasn’t looking, or when we accidentally touched. I couldn’t be the only one who felt those points of contact like they were supercharged.
Could I?
Maybe. But it didn’t matter. “Even if that were true, I wouldn’t try,” I said. “Mr. Winters is getting better, and she has her first job interview lined up for next week. She’ll totally get it too.” An employer would have to be an idiot not to hire someone as smart and capable as Grace. “I’m not a casual dating kind of guy, and she’s leaving. Case closed.”
“You are so stubborn,” she said. “But at least you’re going on a date. Are you excited? Is she hot?”
Brooke had shown me a picture of Nikki, my date, who was a striking blonde. “Very hot.”
“Good for you, then.”
“That’s premature, P. We haven’t even met yet.”
“Maybe don’t use the word ‘premature’ before a hot date.”
“Leave.”
“I kid, I kid.”
“Leave anyway. I need to go meet her.”
“What are you guys doing?”
“Bowling,” I said. “And I’ll give her the option of going out to eat first or eating at the bowling alley.”
“Like a test to see if she’s high or low maintenance?” she asked.
“No. Or at least it wasn’t. I was thinking she might like options, but you just turned it into a test, so thanks for that.”
“You are high strung tonight,” she said. “What’s got you so on edge? Are you nervous?”
“No.” Which was true. It was more like I was cranky because I should be looking forward to a date with a hot woman, and instead it felt like a chore. “Now go.”
Paige went back across the hall to her place, and I left for my date.
