Page 27 of Blindsided
“I don’t need to be set up,” I answer quickly. My friends in Manchester used to try to do the exact same thing, and it’s horribly humiliating. “I have another prospect.”
“Oh?” Allie asks, a curious glint in her eyes. “Who?”
I wince and mumble under my breath, “Santino.”
“The team lawyer?” she barks in surprise.
“He’s been texting me since that party, and I think he’d be a nice enough date. He basically knows everybody, so I suspect he’d fit in well. Mac doesn’t care for him for some odd reason, though, so I’m not going to tell him unless our date goes well.”
Allie frowns. “I thought Mac liked everybody?”
I shrug. “Not him, apparently.”
“So when is this date?”
“Tomorrow night,” I reply, and a swirl of nerves takes flight in my belly at the reminder. I’m hoping that since Mac trained me to date Javier, the same rules will apply to Santino. Although, the two men are a night and day different, so we’ll see how it goes. “We’re having tapas at some posh place called Radio Rooftop? I guess reservations are impossible to get, but Santinoknows a guy. His words, not mine.”
Allie cringes slightly, and I can’t say I blame her. “Well, do you want me to come over to help you get ready or anything?”
“God, no. I’ll be fine,” I answer, already thinking about wearing the dress Mac bought for me the day we went shopping. “Just…if you happen to see Mac, don’t tell him? I don’t want him to know about the date in case it turns out to be a bust.”
Allie nods thoughtfully and then slips off the table. “Well, text me and let me know how it goes, okay?”
“Can do!” I beam.
She retreats to her office while I get back to working on the bust of a shift dress—something I’m much more successful at navigating my way around than my dating life.
“You still haven’t told me what you want to do for your stag party in a couple of weeks,” I grunt as I heave the barbell up towards Roan, who’s currently spotting me on the bench press.
“I could workshop some ideas for you if you’d like,” Tanner Harris states as he spots his brother Booker beside us.
The four of us are in the Tower Park weight training facility where we meet with our physiotherapist three times a week during the off-season. We’ve been lifting for nearly an hour, and my muscles are shattered.
“Don’t let Tanner plan anything,” Booker huffs, dropping the bar in the rack and sitting up. He wipes the sweat from his brow and hooks his thumb towards his brother. “He hired a stripper for my stag night and a bloke showed up.”
“What do you mean a bloke?” Roan asks with a laugh. “Like, to strip?”
Booker nods. “And he wasn’t like one of those Chippendale strippers. He looked like our uncle Charles.” I turn my head just in time to see Booker shudder with disgust.
Tanner hoots with laughter. “The hilarious part is you think I screwed up! I selected that guy specifically for you. Your wife had just had twins, and I knew you didn’t need to get your willy excited when there was no chance of you getting any action at home.”
Booker’s face falls. “Why on earth are you thinking about my willy at all?”
Tanner shrugs. “I think about everybody’s willies. That’s what family is for.”
Booker winces. “No. No it’s not, Tanner.”
Roan laughs and shakes his head while helping me set my bar into the placeholder. “I told Mac no strippers. I don’t want a wild night out. I want something quiet and remote, you know?”
I sit up and grab my water bottle, taking a long drink before throwing out, “What would you say to a bed and breakfast in Scotland?”
Roan’s brows lift. “What do you have in mind?”
I wipe the sweat trailing down my temple and reply, “The Dundonald Highland Games is in two weeks, and my grandad has a big estate that’s sitting empty right now. It was a bed and breakfast he ran with my gran, but she died a few years ago and he’s finally got around to selling it. The new owner takes over in a month. We could all stay there, drink our weight in whisky, and see if you have what it takes to compete alongside a true Scot.”
Roan smiles. “As long as you have what it takes to compete alongside a true South African.”
“Your mum is British, you wank,” I say with a laugh and give him a playful shove.
