Friends Falling Book 2

GINA

I had a wonderfully busy day at my bakery earlier, and now I’m leaving the gym with Megan and Evie. I’m still thinking about Brayden kissing my neck, and the memory gives me delicious goosebumps.

I’ve never reacted so strongly just at the mere thought of a man. I’m almost tempted to ask Hunter about him, but I don’t want to seem too forward. Besides, he may not be interested.

I’m sure with his good looks, hot body, and the confidence to go along with it, he gets all the women he can handle. I don’t want to be another notch on some hot guy’s bedpost.

That’s what my mind is telling me, but my body is in complete disagreement.

I’m so caught up in my own thoughts that I missed part of the conversation that’s going on.

I look at Evelynn as I finally tune back into what she’s saying.

“So, I’m sitting there, getting nervous, thinking about having coffee with Steve, and guess who shows up at my office? Hunter!

“He brings in two bags of food and tells me that he was about to take his lunch break and thought we could have lunch together,” Evie tells us.

I guess Hunter took my advice and did something with the information I gave him.

Good for him. But now I can’t let Evie know that I was in on it. I’m feeling extremely guilty about my duplicity.

“Wow. That was sweet,” I softly reply.

“Yeah, it was, but poor Steve. I ditched him to have delicious Cuban sandwiches with Hunter.

“It wouldn’t have been so bad if I hadn’t completely forgotten about Steve until he poked his head into my office and reminded me that he even existed.

“Then there was nothing left for me to do but introduce the two of them to each other,” Evie says.

“For someone who’s been pretty low-key most of her life, you sure have a lot of drama going on lately.

“I’m actually happy for you. Not all drama is bad drama,” Megan emphasizes. “You deserve some action, some suspense, and a whole lotta romance with some hot and spicy sex thrown in on the side.”

“I second that, especially the romance part. You deserve to be swept off your feet, Evie,” I say.

“Yeah, I could definitely use some romance and I wouldn’t scoff at the spicy sex either,” Evie remarks, wiggling her eyebrows up and down. Megan and I laugh at her silly antics.

“All right, ladies, I’m off to pick up McKinley, but I’ll see you tomorrow? Same time, same place?

“And before I forget, Gina can you please, please, bring some of your scrumptious cronuts when you come over to watch McKinley Saturday night?” she begs with the biggest, saddest puppy dog eyes she can muster.

Before I can answer, Megan interrupts. “If you don’t mind, I want to crash in on Gina’s babysitting escapade.

“I thought maybe I could help you get ready for your date with Mr. Looks-good-enough-to-eat Jason, and then I’d be there with Gina to hear the juicy details when you get home.

“Besides, I’ll make sure Gina brings the goods,” Megan says as she grabs me, twisting my arm up behind my back.

“I’m sure McKinley would love having both of her favorite aunts over, and I could use all the support I can get,” Evie replies with a smile.

With that settled, she heads off to her car, leaving me to fight my way out of Megan’s wrestling hold.

I use my free hand to reach behind me and tickle Megan’s side. She immediately drops her hold, shouting with laughter.

“You fight dirty,” she pouts.

“I learned from the best,” I say, eyeing her meaningfully. “I’ll see you here again tomorrow night. By the way, you’re doing awesome in the aerobics class now.” I push her gently on the shoulder and start heading to my car.

“Whatever. It still sucks sweaty balls!” she shouts at me as I get further away.

She has such a dirty mouth for a school teacher. I wonder what her students’ parents would think if they knew how she behaved in her free time.

I shake my head and laugh as I slide into the leather seat of my silver BMW.

Megan can be crass and sometimes even downright rude, but I wouldn’t change her for the world. Whatever I ask her, I know she’s always going to give me an honest and uncensored response.

My phone starts to ring as soon as I start the car. I wait till the car’s Bluetooth receives the signal before I answer it. When it connects, I see it’s an unknown number. I hesitate and then answer it anyway.

“This is Gina. Who’s calling?” I answer.

“So prim and proper, aren’t you? You didn’t seem so proper with my lips caressing your throat and your fingers tangled into my hair, begging for more,” Brayden says huskily into the phone.

I can already feel my pulse racing from his words. I mentally calm myself so my voice won’t betray how his words affect me.

“Hey Brayden. What’s going on?” I ask.

How lame. I couldn’t think of anything better to say?

“I was wondering if you’d like to continue where we left off yesterday,” he replies.

Is that all he wants from me, an easy lay?

All the warm fuzzy feelings I was having quickly vaporized.

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” I tell him.

I hear a sharp intake of breath as if I offended him.

“And why’s that?” he demands.

I sigh in exasperation, before giving him the truth.

“Because you’re one of those gorgeous guys who knows he’s good-looking and isn’t ashamed to use his looks and charm to get the ladies. I’m not in line to be some playboy’s next conquest,” I confess.

“Why do you think I’m a playboy? Whom have you been talking to about me?” he questions.

“No one, I can just tell,” I finish lamely.

I don’t want to tell him it’s in the way he carries himself.

He has confidence about him that lets you know that he’s not used to hearing no, especially from women. Even though self-confidence is sexy, there’s also an underlying tone of cockiness that I don’t like.

I deal with enough guys like that when I’m with my family. I don’t want to do it in my personal life too.

“A guy deserves a chance, doesn’t he?” he asks. “How about going to dinner with me Saturday night?”

“I can’t, I already have plans,” I quickly inform him.

“Couldn’t you break them?” he pushes.

I knew it: he’s not used to anyone telling him no.

“I could, but I don’t want to,” I admit.

I’m only babysitting for Evie, but he doesn’t need to know that. If I really wanted to, I could ask Megan to do it and bow out on my end, but I really do love spending time with McKinley.

Besides, I want to help Evie get ready for her date.

“Wow, you’re definitely tough on a man’s ego. Okay, I’m going to go out on a limb and do something I’ve never done before because I think you might be a special girl and I want to get to know you,” he says, buttering me up.

“If you promise to go out with me on just one date, I’ll leave you alone. I’ll go whenever and wherever you want to go. If you have a good time, we can make plans for another date.

“If you don’t have a good time, I promise I won’t bother you again,” he assures me.

Why not? Who am I kidding anyway?

He may be a bit arrogant, but he’s sexy as hell, and the things he made me feel so quickly just don’t happen every day. I think that may be the main reason I’m afraid to accept his offer.

“Hello, are you still there?” he inquires.

Maybe I should pretend the call dropped…

“Okay,” I say.

I hear him breathe a sigh of relief and I smile.

“On one condition…”

“Name it,” he responds.

“No trying to get past first base. I’ll text you where I want you to meet me on Sunday morning,” I inform him, and then I hang up before he gets the chance to respond.

***

The workday is over, and once again I’ve already completed my workout with Megan and Evie at the gym. I’m sitting at home, bored out of my mind. I’m thinking about catching a movie by myself.

It’s not my favorite thing to do by myself, but I’ve done it before. I pick up my phone and start searching online for movies playing near me. I almost drop the phone when it buzzes in my hand.

A huge smile spreads across my face when I see that it’s Brayden.

I don’t know why his text makes me smile, but it does.

I hadn’t planned on having company tonight, but now that I do, I’m glad. It’s Thursday night, so the last showing is at 8 o’clock. They only have a horror flick or a romantic comedy to choose from.

I’m not ready to sit through a romantic comedy with Brayden yet, so I’m going to go with the scary movie. I hope it’s not too scary because I’m a total wuss when it comes to that stuff.

This might not have been such a good idea after all. Maybe I’ll just let him pick the movie when we get there.

I brush my teeth, do my hair, and throw on a light cardigan over my fitted tee and jeans in case the warm spring night turns cool. I rush out to my car full of excitement and fear. I get inside and sit for a moment.

I don’t want to look too desperate by getting there before he does. I turn on the radio and tap my fingers against the steering wheel to the beat of the music. I wait through two songs before I start the engine.

My cell phone buzzes.

I look at the time on my phone. It’s 9:45. I guess he’s just as anxious to see me as I am to see him.

I get to the theater with five minutes to spare.

“Hey, Gina. You didn’t tell me which movie you wanted to see, so I got us tickets for the romantic comedy,” he says, handing me the ticket.

“I was going to get my own. I told you this wasn’t a date,” I remind him, taking the ticket anyway.

“I know. You can call it whatever you want.” He winks at me and grabs my hand, pulling me toward the entrance. “Do you want popcorn or a drink?”

“I can’t go to the movies and not have popcorn,” I sheepishly admit as we approach the concession stand.

“You’re a woman after my own heart. We’ll have a large popcorn, no butter,” he pauses, looking at me askance, and I nod.

“And two medium cherry Cokes.”

“How do you know I like cherry Coke?” I ask him. He shrugs.

“I don’t, but who doesn’t like a cherry Coke?” he questions with wonder.

“Me…” I say, toying with him. “I absolutely love it.”

I grab the popcorn and he grabs the drinks before we head to our assigned theater.

“Thanks for coming with me. I hate going to the movies solo,” I tell him.

“Anytime you wanna go and can’t find anyone to go with you, just give me a buzz. I love movies,” he comments, seeming surprised at himself for offering.

“Do you not do this often?” I inquire.

“Go to the movies? Or go on non-dates?” he asks teasingly.

I smile a little at his remark.

“Do you go on a lot of dates? I’m just asking because you seemed surprised at yourself when you offered to hang out with me again sometime,” I explain.

I can tell that if his hands weren’t occupied with the drinks, he’d be rubbing the back of his neck in that telltale sign of discomfort.

“No, I don’t really do the dating thing,” he admits.

“Well, it’s a good thing this isn’t a date then,” I remark with a grin.

I follow Brayden to the middle row and then down the aisle to the center seats. This is exactly where I would have chosen to sit, if he had bothered to ask.

He puts the drinks in the cup holders and then I hand him the tub of popcorn so that I can get seated. I look around the theater as I take my seat. There are only a handful of people at this showing.

“We almost have the theater to ourselves,” he comments next to my ear, his warm breath tickling me and causing me to shiver.

The movie starts and we get quiet.

Ten minutes into the movie, Brayden surprises me by taking my hand and holding it almost until the end. I’m even more shocked that he doesn’t make a move to try and kiss me or put his arm around me.

The movie is actually sweet and funny, and during one part, I even cried a little bit. I tried to hide it from Brayden, but he must have noticed because he handed me a napkin to dry my tears with.

“You’re such a romantic,” Brayden accuses me as soon as the credits start to roll.

“You can’t tell me that you didn’t find any parts of that movie sweet?” I challenge him.

He just looks at me and shrugs his shoulders noncommittally.

“That must be the reason you don’t do the ‘dating thing,’” I say, using air quotes. “You don’t believe in romance.”

“Nah, I just never found a girl I wanted to see more than once,” he replies.

Wow! Never more than once? That’s awful.

“Well, this is the second time you’ve seen me already,” I point out as we’re walking down the aisle toward the exit.

“That’s not what I meant,” he says pointedly.

Oh, I’m so naïve. He wasn’t talking about dating.

He meant he hasn’t found a woman he wanted to sleep with more than once. That’s even worse than what I first thought.

Before I get the chance to make a comment, a beautiful woman with brown skin, wearing a halter top with a miniskirt and wedge heels, approaches Brayden.

Her curly hair is worn natural in twists and her big brown eyes are expressive as she addresses him.

“Look who it is, Brayden Caffee,” she hisses.

“Hey, Shondra,” Brayden addresses the woman.

“How are you gonna ‘Hey Shondra’ me, like we’re friends or something? We were cool until you slept with me and never called me again. We’re not cool anymore,” she tells him and then turns on her heels and walks away.

“Wow. That was interesting. Does that happen a lot?” I probe.

“More than I care to admit,” he answers honestly. “Does this mean you want to cancel our next date now?”

We’ve made our way out of the building and we’re standing on the curb outside the movie theater now.

“No. I promised you a date and this isn’t a date, remember?” I remind him. “Thanks for the movie and snacks. I’ll see you on Sunday.”

I give him a quick peck on the cheek and head to my car. I look back to see him standing there with his hand pressed against the cheek I just kissed.