To The Single Dad in the Store by J.S. Cooper

Chapter Twenty-One

I walkedover to the gentleman, my heart racing. I couldn’t believe I was actually doing this, but I guess we all do weird things for friends. If it had been someone I was interested in, there was no way I would have gone up to him like this—but maybe that’s why I felt so brave because he wasn’t anyone I was interested in.

And Shelby was right, I was lucky. I had a date with a guy I considered to be the hottest man I’d ever seen in my life, and he really seemed to like me, too. So I was living my best life when it came to love.

The man was about two feet away from me now. I was going to have to figure out how I could start a conversation with him. I groaned inwardly. I really didn’t want to be here.

And then I tripped. It wasn’t even on purpose. I just wasn’t paying attention, and my heels were too high. I tripped and I fell right into him. “Oops, oh, sorry!” I said quickly, as I patted his shoulders and stepped back. “I’m so sorry. I wasn’t paying attention. I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

“That’s okay,” he said in a deep drawl. His voice was husky and sexy. I looked up into his eyes. They appeared to be a bright, sparkling blue, from what I could tell.

“I just don’t know what came over me,” I breathed, my face flaming hot.

“It’s fine. Are you okay?” he asked.

“Oh, I’m fine, thank you. Just my ego is a little bit battered. I feel like such a klutz.” I was grasping at straws now. I didn’t know what to say.

“That’s okay. These things do get kind of rambunctious, don’t they?

“Oh, do they?”

“No,” he said dryly. “You haven’t been in the law very long, have you? Are you an intern?” He looked me up and down, “Or the daughter of someone that works here?”

“Um, none of the above,” I said. I needed to flirt. I needed to see if he would be engaged with me. “I just came to see if I could meet any hot guys.” I wanted to groan again. How obvious could I be?

“Oh, interesting. Hot and rich, I’m assuming.”

“Well, you know,” I wrinkled my nose, “money doesn’t really matter to me, but …”

“But you decided to crash a law firm event to meet men, and money didn’t matter to you? Why don’t you go and crash the Burger King event or the McDonald’s event?”

“What are you trying to say about people that work at Burger King or McDonald’s?” I glared at him. “Are you trying to say that they’re not good enough for me?”

“Lady,” he held his hand up, “please don’t take it so seriously. It was a joke.”

“I don’t think that’s a very funny joke. People that work at Burger King and McDonald’s are also people, and hard work isn’t—”

“I am very glad to hear that you do not judge people based upon where they work, but I was really not trying to—”

“It’s okay,” I said, remembering where I was and the mission at hand. “You can get me a drink to make it up to me if you want.” I pouted my lips and batted my eyelashes. I felt like a damn fool, and Shelby was going to have to take me to dinner or something because I was really out of my element here.

“You want me to get you a drink, do you?” His eyes narrowed. “I’m beginning to think that you tripped and fell on me on purpose.”

“Now, why would you think that?”

“I don’t know,” he shrugged. “What would you like to drink?”

“I don’t know. Surprise me.”

“Okay. Well, let me go to the bar and—”

“I’ll come with you. We can chat some more.” I grabbed onto his arm. Oh, what was I doing? I just wanted to curl up into the floor.

“Okay.” He looked at me and then at my hand on his arm. “This is not that sort of event, just in case you were wondering.”

“What are you talking about? This is not what sort of event?”

“I’m not sure what you think is going to happen here.”

“What do you mean, you’re not sure what is going to happen here?

“I don’t want to make any assumptions, but …”

“But what?”

“Are you a prostitute?”

“What?” I dropped his arm as if it had gone red hot. “Are you joking? What are you talking about? Of course I’m not a prostitute!”

“I mean …” He tapped the shoulder of someone next to him. “Hey, can I ask you a question?”

“Sure,” a familiar voice said, and I froze on the spot. Please, God; please don’t let it be who I think it is. Please.

I turned around slowly and my worst fears were confirmed.

It was Steele.

“Steele, this young lady just asked me to get her a drink, after she fell into me and—”

“Hold on,” Steele said, his voice hard, “Nellie, is that you?”

“Um, no?”

“Nellie, is that you?”

“Um, no,” I said quickly. “I don’t know any Nellie. Sorry, Steele.”

“Nellie.” He stepped towards me.

“You know this crazy woman?” Sam said, chuckling. “Don’t tell me she tried to come on to you as well.”

“She tried to come on to you?” Steele sounded flabbergasted. “Nellie, what the hell is going on here?” He took off my mask, and I blinked at him.

“Steele, hi. Imagine seeing you here.”

“I thought you said you had plans for the evening.”

“I do, I …”

“I thought you said you needed to help your best friend with something.”

“I am, I …”

“So what’s going on? Where’s your best friend, and what are you meant to be helping her with?”

“That’s what I’d like to know.” Sam folded his arms and frowned at me. “I mean, I don’t know how you know this lady, Steele, but I think she might be a pro.”

“I’m not a pro. I’m …” I looked back and couldn’t see Shelby anywhere. I knew I could tell the truth to get out of the situation, but that would put Shelby right in it. How could I tell them that I was trying to flirt with Sam to figure out if he’d be interested in dating someone young because my best friend Shelby was interested in him but was nervous that he wouldn’t be interested in her because she was the daughter of his best friend? I was absolutely going to kill her. “Steele, can we talk about this somewhere else?”

“I don’t know, Nellie. I don’t really understand what’s going on right now, what sort of game are you playing here?” He looked confused—and worse, disappointed. “We had a date, and you canceled on me because you said you needed to help your best friend with something. I thought it was some sort of emergency, but here you are all dolled up at a corporate event. I didn’t even know you knew anyone that worked in my law firm.”

“I didn’t know I knew anyone that worked at your law firm, either,” I sighed. “Please, Steele, can we chat?”

“We can chat right here.”

“Yeah. I want to know what you have to say as well,” Sam said. I wanted to slap the smirk off of his face.

“Look, I tripped by mistake. I’m not interested in you. I wasn’t coming on to you or anything.” I glared at Sam. “You’re not even my type.”

“That’s what they all say. Millionaires aren’t your type, hon?”

“I don’t care if you’re a millionaire or not. You’re an asshole. I don’t know why she’s—” I paused. I couldn’t say, I don’t know why she’s interested in you. “Anyway, whatever,” I turned to Steele. “Please, can we chat? I can explain to you, but I can’t explain here.”

“I don’t know, Nellie. I just feel like you’re playing games with me. Look, if you don’t really want to go on a date with me, and all you really wanted to do was bitch at me about my poor parenting style, then just let me know.”

“That is not what’s going on.”

“I don’t really understand, Nellie, I—”

Desperate, I pressed my lips against him and kissed him, hard before pulling back. He looked dazed and confused.

“Wow. Okay.” Sam stared at us. “Hmm…Well, I’m guessing that you’re no longer interested in me,” he shrugged. “I have got better things to do. I’ll see you around, Steele.”

“Bye, Sam.” Sam walked away. Steele and I were left alone, staring at each other.

“You have a whole lot of explaining to do, Nellie. Like a whole lot of explaining.”

“I promise, I will tell you everything. I just couldn’t tell you in front of him because it’s kind of embarrassing.”

“Hey, you didn’t see him in a grocery store as well, did you?” Steele smirked. “Did you send him a mean little note as well?”

I knew that this was a make-or-break moment. I was fuming internally at his comment. If he would have called me a Karen at that moment, I would have found a drink, thrown it in his face, and walked away. But then I saw his lips twitching and I realized that the entire situation was completely ridiculous. Shelby’s plan had been stupid, but the way I’d met Steele had also been crazy. Shelby and I had a lot of growing up to do. And I was ready to start now. I needed to be more mature and I needed to be an example to Shelby. I needed to step up to her and be stronger when she came up with her crazy plans.

“I’m joking, Nellie.” Steele touched me lightly on the shoulder. “Though I would like an explanation as to what’s going on because I’m really confused right now.”

“Fine.” I looked around to see if I could find Shelby. I didn’t have to look long because she was almost on top of me within seconds.

“So what happened? Does he want you?” Shelby almost pounced on me.

“No, he doesn’t want me.” I glared at her and nodded towards Steele, but she was so self-absorbed that she didn’t even notice Steele standing there.

“Because you’re too young? Or because he didn’t find you attractive?” She asked, looking me over as if to see if I looked ugly.

“Really, Shelby?”

“Tell me exactly what he said!”

“Do you want me to leave you two ladies alone?” Steele was looking at me with a glint of humor in his eyes. “I don’t want to interrupt.”

“You’re not interrupting.” I poked Shelby. “In case you didn’t notice, Steele is standing right next to me.”

“Steele?” Shelby blinked. “Oh, grocery store guy?” She looked over at him. “Oh, hi.” She looked back at me. “Uhm, what’s going on? You did chat with Sam, right?”

“Shelby, really?” I shook my head at her. “You’re being super selfish and annoying. You know that right?”

“What?” She pouted and then looked over at Steele properly. Her eyes widened and she grinned. “Oh … you’re really cute. I get it.”

“You get what?” he asked, one of his eyebrows raised as he stared at my best friend.

“Why Nellie is so into you.” She giggled. “You’re hot. If I wasn’t into Sam, I’d totally have gone for you.”

“Sam?” He looked at me. “The partner at my law firm, Sam? The man you were just talking to awkwardly?”

“Yes.” I groaned. “Shelby wants him.” I cringed at having to explain. “She wanted me to test the waters.”

“What?” His eyes went wide and then he looked over at Shelby. “Okay, maybe I don’t want to know.” He shook his head. “You do know that Sam is a law partner.” He stared at Shelby. “He’s 41 and the most serious guy in the office.”

“And?” Shelby looked puzzled.

“And he’s not going to be interested in little girl games.” I spoke for Steele. “This was a stupid idea, Shelby, and you’re not going to get a mature and respectable man interested in you if you keep acting like a spoiled brat.”

“Wow.” Her mouth fell open. “You think I’m spoiled?”

“I think that you’re not going to have a successful relationship with a grown man if you keep playing these games.”

“So now you have an older boyfriend, you’re the expert?”

“You have an older boyfriend?” Steele looked taken aback and I could feel my face growing a deep red. Thank God, the room was dark. I was going to absolutely kill Shelby.

“Oops, I’m just joking.” Shelby made a face and I could tell that she realized that she’d put her foot in it. “Thank you for coming, Nellie.” She offered me a small smile and I could tell that she really meant it. “I’m sorry for making you cancel your date to help me. I was selfish.” She sighed. “I guess I really do have a lot of growing up to do.”

“I was happy to help you, Shelby.” I pulled her to me. “But we’re about to graduate and enter the real world. We can’t be pulling high school tricks anymore.”

“I know.” She nodded. “I’m going to go and talk to Sam.” She pulled her mask off and I could tell that she was nervous.

“Now?” I asked her in surprise. “Do you want me to come with you?”

“I don’t think that would help her.” Steele laughed. “He thinks you’re crazy.”

“Ugh, don’t remind me,” I muttered. “What an embarrassing night, but I hope you understand why I wasn’t able to come on the date tonight.”

“You’re a good friend.” He looked over at Shelby. “Can I offer you some advice?”

“I guess.” She nodded and looked down. I could tell that she was deflated, and I felt bad for going off on her in front of Steele.

“Be nice,” I whispered at Steele and touched him lightly on the arm. To outsiders, Shelby looked like a confident, narcissistic princess, but she was so much deeper than that. She had this hard, confident exterior up, but that wasn’t who she was. Steele’s eyes warmed as he gazed at me and I could see something in his expression change. Gone was his light, almost cocky manner. A warmth seemed to radiate from his body to mine.

“Shelby, when you go up to Sam, just be yourself,” he said softly. “Don’t be overly flirtatious, don’t bump into him, don’t play games, just say hello.” He smiled softly. “You’re a beautiful woman, he’ll be glad to have your company.”

“I hope so.” She sighed and then smiled widely. “I like you.” She nodded. “You’re a good match for Nellie. I wasn’t sure about you before, but I like you.”

“Well, thank you.” He chuckled. “I’m glad I have your approval.”

“You should be.” She grinned. “I am her best friend. My opinion matters.”

“Shelby!”

“What?” She giggled and then gave me a quick hug. “You and Steele have a good night. I’ll see you at home.”

“Wait, what? We came together.”

“I can take it from here.” She pointed at Steele. “Have fun with your hot grocery store guy. I’ll be okay.”

“Are you sure?” I frowned. I really didn’t like leaving her alone.

“Always.” She nodded. “Anyway, I gotta run. I think I see Sam, and I need to shoot my shot.”

“Good luck.” I watched as Shelby sashayed away. “I hope it works out.” I stared at Steele’s lips and tried to ignore the voice in my head telling me to kiss him.

“Unlikely, but that shouldn’t stop her.” Steele’s eyes were on mine and I wondered what he was thinking.

“What do you mean?”

“Sam is a partner at one of the top law firms in the South. He’s not going to get involved with a self-important college student.”

“Steele!” I gasped. “I can’t believe you said that.”

“Why?” He shrugged. “At least I didn’t say it in front of her.”

“Because that would have been cruel.”

“Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind.”

“That’s not very kind.”

“It wasn’t kind of her to have you break your date with me,” he pointed out. “But who knows, she’s pretty, and maybe Sam will give her a chance. Frankly, I only care because you care.” He leaned forward and kissed me lightly. “You’re a good friend.”