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“More or less what I expected. What about you? How’s this Monday treating you?”
“No complaints.” His eyes took in the flowers on her desk and then zeroed in on the card she still held. “Who’d you get those from?”
Like he needed to ask, because men sent her flowers all the time. Please, he knew who they were from and as soon as she answered he’d probably once again tell her what a mistake she was making. Why couldn’t Trevor have sent the flowers to her apartment where no one else would see them?
“Trevor.” Okay, here it comes. Some comment about him being too old or all wrong for her again. She did agree he was a little older than she would prefer, but they’d gotten along well on Friday. Did that mean she wanted him sending her flowers already? No, but she wasn’t ready to call him all wrong for her either.
Derek took another gulp from his coffee before he spoke. “How’d that go Friday?”
Part of her wanted to tell him it’d been the best date of her life. Considering how well he knew her and the fact he knew they’d gone to see Shakespeare, he’d see right through her lie.
“It was okay. We had dinner at Mon Soleil then went to the theater. Afterward we stopped for dessert. He stayed for a few minutes after we talked to you in the lobby and then he left.”
He smirked and pointed at the flowers. “He must have thought it was better than okay.”
Perhaps he had, but it didn’t change anything for her. “What about you? How was your weekend?” Right now she didn’t want to speculate on what Trevor thought.
“Relaxing. Took the Affinity out and spent a few hours on the water Saturday. Yesterday, I bummed around the house. Did you and Cheyenne stay out of trouble?”
“I didn’t—” She stopped herself just in time. She’d forgotten all about telling Derek she had plans with her cousin. Originally she’d made up the excuse because Trevor had asked to see her again over the weekend. When Derek mentioned helping him shop in front of Trevor, she’d had no other choice but to tell him the lie as well. She didn’t want to add any other lies into the mix now.
“She didn’t come by, did she?” Derek asked.
Judging by his tone, he already knew the answer to his question. “No. Trevor wanted to get together again on Saturday. I didn’t want to say no, but I wasn’t ready for another day out with him either. He’s… I’m not sure what the right word is. Eager? I don’t know. Trying to push things along too fast?” She’d tried explaining she wanted to take things slowly after he mentioned her meeting his daughter. The large vase of flowers on her desk suggested he hadn’t gotten the message.
“Rather than making up excuses, you could always tell him you’re not interested. You held up your end and gave him a chance like your father wanted. It didn’t work out. Let it go.”
She eyed the card in her hand again. Maybe she was being a little unfair by calling him pushy. It wasn’t like he’d called or sent her text messages over the weekend. He’d merely sent her some flowers. The more she thought about it, it was a rather considerate gesture. “I didn’t say I wasn’t interested, Derek. Only that I want to take things a little slower than he seems to. And one date isn’t really giving him a chance.”
“I take it you have another one planned?”
She didn’t get why it mattered so much to him. In fact, he sounded angry about the idea of her going out with Trevor again, which made no sense. She understood Derek sharing his opinion on the matter. She’d done the same a time or two when he’d dated certain women. She’d never gotten mad though when he didn’t take her advice, and she never continually tried to change his mind—as if anyone could change Derek Sherbrooke’s mind anyway. The man gave the word stubborn a whole new meaning.
“We might do something this weekend. It’s still up in the air. This is his daughter’s week to stay with him, and he didn’t know what their plans were yet. But I’m sure we’ll get together soon if this weekend doesn’t work out.”
Derek scowled and grabbed a chocolate from the candy dish on her desk.
With him already in a bad mood, now seemed as good a time as any to share her misgivings about the upcoming auction. “I was going to call tonight and talk to you about this.” She hated the idea of going back on her word, but the more she thought about it the more his plan seemed like a disaster waiting to happen. “I’m not sure about bidding on you at the fundraiser next week. Everyone in your family knows we’re friends, including your Aunt Marilyn. Don’t you think it’ll look odd when I win four dates with you?”
The frown lines near his mouth deepened. “I have considered what they may think—”
She intended to finish her entire speech before she let him say anything. “And who knows, if we don’t go through with this silly plan of yours, you might meet someone you really like. A lot of women will be there. I heard the event has almost sold out. And there’s no guarantee Tasha will make the highest bid anyway. She might even bid on someone else instead. You’re not going to be the only man there. I read there’ll be twelve of you up for auction.”
“Brooklyn—”
“You know how fickle she can be. She had a thing for your cousin once as well as Trent. Maybe she’ll see someone on stage and forget all about you.” Perhaps she was stretching the truth a little, because she doubted anyone who’d ever seen Derek could forget him. “I think we should forget about your little scheme and let things play out,” she concluded her argument and waited for his objection.
“Can I speak now?”
She nodded.
“First, I considered that my family knows we’re friends. But it doesn’t really matter. Once the auction is underway, Aunt Marilyn won’t stop it. She might say something to me later, but I’m not worried about it.”
“What if the media finds out about our friendship and accuses the foundation of rigging the fundraiser?” She’d forgotten to add that to her earlier list of objections.
“Even if the media prints something about us knowing each other from college, since we’ll go on the romantic dates you win, there’ll be nothing to make anyone suspect the event was rigged or predetermined.”
She wished he wouldn’t use the word romantic in connection to them. She’d accepted a long time ago they’d never be anything more than friends. She didn’t need him bringing any deeply buried dormant feelings back to the surface.
