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“Go out with me?” he asked and all she could seem to do was nod her head.
“Um wait—isn’t that why we are here?” she asked when her brain finally caught up on the events of the last two minutes. He didn’t make a move to release her and she was just fine with that. Being plastered up against him wasn’t a hardship. She liked the way she could feel every hard inch of Anders. He certainly grew up in all the right places, that was for sure.
“You’re my blind date?” Anders asked. “Fucking Whiskey,” he grumbled.
“If this wasn’t what you expected—if you wanted someone else to show up here tonight, just say the word, Anders.” She tried to pull free from him, but he only tightened his arms around her body.
“No—that’s not what I meant, Texas. Whiskey didn’t give me any clue who I was meeting tonight. I’m just surprised is all,” he admitted.
“Good surprise—like you’re parents left for the weekend and gave you permission to use the car and have a big party or bad surprise—like you walked in to find your grandparents having sex?” she asked.
Anders chuckled, “Definitely the part where I get the keys to the car and get to have an epic party. Although neither has ever happened to me.”
“Well, consider yourself lucky—I had both happen and the clean-up after the party was no fun,” she teased.
“Wait—did you walk in on your grandparents having sex?” he asked.
“Yes, and it wasn’t for the faint of heart—I’ll leave it at that,” she said, grimacing.
“It’s really good to see you again,” Anders whispered.
“You too,” she agreed. “So, about this blind date—we going to go for it or cross paths like two ships in the night?” She was hoping that he’d agree to continue with their date, but she suddenly felt so unsure of herself.
“I’m not sure where you come up with these things,” he said. “But I’d like to try the whole blind date thing if you’re game.” Anders watched her as if waiting for an answer and Texas realized he was still holding her against his body.
“Only if you promise to kiss me goodnight at the end of the date,” she whispered.
“Oh Honey—I’ll kiss you good morning too, if you’ll let me,” Anders’ growled. Yeah—it was some good luck that she ran into her old high school friend, Whiskey, at the grocery store.
* * *
Texas sat across from Anders, wondering how she ended up having dinner with her high school crush, and the steak that she ordered suddenly seemed unappetizing. She wanted to play it cool and at least pretend not to be freaking out over the fact that she was on a blind date with a man she’d been fantasizing about since high school. But cool was eluding her and instead, she sat across from Anders struck mute and feeling foolish for agreeing to go on this date in the first place.
“You’re awfully quiet,” Anders said. “I don’t remember you being this quiet when we were younger.” Her nervous laugh filled the corner of the bar that they were sitting in and she shook her head like a loon.
“I guess I’m just a little nervous,” she admitted. Honesty was her only excuse because coming up with a lie on the fly wasn’t an option for her right now. Texas was usually good in stressful situations but for some reason, sitting across from the hottest guy in her high school class was rendering her speechless.
Anders reached across the table and took her hand into his own and her stomach did a little flip-flop. “It’s just me, Texas,” he breathed.
“That might be the problem,” she mumbled.
“Problem?” Anders asked.
“Well, you probably know that I had a crush on you back in high school. I mean—I’m guessing that Whiskey told you how I went on and on about you when he took me to prom, like a complete idiot,” she said.
“Um, no,” Anders breathed. “He never mentioned anything about that night. Honestly, I always wondered what happened that he didn’t ask you out again.”
“That was my fault,” she griped. “I might have rambled on about you like a lunatic. God, I had such a crush on you,” she gushed.
“I never knew,” Anders said. “When I finally got up the nerve to ask you to prom, you said you were going with Whiskey. I just assumed that you liked him.”
“Nope,” she admitted. “Not at all. In fact, the only reason I went with him was because he was the only guy who asked me. Well, that and the fact that he was your best friend and I was hoping that somehow, you’d notice me if you saw me with him. Stupid, I know,” she grumbled.
“Actually, it worked,” Anders admitted. “I was jealous as fuck.”
“Really?” Texas asked. She sat forward as if Anders was going to share a secret and he smiled at her, making her girl parts gooey.
“Yep,” he admitted. “I sat at home during prom and sulked the entire night. The next morning, I called Whiskey and he was so cryptic about your night together that I didn’t speak to him for weeks. But he never told me exactly what happened. It was worse not knowing how things went than to have Whiskey’s cryptic explanation of your date. My mind of course wandered to the worst-case scenario.”
