He couldn’t believe he’d agreed to this.
He should have known better. Arrangements like this never worked. Especially not with women. If Brendan had learned anything in life, it was that he should just stick to his art and his motorcycles. That’s where he felt confident, in control.
With women . . . well, all he ever felt was used.
Too many times he’d gone out with a woman only to find that what she was looking for was someone to “take her away.” But he had yet to find a woman who wanted to go where he did, do what he enjoyed, and just spend time getting to know each other.
He’d been foolish enough to believe he’d found her once. He felt his teeth clench as Gwen’s image drifted into his mind. He pushed it—and the anger it always brought with it—away. He wouldn’t be that foolish again.
Truth be told, he was tired. Here he was, nearly thirty years old, and still going out on dates. Kylie, his younger sister, kept reassuring him that an older man was a much-desired commodity on the dating scene. Somehow that did little to encourage him. If anything, it just made him more tired.
Be honest, a small inner voice chided him. There is one woman you’d like to get to know.
The image of her face drifted into his mind, and he pushed it away. Yes, he was interested. Was he going to do anything about it? Not likely. Better to just watch from afar and imagine her to be wonderful than to meet her and find out she was just one more disappointment.
That’s what he told himself, anyway. Until last weekend, when Kylie had insisted on accompanying him to the park. She said it was to get some fresh air, but he knew better. She wanted to scope out the woman who’d caught her brother’s attention.
He spent the walk to the park informing his sister he wasn’t interested in meeting the woman. Just that he found her . . . kinda, well, intriguing. They sat on a bench—the same one he’d sat on numerous times in hopes of seeing the woman and her dog go by—and waited. Sure enough, she showed, basset hound in tow. Brendan pointed her out. His sister’s eyes widened as she turned to look at him.
“You’re kidding.”
He’d figured that would be her response. “Afraid not.”
She turned back to watch the woman, who’d stopped to let a group of children pet her dog. “Brendan, that’s Lindsay. Mac’s sister. You saw her at the wedding.”
“Exactly.”
His sister’s mouth formed a little O. “Are you telling me that all it took was seeing her, and you were—”
“Like I said, intrigued. If you must know, captivated.” He leaned back, resting his arms on the back of the park bench. “That’s what I’m saying. Crazy, I know.”
“Not so much.”
He glanced at her, saw understanding in her eyes. “You and Mac?”
“Well, not quite that fast, but yes.” She pursed her lips. “You know, she does attend the same church Mac and I go to. You’d have met her by now if you’d only come to church—”
“No, thanks.” He didn’t like cutting her off, but he wasn’t willing to get into the usual debate. “I love God with my whole heart. It’s his people I can’t stand.”
“Hmmm, well, she’s one of them. So are you sure you want to meet her?”
“No.”
“Brendan!”
“I told you I wasn’t interested in—”
She’d just waved his words away. “Protest all you want, but I know you too well. Besides, you’ve done nothing but talk about this woman for the last month and a half. Now, all we need is a plan. . . .”
He hadn’t heard anything more from Kylie for a week, so he figured that was it. Determined to get on with life, he immersed himself in his work, resigned to the idea of being a bachelor from now to eternity. Sure, God said it wasn’t good for a man to be alone. But it wasn’t good to be disappointed over and over either.
Then, a few days ago, Kylie came up with a wild scheme. And, for some crazy reason, he’d agreed.
“Crazy is the word, all right,” he muttered to himself now as he stood with his sister in a flower shop, arms outstretched.
“It’s not crazy at all.” Kylie shoved the flowers he’d purchased into his arms. “It’ll work, Brendan. Trust me.”
“Yeah, right.” He peered at her over the blossoms. “And why should I do that? Oh, wait. Let me guess. Because you’re a woman?”
She gave him a truly saccharine smile. “And all our friends call you dense. Why, they don’t know you at all, do they, brother dear?”
“Hmmm.” He headed for the door. “I don’t know about dense, but sucker certainly would seem appropriate.”
“You can do this. You can do this. You can—”
Ding-Dong.
Lindsay’s pep talk came to an abrupt end. She was standing in the living room, staring into her favorite antique mirror. She shot a quick glance at the mantel clock. No fair! It was only 10:10! He was twenty-two minutes early—
Ding-Dong.
Her eyes flew back to her reflection in the mirror, noting the sudden panic on her features. She knew she should answer the door, but she couldn’t move. She closed her eyes. Please, God, just have him go away. Please, please—
Ding-Dong.
“Rowf! Arrrroooooooooo!”
Her eyes flew open. No! The sound of Doofus in full voice spurred her into action, and she raced for the front door. If the basset really got going, the din of his howling could shake the walls. Her neighbors would not be amused.
“Hush, Doofus!” She scooted him away from the door and pulled it open.
The dog wasn’t listening; he was caught up in the heat of the hunt now. “Arrrrooorroooooo!”
The pictures on the walls started to vibrate.
“Listen, Doofus! I said knock it off!”
Startled at her raised voice, Doofus sat down and gaped at her—and at the same moment, a deep voice commented, “Sorry. No one answered the first few rings so I thought I’d try one more time.”
Lindsay felt her face flame as she turned to apologize, but the words died mid-utterance. There, in front of her, was the most beautifully huge bouquet of flowers she’d ever seen. The fragrance was heavenly.
“Wow.” All she could think of.
A deep chuckle came from behind the blooms. “I take it that means you like them?”
“Oh!” Startled, she stepped forward and reached out. “Here, I’ll take those.”
“I—”
“I know. You want to get going.” Obviously, considering how early he was. “But do me a favor and just hang on for a minute.”
He hesitated, and she took the opportunity to pluck the gorgeous bouquet from his arms. “Let me get these in water. It won’t take a minute.” She carried them to the kitchen. “Just wait right there.”
Carefully, she placed the flowers on the counter, then buried her face in the fragrant blooms. Inhaling deeply, she smiled.
Well, at least he knew how to start things off right.
“These are really beautiful,” she called as she found a vase and filled it with water.
“I’m glad you like them.”
His voice was nice. Deep, resonant, and kind of warm. Like he was smiling.
She arranged the flowers in the vase, then carried it to the dining room table. She grabbed her jacket and headed back to the doorway.
What?
Her valentine date was kneeling down, petting an ecstatic Doofus. The basset was leaning his heavy body against the man’s leg, gazing up at him with an expression he usually reserved for her.
Lindsay didn’t know whether to be pleased or jealous.
Her date glanced up as she approached, and her steps slowed. Very nice looking, striking in a rugged sort of way. Kneeling there in his black leather jacket, a motorcycle helmet on the floor beside him, he reminded her a bit of a dark-haired, dark-eyed version of Harrison Ford in his Indiana Jones incarnation. Especially when he smiled. He had a slow smile that was lopsided and utterly endearing—
Stop it. She occupied herself with putting on her denim jacket. You don’t even know the man’s name, and he’s endearing? She tugged at the bottom of the jacket, squared her shoulders, and put her hand out.
“Lindsay St. Clair, but please, call me Lindsay. And the beast at your feet is Doofus.”
There was that lopsided smile again. “Great dog.” He gave Doof one last pat before he stood to take her hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“Thanks. It’s nice to meet you, too.”
His strong fingers all but engulfed hers. At the contact, an almost electrical jolt shot through her, and her eyes lifted to meet his, startled. Something flickered in those brown depths.
So he’d felt it, too.
She lowered her eyes and noted how Doof had managed to collapse across the man’s feet. “Doof, go to your bed.”
With a woebegone glance at her, the dog rolled away from his resting place and lumbered over to the dog bed near the fireplace.
A deep chuckle drew her attention back to her date. She really liked the way he laughed, and how his eyes crinkled, as though they performed that action on a regular basis.
She hadn’t realized she was staring at him until he cleared his throat.
“I’m Brendan.”
His expression was enigmatic, as though he wasn’t sure about something. Her calm fled. Was she already falling short of his expectations?
Hold to the truth in love. . . .
Right. The truth.
She drew a steadying breath, and then plunged in. “OK, let’s go.” She moved past him and pulled the door shut behind them. She started down the hallway, then stopped when she realized he was still standing there, not moving, just watching her, a bemused smile on his face.
She marched back to him, leaned down to pick up the helmet, plunked it in his hands, and then took his arm, tugging until he fell in step with her.
“Are we leaving?” His question was filled with barely restrained laughter.
She glanced at him. Planting her hands on her hips, she faced him, lifting her chin. “I’m sorry, Brendan. I’m sure this seems a bit odd—”
“Just a bit.”
She raised an imperious brow. This was not a laughing matter. “It’s really very simple. I don’t know what you had in mind for today, but we’re going to do this my way, or not at all.”
His only response was a slight lifting of his brows. Good. A man who knew the value of silence.
“So here’s the plan. We spend one day together. Just one. We don’t waste our time or your money with a series of dates trying to figure out if we have anything in common. The only investment we make is one day, morning ’til evening, doing things together and being who we really are. No games, no pretense, no putting on a show to catch each other’s interest.”
She met his eyes, hoping he saw she was sincere, not crazy. “Come on, Brendan, admit it. Aren’t you sick and tired of all the games we’re expected to play when it comes to dating?”
A response flickered in his eyes, and he tilted his head. “As a matter of fact, I am.”
“Well, then. What have you got to lose? I don’t know if you’re familiar with Bible verses—”
“As a matter of fact, I am.”
That was good news. “Well, remember the verse about the truth setting you free? When’s the last time you remember being truthful on a date? I mean, really truthful? Right from the start.”
“I’m not sure I—”
“—have ever been that way. I know.” She was interrupting, but she wanted to get this out. Clear from the get-go. “Dating is custom-designed for pretense. You try to make yourself who you think your date wants you to be. You’re careful what you do and don’t say, you reveal only as much of yourself as you think is safe. As a result, it takes forever to really know a person. And by that time, you’ve invested so much time and energy you feel like you’ve got to make it work. Even when you shouldn’t. But it doesn’t have to be that way. We can relax, feel free to be honest about how we feel or think, and by the end of the day it should be crystal clear to us if this is something we want to pursue.”
He studied her for one beat, then two, and she felt her face grow warm. Did he think she was a total kook? She swallowed. Oh, good grief, why had she said anything at all? In fact, why had she even answered the door? She should have known he wouldn’t understand.
Lord, this was a mistake! Why did you let me—?
“Makes sense.”
She gawked at him. “It—it does?” The words came out in a surprised squeak, and he grinned.
“Yes, it does. So how do we decide what we do for the day?”
“Oh, I’ve got some things in mind.” She wasn’t sure if he looked pleased—or apprehensive. Either way, she had things planned. Things that would make their suitability—or lack thereof—clear very early on.
He leaned against the wall, shaking his head. “Now, that doesn’t exactly seem fair, does it?”
She bit her lip. He was right. “No. I suppose not.”
He pushed away from the wall and took her arm, walking down the hall toward the outside door. “Of course it doesn’t.” He held the door open for her and she stepped out into the brisk air.
She loved February in Seattle. Cold enough to let you know it was winter, but every once in a while a day like today, when the sun shone and the cold fled. She drew a deep, appreciative breath.
“So,” Brendan went on, “how about you pick out the first activity, then I pick one? And we can go on like that for as long as we have time.”
She paused, pondering for a moment. “OK, that sounds fair.” She offered a hesitant smile. “So, are we set?”
“Absolutely.”
She felt his warm smile all the way down to her toes.