The Dating Experiment Final Read online

“I can’t—I have to—go.” She slid away from me, walking briskly to the desk. She snatched up her phone and keys and all but ran out of the office without looking at me again.

  The door clicked shut, leaving me in silence.

  “Fuck,” I whispered, resting my forehead against the wall.

  Fuck.

  Chapter Eleven – Chloe

  My mom always told me to expect the unexpected. I’ve always thought she meant expect your period at random times of the day.

  Not for your best friend’s brother to kiss the shit out of you.

  I ambled out of the main door of the building and onto the sidewalk, almost walking into a man in a suit. He shot me a dirty look, and I babbled an apology.

  Dom kissed me.

  Dom. Kissed. Me.

  My lips still tingled from where he’d moved his across mine, and the lingering taste of coffee still overwhelmed my senses.

  Oh, God.

  What did I do now? Where was I supposed to go? How did I begin to think about what had just happened?

  I was at the office. Mellie’s hotel was two blocks away. I’d go there.

  She had alcohol there.

  And I needed something to calm my nerves.

  I walked, swerving in and out of the happy, laughing people on the sidewalk. My heart was thumping so hard I couldn’t hear a damn thing as it echoed in my ears. All I could do was focus on putting one foot in front of the other to get to the hotel.

  Why had he kissed me?

  There was no way I was the person he was talking about. The one who was his standard for any other woman. It didn’t make sense—we were oil and water. How could I possibly be the one who nobody else measured up to in his eyes?

  Was it possible we were both harboring feelings for one another? Had he allowed me to set him up originally for the same reason I’d had him set me up?

  To move on? To get over him?

  Was he trying to get over me?

  He couldn’t do that. I didn’t even know he was under me.

  This was too much information to process. I was still running on a high of the feeling of his lips against mine, of our bodies being pressed to each other, of how it felt that moment when it clicked that he was kissing me.

  Euphoria.

  It was a flash of pure euphoria.

  I pushed open the hotel door and stepped into the cool lobby. The cold air felt good as it prickled against my skin. The hairs on my arms stood on end as I moved through the lobby to where a new girl was manning the reception desk.

  “Hi,” I said, leaning on the desk. “Is Mellie around?”

  She peered over from her computer with a bright smile. “Can I ask why you need to see her?”

  That was new.

  “I just need to speak with her,” I said in my own best customer service voice.

  “I’m not sure she’s available.”

  A shadow fell over the desk. “Did you see a ghost?”

  I looked over and up at Jake. “No, but I may as well have.”

  “You look like death,” he noted.

  “I feel like I might be on the brink of it,” I admitted.

  He nodded his head. “Come on. Mel’s on the phone, but you can go back. Do you need anything?”

  “Something alcoholic.”

  “I never assumed otherwise.” His eyes twinkled with laughter. “Go on. I’ll bring you a drink. Erica, a moment?” he directed the last note at the girl behind the reception.

  She went deathly white. “Yes, sir.”

  “Just a note,” Jake said, lips twitching. He winked at me.

  I smiled and skirted out to the staff door. I punched in the code in the newly-added lock system, and it beeped, clicking to let me through. I pushed it open and walked down the hall to where I heard Mellie’s voice before I saw her.

  “No,” her voice echoed through the ajar door. “I’m not willing to accept that, Jonathan. This is the third order y’all have messed up in the past three months. We’re not running a joke here; we’re running a successful hotel. Either y’all fix this and get us the missing items on our order in the next twelve hours, or I’ll be contacting the bank for a partial refund and finding another supplier who won’t let us down every four weeks.”

  Wow.

  I rapped my knuckled against the door lightly and poked my head through.

  She looked up from where she was sitting at her desk and motioned me to come in. “That’s what I thought. I want the missing portion of the order at the back door by eight a.m.” She hit the button on the phone and put it back on the dock. “Hi! What’s—” Her gaze settled on me, and her brow creased. “Hey,” she said, standing. “What’s wrong?”

  I swallowed, clasping my hands in front of my stomach. It was still in knots, and my throat felt as though it was closing up.

  “Chlo?” Mellie rounded the desk to me.

  “Dom kissed me.”

  Her eyes widened. “He did what?”

  I swallowed, desperately trying to wet my now-dry throat. “He kissed me.”

  She pressed her hand to her mouth before quickly dropping it. “Like a kiss, or a kiss?”

  “A kiss!” I fisted my hair with both hands. “Like a kiss, Mel. A real kiss.”

  Her lips parted. “What the—why? What did he do that for?”

  “I don’t know!” Still with my hair entangled between my fingers, I pressed my hands against my burning cheeks. “Last night, he said he wasn’t going to have another date with Rachael because she lied about being a single parent on her profile—”

  “Oh, this sounds good.” Jake slid into the office behind me and pushed a sangria into my hand. “And this. Tequila. Clearly for your nerves.”

  I took the tiny shot glass of clear liquid and tossed it back without a second thought. My chest was already constricting, and I didn’t want to get any tenser than I already was.

  “Thanks.” I handed him back the glass and sat in his office chair.

  “Welcome.” He half-smiled. “What’s going on?”

  “Dom kissed her,” Mellie said so I didn’t have to. “And on purpose.”

  “Aside from the fact you said that like you’re fifteen and sharing it with a group on girlfriends on the phone,” Jake said with one eyebrow quirked, “I caught something about a lie about being a single parent, and I find myself woefully interested in this whole situation.”

  “You’re aware we set each other up?” I asked, stirring my drink with the straw.

  He nodded and perched on the desk.

  “My guy is away for work, but he had his second date last night. I was working and turns out, she lied on her stuff and has a daughter. That’s not something Dom is interested in, so…” I shrugged a shoulder. “I wanted to set him up with someone else, but he said no. Said there was someone he’d always compare them to and after a bit of a fight—”

  “You trying to get it out of him,” Mellie snorted.

  “—I gave up and he went to bed,” I continued. “But this morning, I realized I’d left my phone at the office, so went by to get it. He was working, and I asked again.”

  She shook her head. “Of course, you did.”

  “Hey, look!” I waggled my finger at her. “I thought about it last night in the bath and figured that if this mystery woman was the bar he was using to score all others against, she had to be pretty special.”

  Jake smirked.

  “So, when I was there this morning, I made my point. If she was that big a deal to him, he had to tell her. We went back and forth—”

  “You fought like hell,” Mellie corrected me, earning herself a nod of agreement from Jake.

  “We fought like hell,” I reluctantly agreed. “I think I pissed him off enough that he finally agreed to tell her, and the next thing I know, I’m grabbing my phone and keys to leave, and he kisses me.”

  Jake let go of a long, low whistle. “Plot twist.”

  “Not really. She started with that.” Mellie flashed him a grin, then turn
ed to me. “Well? What happened then?”

  “I kissed him back,” I said simply. “So, we kissed, then I realized what was happening, and I ran away.”

  “Of course you did.” She smiled. “And came here?”

  “I panicked. I still can’t make sense of it. All that, and he kisses me?”

  Jake scratched the back of his neck. “What can’t you make sense of, Chlo? So, he has this woman he holds higher than anyone you could ever match him with, but he won’t tell you who that is or anything about her. You get to him enough that he agrees to tell her, and he kisses you. That’s pretty cut and dry from where I’m sitting.”

  “Honey, she’s been in love with him for ten years. If this situation were cut and dry, she’d have lost her virginity to him on prom night instead of Alex Dupre.”

  “Hey! Stop telling everyone that!” No matter that she had a point. “I get what you’re saying, okay? But it doesn’t make sense. How can I be that person to him? We don’t get along at all.”

  Mellie walked back around the desk and sat in her chair. “Well, he’s that person to you, isn’t he?”

  “No. I want to marry someone who is capable of keeping hold of their keys without losing them for longer than two weeks. I want someone who’s reliable and steady and doesn’t need their hand to be held because they’re a mess. I already have you and Peyton for that.”

  “Hey!”

  Jake cough-snorted into his hand. Except it was a little more snort than cough, and that didn’t work out well for him. He ended up actually coughing and smacked his fist against his chest to clear it.

  Mellie shot him a dark look. “I don’t mean his stupid parts. I’m sure there are lots of things about you that piss him off—”

  “Like what?”

  “Well,” Jake said croakily. “As the third party here—Mellie, honey, you’re a hot mess, and she’s right. Between you and Peyton, she doesn’t need another adoptee on that train,” he said to her. “And, Chloe? Darlin’, don’t take this the wrong way, but you can be difficult to get along with.”

  My jaw dropped. “How so? I’m the nicest of all of us!”

  “I am inclined to agree with you in general there,” he said warily, shooting Mellie a look, “But you have your moments. Sometimes you’re a little…uptight.”

  “Uptight?”

  Mellie grimaced.

  “You’re just… you’re strung quite tight.” He was looking like he regretted opening his mouth. “I don’t mean that in a bad way. It’s part of your personality. Like how Mel’s clumsy as fuck and Peyton is a little OCD about things.”

  “I’m not clumsy,” she grumbled.

  Even I scoffed at that. It was a wonder she could do her mascara every day without poking herself in the eye.

  “So, Mellie’s clumsy, Peyt’s OCD, and I’m uptight?” I clarified.

  Jake swayed. “Not in a bad way. You’re just…Fuck how do I say this? Particular? No. Shit.”

  I stared at him.

  “I think what he’s trying to say is you’re put together. Out of all three of us, you’re the one who, in general, has your shit together,” Mellie interjected. “And given how useless we are, that makes you uptight.” She shrugged a shoulder.

  I’d never thought of myself as uptight before. A little highly strung, maybe, but not uptight.

  “Highly strung!” Jake clapped his hands together once. “You’re highly strung.”

  “Did you just read my mind?” I muttered. “Maybe I am, but we’re not kids. We’re not old, sure, but Dom is almost thirty and can’t keep hold of his damn keys to save his life. I just don’t understand how I can be the benchmark he holds all other women to.”

  Jake shook his head. “You three are made for each other, I swear. Maybe he has feelings for you, Chloe. There’s something there if you’re the one he compares everyone else to.”

  “So? Why did he never tell me?”

  “You never told him,” Mellie pointed out.

  “No, but we had a fight a few weeks ago at Peyton’s, and I told him I used to have a crush on him.”

  “Generally, guys don’t just blurt out how they feel mid-argument. There’s enough emotion happening already, and we can only take so much in small doses.” Jake crossed his arms. “We’ll wait until a quieter time.”

  “Mid-argument isn’t a quieter time,” I said. “Especially not when he’s fighting with me.”

  “True story,” Mellie muttered.

  I shot her a dark look.

  Jake sighed. “All I’m saying is that I get where he’s coming from. And I can’t say anything else without incriminating myself.”

  “Do you know something I don’t?” Mellie stared at him.

  He shook his head. “No. Just from a guy’s perspective, that’s all. In the meantime, I have work to do, so while you’re slacking off to be a good friend, I’ll go call Peyton and order you all pizza.”

  “You’re so sweet.” Mellie smiled.

  “And adjust the roster because you’ll now owe me three hours.” He grinned and darted out of the office just as Mellie threw a pen and missed.

  “Never date your boss,” she said, looking at me.

  “Or your co-boss?” I replied in a weary tone. “Because I think I have an issue with him.”

  Her pale-pink lips thinned into a sympathetic line. “I know, honey. I know.”

  ***

  I only knew one thing.

  My head felt as though a sumo wrestler was sitting on it.

  I groaned, rolling over. Coincidentally, my stomach rolled, too. I stilled, closing my eyes in the hope the room no longer spinning would help ease my nausea.

  That was the last time I was going to allow Jake to make me sangria.

  In fact, I don’t think I ever wanted to drink sangria again.

  “Here,” Peyton’s croaky voice made me open my eyes.

  Slowly, I looked up at her. I was in her spare room, clothed except for my pants, and she was leaning over me with a glass of water and two pills.

  I gingerly brought myself up to sit and leaned against the headboard. Taking the pills and glass from her, I murmured a rough, “Thank you,” and took them. “How are you walking?” I asked.

  “I got up an hour ago to throw up, so I didn’t really have a choice,” she said warily, sitting on the edge of the bed. “What the hell did Jake put in that sangria?”

  I shook my head, then winced. Nope. I couldn’t do that. “How much of it did we drink?”

  “Too much. That’s what happens when your drinking game is watching Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares and taking a drink every time someone swears.”

  “We shouldn’t do that again.”

  “I completely agree.” She yawned and crawled across the bed, tucking herself under the covers on the other side.

  “I’m not wearing pants,” I told her.

  She shrugged. “My shorts barely count. I’m too hungover to grope you, don’t worry.”

  I laughed a little, then stopped quickly. Nope. Couldn’t laugh, either. “Where’s Mellie?” I asked.

  “According to the text I woke up to from Jake, he put us both to bed, then took her home where she passed out on the sofa.”

  I touched my fingers to my lips. “Did he take off my pants?”

  She shook her head. “I asked the same. Apparently, I yelled at him for watching me take off my pants when all he was trying to do was make sure I didn’t crack my head open on the nightstand.” She paused. “Then, apparently, you thought it was a good idea to take yours off, too, but you were already in bed when he checked on you.”

  “Oh, God,” I moaned. “How embarrassing.”

  She shrugged a shoulder. “In your defense, you had a rough day. We were just along for the ride.”

  “Being kissed by the guy you’ve loved forever is a rough day?”

  “It wasn’t exactly under the moonlight though, was it? It was after a fight. That’s not the romantic declaration of a fairytale forever you doodle
d all over your books in high school.”

  I sniffed. “I didn’t doodle. You were the doodler.”

  “You were so a doodler. All I drew were cocks with faces.”

  “Which is why you didn’t date anyone longer than two weeks in high school.”

  Peyt grinned. “That’s because I drew cocks bigger than what they had.”

  She was probably right.

  “What are you going to do about Dom?”

  I groaned and lay on my back, staring up at the ceiling. “Nothing. I’m going to do nothing. I’m too hungover to think about anything right now.”

  “You have to do something. He kissed you. That means something.”

  I rolled my head to the side and looked at her. “From the woman who had meaningless sex for ten years.”

  “Hey, I had sex with them. Rarely kissed them. Kissing is intimate. It’s like…” She sighed, pushing her dark hair from her face. “Kissing is baring your soul to someone else. After everything you said last night, it sounds like he kissed you because it was easier than telling you that you’re his bar.”

  “His bar?”

  “Yeah. His bar. You know, we all have a bar that something has to compare to. You’re apparently his, and he’s too chicken shit to say the words.”

  I would have rolled my eyes if my head wasn’t banging harder than a frat house on a Saturday night. “I think he just wanted to get me to shut up.”

  “Always a possibility,” she acquiesced. “But not in this context. So, what are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to take a nap and pretend I didn’t get blind-ass drunk last night,” I answered, having another sip of water before lying back down. “And you’re going to be a good friend, shut up, and nap with me.”

  “If I wasn’t also blind-ass drunk last night, I’d argue.” Peyton shuffled right down beneath the sheets and yawned. “But I was, so I won’t.”

  I patted her on the head and turned off the light on the nightstand.

  I honestly didn’t think I’d be able to go back to sleep, but if I had to lie here for two hours to make her shut her mouth…

  Well.

  She’d never know.

  Chapter Twelve – Chloe