Priceless

  Plucking a tissue from the box she’d been using to perfect my makeup, I handed it to her. “Is it my turn to remind you I’m twenty-two?”

  “As if age has anything to do with it,” she mumbled, snagging the tissue and blowing her nose. “This is your first date. I’d have been weepy if you were ten or thirty.”

  Great. Now I was going to get weepy. And Reese had already finished my eyes. I was sure they looked wonderful too. I didn’t want to ruin all her lovely work.

  She’d always been there for me and strived to make me feel good about myself. This woman was the mother of my heart, and I was so blessed to have her in my life. I always knew I could ask her for any advice, which reminded me...

  “What if he wants to kiss me?”

  Okay, I was probably shooting way above my pay grade with that little wish, but...it could happen. Maybe. Seth had asked me out. Surely he thought I was kiss-worthy.

  Surely.

  “Do you want him to?” Reese asked, her blue eyes sparkling with mischief. When she wiggled her eyebrows, I laughed and blushed.

  “I don’t know.” Yes! I so badly wanted to know what a kiss felt like.

  “Well...” Lips tightening as she tried to reign in her goofy grin, Reese drew in a thoughtful breath. “You kiss Issa and Gray all the time, so you already have the mouth-pursing part down. With mouth-to-mouth kisses, I guess the main thing to avoid is bumping noses. So when he leans in, he’ll probably tilt his head slightly one way, ergo you should try to tilt yours the other way.”

  I practiced tilting my head, and Reese laughed, catching my face between her hands. “Maybe not that much. There. Like that.”

  Heat raced through me as I remembered just a few nights ago when Brandt and I had been in my bed pressing our foreheads together. We’d tilted our heads just like this.

  It was as if we’d been preparing for something that would never happen between us.

  Clearing my throat, I murmured, “I think I know what you mean.” Then I gulped. “What about tongue?”

  “On your first kiss?” Reese squawked, eyes going wide. “Oh, hell no.”

  Cheeks heating even more, I said, “He won’t know it’s my first.” At least I hoped to God he wouldn’t ever learn I was that lame.

  “Well, it is my humble, honest—and right—opinion that any first kiss between two people should never start immediately with tongue.” I grinned as she got wound up. It was always entertaining when Reese decided to impart her views on life with me. “A first kiss is an introductory stage, two strangers still getting to know each other.” She picked up two tubes of lipstick and held them a couple inches apart as if pretending they were two people about to kiss.

  “If you attack, full force, first thing”—she smashed the tubes together and wiggled them around viciously—”you ruin the entire experience. If you start out strong, you can only go down from there, so...” She backed the lipsticks away from each other, and then slowly crept them closer as if they were sniffing each other out. Flirting. “You start out with simple lip-to-lip contact. And if that goes well, then your bodies may naturally shift closer.”

  The lipstick tubes eased against each other, and my clothes suddenly felt a little snug against my chest. “Before you know it, your hand might grip his shoulder, or neck, or something, and then...then when breathing escalates and hearts thump a little faster, he might test out the waters and nudge his tongue against your lips, asking for access.”

  My gaze held magnetized by the kissing lipstick cases, I gulped. “And if that happens?”

  She grinned. “Well, if you want him in, you let him in. Oh, but...” She winced, pulling the lipsticks apart. “Don’t just open your mouth and then do nothing with your tongue. That’s called a dead fish kiss. Very bad. You have to do stuff with your tongue too if he’s doing stuff with his.”

  “I do?” Oh, crap. This was beginning to sound complicated. “Like what?”

  Should I be taking notes?

  Reese frowned at the two bottles before tossing one aside and uncapping the other. As she brought it to my mouth to apply a layer, she murmured, “I don’t know. Just kind of mimic what he does.”

  “Mimic,” I repeated, confused, suddenly hoping Seth didn’t try to kiss me now. I would so suck at it.

  “It’s basically just instinctual stuff.” Tossing aside the lipstick and picking up lip gloss to coat over what she’d just applied to my mouth, she shrugged. “Hard to explain, but once you’re there, you just kind of do it without thinking about it.”

  Great. I had zero instinctive skills. All the anticipation I’d been feeling swiftly plummeted into dread.

  What the hell was I thinking going on a date? Brandt was right; I was a sexless being. I didn’t belong in the dating, kissing, instinctive world.

  “Relax,” Reese murmured, catching on to my anxiety. She patted my cheek and grinned. “Don’t even think about that part. Just have fun, get to know him, be yourself. You’ll do great.”

  Just as she said that, the doorbell rang.

  The sound vibrated through my chest like the gong of doom.

  “Oh, God,” I whimpered.

  “Yay!” Reese cheered, doing a happy little jig in front of me. “He’s here...and a few minutes early, too. That’s a good sign.” Grabbing my wheelchair, she rolled it to me so I could climb in. “Come on, chickie. It’s go-time!”

  I pushed to my feet, no longer as chipper as she seemed to be. After taking a wobbly step forward, I sank into my chair, blew out a shaky breath and looked up at Reese.

  “You look amazing,” she said before I could ask.

  I grinned. I might bomb this dating thing completely, but at least I could be satisfied with knowing I’d look good while I went down.

  Reese followed me from the room and down the hall to the foyer where Seth was standing just inside the doorway while he talked to Mason about having a place to store my wheelchair in whatever he drove. All the while, he untrustingly eyed Issa and Gray, who were staring up at him with great curiosity.

  A finger jabbed me in the back right between the shoulder blades as Reese hissed in my ear, “Oooh, he brought flowers. Score!”

  Finally, Issa pointed and said, “Flower.”

  “Uh...” Seth glanced at the bouquet of daisies in his hand and jumped as if startled to see them. “Oh. Okay.” He plucked one from the batch. “Here you go, princess.”

  As he handed it over, Reese poked me again, hissing, “Did you just see that? Oh my God, so sweet.”

  I waved a hand to silence her because I was pretty sure Seth had heard her, too. Both he and Mason looked over, just as Gray began to throw a fit because his sister had gotten a flower and he hadn’t.

  When Seth realized he better give the boy a flower too or he’d have World War Three on his hands, he quickly pinched off another stem and handed it over. Gracen, however, used his posy like a sword to duel with his sister, poking her in the eye. She shrieked in outrage, smacking him back with her flower, and both their parents interceded, pulling them apart and hauling them away, basically leaving me and Seth alone in the foyer.

  He sent me a rueful grin before handing over the remains of my bouquet. “Here. Sorry about that. There’s still a couple left for you, I guess.”

  I laughed as I took the bouquet from him, warmth glowing through me because he was being so nice. I guessed—hoped—that meant I hadn’t messed up yet. “Thank you.” Just as I brought them to my nose to inhale their sweet fragrance, one of the kids started to wail in the other room.

  Seth cringed. “Wow. I didn’t mean to start anything.”

  “Don’t worry. They do that all the time.”

  His eyes widened with horror and I nearly laughed at his expression but thought laughing at him might offend him, so I managed to swallow it down. A breath later, the second toddler began to cry.

  “Let me just get these in some water, and we can go,” I said quickly, ready to get him out of here before he deserted me because of my craz
y family.

  He turned his ear my way. “What?”

  I held up the flowers and said a little louder, “Water.”

  “Oh! I can do that,” he offered, stepping forward.

  But I held up a hand. “It’s no problem.”

  He stopped and nodded, so I hurried from the room. When I returned, Issa and Gracen were both still crying somewhere down the hall.

  “Time to escape,” I announced, causing him to smile in relief.

  When I snagged my purse, he stepped forward as if to somehow assist, but he must’ve realized I had it under control because his shoulders fell and he stepped back again. Instead, he opened the door for me.

  I grinned up at him, thrilled he was such a gentleman. He followed me down the front ramp and to what I guessed was his car at the curb.

  “So, uh, how do we do this?” he asked.

  Glancing over my shoulder, I pushed to my feet and leaned against his car as I folded the chair. “Do what?”

  He was too busy gaping at me. “O-oh,” he stuttered. “You walk.”

  “Only a few steps at a time. Where do you want this? Trunk or backseat?”

  Still seemingly stunned by my awesome abilities, he finally lurched forward to take the folded chair from me. “Here. I’ll put it in the trunk.”

  “Thanks.” I held on to the car as I turned around to try the passenger’s side door and found it unlocked. Whew. The heels Reese had put me in made it a little more challenging than it usually was for me, but I still managed to slide down into the waiting seat without a spill.

  By the time Seth had stowed the chair, I was settled, seat belted, and ready to go.

  “Wow, you’re good at that,” he said as he slid behind the wheel.

  His praise made me glow. “I’ve had practice.”

  Holy wow, maybe I wasn’t going to bomb tonight after all. Aside from my frightening family, I personally seemed to be doing okay with this whole dating business.

  And Seth was an absolute gentleman.

  “So where are we going?” I asked, setting my hand against my stomach because I was starving.

  He crinkled his brow thoughtfully before saying, “I’m sorry, what?”

  Ack. He couldn’t understand me. I kept forgetting he wasn’t family; he wasn’t used to my vernacular. My speech impediment had improved drastically since Reese had set me up with a therapist when I was thirteen, so I thought I spoke extremely clearly these days. Some people still had trouble understanding me sometimes, though.

  Slowly, I repeated, “Where are we going?”

  I’d been too nervous to eat earlier. But now...now I could probably eat a whale. Oh crap, how unseemly was it to pig out on a first date?

  Damn, that would’ve been a good question for Reese.

  “How about my place,” he asked, casting me an uncertain glance.

  My lips parted, not expecting that. In my head, dates equaled eating out at a restaurant.

  “Uh...” I shook my head free of that notion. “Sure. That sounds fine.”

  This might actually be better. I was still less comfortable in public. If it was just the two of us, I could relax and be myself more.

  I hoped.

  My hands fiddled in my lap the entire five minutes to his apartment complex. I’d learned long ago that fidgeting on purpose quelled a lot of the involuntary movements

  Neither of us spoke, and it wasn’t a very comfortable silence. I kept trying to think up things to say, only to veto every idea I had as lame.

  “Here we are,” he murmured as he pulled into the building’s parking lot and found a spot to park, far away from the handicap spot where I’d have to go to roll my chair up to the curb.

  “This is a nice area,” I said as we both opened our doors. We were in the historic part of town. “Is your building on the historic tour?”

  He paused and glanced back. “What?”

  My face heated. Okay, even I’d heard the slur that time. Making sure to enunciate each word precisely, I repeated the question.

  “Oh. Uh...” He shook his head, looking a little dazed. “I don’t think so.”

  He didn’t say more as he unlocked his trunk and pulled out my chair.

  All righty then. He wasn’t a big conversationalist. Note taken.

  But yeah, I wasn’t sure how to work with that.

  “Thanks,” I told him as I took over, unfolding the wheelchair and sliding down into my seat.

  Things continued to get more awkward as he tried to lead me straight to the curb, but I had to find a flatter part to get onto the sidewalk.

  “Oh, sorry.” He made an apologetic motion with his hands, but I told him it was perfectly fine. He wasn’t used to this way of life. Totally not his fault.

  But I think it was starting to make him uncomfortable. He messed with the collar of his shirt as soon as we entered the elevator. I was kind of tempted to tell him he should just undo the top button when he finally did.

  Once we reached the fifth floor, he led me to apartment 5A and unlocked the door before letting me enter first. He turned on the light as he came in behind me, and I wheeled around to face him, wondering what was supposed to happen now.

  There was no smell in the air as if he were cooking anything in the oven. I began to wonder if there was going to be any food involved with this date at all just as he fiddled with his now-opened collar and then glanced at me.

  I flashed him a smile, hoping it would help settle his unease. Smiles helped everything, right? But mine only seemed to make him more uncomfortable. He jerked his gaze away, and I wondered if—crap—maybe I was drooling. With a quick whisk of the back of my hand across my mouth, I discovered all was good there. Thank goodness.

  “You thirsty?” he finally asked.

  “Um...yeah, sure.” I nodded, relieved to get him out of the room. I needed a moment to clear my head and come up with something to say, because he obviously wasn’t going to be the conversation-starter.

  I tried to think up some of the things Brandt and I discussed since Brandt was a guy about the same age as Seth, but he and I talked about so much it was hard to narrow it down to one subject.

  Ooh, except maybe movies.

  Movies were a good, safe topic. Or television shows. Hopefully Seth was a Supernatural fan. We might actually survive the night if we could bond over Dean and Castiel. I was so going to ask him about that.

  From the kitchen, I heard the refrigerator open and glasses clink. My nerves settled some. He was pulling out glassware; he must be trying to impress me at least some. That was good.

  All this was good.

  We could do this.

  Next to me, something dinged. I glanced over to find he’d left his cell phone face up on his coffee table. When a certain word caught my attention, I frowned and leaned closer, reading the entire message.

  And what I saw made my veins fill with pure ice.

  BRANDT

  I couldn’t believe Julianna had talked me into a date.

  I wasn’t so sure about dating a coworker. I usually—okay, fine! always—had commitment problems and ended up pissing off women who wanted more from me. If I pissed off Juli, it would really suck when we had to work together again.

  Plus, it was nearly impossible for me to concentrate. What if Sarah’s date was supposed to be tonight? I’d been able to use deductive reasoning through some craftily asked questions throughout the week to discover tonight was the one night she didn’t have free for a while. And if she wasn’t free, she was probably busy with him.

  God, it was so fucking weird to think of her with some other guy.

  When she’d told me she’d been interested in dating since she was at least eighteen, it’d taken everything inside me not to demand why she’d never been interested in dating me.

  But she was right. We were just friends. Besides, over the years, I’d gained a taste for certain...things. I would be too horrified to try them with Sarah, even if she were interested in me that way.

&nbs
p; “So, where are we headed?” Juli asked, snapping me to the present.

  Damn. I’d been ignoring her. Not good.

  “You like fried chicken?” I asked, glancing her way.

  She glanced back and arched an eyebrow. “I’m a black woman from the South. What do you think?”

  “Oh shit,” I gushed, my eyes growing with horror and face heating as I realized how badly she’d misinterpreted my question. “I totally didn’t mean—”

  With a laugh, she touched my arm. “I’m teasing you. Sorry, I couldn’t resist. You’re just too cute when you blush.”

  And she was freaking cruel when she teased. Jesus. I almost had heart failure, afraid I’d insulted her.

  Setting a hand against my chest, I sent her a look promising revenge as I blew out a breath. “Damn, you’re evil,” I said, actually appreciating her demonic charm.

  She only laughed harder, so a reluctant chuckle slipped from me.

  “It’s my best feature,” she flirted back.

  “Interesting,” I murmured.

  We’d gotten a block from her apartment, and I was just deciding tonight might not be such a bust after all, when my phone alerted me to an incoming text. I barely glanced its way where it sat in the cubby between our seats when the lit screen showed Sarah’s name and the distinct letters SOS.

  Forgetting propriety and how it was rude to talk, text, or google on your phone while on a date, I snagged it up and opened the message as I stopped at a red light.

  All Sarah had said after her SOS was an address to what must’ve been an apartment building because it also had a room number: 5A. I had no idea what was going down in 5A, but I was about to find out.

  “Quick detour,” I said, tossing the phone back into its cubby and stomping on the gas as soon as the light turned green.

  Julianna grabbed onto the door when I whipped around a corner too fast but didn’t scold me. All she said was, “Everything okay?”

  “Uh...” I scratched the back of my neck and sent her an apologetic wince. “I’m not sure. My best friend just sent me an SOS, so I’m going to stop by real quick and check it out.” Belatedly, I realized she might not be down for that, so I quickly asked, “If that’s all right with you,” when honestly, it didn’t matter what she thought of my plans. Nothing was going to keep me away from Sarah when she’d sent out an SOS.