Finding Forever (15 page)

“Sorry, T. No luck this time either. -MatchedAce”

“Hi Avery. What happened? -MatchedTori”

“Nothing. -MatchedAce”

“What does that mean? -MatchedTori”

“It means nothing happened. She was nice, but I wasn’t feeling it. - MatchedAce”

Great. Another failure.
Avery with his ‘ not feeling it’ and Lauren with all her complaining were messing up my record.

“Okay. Let’s have a meeting next week to discuss options. Mel will call you. Goodnight! -MatchedTori”

“Damn. - MatchedAce.”

“Damn? - MatchedTori.”

“Yes,
Damn
. -MatchedAce.”

“Care to elaborate? -MatchedTori.”

“You shut me down :( -MatchedAce.”

“I wasn’t trying to shut you down. My apologies. -MatchedTori.”

“And is that a… frowny face? -MatchedTori.”

“Yes, it is. Never had a grown ass man send you a frowny face before? -MatchedAce.”

“I have, just not you. -MatchedTori.”

“Does it make me less manly? -MatchedAce.”

“You’re all man, Avery. - MatchedTori.”

Wait, what? Why the hell did I say that?

I was still frantically wishing I had included a ‘recall message’ feature when I built the Matched app when I received Avery’s response.

“Tell me more about that. :D -MatchedAce.”

“Shut up. -MatchedTori.”

“What are you doing right now? -MatchedAce.”

“In the bed. Why? -MatchedTori.”

“Come on another ‘not a date’ with me. -MatchedAce.”

I sucked in a breath. It had been three weeks since I’d met Avery for that test date, and neither of us had mentioned it since then. Personally, I’d been making it a point not to think about what it meant that Avery had very nearly kissed me, and tried to ask
me
out. I felt a little guilty about telling the lie that we weren’t a match, but that was easier than explaining the truth— I just wasn’t good at relationships. Avery wanted something long term, which I couldn’t give. Add that with the minor detail of him being a client, and no matter what the computer said, it wasn’t happening.

“Don’t over think it. I like being around you. Don’t make an excuse. You’re in the bed before ten on a Friday, you don’t have anything better to do. Be ready at ten-thirty. I’m coming to get you. -MatchedAce.”

The hell you are.

I raised my thumb to the screen to tap out a response, but hesitated before I hit send. Maybe I
was
over thinking it. The ‘not a date’ with him the month before was the most fun I’d had since when I was with him in the Maldives. Hell, I liked being around him too, and it’s not as I was about to spend my night doing anything else. I erased what I had already typed, and sent back one word.

“Okay. -MatchedTori.”

— & —

“I thought you said you weren’t drinking?
Clearly
you had a few too many glasses of wine if you think whatever
that
shit is looks better than mine.” I tossed Avery
and
his pitiful looking painting a playful scowl as we stood in front of them, waiting on them to dry.

He shook his head, leaning forward to squint at my canvas. “Well… I guess if I look
really
close, I can tell it’s supposed to be a bunch of paint splashed all over. Your composition is great though.”

Dodging my hand as I attempted to slap his shoulder, he grabbed me around the waist, pulling me into a sideways hug. “I’m playing, it looks good. I
guess
I can give you your props, you have some talent. I thought your pops was just bragging on you.”

I took a quiet breath, trying to ignore the warm, familiar flutters of arousal created by the close contact with his solid body. And he smelled good.
God
, he smelled so good. “What? What does my dad have to do with anything?”

“How do you think I knew you liked to paint? That day I went to your parent’s house, he told me you were always into art and stuff.”

I lifted an eyebrow at him, but couldn’t help the grin that spread across my face. “That was over a month ago, Avery, I can’t believe you remembered that.”

“Why wouldn’t I? I was at the shop the other day, heard a guy making plans to go to a “sip and paint” event with his wife, so I asked him about it because it sounded like something you would like.”

“So you thought you should bring me to a place men bring their wives?”

He looked down at me with his eyes wide, then broke into a laugh when he saw I was struggling to keep a straight face. “Stop playing, Tori. Now you’re about to have
me
over thinking shit too.”

“Seriously though, I’m actually proud of you, Avery. This was a nice choice for a date,
especially
after sushi,” I said, missing the warmth of his body as he released my waist and stepped away.

“What, you didn’t think I could plan a good one?”

My eyebrows dipped in a playful scowl. “Well, maybe if you would take one of your matches on a second date, I would know.”

“
Ouch.
” Avery brought his hand to chest, grimacing as if he was in pain. “Why are you doing me like that?”

“Doing you like
what
?”

“Trying to make me feel bad about that. I mean,
you
said if I wasn’t feeling it, I wasn’t feeling it, and not to sweat it, right?”

I looked up at him to nod. “Right.”

“That’s what I’m doing then,” he said. “Not sweating it. You ready to get out of here?”

Our paintings were dry, so we loaded them into his car, and then headed back to my house. In the driveway, he got out to open my door, then carried my painting to my front door.

“Hey… you know what else your dad told me?”

I turned to him as I fished my keys out of my purse. “What’s that?”

“He said you were a dancer.”

“Oh, jeez,” I said, bursting into laughter. “I did a few years of ballet when I was a little, and to this day, he swears I could have been Misty Copeland. Avery, I was
terrible
at ballet then, and I’m
terrible
at dancing now.”

“Terrible?”

I nodded my head. “Yes,
terrible
. I mean, I can keep the beat, but that’s about it. And I can grind with the best of them, Des taught me when we were back in college so I wouldn’t totally embarrass her at the club.”

“I’ll be the judge of that. Next date, I’m taking you somewhere we can dance.”

“Ok, but I warned you….”

“Duly noted.” Avery placed my paper-wrapped canvas in the decorative chair beside the door as he watched me unlock it, then turn back to him. He was leaning against the door, giving me a smirk that was somehow sexier than his full smile.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

He shrugged. “No real reason. Thinking about
one more
thing your dad told me.”

“Okay… what?” I asked, cocking my head to the side.

Avery pushed away from the door, and stepped towards me, prompting me to take a step back. “He said you were ticklish. Like… really, really ticklish… but only in one very particular spot.” He gave me a wicked grin as he came forward another step, and I lifted a finger in warning as I took one more — the last one I could— back.

“Don’t you dare, Avery. I
hated
getting tickled, and I’ve outgrown it anyway.” I pressed my back against the door as he closed the last distance between us. I really had outgrown it, but I didn’t want him trying it anyway… just in case.

“Then why,” he said, placing his hands at the exact spot on my waist, “Are you so scared?”

“I’m not.” It came out in an unintended whisper, because I couldn’t pull in a deep enough breath to speak aloud. He was
so
close, and it was as if my body recognized him, and was trying to tell me,
this is the guy who made us feel so damned good.

“Mmhmm. Relax. I’m not about to tickle you after you said you hated it.” He didn’t move his hands away from my waist, instead pulling my lower body closer to his. “Besides,” he said, with his mouth so close to my ear I felt the brush of his lips. “Don’t you think I’d know if you were ticklish? I’ve already touched you
everywhere
, Tori. Remember?”

I was too stunned to respond, and I didn’t have a chance anyway, because the next thing I knew, his lips were against mine, and my entire body relaxed in relief, as if I had been waiting on him to do this all night.
Had I
been waiting on him to do this all night? He teased my lips apart with his tongue, then eased it inside to thrust against mine as I dropped my purse and lifted my hands to the back of his head. I returned his kisses with fervent, frantic ones of my own as he lowered his hands to cup my behind and pull me closer to the eager erection struggling behind the zipper of his jeans. Completely defying everything I’d established about a relationship of
any
kind with Avery, I was ready to invite him inside. The Maldives were three months too long ago, and his mouth was way too skilled for a silly thing like common sense to prevail.

But… then he was backing away. He gently pulled his lips away from mine and stepped back, shoving his hands into his pockets as if that were the only way he could keep them off me. Confused, I tried to meet his eyes, but he averted them away as he backed up a little more, then lifted a hand to rub the back of his neck. “Tori, I’m…. I’m sorry about that. I told you this wasn’t going to be a date, and then I… turn it into one. I shouldn’t have done that.”

“What? Avery…
I’m
not sorry you kissed me. I had a good time with you tonight, and the kiss… was a perfect ending.” I swallowed hard, and this time it was my turn to avoid
his
eyes.

He grabbed my hand, gently tugging until I looked his way. “So… what does that mean?”

I thought about it for a second, then smiled. “Remember what you told me earlier, Avery… don’t over think it.”

“So you’re gonna use my words against me, huh?” He chuckled, kissing the back of my hand. “Really though…. what just happened?”

Now that the heat was turned down, a little trickle of good judgment broke through. I needed to reign this back in. “What happened is two friends went out together, and had a great time. At the end of the night, they shared a kiss, and moving forward, one friend is going to continue working towards fulfilling her obligation to find the perfect woman for the other friend to hopefully spend his life with.”

He gave me a dry laugh, then a little hug after he released my hand. “Fair enough.” We exchanged our goodbyes, and I took my painting in with me, leaving it propped inside the front door after I locked it behind me.

— 7 —

— Tori —

I relaxed into the pedicure chair, glass of wine in hand as I tried — unsuccessfully — to cheer myself up. The point of this trip to the spa was to separate myself from the stress of spending the last few days in Chicago with Des, who was now five months pregnant. The plan was to get away, and have a little girl time with my best friend, but I’d spent the majority of the visit between three activities: The most annoying was being lectured on the importance of dating again after a divorce, which I refused to discuss with Des,
period
, but she was content with telling me — no response needed. Second was being grilled about Avery’s dating progress, which I couldn’t discuss with her anyway. If neither of those were happening, she was raving about her new life with Drew and the impending arrival of the baby, both of which — call me a hater— I didn’t
want
to discuss, at least not for hours on end. I was happy for Des and Drew, but they were
so
into each other it was overwhelming sometimes.

Des and I had always been solid friends, like sisters. I wasn’t sure exactly what shifted, but she was starting to make me question our friendship with her criticisms and judgments of my life, especially when it was hypocritical. So, with that weighing on my mind, I’d gone to the spa when she was unavailable, with the intention of being alone to have every bit of anxiety massaged, exfoliated, waxed, clipped, and polished away, but I was no closer to serenity than I’d been when I walked through the door.

I went back to my hotel to shower before I was supposed to join Drew and Des for dinner, but I considered crawling into my bed with a bottle of wine. My mood was gloomy at best, and I didn’t want to be
that
girl, taking out my frustrations on everyone else. Nevertheless, this was my last night in Chicago. I wasn’t about to cancel the plans that had been in place since before I arrived, so I threw on my ‘uniform’: skinny jeans and a cute top, a little makeup, and brushed my curls into big, puffy waves. By the time I arrived at the restaurant, I had pep-talked myself into a better mood.

Then, I got to our table.

I had to keep myself from rolling my eyes at the sight of Deidra and Wes tagging along with Desiree and Drew. Excellent. Now, instead of enduring one lovey-dovey couple, I had to manage two, and I wasn’t the biggest Deidra fan. I tolerated her for Des.

Somehow, I managed to plaster a smile on my face. “Hey guys! I didn’t realize you were coming too!”

“They were a last minute addition,” Des explained. “They called to invite us out, but of course we already had plans with you, so I figured we could blend it.”

Deidra chimed in. “Yeah, Des is the best, isn’t she? Always thinking up a compromise.”

I was saved from giving
my
thoughts on her compromise by the appearance of the waiter to take our drink orders. I waited patiently until he got to me, and ordered water. “Oh, and a Long Island Iced Tea,
please
.” I needed it.

“Jameson neat for me, man.” A lump formed in my throat at the sound of a warm, rich, familiar voice. I looked up to see Avery stepping around the waiter with a smile on his face as he took the last seat at the table — beside me. Freaking déjà vu. He greeted everyone, then dipped his head closer to me. “How have you been?”

I had been avoiding seeing Avery in person for nearly two weeks, in an effort to tame my swirling emotions. I couldn’t get the memory of him pushing me against my door, with his body pressed to mine, out of my head. He looked as handsome now as he did then, and as always, he smelled divine. I swallowed
hard.
“I’ve been good.”