Dating in the Dark (Dating Trilogy Book 1) Read online

  The light is brighter at the end of the hall and with nowhere else to turn to, she heads in that direction. Her heels click-clack against the cobblestone floors beneath her, and she can’t help but feel transported to 1920s Chicago when Prohibition was in full swing and speakeasies were rampant. Assuming this room was set up to mimic that style, she quickens her pace in excitement to get to the end of the passageway and enter the room.

  There’s so much going on, and she has no idea where to look at first, but then her eyes zero directly in on the bar. The wall behind it is lined all the way to the ceiling with different liquor bottles. There have to be hundreds of them, if not a thousand, and that’s exactly where she heads. If her date isn’t here yet, she needs just a little something to help her relax for when he does arrive. She pulls out one of the empty bar stools and takes a seat. It’s still pretty early and there aren’t many customers in the bar, so the bartender comes right over to her. He’s cute with a boy-next-door kind of vibe, and she would totally flirt with him if she weren’t meeting a date here—or maybe he is her date? It’s possible, but she quickly shakes that thought from her mind.

  “What can I get you to drink?”

  She racks her brain, unsure of what to order. She is normally just a wine drinker, but she feels like that wouldn’t be appropriate in a place like this. There’s an ambiance in here and with the whole speakeasy thing, she wants to stick to that. That definitely doesn’t make her decision on what to get easier though. She remembers something about bathtub gin being a thing back then…or something like that…so she pretends to be fancy and says, “I’m not really sure. What would you suggest with gin in it?”

  His mouth drops open and he starts laughing, a full-blown belly laugh. “You’re kidding, right?”

  She grimaces slightly. Obviously, that was the wrong answer. “Um, how about a drink menu?”

  He continues laughing, nods his head, and grabs a monstrosity from the counter behind him. He drops it in front of her, and she’s pretty sure the thing is thicker than The Cheesecake Factory’s menu. How is that even possible?

  The front reads, Fitzgerald’s, home of over four hundred varieties of gin. Well, now she feels like an idiot. No wonder he was laughing his ass off at her inquiry. If she’d known the password to get in here, she sure as hell would have known about the drink menu. She runs her finger down the menu and stops on something called “The Gatsby” then tells the bartender to make her that. She read The Great Gatsby in high school and assumes the drink is named after the famous book, and the combination of gin, cherry liqueur, and orange bitters sounds like it could be pretty tasty.

  While he’s making her drink, she continues looking through the menu. She can’t get over how extensive it is. Who knew there were so many different ways to make a gin cocktail? When she reaches the end of the menu, she can’t help but laugh at the limited selection of beer and wine, only four different varieties of each. Guess they’d much rather serve a different kind of crowd here.

  As the bartender places the drink on the bar in front of her, she starts to offer her thanks, but the words get caught in her throat. Over his shoulder, in the mirror behind the bar, she spots Marek Outlaw walking in. Shit. How can she have a romantic get-together with her mystery date while her boss is in the room? Talk about awkward. Maybe he won’t spot her and she can slip out and send her date somewhere else. She doesn’t like spending all day with the guy at work; no way she’s going to let him have a front row seat to her date.

  Of course, luck is never on her side. As she continues staring at him in the mirror, he looks up and his eyes meet hers. She quickly looks back down to the bar, hoping with everything inside of her that he didn’t see her, or that he’ll at least pretend like he didn’t see her and they can just act like they don’t know each other.

  “Tinley Scott, funny running into you here. This doesn’t really seem like your kind of place.”

  It’s on the tip of her tongue to tell him she’s actually never been here before and that she’s meeting someone, but something about the way he said it has her all riled up and pissed off. “Oh, because you know me so well that you know what kind of places I go to?”

  He motions for the bartender and takes a seat on the stool next to her. She wants to tell him to get up and walk away, but she’s suddenly fascinated by the concoction the bartender is making in front of them. She doesn’t recall Marek actually ordering a drink, but maybe she just wasn’t paying enough attention. Starting off with a shot glass the bartender adds a mixture of Bailey’s and Jameson to the small container. He then reaches for a pint glass and pours Guinness in straight from the tap. It isn’t until he drops the shot glass into the beer and Marek immediately proceeds to down the whole thing that she realizes what just happened.

  “What the hell kind of drink was that?”

  Marek chuckles and licks off the bit of foam from the top of his lip. Fuck why was that so damn sexy? He leans down close to her and her heart rate speeds up as his lips get so close to hers they’re almost touching. “That would be what you’d call an Irish Car Bomb.”

  She can feel his breath on her lips, and if she stuck her tongue out just slightly, she’d be touching his. Before she can get her wits about her, he continues talking. “I don’t know anything about the places where you go. I just meant I’ve been here a time or two and have never seen you here.”

  She looks up into the mirror and sees he has the smuggest grin on his face. “For your information, this is my first time coming here, though I don’t really need to explain myself to you. Now, can you please leave? I’m meeting a date and would rather not have you scare him away.”

  “Is that so?”

  She nods. “It is. In fact, I’ll text him right now. He’s probably already here.” She pulls out her phone and opens the conversation she was having with Mystery Date. Typing up a quick message, she sends it off to him and waits.

  Me: Hey I’m here. I’m sitting at the bar and looking extra fabulous tonight. I’m wearing a black off-the-shoulder top and I’ve got cherry red lipstick on my lips.

  She adds a kissing emoji to the end and then contemplates whether or not that was a good idea. She shrugs, takes a large sip of her cocktail, and decides it was the best idea…though that might be the alcohol talking.

  She hears a ding, and Marek digs into the front pocket of his jeans then pulls his phone out. He glances down at the screen then up at Tinley, and his eyes go wide. She wants to ask him what’s going on, but instead, he flips his phone around and shows her the message he just got.

  Mystery Babe: Hey I’m here. I’m sitting at the bar and looking extra fabulous tonight. I’m wearing a black off-the-shoulder top and I’ve got cherry red lipstick on my lips.

  No. No. No. This cannot be happening. The gorgeous guy she’s been talking to and completely connecting with cannot be the jerk she works with. There’s no way the universe would be as cruel as that. She looks up at his face and sees the remorse written all over it. She quickly stands up from her bar stool, and her legs start to buckle. He gets up to help her, but she puts her hand in the air to stop him. “I’m sorry, this is a mistake.” She motions between the two of them. “Whatever this is, it can’t happen. I’m sorry.”

  Then she grabs her purse and flees the room without a backward glance.

  Chapter 16

  Marek Outlaw? What are the odds that the one person who pisses her off the most and is her boss was her mystery dream date? This is just her luck, though it’s not actually her fault—it’s Dakota and Tara’s fault. They pushed her into this whole speed-dating-in-the-dark thing. She didn’t want to have anything to do with it, and this is what she has to show for it.

  So annoying.

  Dammit, she feels incredibly stupid for not realizing it was him in the first place. She spends so much time thinking about how incredibly sexy his voice would sound during sex and yet she was so discombobulated during their speed date the thought never crossed her mind. And, why woul
d it? Marek is a fucking girl’s wet dream come to life, why the hell was he even there in the first place. Women have to be throwing their panties at him on a regular basis. People who look like him, don’t need help in the dating department that’s for sure.

  She scoops another cup of flour into the bowl as she works on a new cupcake recipe. As annoying as it sounds, Marek’s drink last night gave her inspiration: Guinness and dark chocolate cupcakes with a caramel whiskey buttercream frosting. Her mouth starts watering just thinking about it. She even came up with a cute name for them: Irish Cake Bombs.

  She mindlessly hums along to the song on the radio as she quickly mixes the dry ingredients together. Her bangs fall into her eyes, and she tucks the loose strands behind her ear without missing a beat. She dances along to the song as the singer preaches about wanting to “Feel Good,” getting her body into a rhythm with each sway and mix of the spoon. She gets so lost in what she’s doing that she almost misses it when her phone vibrates across the counter as a new text message comes in. She wipes her flour-covered hand across the bottom of her shirt and picks it up. Surprisingly, a text from Marek is waiting on her screen, and she thinks maybe she should change his name in her contacts. On second thought, maybe she should just delete his number from her phone. That’s probably the smarter plan.

  Mystery Date: Tinley, look, last night didn’t go the way either one of us had planned, but I think we were too hasty in our decision.

  Her heart rate picks up a notch. Too hasty? What does he mean by that? He couldn’t mean he actually wants to give this a try, could he? She quickly combines all the wet and dry ingredients together. While mixing the cupcake batter with one hand, she sends another text with the other.

  Me: Explain further.

  Her anxiety skyrockets as the familiar three dots pop up, alerting her to the fact that he’s typing a response. Part of her knows this is a bad idea, and she can’t possibly see how it could go well. As it is, they constantly argue at work, and that’s not very stable ground to start a relationship on. On the other hand, that’s how they are at work. Most couples don’t work together because they just can’t, and between the first date and their texting conversations, being with Marek seems right, like they fit together and he could be the one. How do you deny yourself the person who could possibly be your soul mate? The answer is, you don’t. If you only get one perfect person for you in this life, you don’t let anything stand in the way of finding that person.

  Mystery Date: We have a connection, one I can’t even describe, but I think we should explore it further. We shouldn’t let something as small as me being your boss prevent us from seeing where this goes.

  Me: What about the fact that it’s against company policy?

  Mystery Date: As far as I’m concerned, it isn’t anyone else’s business besides our own. If whatever this is between us becomes serious, we’ll deal with it then. Until then, we don’t even know what it is, so there’s no reason to tell anyone anything.

  Me: Marek Outlaw, are you saying you want me to be your dirty little secret?

  She again contemplates leaving his name as Mystery Date in her phone but then types his name instead. Something about having his real name pop up on the screen any time a text or phone call comes through feels even more deliciously deceptive, like they could get caught at any moment, and the idea of that thrills her to no end.

  Tinley giggles to herself as she puts her phone down and continues mixing the batter. She knew what he meant when he sent that text, but she can’t help but mess with him a little bit. She releases a small squeal when her phone suddenly starts ringing, and Marek’s name pops up on the screen. It’s not something she expected at all. This situation calls for a little extra help, and fortunately, she’s got just the thing. She cracks open the bottle of Jameson sitting in front of her and takes a couple of heavy swigs, which instantly go straight to her head. Ugh. She’s such a lightweight.

  She picks up her phone and accepts the call before she questions her own sanity. “H-Hello?”

  “I want you to get one thing straight: I never said I wanted to keep you a secret. I only said we should wait and see where things go before we add in the politics from work. I’m not the kind of dick who would hide a relationship, so get that through your head right now. There’s no point in stirring up shit at work if this thing crashes and burns.”

  Oh, she can’t just leave that comment be. She chugs another shot of the whiskey down, and this time the intensity is lessened. If anything, she’s just starting to feel warm and good…so good. “So now we’re going to crash and burn? Gee Marek, I’m not sure I want to start something up with you if you’re already planning out how it’s going to end.”

  “Fuck, are you drunk right now?”

  How can he tell? She’s only had a few sips, not enough to actually do enough damage…right? Her head swims slightly as she looks down at the bottle in front of her. When did that happen? A third of the bottle seems to be missing, and she hasn’t even started making the frosting yet. Oops. Maybe she had a little bit more than she thought. She giggles again and steadies herself against the counter. “I may have enjoyed a bit of the whiskey I’m using to make cupcakes.”

  “Whiskey cupcakes? That’s a thing?”

  She giggles and realizes she might just be a little drunk after all. “No silly, I’m putting beer in the cupcakes. The whiskey is for the frosting. I’m making Irish Cake Bombs. Let’s just say I had a little inspiration.”

  There’s a long pause at the other end, and she almost asks if he’s still there, but then his voice comes over the line. “So you’ve been thinking about me?”

  Shit. She didn’t mean to let him know that.

  “That’s pretty sexy. I’ve been thinking about you too.”

  That statement is enough to sober her up a bit. She stands up straighter and completely forgets about the cupcake fixings in front of her. Her voice cracks a little as she responds, “You have?”

  “Mhmm.”

  Something about the way his voice hums through the phone gets her all hot and bothered, and thoughts like that make her wonder what else he can do with that mouth of his, what the vibrations would feel like against her body. She collapses against the counter behind her and places her hand over her rapidly beating heart.

  “What else have you been thinking about?” she asks boldly as she starts playing with the neckline of her shirt.

  “Is that what we’re doing now?”

  She runs her hand down her torso, lightly grazing her nipple, and continues down, teasing the hemline of her top. “Maybe? Is that what you want to do right now?”

  His breathing comes out a little heavier when he says, “I’d rather our first time having sex be in person, but seeing as I’m currently trapped at home I’d settle for a little phone sex.”

  The thrill travels through her body as she teases the hemline of her yoga pants. She runs her hand down the front of the outside and throws her head back and lets out a throaty moan as her fingers graze over her clit.

  “Fuck that was sexy. Please tell me you’re touching yourself right now.”

  Bringing her hand back up she slips her hand underneath her waistband and on a sigh she replies, “Mhmm.”

  She hears his zipper slide down, and her entire body lights up on fire. “Tell me what you’re doing to yourself right now Tinley. I want to hear that sexy mouth say naughty things.” He groans from his end, and she can hear the friction of his hand sliding up and down himself.

  She pushes her hand inside of her panties and her finger dances along her nub. She almost screams out as intensity of pleasure shoots through her body. She picks up her speed racing toward a release that she knows won’t take her long at all. As she continues pleasuring herself she pants out, “I—”

  “Hey, do you have a bottle of wine open in here? I could really use a drink right now.”

  Shit. Without even thinking about it, she quickly rips her phone away from her ear and hits end. She toss
es it onto the counter and reaches into the cupboard behind her for a glass. Dakota comes walking into the kitchen as Tinley is downing a glass of cold water.

  “Are you okay, you look a little flushed and are you drinking whiskey? Since when do we have the hard stuff?”

  Tinley laughs, but it comes out forced. She takes another gulp of water. “I was browsing Pinterest and found a recipe I wanted to recreate, sort of. Irish Cake Bomb cupcakes.”

  “Ooh sounds good.” Dakota fills a glass with wine and starts heading out of the kitchen, but then she turns around. “You’ll have to let me know when they’re done.”

  Tinley nods and heaves a sigh of relief when her roommate is out of sight. Her phone comes back into view and she quickly sends off a text to Marek. She doesn’t anticipate being able to salvage her impromptu phone sex date, but she needs to at least send an explanation text as to why she suddenly hung up the phone.

  Me: Sorry. Dakota came home and I panicked.

  Marek: Don’t start something if you can’t finish it Tinley. I should punish you for leaving me with a case of blue balls.

  She waves her hand in front of her face and finishes off her glass of water. Why does the sound of that turn her on so bad? She’s never been into the whole BDSM thing and she couldn’t finish the popular book that everyone else at work was raving about, but she could get on board with a little naked spanking from Marek. Maybe she has a little kink in her after all?

  Marek: Meet me for drinks Monday night after work.