Mr. Wonderful Lies (4 page)

“So.” Ollie stirred the whipped cream on his third Mocha Latte. “Do you usually meet your dates on Facebook?”

My cheeks flamed red hot. I had sort of avoided this topic during our chats. That’s one of the reasons I like chatting so much. Avoiding any topic is simple. You just change the subject.

“C’mon Megan.” His warm baritone sent a ripple of chills down my spine. “I’m just trying to convince myself you’re not too good to be true.”

“Like I haven’t worried about that a million times since we first chatted.”

“So is this your first time?”

I wondered at his choice of words. My first time. It was my first time for so many things I was losing track. “Have I ever had coffee with a guy I met on the Internet? Is that your question?”

He chuckled and nodded before taking a swig of his latte.

“Yes. I’m an Internet dating virgin.”

Ollie laughed. “Good, because so am I.”

“Would you tell me if you weren’t?”

His expression shifted subtly. I wondered if I’d stepped too far. But it was a valid question. Someone who was trying to lie about what they were wouldn’t come right out and say it.

“I’m not sure if I would or not.” Ollie’s green eyes met and held mine. “But when I signed up for the Facebook account it was to keep in touch with my family. I never expected to meet someone like you. So even if I was a serial Internet dater, I’m not sure it would matter.”

“So you want to meet me again,” I teased, a smile tugging at the corner of my mouth.

Ollie reached across the table and took my right hand. Turning it over, he traced a tiny circle with one fingertip on my palm. The gentle touch made my heart race. How was it possible to be so thoroughly infatuated with someone you barely knew? My brain kept telling me it was ridiculous, and my heart kept insisting it was fate.

He glanced down at his watch. “It’s nearly noon.”

“I was avoiding the time.”

“I’m going to have to get back to work.”

“Why do you always have to be the responsible one?”

He cupped both large, warm hands around my much smaller one and brought them to his lips. “I’m not that noble, trust me. I’d rather spend the rest of the day sitting here with you. This has been more fun than I ever thought it would be.”

“I know what you mean.” I fought back a huge, goofy grin. “I’m not sure chatting is quite going to cut it anymore.”

“True enough.”

Ollie stood up, tugging me up with him. Across the room I could feel Jared’s eyes come up from his newspaper. My heart thumped erratically as I wondered if Ollie was going to try to kiss me. The idea was both thrilling and terrifying. I wanted him to. I wanted to find out if it felt as good as I imagined it would. But Jared was there, watching. And though I didn’t understand why, deep down inside something about that felt very wrong.

“Did you park outside?” Ollie asked, turning toward the door.

“A few blocks away.”

“I’m right outside. Will you walk with me to my car?”

It was unseasonably warm and sunny outside. I was glad. There’s nothing like Missouri’s nasty weather to make an outdoor moment memorable for all the wrong reasons.

“So what kind of car do you drive?” I asked, glad that he’d chosen to keep hold of my hand.

“Guess.”

I glanced around the parking lot. My eyes briefly touched over Jared’s sporty blue two door Mazda RX-8 and looked deliberately away. Ollie didn’t strike me as that type of guy at all. That was one of the best things about him. He was unassuming. I figured his car to be that way too.

“How about that one?” I pointed to a nondescript four door sedan.

“Wow, am I that boring?”

Feeling silly, I chuckled. “No, not boring. Just not obsessed with what people think about your ride.”

“Oh, I see.”

“I get one more try.”

“Anything for you, baby.”

My cheeks warmed and I looked at the ground to hide my embarrassment. How ridiculous was it to long for some strange sort of affirmation from this man I barely knew?

“We’re getting warmer.”

I spotted a blue Dodge SUV parked between two minivans. “I’m going to guess the SUV because I’m hoping you’re not a minivan guy.”

“Why’s that?”

“C’mon, a single guy driving a minivan?” I lifted an eyebrow. “That reeks of serial killer.”

“You got me.”

“The SUV or the serial killer?”

“Definitely the SUV.”

“You have a boat, right?”

He used the remote to unlock the vehicle and nodded. “That’s right. It’s nothing fancy, just a fishing boat. I spend more time lounging around than fishing.”

“So that’s why you’re still single,” I teased.

Ollie tossed his keys into the car and turned, bracketing my waist with his big hands. He leaned back against the vehicle’s seat and I found myself standing between his legs. The position made me feel tiny and protected but it was oddly erotic as well.

My pulse quickened. Was he going to kiss me? Should I let him? Why did all of this have to be so complicated? I was no good at this sort of thing.

“I had a wonderful time, baby,” Ollie murmured.

“So did I.”

Something colorful on his back seat caught my eye. My heart skipped two beats before resuming its erratic beating. Barbies. There were four Barbie dolls on his backseat in various stages of undress.

I pulled away from Ollie, trying to get a better look. I’d never thought to ask him about kids. What if he had them? Was I ready for that kind of thing?

“Baby, what’s wrong?”

I tried to modulate my voice. I didn’t want him to think I was accusing him of anything. “Ollie there are half-naked Barbies in your back seat.”

His green eyes shifted, dropping down and to the left. “I sometimes pick up my nieces from dance lessons to help out my sister-in-law. They leave all kinds of crap in my truck.”

My tension deflated like a balloon. “Oh.”

“You thought I’d forgotten to mention something?”

“Like being a father?” I offered a sheepish grin. “Sort of.”

“It’s all right.” Ollie sighed. “I know I’m going to have to earn your trust, Megan. And I can do that. You’ve got a right to wonder. You’ve not exactly had the best experiences with the men you date.”

“I’d like you to change that,” I admitted softly.

He grinned. “I can’t wait to get started.”

“Call me.”

“Oh I will,” he said, his voice sinking a little lower.

I looked up and up, meeting his eyes. “You’re so tall!”

“I hope that’s a good thing.”

I took a breath to answer but he placed a finger over my lips.

“I think you’re the perfect size.” Ollie leaned down and gently brushed his lips over mine.

It was over before I had time to be nervous, and I felt strangely unsatisfied. I wanted more. I didn’t know what or how much, but I knew what he’d just given me wasn’t enough.

“I’ll talk to you soon,” he told me.

“I’d like that.”

He got into his SUV, and I stepped back. Moments later he was driving away, waving out the open window. I watched the blue Dodge until Ollie turned a corner. I felt strange watching him go. It was sort of like a day-after-Christmas feeling.

Shaking off my melancholy, I crossed the parking lot in the direction I’d left my car. Half a dozen paces away near the front of the café, Jared emerged through the glass doors into the sunlight.

At that moment I was unbelievably glad it’d been him and not Anna who’d come with me. Anna would have been glued to my side, pumping me for information. That wasn’t Jared’s style.

“Thanks for looking out for me.” I felt strangely shy considering the weird circumstances.

The light burnished his blonde hair, turning darker sections to gold and giving him the appearance of a Greek god. He smiled, and his even white teeth flashed in his tanned face. “I’m glad I could help out.”

I was going to tease him about being assaulted with napkins, but my phone was doing the Ollie Marimba in my pocket.

“Guess he can’t get enough of you.” Jared offered a soft smile. “I’ll catch up with you later.”

Jared’s words left me with an unsettled feeling in the pit of my stomach, but there wasn’t time to dissect it just then. Pulling my phone from my pocket, I slid the touchscreen and answered it.

“I’m already missing you, baby.” Ollie’s husky voice tickled my ear. “How am I supposed to function every day between seeing and talking to you?”

I laughed. “You were supposed to be the responsible one.”

“Remind me why that is?”

“Hmm.” I headed up the sidewalk to where I’d left my car. “Let me count the reasons.”

* * *

“Are you just going to sit there and let the timer run on that thing?” Anna poked me in the back before leaping onto the elliptical machine beside me and starting her rigorous cardio routine.

I forced the goofy grin off my face and got back to my workout, trying to put some energy into it. If I was going to be in a relationship, now was not the time to let my looks go to hell in a handbasket.

“So,” Anna prompted without breaking stride, “Jared won’t say anything about this morning. How did it go?”

“Obviously I’m still alive, so he’s not an axe-murdering fiend.”

“I sincerely doubt they admit that on a first date.”

I rolled my eyes. “He was really wonderful. He even realized Jared was there looking out for me, and it was okay with him.”

“I would hope so. Any guy who disagrees with that kind of common sense approach to Internet dating is a rapist waiting to happen.”

I frowned, making a face at her willowy form. She was dressed in perfectly fitting designer yoga pants and a matching camisole. Even with her hair tied back in a high ponytail, she looked like she’d just been salon styled. On the other hand, I looked like a homeless vagabond in my cut off sweats and an oversized tank top over my strangulating sports bra.

I picked up my pace. “You’re not going to cut him any slack, are you?”

“You’re my best friend, Megan. It’ll take a lot more than one date for me to welcome him with open arms.”

I couldn’t be mad at her for taking that attitude. If our positions were reversed, I would have been reserving judgment too. In fact, our positions had been reversed. Anna had dated her fair share of jerks over the years, and I’d given her my honest opinion on every last one of them. So why was her attitude irritating me to no end?

I pushed myself harder on the elliptical, feeling my heart racing and the blood pounding in my ears. Sweat trickled down my face and back, stinging my eyes and soaking into the waistband of my sweats. Why did I care so much what Anna thought about Ollie? Was I trying to get her approval or something? Did I need it?

I immediately discarded that theory. I did not want to be that person, that woman who lived her entire life trying to prove herself to everyone else. That wasn’t me. Megan Myers was a grown woman who could make choices for herself.

The machine bleeped loudly, signaling the end of my programmed workout. I hadn’t really finished the whole thing. I’d spent some of it daydreaming about Ollie and a few minutes more arguing with Anna, but I climbed down from the elliptical machine anyway. It was sort of uncomfortable there beside Anna when she was more or less not speaking to me.

The showers beckoned with their hot water and soothing spray. I pulled my water bottle from the holder on the machine and turned to walk away. I only got about four steps.

“I called you earlier.” Anna’s loud voice forced me to turn around.

I didn’t have to look to know she was giving me that penetrating brown stare of hers. So I kept my eyes on the water bottle I held in my hands. “Sorry about that, I was on the other line.”

“I called you six times over a two and half hour period.”

Why couldn’t I meet her eyes? I had nothing to be ashamed of, nothing to hide. I’d been talking to Ollie while I ran through my regular billing cycles. It’s not like my job is all that hard. It runs like clockwork. Anna should know that. I’d spent hours on the phone with her while doing my weekly work schedule. Why was Ollie any different?

“People can be just as addictive as heroine, Megan.”

I couldn’t decide if I were more embarrassed or angry about Anna’s accusation. She hadn’t phrased it that way, but that’s what it was.

I stumbled blindly toward the showers, leaving Anna behind. I kept telling myself that it didn’t matter what Anna thought. If Ollie thought I was being obsessive, he’d never said anything. Our relationship was new. We were still getting to know each other. Just because Anna didn’t like him and hadn’t approved him before we started dating, she was being a big wet blanket about the whole thing.

It made me angry. Sure, the way I’d met Ollie was unconventional, but I was unconventional. What was the better answer? Meeting someone new in bar? Most of those guys were worse than the sickos that posted personal ads on Craig’s List.