His Sweet Reward Read online

  “You’re going to spend the weekend with me.”

  I’m surprised, but he didn’t phrase it like a question. Something about him being sweet yet aggressive is exactly the combination that works for me. It makes my insides light up knowing how badly he wants to spend time with me.

  “I think I can do that.”

  I’m going to have to come clean to my friends about what’s going on. There’s no way I can drop off the map for a weekend without them sending out a search party. I’ve kept my phone tucked away since Dash and I left and I’ve been avoiding their texts. I’m beginning to feel guilty about the whole thing and it’s time to dish.

  “Good.” He smiles before he presses his mouth to mine. “Pack a bag.”

  “I can do that too.”

  I look away from him as I try to process what that means. I want to go further with Dash, but I’m just pretty sure there might be some things we need to talk about first. Like his somewhat shady dating past and my lack of experience going home with a man. The only time I’ve ever shared a bed was with Blair's grumpy cat. He only ever sleeps with me when she’s gone and he wants to steal my body heat.

  “Just because you’re staying the weekend with me doesn't mean we have to do anything.”

  I look back at him and my face heats.

  “It’s not that.” I shake my head. “Okay, it’s partly that, but you’ve dated a lot.” His mouth opens then closes like he’s about to deny it but then doesn’t. “I want to be clear before I spend the night with you that this is exclusive.” I motion between us.

  “We’re exclusive,” he says instantly, and the same jealousy I saw earlier comes back.

  “Okay. I know that some people date more than one person at a time, so I want to be honest.”

  “I don’t.” He pulls me close against him. “And neither do you.”

  “I actually don’t make it past the first date. You’re the only one to get a second,” I admit, and that makes him smile.

  “I can be relentless when I want something.”

  “You don’t say,” I laugh, leaning in and kissing him again.

  “I hate to say this but we’re here.” I pull my mouth away from his to see we’re outside my apartment building.

  With a sigh he opens the car door and helps me out.

  “You don’t have to walk up with me,” I rush to say. “That makes it sound like I’m hiding a husband or something, doesn’t it?” I laugh. “I’ve got nosy friends.”

  “I could meet them now and put them at ease. You are spending the entire weekend with me.”

  “Right.” Tonight’s been so perfect I don’t want to ruin it. “How about tomorrow when you pick me up?” I suggest. That will give me time to talk to them. He doesn't look like he wants to agree at first.

  “Tomorrow.” He leans down and kisses me goodbye. I hold him close as I wrap my arms around his neck. A throat clears, breaking us from the moment, and I look over to see Harlow standing there with an unreadable expression.

  I push back from Dash but he doesn't let me go. “Hey, Harlow,” I say, feeling extra awkward. It’s worse than I thought it would be since they’ve gone out on a date.

  “Hey.” She drags out the word as her eyes go between Dash and me.

  “I’m Dash.” He holds out the hand that isn't holding on to my hip to shake hers. Harlow scoffs a humorless laugh, ignoring his hand.

  “I’ll see you inside.” She shakes her head as she walks toward our building.

  “She didn’t seem happy to meet me.” He nods in the direction Harlow walked as his eyebrows pull together. “Is that your friend?”

  “She can be protective.” Does he really not know who she is? “Harlow lives across the hall from me, but we’re friends.”

  “I get it. Girlfriends should stick together. There’s a lot of assholes out there.”

  “Yeah,” I agree. What the hell is happening? How does he not remember her? Because she clearly knows him.

  “I’ll win them over.” His hand slips down from my hip and he squeezes my ass. “You’re going to have to walk away from me or I’m pulling you back in the car.”

  I step away from him, not really wanting to leave. I’d rather get in the car, but it’s time to face my friends and get this all out on the table. I want to be with Dash and I’m hoping they can put their judgment aside and accept it.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “You will, but I’m going to text you. I won’t be able to help myself.” He gives me his boyish, excited smile that melts my heart.

  “Later.”

  I walk into my building but peek over my shoulder one last time to see if he’s still watching. He’s standing there waiting for me to go inside and it’s the sweetest thing ever. Once I take the elevator up, I don’t get a chance to get my keys out of my purse before the door is flying open and Blair pulls me inside.

  “Spill.” I see Harlow and Cherry standing behind her with their arms crossed.

  “Hey, guys.” I hold my hand up and wave at them.

  “Cut the crap,” Blair snaps, and Cherry and Harlow look surprised at her tone. “You’ve been avoiding us.”

  I sigh and drop my purse down onto the counter. She’s right and it was rude of me. My friends care about me and I would be hurt if the roles were reversed.

  “I’m in love with him,” I blurt out, and no one says anything. They stand there with shocked expressions, so I keep going. “At least I think I’m in love. I’ve never been in love before, but he makes me feel things, and, well—”

  Blair holds her hand up, cutting me off. “You think you’re in love with Thanos?”

  I nod.

  “He didn't even remember who I was, Brooklyn,” Harlow scoffs.

  “He was totally checked out on our date,” Cherry chimes in, and I inwardly cringe.

  “Well, he wasn't checked out on her.” Blair raises her chin at me.

  “He’s just trying to get in her pants,” Harlow adds, and they all wait for me to say something.

  “It’s not like that. He’s really sweet. I can’t believe he’s the same guy you told me about.” The need to defend him claws at me. If he checked out or something on their dates like Harlow said, I should ask him straight out. I feel like I know Dash and he wouldn’t do that.

  “He was online on the app today.” Blair pulls out her phone. “I knew you must have been really into him with how you acted last night and today. So don’t be mad at me, but I went digging.”

  Of course she did.

  “Maybe he was deleting his profile?” I take a step towards her with my eyes on her phone, but Blair continues.

  “We set up a fake account and he asked for a date later tonight.”

  “It’s ten o’clock,” I blurt out. How could he go on a date tonight?

  “People go out after ten.” Blair’s voice softens and I shake my head no, not wanting to believe it. They must have the wrong person. “Did you agree to go?” I find myself asking.

  “Yes, but we’re not really going.”

  Is this why he didn't push to hang out longer? I’d played with the idea in my head about going back to his place tonight and coming home early before work. He didn't press it, so I didn't offer and I wasn't going to invite myself over.

  I walk over to the sofa and drop onto it. “I don’t understand.” My eyes sting with tears but I don't let them escape.

  “Men are jerks,” Blair says as she sits down next to me.

  “Sex. They all want sex,” Cherry adds in.

  “He was so sweet,” I groan as I tell them all the things we did together and the things he said.

  “That does not sound anything like Thanos. Are you sure this is the same guy?” Blair looks to Harlow.

  “I saw him myself. He didn't remember me, but I remembered him. But he never tried to get in my pants. He was rude and pretty much ignored me. It’s weird because why did he go on a date if he didn't want to be there?”

  “Same,” Cherry
and Blair say at the same time.

  “It doesn't matter. We know it’s the same guy and you connected with him on the app again under a new account. Now he’s trying to meet up with you, so clearly he’s a player. Who knows why he’s doing whatever it is he’s doing.” I all but shout the last part as I stand up from the sofa. I need to be alone.

  “I’m sorry.” Blair grabs my hand. “Let’s get some ice cream.”

  “No. I want to shower and go to bed.” I hear my phone chime in my purse and there’s only one person that’s not in this living room that would be texting me.

  I walk over to it and put my phone on silent without checking it.

  “I’m sorry,” Blair says again.

  “I should have known.”

  I was right. Dash was too good to be true.

  Chapter Ten

  Dash

  I’m nervous as I check my phone and then my watch for the millionth time. I sent Brooklyn a few texts last night after I got home but I never heard back from her. I kept telling myself she probably fell asleep and forgot to check her phone. But something in my gut felt wrong and that’s the thing I always trust.

  “Park here,” I tell my driver as he pulls up to the curb of her building. “I’ll be down shortly.”

  I check my watch again and see it’s just before six o’clock. From what Brooklyn told me, she has to get up really early to be at school on time. She should be leaving for work soon and I thought I’d surprise her by giving her a lift. I’m in a T-shirt with jogging pants and a baseball hat, since my plan is to go home and get ready for work after I drop her off.

  When I get to her building I see there’s no lock on the door and that irritates me. Anyone can just walk in? There’s no security guard and there isn’t any kind of security on the elevator either. I balance the bag of fresh-baked pastries and coffee in one hand as I push the button for her floor and wait. I’m nervous and excited as I ride up, and I have to stop myself from bouncing on my toes. I don’t want to spill anything.

  The elevator chimes and I walk to her door and take a deep breath. I knock softly and after a second, the door opens wide.

  “Hey, Buttercup.” I smile at Brooklyn, but she doesn’t return it. I know something is wrong the second I see her face and I step inside. “What’s wrong?” She doesn’t try to stop me as I set the box of food and containers of coffee on the table by the door.

  I turn to reach for her and that’s when she takes a step back. Like she’s finally realized I’m here. “You need to leave.”

  Her voice is soft and I don’t know if it’s because she doesn’t want to wake up her roommate or because she’s upset. Her eyes are red and puffy and she doesn’t look like she got a wink of sleep.

  “Brooklyn, what’s wrong? Please tell me what happened. Have you been crying?”

  “Look, I don’t want to do this right now. I’m going to be late for work.” She tries to step around me and I block her path.

  “Do what?” I hold my hands up and she backs off like I’m on fire. “Brooklyn.” This time my voice is stern and her eyes snap up to meet mine. “What is going on?”

  “What’s going on?” Her voice rises and now she takes a step towards me in anger. “What’s going on? I should be asking you that after your night out on the town.”

  I see the light in the hallway behind her turn on and I’m guessing her roommate is awake.

  “Brooklyn, what are you talking about? I went out with you last night. We went to the renaissance festival and I brought you home.”

  “Oh yeah, and what about after that? I guess since I wasn’t putting out someone else needed to.”

  I blink at her a few times as my brain tries to process what she’s saying. “What the fuck?”

  “What’s he doing here?”

  “It’s fine, Blair. I’m handling it,” Brooklyn says as she opens the door behind me. “He was just leaving.”

  “No, he wasn’t,” I say, maybe a little too loud, but I’m getting pissed. “Someone tell me what the fuck is going on. When I dropped you off last night it was the single greatest day of my life. But then I get home and you ghost me.”

  “Asshole,” Blair says under her breath as she rolls her eyes. “Just like the last time I met you.”

  I look at her in disbelief because I’ve never met her roommate until this moment. “I’m sorry, I don’t know who you are, but this is between Brooklyn and me.”

  “You seriously have no idea you went on a date with her?” Brooklyn says as her eyes narrow on me. “How many women do you go out with at one time? Jesus.”

  “I went out on a lot of dates before I met you, and I don’t remember most of them.” I look at Blair and shrug. “Sorry again, but if we went out I have no idea.”

  “Seriously?” Suddenly there’s a softness to Brooklyn’s voice and I latch on to it.

  “Yeah, I mean, I was on that app for a couple of months and usually agreed to anyone who asked to go out. I wanted to give it a chance, but normally the second I meet someone I can tell if it’s going to work out. I’d usually just play on my phone and eat dinner until they left or walked out on me.” I sigh. “I know this doesn’t make me sound like a great guy, but you know me, Brooklyn. We had our date. Did I do any of that to you?”

  She hesitates for a second and then shakes her head. “No, you didn’t ignore me.” Then as if remembering something, she gets mad all over again. “But that doesn’t explain where you were last night.”

  “Exactly,” Blair chimes in.

  “What’s going on?” I hear two women behind me in the hallway walk through the open door of the apartment like they live here too.

  “Oh, did someone get breakfast?” one of them says as the other scowls at me.

  “What the hell is he doing here?”

  “He is trying to figure out what the fuck is going on and why my girlfriend is mad at me!” I shout, because I’m getting really tired of everyone thinking I’m the bad guy.

  “They told me you were still making dates on the dating app last night and you agreed to go out with them,” Brooklyn says as tears form in her eyes.

  “What the hell are you talking about? I didn’t agree to go out with anyone. I deleted the app after our first date, Brooklyn.” When she looks away from me, it breaks my heart. “I swear, you’ve got to believe me. Why would I lie?”

  “To sleep with women?” one of them says with a mouth full of pastry.

  “I brought those for Brooklyn,” I tell her, but she doesn’t look sorry.

  “Cherry, stop eating. We’re supposed to be mad.”

  “If you could taste how good this was, you wouldn’t tell me to stop, Harlow.”

  The one named Harlow rolls her eyes and something about that is familiar.

  “Do I know you?” I ask her, and she lets out a humorless laugh.

  “You know all of us, Thanos,” Cherry says as she takes another bite. “Brooklyn here was the last one of us to go out with you and apparently you actually talked to her.”

  “Thanos?” I shake my head because this is all getting jumbled up. “Okay, cards on the table, someone tell me what in the actual fuck is happening right now.”

  “You went out with all of us on the dating app over the last few months,” Blair says as she walks up and grabs one of the coffees. “After we found out our sweet little Brooklyn was going out with you, we knew it was too good to be true. So the three of us set up a fake account and you asked us out last night. We had plans to meet at ten o’clock at the restaurant you took all of us to.”

  “That’s impossible,” I deny, and Brooklyn still won’t look at me. “Ask my driver, ask my security guys. Fuck, I’ll pull up my cameras, hang on.” I pull out my phone and go to my camera feed. It takes a second for it to load but finally it comes up. “See!”

  The girls move in close around my phone and they all stare at it.

  “Look at the time stamp. I walked in my house ten minutes after I dropped Brooklyn off, and I didn’t lea
ve again until this morning.” I speed up the time until they see me exit and they all lean back and look at one another.

  “That doesn’t mean you didn’t agree to go out with our fake profile. Just that you didn’t go,” Harlow says.

  “I deleted the app and the profile. Here’s the email confirming it.”

  Brooklyn glances at it and then looks up at me. “Why would someone pretend to be you? That doesn’t make sense.”

  “I don’t know why anyone would want to be me—” I stop as the thought hits me. “Fuck.”

  “What?” Brooklyn asks.

  “Josh,” I tell her, and she cocks her head to the side.

  “Your cousin?”

  I nod my head. I told Brooklyn a little about him the other night when we were talking about our families and stuff. “I don’t know what the hell he’s up to, but I wouldn’t put it past him.”

  I see some of the hurt leave her eyes and I think there’s a stirring of hope.

  “I’m going to get to the bottom of this, but please, you’ve got to believe me. I don’t want to be with anyone but you, Brooklyn. I’ve never felt this way in my whole damn life, and I wouldn’t do anything to screw it up. I’m sorry that I went on dates with your friends, and no offense to them, but it meant nothing to me.”

  “None taken,” Cherry says with a mouth full of food.

  “Yeah, you weren’t any kind of prize for us, but we’re hoping things are different for our girl.”

  “This is just a lot to take in,” Brooklyn says, but when I take her hand in mine she doesn’t pull away.

  “I came here to bring you breakfast and give you a lift to work. Come with me and we can talk some more. Trust me, Buttercup.”

  She looks up at me when I call her the nickname and I see the edge of her lips curl like she’s fighting a smile. She nods and for the first time since last night, relief fills me.

  “Ladies, enjoy breakfast on me.” I nod to them as I grab Brooklyn’s bag and get her out of there before she can change her mind. The women shout goodbye to her as the door closes and I hurry her out of the building and outside as fast as I can.