Blind Date with a Blue-Collar Billionaire, page 1
part #1 of Blind Date Disasters Series
Blind Date with a Blue-Collar Billionaire
Blind Date Disasters
Evangeline Kelly
Copyright © 2018 by Evangeline Kelly. All Rights Reserved.
No part of this book shall be used or reproduced in any form or by any means without prior written permission of the author. Blind Date with a Blue-Collar Billionaire is a work of fiction. Names, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, or people, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. https://www.esv.org/resources/esv-global-study-bible/copyright-page/
Table of Contents
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Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Epilogue
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Chapter 1
Lindsey
I would be thirty years old tomorrow. I still wasn’t married. And I’d come to terms with the fact that it might never happen. My track record with men wasn’t the greatest, but that was another story.
Most of my friends already had kids and were moving on to a new stage in their lives, while I was stuck in singledom. At times, I felt like one of those old crusty cookies that had been left at the bottom of the cookie jar. Okay, maybe I was being melodramatic, but it was how I felt.
Yes, I knew that being single wasn’t bad and some people even preferred it. But, I longed for a husband and children of my own, and I was so tired of weeding through all the duds to find the man of my dreams. Did he exist? I was starting to wonder. Dating had been easy for most of my friends, and some of them believed the problem was with me. I was too picky they thought. Yeah, right. If we had to get real, the main issue was that I wasn’t picky enough. I’d wasted precious time by giving a lot of losers a chance.
There was a knock at the door, and I cleared away my negative thoughts. That had to be my date, Jason Knight, and he definitely wasn’t a loser. Jason had a great job as an attorney with a local law firm, and on top of that, he was decently handsome with sandy brown hair and blue eyes. We’d met through an online dating site and had gone on two dates already. While I wouldn’t say those dates had rocked my world, I enjoyed his company. He was nice. Very nice, in fact. So nice, that when I’d invited him to my birthday celebration with my family, he said yes without a second thought. He really liked me it seemed, and I was cautiously optimistic.
Maybe this one would work out. You never know.
I answered the door, and Jason stood with a bouquet of white roses. He was dressed impeccably in a blue Polo shirt and gray slacks. His hair had a part down the side and nothing was out of place.
“Happy Birthday, Lindsey,” he said with a wide smile. “Well, it’s actually tomorrow, but you know…”
“Thank you, that was so thoughtful of you.” I took the flowers and gestured for him to come inside. “These are beautiful. Let me put them in a vase, and then we can go.”
I fussed over the roses for a bit, and a few minutes later we were in his dark blue Lexus, headed to my Aunt Marsha and Uncle Bob’s house. Every Sunday evening my parents and I ate dinner with them and my adult cousins, Destiny and Wyatt. It was a tradition we rarely veered away from. Sundays were dedicated to the Lord and needed to be set aside for church and family as my mom often said.
Jason drove with his hands perfectly placed on the steering wheel at nine and three. He was a conservative driver, and he had a mellow personality.
I liked that.
Mostly because I was done with the charismatic types who knew how to yank your chain so to speak. The players were the ones you had to watch out for. They drew you in with their magnetic personalities and as soon as they had you, they’d spit you out and move on to the next woman. I’d been there, done that—had the plaque that said “dumped by a womanizer.” It was time for safe, reliable, and consistent. Jason appeared to fit the bill.
“So, do you have any plans for tomorrow?” he asked. “Cause if you don’t, I’d like to take you out to dinner on your birthday.”
Awww. See? I knew he was a good one. I glanced at him and smiled. “I’d love to have dinner with you.”
We turned down Elks Grove Avenue, and I pointed to my aunt and uncle’s place: a large white, older home with shuttered windows and a porch that wrapped around the house.
“It’s this one.” Growing up, I spent a lot of time there, and I considered it my second home.
Jason parked in front of the house, and we got out of the car. I led the way to the porch, and Jason followed. No point in knocking—family never did. I opened the door and the scent of a roast cooking in the oven wafted over.
“There you are,” Mom said with an excited lilt in her voice. “We were about to put the food on the table.” She hugged me as if we hadn’t just seen each other yesterday, and then she turned to Jason. “It’s so nice to meet you. I’ve heard great things about you.”
“Thank you, ma’am. It’s a pleasure, and I’ve heard wonderful things about you as well.”
“Please call me, Anne. Everybody does.”
He nodded and warmth flooded over me. He was so polite—exactly the type of man my parents would approve of.
“Come meet the rest of the family,” Mom said with nervous excitement. One would have thought she was introducing my fiancé, not my date. I would have gladly done the introductions, but it appeared to mean more to Mom, so I let her take over. “This is my older sister, Marsha,” she said, winking. “Age before beauty.”
Mom and Aunt Marsha always joked about who was the most attractive, but sometimes it seemed as though it veered away from joking around. They liked to compete with each other, which put pressure on me to out-perform my cousins. Not that I ever did.
“Nice to meet you,” Aunt Marsha said, shaking Jason’s hand. “What a striking young man you have, Lindsey.” She flashed a knowing grin. “Where did you find him?”
“It doesn’t matter where she found him,” Mom said in a hurry. She looked down on internet dating. It was a generational thing, and I doubted she’d ever change her mind. “He’s here, and that’s all that matters.” She winked. “And now that he’s here, we’re not letting him go.”
Great. She was making it sound like I was desperate.
My cousin, Wyatt, stepped forward to shake Jason’s hand. “Hey, man.” Wyatt was tall with light brown hair and an easy smile.
As kids, my cousin, Destiny, and I were closer, but once we reached high school, a lot of things changed. Destiny was busy with cheerleading and boyfriends while Wyatt and I worked part-time at Mom and Dad’s restaurant. Wyatt and I still worked at the restaurant, and I saw him practically every day. Destiny may have been my best friend when I was younger, but I was much closer to Wyatt now that I was an adult.
My dad and Uncle Bob came in from the other room. Dad extended his hand. “I’m Dan, Lindsey’s father.”
Jason smiled. “Nice to meet you, sir.”
They spoke for a few minutes while I scanned the room.
“Where’s Destiny?” I asked. She’d moved in with Aunt Marsha and Uncle Bob after quitting her job, but I hadn’t seen her anywhere.
“Here I am,” she said, running down the stairs in a pair of white cut-off shorts and a form-fitting yellow tank top that was a little see-through and showed an ample amount of cleavage. She walked over to us and extended her hand to Jason. “Destiny.”
I glanced at Jason to see his reaction. Taking her hand, his eyes widened, and he sucked in a breath. My heart sank, but his response wasn’t anything I wasn’t used to. Destiny was two years younger than me and drop dead gorgeous with big blue eyes, strawberry blonde hair that fell below her shoulders, and lightly tanned skin. And not only did she excel in the looks department, but she also had an exuberant personality that pulled people to her like bees to honey. While Mom and Aunt Marsha liked to compete, there was no competition between Destiny and me.
And that was because she won every time.
It wasn’t that I was unattractive. My brown bob was stylish, and I’d been told a few times that my hazel eyes were pretty. But put me up against Destiny? There was no question which cousin was the prettiest.
Destiny giggled. “You can let go now.”
Jason jerked back his hand like an electric current had just zapped him. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hold on to your hand that long.”
She smiled coyly. “It’s okay. You have nice, strong hands.”
“I do?” He broke into a grin.
“Absolutely.” Her voice was as smooth as butter. “Most of the men I encounter have a
loose grip, kind of like a dead fish. But yours is very robust.”
I glanced between the two of them. They couldn’t seem to take their eyes off each other.
“Well, I should help Mom put the food on the table,” Destiny said after an awkward moment dragged by. “Good to meet you, Jason.” She squeezed his bicep.
Jason’s jaw hung open, and he stared at her as she passed by and headed to the kitchen. “That’s your cousin?”
“Yep.”
“She’s beautiful.” He appeared almost mesmerized for a second, and then he snapped out of it and put a hand on my arm. “You’re gorgeous, too. Don’t take that the wrong way.”
Don’t take that the wrong way? Uh…okay. I hadn’t taken it badly until he tacked on that last phrase. When someone told you not to take something the wrong way, it wasn’t usually a good thing.
“It’s okay,” I said. “I’m very aware that Destiny is a beautiful woman.”
“Why isn’t she married?”
My brows furrowed at the question. “How do you know she’s not married?”
“She wasn’t wearing a ring.”
Wow, he was fast. It didn’t take long for him to check her out like that, did it? “She was married, but it didn’t work out. They’re divorced now.” I self-consciously smoothed a piece of hair behind my ear.
“Oh. Sorry to hear that.”
If that man looked sorry, then I was the next beauty queen to represent California in the Miss America pageant.
“Come to the table,” Mom said, wiggling her hands in a frantic motion. She did that whenever she was nervous. “You two love-birds sit here.” She motioned for us to sit down, acting as if this were a momentous occasion. I cringed at the term “love-birds.” We were still getting to know each other after all. No need to scare the man away, Mom.
I put a hand on my stomach and sat down, feeling off balance. Seeing Jason’s reaction to Destiny was like taking a sock to the gut, but it wasn’t the worst thing in the world. At least, that’s what I told myself. He had eyes, and he was a man. Of course he found her beautiful. Everyone did. That didn’t mean he wanted to be with her. He appeared to like me, and he was here for my birthday, meeting my family, smiling at me like he was happy to be here. That had to count for something. I kept repeating that over and over in my head as we passed the food around, and I caught Jason’s gaze swing to the other side of the room a few times.
Aunt Marsha sat Destiny on the opposite end of the table, bless her heart.
I turned towards Jason. “After dinner, I’ll take you out back. Aunt Marsha and Uncle Bob have a beautiful yard, and there’s a pond with koi fish. I used to love going out there when I was a kid.” I was looking forward to showing him the pond because it represented some of my best memories. We used to go out there to feed the fish, and I stayed for hours at a time.
“That sounds great,” Jason said, glancing to the other side of the table. “What about you, Destiny? Will you be joining us as well?”
Destiny was holding a conversation with Wyatt, and, apparently, she hadn’t heard Jason because she didn’t respond.
“Destiny, honey,” Aunt Marsha said loudly. “Our guest asked you a question.”
Everyone stopped talking and glanced at Destiny. She looked up, startled. “What? Did I miss something?”
Jason cleared his throat. “I was wondering if you’re coming with Lindsey and me to see the koi pond after dinner.”
Dad stared at Jason suspiciously as he speared a piece of meat with his fork and shoved it in his mouth.
Destiny smiled and waved her hand. “I see that pond all the time. You two go and have fun without me.”
“We wouldn’t want to leave you out,” Jason continued. He glanced at me. “Right, Lindsey?”
“No, of course not.” I glanced down at my food, and when I looked up, my cousin, Wyatt, caught my gaze and rolled his eyes.
He turned to Jason. “Does that mean I get to go? You’re not going to leave me out, are you?” His tone had the slightest bit of sarcasm, enough for me to catch his meaning but not enough to come across as rude.
“Uh…I don’t see why not,” Jason sputtered. He blushed a deep red and went back to eating.
It was quiet for a few moments, and no one seemed to know what to say, but then the conversation picked back up as Dad talked about how the restaurant was doing. After we finished the meal, Mom and Aunt Marsha cleared the plates away and brought a white-frosted cake to the table. There was a giant candle of the number thirty stuck on top, just in case I needed to be reminded of how old I was. Aunt Marsha lit the candle, and then everyone sang Happy Birthday. Jason squeezed my hand, and a small bit of hope shot through me. I’d been worried he liked Destiny more than me, and that was stupid. He didn’t even know her. He was here with me, squeezing my hand and smiling like there was no other place he’d rather be.
“Make a wish,” he said.
I leaned over the table, closed my eyes for a second, and blew out the candle.
“Yay!” Mom clapped her hands. “My baby’s thirty. Where has the time gone?”
“Hey,” I said. “I’m still twenty-nine. I have one more day left. Let me enjoy it.”
“Time flies,” she said with a sentimental glint in her eyes. “Before you know it, Dad and I will retire and you’ll take over the restaurant.” She cut the cake and gave everyone a slice on tiny paper plates.
“How old are you?” Jason asked, glancing at Destiny.
She grinned. “Twenty-eight. Still young.”
“You’re only two years younger than me,” I said.
“But I look a lot younger, don’t you think?” She directed her question to Jason.
“Yeah, definitely,” he said. “I would have thought you were in your early twenties.”
“See?” She stuck her tongue out at me, playfully.
“Well, at least I can claim I’m more mature,” I said wryly.
“Whose turn is it to do the dishes?” Aunt Marsha asked. Every week we alternated, and Mom had gone last week.
“Lindsey, you’re up,” Destiny said.
“Nope,” I said. “It’s Dad’s turn.”
Dad grimaced. “I’m sorry, but I have to head back to the restaurant.” He came over and kissed me on top of my head. “I hate to go, but someone has to manage the place while everyone’s here.” He gave me a quick hug. “Happy Birthday. Mom and I will see you tomorrow.”
“Told you,” Destiny said, gleefully. “I heard the guys talking in the other room. That means you’re up next.”
“But it’s my birthday, and I have a guest.”
Destiny’s mouth formed a pout as she wiggled her fingers. “Well, I can’t do it. I just got my nails done today. They’ll be ruined.”
“Let’s not make a big deal out of this,” Mom said, springing into action. “I’ll help you Lindsey, and we’ll be done in no time.” She glanced at Wyatt. “How about if you take Jason into the other room and watch something on TV?”
“Sorry, but I have to go, too. A friend is in the hospital with a broken leg. I promised I’d stop by right after dinner. I want to make it before visiting hours are over.” He leaned closer and gave me a hug. “Happy Birthday, Linds.”
“Oh, well, I’ll take Jason out back to see the fish then,” Destiny said, linking her arm through Jason’s. “You can join us when you’re done, Lindsey.”
Jason seemed more than happy to go along with that plan, and a sick feeling washed over me. Why did this always have to happen? It was the same pattern over and over again. I found a man I liked, introduced him to the family, and, sure enough, he always fell for Destiny.
It happened in High School.
It happened when I brought home my college boyfriend.
And it happened a few times after that.
I was seriously cursed.
Mom and I made a good team as we worked quickly to get the dishes done. I washed while she rinsed and dried. She picked up a sudsy plate and glanced at me with concern in her eyes. “You okay? You seem down all of a sudden.”
I shook my head, trying my best to hold back my growing frustration. “I can’t bring a man here without him falling for her. It happens every time. I’m so sick of it.”
Her lips formed a grim line. “I know it’s hard not to read into situations, but do your best to think the best of people. Destiny wasn’t trying to get his attention, and Jason obviously likes you.”
