Page 57 of Thrown Off Balance

“Ok,” she whispers. “How long do I have?”

“A little over an hour. I’ll come knock on your door to pick you up.” I wink as I lean in for a quick kiss. Sloan chuckles and shakes her head before disappearing down the hallway.

Exactly thirty minutes later, there’s a knock on the door. Pauly sprints to the entrance like someone’s going to break into the house. He has his hand on his gun and a scowl pinching his brows together.

“Easy tiger, it’s the dinner I ordered.” I step past him and open the door for the man.

I somehow convinced a hot pot restaurant to bring everything to us. It cost me a pretty penny, but it was worth it to give us a date night without putting us at risk. Sloan deserves a night where she can forget all about Jude and all the trouble he’s caused us.

The man sets up two little hot pots on the table and leaves two more on the kitchen counter. He slides more plates of raw meat, vegetables, and dumplings than I can count onto the table and counter before placing ramen, fried rice, and rice cakes next to it. Lastly, he places several large containers of broth down before he nods his head at me.

“There’s enough food here for ten people, like you asked. We’ll send someone tomorrow to pick up the hot pots and the dishes. Is there anything else I can do for you?”

“No, thank you so much. This all looks delicious.” I tug my wallet out of my pocket and hand the man a large tip. “I really appreciate you and the restaurant doing this.”

“It’s our pleasure.” His smile widens when his eyes land on the money.

Cord and Owen always said you could accomplish anything if you had enough money. I always rolled my eyes at them, but when I called the restaurant, they said they couldn’t bring the hot pot experience to my house. They claimed it was impossible, yet here we are.

Jax saunters into the kitchen right as the man leaves and his eyes widen as he takes in the various plates and containers.

“What’s all of this?”

“Well, it’s date night for Sloan and me… but I figured I had to feed you and Pauly too. So, grab a hot pot and whatever food you want, and go to your room.”

“Wow, shunned by my own brother. My own twin!”

“C’mon, Jax, I want this date to be special.” I scrub a hand down my face with a groan.

“I'm just teasing. You know I wouldn’t mess this up for you. The two of you need a night just to yourself. Maybe I’ll go video chat with someone so I can feel like I'm not all alone.” He sighs and shakes his head.

Where I'm more of an introvert, Jax is a thousand percent an extrovert. He needs to be around people all the time. I truly don’t know what he’s going to do when our houses are finished and we aren’t living together. I hope he finds a woman of his own before that happens.

“Thanks for the dinner. This looks great.” Pauly quickly takes the hot pot to his room before he comes back and grabs a few plates of food.

He’s a great guy. He’s good at his job and he really attempts to make the best of this situation. He knows living with us isn’t our idea of fun and he tries his hardest to be as invisible as possible.

Jax does the same and when they both disappear down the hall, I suck in a deep breath and blow it out slowly. This is it. My first date with Sloan since we were in high school.

After quickly changing into a pair of dress pants and a button up shirt, I knock softly on Sloan’s door. She opens almost immediately with her bottom lip between her teeth. Her hair is pulled into a messy bun on the top of her head and she’s wearing one of the dresses I bought her at the boutique. She looks gorgeous.

“Sorry, it’s hard to get dolled up when I don’t have any makeup or hair stuff.” She wrinkles up her nose.

“You look breathtaking, baby,” I murmur as I pull her closer and press a soft kiss to her lips. Her hand is placed on my chest, right over my beating heart. I slip my arm around her waist and pull her flush against me. I swear I’ll never get enough of this woman.

After a few minutes, I release her and hold out my hand. She doesn’t hesitate to slip her hand into mine and I lead her into the living room. I turned the lights down low and put a few candles around the space to cast a romantic glow. I also sprinkled some rose petals around on the floor. I hope she likes it.

“Cody,” she whispers in awe. “This is amazing! You didn’t have to do all of this for me.” She glances at me over her shoulder, moisture filling her eyes.

“I wanted our first date to be perfect,” I murmur, slipping my hands into the front pockets of my dress pants.

“You know, on our last first date we went to the movies and then to grab a burger.” She grins. “I think you wore jeans and a hoodie.”

“I did.” I chuckle. “Are you saying that was better than this?”

“Never. I think I prefer this look better too.” She motions to my clothes with a soft smile. “You look so handsome. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you dressed up.”

“Well, when we’re allowed to go out in public again, you better get used to it. I’ll be taking you on a lot of dates. All of them will be better than our high school dates.”