Page 20 of Dream Date With the Millionaire
His fingers tensed over the keyboard.
Maybe he should call her. She’d listed her phone number when she’d registered for the site. And then he remembered. Blinddatebrides.com had her number. Not him.
He glanced at the clock.
What was taking Dani so long to get home?
Worry seemed premature. Still…
Bryce should have called a cab for her, but he hadn’t been thinking straight. Not since he’d met Dani for coffee…
Had it only been yesterday?
He felt as if he’d known her longer.
Still, his interest in her made zero sense given what he knew about her and what he didn’t.
Yes, Dani was pretty, but she wasn’t the most beautiful woman he’d ever met. Tonight she’d worn her hair in a ponytail, but had bypassed the makeup again. He liked the fresh-faced natural look. And that subtle perfume of hers—vanilla with a hint of something else, something exotic—smelled so good. He wouldn’t mind waking up to that scent on his pillow.
But cyberspace was full of players and liars. Dani had said so herself. And thieves and spies, he reminded himself. Was she one of them?
Bryce didn’t think so.
He recalled her look of surprise when she’d first seen him at the restaurant. Her smile had told him she’d been relieved and happy. Not even an award-winning actress could fake the kind of sincerity she’d shown tonight.
Dani was probably a timid dater. Okay, she had been able to take care of Gymguy on her own, but he couldn’t imagine her as a scammer or spy, in spite of what she’d said. Taken out of context, almost anything could sound suspicious. And that made his motives for following her seem suspect.
Still, he would remain cautious.
He couldn’t forget his responsibility in all this—make sure no one caused trouble on the Web site. Blinddatebrides.com was his priority. No getting sidetracked allowed.
The phone rang. The only person he wanted to talk to didn’t have his number. Bryce noticed the name on the caller I.D. Caitlin. She wouldn’t call at this hour without a reason.
Bryce snatched up the receiver. “Hey, sis. What’s going on?”
“Mother doesn’t want Father to bring his newest girlfriend to the engagement party.” Caitlin sniffled as if she’d been crying. “And she wants me to be the one to tell him. If I do that, he might not come. He might not win any father of the year awards, but I want him there, Bryce.”
The crack in his sister’s voice squeezed his heart. The ripples from their parents’ divorce hadn’t lessened over the years. He still remembered the years of yelling, screaming and breaking things that had led up to their split. “Don’t worry. By the time the party rolls around, the girlfriend will probably be his new wife.”
“That’s what I told Mother,” Caitlin said. “She got even more upset. You’d think, after twenty-some years apart, with almost a dozen marriages between them, they’d be able to get over it.”
Bryce stepped around a stack of newspapers he needed to take out to the recycling bin and sat on the couch. “I’ll talk to her.”
“Thanks.” Gratitude filled her voice. “I knew I could count on you.”
“That’s what big brothers are for.”
“Are you okay?” Caitlin asked. “You sound…I don’t know…different.”
He glanced at his laptop, sitting on the coffee table. “I’m waiting for something.”
“You’ve never been good at waiting. Remember on Christmas Eve when you woke up in the middle of the night and wanted to open presents?”
“I was ten.”
“And now you’re thirty-two. Not too much has changed.”
“Thanks, sis.”
“Anytime,” Caitlin said. “So what are you waiting for at this hour?”
“An e-mail.”
“I was hoping it was a woman,” she admitted.
He wasn’t about to go there. “Sorry.”
“Don’t forget, you need to find a date to the engagement party or you’ll be fighting off all the single women there. And a few of the married ones, too.”
“I can handle them—” he thought about Dani “—though I may have a lead on a possible date.”
“Who?”
“A woman.”
“Give me a name. Something.” Caitlin sighed, but he would guess she was smiling now. “Come on, Bryce. You saying ‘date’ without making it sound like a four-letter word is huge.”
“There isn’t anything to tell right now.” Inviting Dani to the party probably wasn’t a good idea given the circumstances. “But if the situation changes I’ll let you know.”
