Page 43 of Undeniable Love

She was thinking that Jax Wylder was freaking sexy as hell, and she needed a little reassurance that she was still capable of attracting a man.

Okay, that was only partly true because once she admitted that, she had to force herself to admit that she’d had a crush on him back when she was a kid. He was always good-looking and friendly, and basically a nice guy. All her friends used to love to come over to her house because she had older brothers and those brothers had friends. It was teenage crush heaven at the Dawson house, but out of all her brothers’ friends, Lucy always thought Jax was the cutest.

Then the accident had happened, shattering all her girlish fantasies because she saw him as the cause of her brother nearly dying. It felt like a personal betrayal.

Apparently, all it took was clearing that bit of misconception up and she was back to crushing on him. It still boggled her mind that the feeling was mutual and that she ended up in his bed.

Twice.

But…that was over. That was her brief break from reality, and now she was back living in the real world.

“The real boring world,” she mumbled, looking at Gemma’s message again.

Lucy: Hey! Yeah, I’m free. What’s up?

Gemma: How would you feel about a blind date?

The groan was out before she could stop it. Blind dates weren’t her thing and even though she knew her bestie was just looking out for her, she was still going to say no.

Lucy: Not a fan, but thank you.

Gemma: Oh, come on! It’s one date! And Mike and I will be with you!

Double dates were even worse than blind dates, in her opinion.

Lucy: Nope. Sorry. I’m just not feeling up to dating yet.

Liar.

If it were someone she saw and knew she was attracted to—or Jax—maybe she’d feel differently, but this little set up definitely wasn’t going to happen. No matter how much her friend begged.

Gemma: Luce, it’s been long enough. You need to get back out there!

Gemma: And Brian is a really nice guy! He and Mike work together!

Gemma: Please! Please say yes! We’re going out for Italian!

That made her think about the night Jax had taken them out for Italian and she’d tried the Osso Buco and spaghetti carbonara. He’d fed her a forkful of each and it hadn’t felt weird at all. Even her brother didn’t seem to mind that he did that. But Lucy remembered looking at Jax and pretending it was an actual date they were on.

“Ugh…I’m doing it again,” she mumbled.

Gemma: I’m not above begging.

Lucy: I’m sorry. Really. But I’m just not ready.

Gemma: Well, damn. I want to push you, but I won’t.

Gemma: Just know when you’re ready, I’ve got a nice guy to set you up with.

Lucy: Thank you.

Putting her phone down, she thought about what she was going to do tonight. If Gemma hadn’t texted about the double date, she probably would have called her to see about getting some takeout and watching The Bachelor or something together.

Maybe…

Picking the phone back up, she quickly sent off another text.

Lucy: Any chance you’re up for Chinese food and The Bachelor? Or the housewives?