Free Hornet's Nest by Jaycee Ford Page A

tutor.” That was what I told most people. Most people didn’t realize that my mother was not a tutor. My father, though, was in banking. He just did it at a very high level… like CFO level… at the highest grossing bank in the country. Besides family, the only person in my life that knew what my father did for a living was Jordan. I always preferred to keep it that way, especially when I didn’t know if the people asking were my friends or, at least, acquaintances for the right reasons.
    “That is very interesting. What kind of banking does he do?”
    I stared at him for a moment while I sipped my martini. Why are you so concerned about my father ?  “The normal banking things like mortgage loans and all of that boring stuff.”
    I looked up at Josh who had a knowing smile on his face. It seemed like he might really know what my father did. There weren’t very many Klein’s in this area. My grandparents were from New York. We continued our normal flirtatious banter throughout our meal, and I could easily flirt with him. It all just seemed somewhat odd, like it was almost forced or fake. I wasn’t sure.
    After a few glasses of wine, we decided to leave. Josh handed his ticket to the valet attendant and then stood behind me with his arms wrapped around my waist. This was the issue I came to realize. I had a god of a man with his arms wrapped around me, obviously wanting to be with me judging by the rigid lump poking my lower back. But there were no tingles. Not a single flutter.
    After the short drive back to my apartment, I hopped out of the car as he followed me to the front of my complex. As he pulled open the door, I turned and stood in the way, blocking him from entering. “Thank you so much for dinner, Josh.”
    He cocked his eyebrow and asked, “Aren’t you going to invite me up?”
    “Not tonight, okay?”
    He looked dejected, but I didn’t care. It wasn’t happening. He stepped forward and wormed his tongue inside my mouth. I guess he assumed I would swoon over a flick of his tongue. Boy, he was surely mistaken. Breaking away from the kiss, I looked up at him, pushing my hand gently against his chest.
    “Thank you again, Josh. Good night.” I turned away and walked into the lobby. By the time I got back to my apartment, it was only around eleven thirty. I wasn’t extremely tired. After changing into one of many NC State Wolfpack T-Shirts, I grabbed my e-reader and settled into my plush chair to read a little and wind down. Just as I was getting to the good part, I heard my phone vibrate in my purse. Throwing off my blanket, I pranced over to my kitchen to grab it. I ran back and huddled back under my blanket. It was cold wearing only a T-Shirt and panties. I slid my finger across the screen to unlock my phone and saw the text from Lance.
    Did you have a good date?
    I sighed once again. I sigh a lot over this man. Damn my weak heart.
    It was okay.
    Just okay?
    Yep.
    Bet I could do better.
    How was I supposed to respond to that?  He was impossible! If he was so impossible, though, why was I grinning from ear to ear?
    I’m glad you think so. Goodnight, Lance.
    Goodnight, Katherine ;-)
    • • •

    What a fucking douchebag! I definitely knew I could do better than that creep since he was about twenty feet away from me grinding against some tall, fake-boobed brunette. I sat in the back corner of the bar with Heather. She was just about crushed. She knew all about this guy, but I guess seeing it made it that much worse. I reached out for her hand and squeezed it. I hoped I had never made a girl feel like that, but I was afraid I had.
    “You’re better than that. You don’t need a guy like that.”
    She smiled at me, kissed my cheek and stood up while saying, “Trust me. Katherine will figure it out soon enough.”
    Undetected, she snuck out of the bar with her now ex-boyfriend still all over Fake Boobs. After Joshua left with his arms all over Fake Boobs, I decided to leave as well. I knew that