Free Betrayed by Love by Marilyn Lee Page A

enough to know pushing her to be more specific wouldn’t do any good. “He’s…he’s a hunk with a capital H,” I admitted.
    She nodded. “He’s almost as hunky as Jarrod.”
    Almost? I stared at her. I could see she was serious. And that made me feel better about her relationship with Jarrod. If she thought Jarrod was a bigger hunk than Grant, she was blinded by love with a huge capital L. I didn’t understand or appreciate the game she and Jarrod played, but they seemed happy together.
    I smiled and nodded. “Yeah. Almost.”
    Just as we finished the carafe of coffee the phone rang. Jen lifted the cordless phone off her waist holster, glanced at the screen, smiled, and passed the phone to me. “Guess who?”
    My cheeks flushed and I felt flustered as I took the cordless phone. I pressed the talk button and placed the phone against my ear. “Hello?”
    “Hi, Linea. This is Grant.”
    “Hi.”
    “This meeting is running a little longer than I expected. I don’t foresee being able to pick you up before one o’clock. That means it’ll probably be two before we eat. Is that okay?”
    “Yes, but I’m sure I can borrow Jen’s car and meet you somewhere if that will make things easier for you.” I glanced at Jen, who nodded.
    “Thanks, but unless you’re dead set against it, I prefer to pick up my dates.”
    Call me old–fashioned, but I’m down with a man who wants to treat me like I’m worth expending time and energy over. “Oh. Okay. Fine.”
    “Great. I’ll call you when I’m on my way, Linea.”
    “Okay.”
    “Say hello to the girls for me.”
    I smiled and ended the call before I said something impetuous like admitting how much the three of us were looking forward to seeing him again. Actually, there were four of us, if I counted my aching coochie.
    Jen took the phone. “What are you going to wear?”
    “I’m not sure. It’s just lunch.”
    Jen scrambled off the bed. “It’s a first date. You have to dress to impress.” She turned around, a frown on her face. “Actually, I think you’ve already impressed, but let’s just make sure you dress to re–impress. What do you have that’s sexy as hell and would make him have to pick his jaw up off the floor when he arrives to pick you up?”
    I got out of bed, shaking my head. “I don’t know that I want to go out of my way to impress him.”
    “What? Why wouldn’t you?”
    “For one I live in L.A. He lives here.”
    Jen parted her lips, seemed to reconsider, and closed her mouth.
    I paused, arching a brow. “What?”
    She shook her head. “You were about to give me another reason why you don’t want to dress to impress him.”
    What was she holding back? “I’m not interested in a long distance relationship.”
    “Some men are worth making the effort to keep a long distance relationship going.”
    “He’s a hunk, but not so hunky I want to date him from across the country. So I can’t see the point in going out of my way to impress him.”
    Jen tilted her head, her eyes squinted. “Do you have that out of your system?”
    I frowned at her.
    “Good,” she said, as if I’d actually answered her. “Let’s pick out something sexy and low–cut that shows off that rack of yours.”
    I rolled my eyes. “The girls don’t like being called a rack.” At least not by another woman. Grant calling them a rack would be a whole different ballgame.
    “Whatever.” She laughed and walked to the closet. “You look great in pastels. Did you bring anything bright and colorful with you?”
    Since she was clearly on a mission, I decided it would be easier to let her have her way. I joined her at the closet. We spent the next fifteen minutes arguing over what I’d wear.

    Grant called again at 12:45. “I know this is a bad way to begin a first date, but this is an important deal and I really can’t break away for at least another hour or so. We’re having a short break now. Please tell me we can do dinner instead.”
    I think the