Free Date in the Dark by Jami Wagner Page A

understand?
She hasn’t said anything to me about her date from last night.
    “Then yeah, I do think you can.” She glances
across the room at me then looks away.
    “Is there something you’re not telling me?” I
ask.
    “No. But, how are things with Parker?”
    Just hearing his name causes me to blush.
    Kelly sits down next to me. “You know what I
think?” she says, and grabs a magazine of the coffee table.“I think
you should treat your date tonight the way you would if he were
Parker.”
    “Oh, what? No, that isn’t fair at all.”
    “Hear me out, okay?” She drops the magazine
and holds her hands up “You like Parker, but you don’t know if you
can trust him enough to date him? Well, give all that trust to your
date. Base your decision off the way he treats you. It won’t hurt
anyone. It could be fun and maybe in the end, it’s less stress for
you.”
    I shake my head as I consider her idea. I’m
afraid of what could happen with this guy tonight if I pretend he’s
Parker. I let out a sigh, I’ve already stepped outside my box and
am dating a total stranger, I may as well pretend he’s another guy
while I’m at it. Besides, she’s right, it won’t hurt anything.
    “Okay, yeah, we’ll see how it goes
tonight.”
     
     

Chapter Ten

    Parker
     
    I wonder if this is how carried away the mind
of a woman gets. I’ve been sitting here for maybe five minutes, and
if I can hear right, there are still no women in the room. Only a
bunch of men clearing their throats and waiting patiently. It
crosses my mind that there’s a chance none of the women decided to
come back and for a moment I don’t care about anyone else. I can’t
seem to think of anyone but Allie and why she wouldn’t come back.
What did my bother do?
    “Good evening, gentlemen. It’s Liz again. I
hope everyone is a bit more excited tonight. I’m very happy to see
that almost every couple has returned for this evening. Tonight
we’ll be doing things a bit differently, so please keep an open
mind and be prepared to get your feet stepped on.” Liz’s laughter
fills the room, and a few men awkwardly join in.
    Fear instantly takes over. Did she say almost everyone came back? And did she say trying something
new? I hope they aren’t switching our dates. I didn’t make a deal
with Miles just for them to switch things up on us. Maybe they
figured out that I lied about who I was when I checked in
tonight.
    “Your dates are waiting for you in the dance
hall. Before you eat, you’ll have a whole hour of dancing, so I
hope you all know how to dance and can sweep these women off their
feet.”
    I’m definitely overreacting.
    I don’t have time to think about what this
place must look like if they have enough room for a dance hall
before a hand touches my arm. When I stand from my seat, someone
leads me through the dark. When this is over, I’ll have to remind
Sara to ask her husband’s parents for a tour of the place.
    The person leading me stops and lets go of my
arm. They don’t give me any instructions either. I listen for some
type of noise but hear nothing.
    “Miles?”
    My heart races at the whisper of Allie’s
voice. “Allie, I’m here,” I tell her and turn to face the sound of
her voice. She can probably hear the excitement in mine.
    “Parker?” she gasps.
    I step back. “Seriously, you knew it was me
by the sound of my voice?”
    “Well…yeah. Of course I did. So, Miles really
is your brother?”
    “You knew?” I ask and laugh.
    “I had a hunch.” She laughs with me and for a
moment I smile at the sound, absorbing the way it makes me
feel.
    “Can you dance?” she asks.
    “I can dance very well, actually. Can
you?”
    “I have before…but I’m not experienced, so I
apologize now if I step on your toes. I’m not very good and now
that I can’t see, this is a disaster just waiting to happen.”
There’s humor in her voice and I can’t help but get excited at how
much more comfortable she sounds tonight