Free Dreams of Us by Brooke St. James Page A

you doing here with me," he asked still looking over my shoulder has if expecting Jordan to walk up any second.
    "It wouldn't really be right for us to leave our dates, now would it? He needed to square things away with that woman he was seeing. It wasn't really fair for him to walk out in the middle of a date."
    He held his fist to his mouth and coughed a laugh.
    "What?" I asked.
    "You're telling me that dude had the nerve to come out there and break up our kiss, but he didn't have the decency to leave his date?"
    "It wasn't like that. He said he would—"
    "Bailey, don't let that guy treat you like that. You're totally worth leaving a date for. If he can't leave her now, what makes you think he'll do it tomorrow?"
    I shrugged. "I thought he was doing the right thing by—" my statement was interrupted by Ben making a sound of disapproval.
    "Pffft." He shook his head, and hugged me by the shoulder, looking down at me. "Just so you know, I'd leave my date for you," he said. "I'd cause a scene, and get in a fight, and break another girl's heart any day of the week for you."
    I smiled up at him, rolling my eyes a little. I didn't know what to say.
    "And another thing, while I'm at it," he said.
    "What?"
    "I really enjoyed kissing you. I know I was doing it to make him jealous or whatever, but I'm a man, Bailey, and you should know that I had fun kissing you and would do it again in a heartbeat if you let me."
    "You're talking like you forgot you're my boss."
    He smiled. "I didn't forget anything. I know you work for me and that we had no plans whatsoever to let this go anywhere, but I just wanted you to know, I enjoyed myself on more than a let's make this other guy jealous level."
    I giggled. "I'm pretty sure if I wasn't already obsessed with that other guy, I would have enjoyed myself, too."
    "That's what I'm saying. Maybe you need to rethink being obsessed about someone who can't bear to leave his date for you."
    I narrowed my eyes at him and he laughed and raised his hands in surrender. "I'm just saying. Did he even get your phone number?"
    "He knows where I work," I said defensively.
    "Pffft," he said. "No guts."
    My eyes widened and I slapped at his shoulder, making him laugh.
    "You know I'm just messing with you," he said, "…mostly."
    "Well, then I'll tell the itty bitty part of you that isn't messing with me that you're wrong about Jordan."
    He smiled. "Oh, he's Jordan now?"
    "Dr. Crawford, whatever. It wouldn't be right for him to leave his date or girlfriend or whoever she is without an explanation or a ride home."
    Ben smiled and put his hands up in surrender again. "All right, I'll leave you alone about it. Regardless of what I think about his manliness, I'm glad to have you around for the rest of the evening."
    "See? You wouldn't like it if I left you in the middle of this thing."
    "Yeah but I would understand if it was for true looove," he said dramatically.
    "Well you're a guy and she's a girl, and they were here on a date, not as friends. It's different."
    He shrugged. "Either way, I'm glad to have my dancing partner back." He held out a hand in a way that said he wanted to dance, and I obliged. I had no idea when I would see or hear from Jordan Crawford again, and I was happy for any distraction that came between now and then.
    The ball was on a Saturday evening, and I spent the entire next day wondering if I had actually seen Dr. Crawford, or if I had hallucinated the whole thing. I thought I remembered details of our encounters, but honestly it seemed too good to be true, and I convinced myself I was making half of it up. It seemed as though he was as into me as I was with him, but as the day went on I started to doubt myself—especially once I put it in the context of everything Ben had said.
    My friend, Lexie, came over that afternoon, and I began telling her the story. She remembered meeting Dr. Crawford and knew I was infatuated with him while I was in the hospital. She was amazed to hear that I had run