Tour Stop, Excerpt & Giveaway: It’s My Party by Whitney Dineen

I can’t believe I’m sitting on Geoffrey’s couch blubbering away about my troubles. I don’t even like the guy. At least, that’s what I keep trying to tell myself. It’s obviously not working because I follow up those reminders with thoughts like, I like being in Geoffrey’s arms, he smells wonderful and I wonder what he wears to bed?

“How about some supper?” Geoffrey asks after I finally stop talking. “I was going to make myself a frittata.”

I jump to my feet so fast I nearly fall over the coffee table. “I’m supposed to be getting a lemon for supper! I bet the fish is cold by now.”

Geoffrey offers me a truly knee-buckling grin—like, I’m seriously forcing my knees to lock so I don’t crumble to the ground. The gold flecks in his eyes dance around in such a way I could drown in his gaze. His mouth curls up in a smile, and when I finally gather my wits enough to find my voice, I ask, “What?”

“Ruby sent you over here without telling you who lived here.”

“So?”

“I think our boss is trying to play matchmaker.”

“Does she know where you live?” Fingers of dread crawl up the back of my neck.

Geoffrey nods his head and picks up his phone. He types something before pulling me back onto the couch.

“Who did you text?”

He hands me his phone.

Geoffrey: Do you still need a lemon?

The three-dotted ellipses flash away for several moments before the response comes.

Ruby: No. I found them. Tell Claire she doesn’t need to hurry.

Of all the nerve! I hand Geoffrey his phone back and conclude, “I think you’re right.”

“How about that frittata?” he asks again.

“Geoffrey, I’m not interested in being set up.”

He doesn’t look the least bit offended. Instead, he announces, “Neither am I.”

“Oh.” I hope he doesn’t hear the dejected tone in my voice. 

“It’s not that you aren’t a beautiful woman. You are. I’m just not … available.”

“You’re dating someone?” Why did I ask that? He obviously is if he isn’t in the market for a girlfriend.

“Not exactly,” he answers after a long stretch of silence that starts to make me uncomfortable.

I don’t know why I can’t leave well enough alone, but I have to know, “Then what’s making you unavailable?”

“I’m not at liberty to say. But look, Claire, even though neither of us is looking for love, I think we should be friends. We’re going to be seeing a lot of each other at work and I’d like for us to be on good terms.”

Oh. My. God. Is this man “let’s just be friends-ing” me before we’ve gone on a date? Not that I want to date him, but that line is right up there with “it’s not you, it’s me.” Nobody wants to hear it. Ever.

In fact, if I were given the option of having one of those lines directed at me or being hit on the head with a frying pan, I’d say, “Use a cast iron one to make sure you do a good job of it.”

Geoffrey breaks into my thoughts by saying, “It’ll make things easier at work if we form an alliance. I’m not sure you’ve noticed, but I think Tara is having ideas about us as well.”

“I noticed,” I tell him. I think back to breakfast when my friend announced my single status like she was talking about the weather—you know, like it was everyone’s business. “An alliance like on that TV show Survivor?” I ask.

He nods his head.

“That might be a good idea.” Although if this is a true Survivor kind of alliance, I know it can change on a dime. After a few moments, I thrust out my hand and announce, “Okay, let’s be friends.”

When he takes my palm in his, my traitorous body jolts in reaction. I have an almost electric response to him. “Well, friend,” I finally say, “I’d better get back home, or Ruby is going to think she’s succeeding in getting us together.”

Geoffrey shakes his head. “I think you should stay. Let’s toy with her a little bit.”

“You don’t think that’ll make her pushier?” The truth is, I’d love to stay and spend more time with Geoffrey, but suddenly I’m afraid my intentions might not be as platonic as his. I don’t know if it’s real interest or curiosity spurred on by his not being available—we women can be so pathetic at times.

“As long as we don’t play into Ruby’s hand and keep acting like we’re just friends, she’ll eventually take the hint.”