Island Kisses: A Billionaire Love Story (The Kisses Series Book 9) (3 page)

“I'm going plenty of places, Mom,” I told her through gritted teeth.

She put her hands on her hips and looked at me. It was easy to see where Rosie and I got our features. We all shared the same dark hair and eyes, a fairly average build, and noses that were probably just a little too big for our faces.

“You keep going on these terrible dates and not caring that you're not finding anyone. I know you just got back from another terrible one that you're super excited to share with the world. How are you going to find love like this?” Mom's features looked concerned, but I knew exactly the words that were coming next. “It's like you're not even trying, Harper.”

Every time. Those words killed me every time. Because I was trying. The whole reason the Never After Dates even existed was because I was trying and not getting anywhere. It was making lemonade out of the lemon dates that life kept handing me.

The fact that I now hoped for bad dates had nothing to do with it. Now, it was part of how I paid my rent. I had found that lemonade could be profitable.

“I do write other things than this one dating blog,” I reminded my mother. “Just last month, I won the General Excellence award for my travel piece in
Now Magazine
.”

“Yeah, but, honey, that isn't going to get you someone to love.” My mother frowned. “I'm just worried about you and your future. I want you to be happy.”

“I was happy until about three minutes ago,” I said quietly. My mother glared at me. I did my best not to roll my eyes. “I have plans. I have aspirations and I'm not hopeless, okay? I'll find someone when I'm ready.”

There was a moment of silence. You’d think a woman who spent so many years unhappily married would at least be willing to support a child who wasn’t even bothering with the notion of marriage at the moment, rather than push for intense focus on finding the right one.

“You're not getting any younger, Harper,” Mom scolded. “I don't want you to end up wasting your life going on these terrible dates and ignoring the possibility of finding actual happiness someday. You're just sabotaging yourself.”

“Right, Mom. I do this all so I can be miserable and alone. I want to end up as a crazy cat lady.” I stalked over to the baby elephant lamp. It was a good thing Thomas made me promise not to use it, because it was incredibly tempting to throw it at my mother's head at the moment.

“Harper, she just wants you to be happy.” Rosie said softly. She was always the peace-maker.

I didn't say anything. The only things I wanted to say, I knew I'd regret because they weren't nice. I really wished I got along as well with Mom as Rosie did, but Rosie was the golden child. She'd always done everything right. I was the screw up.

Rosie cleared her throat. “But, at least you have that really promising date coming up, right?”

“Of course I do,” I replied automatically. Technically, every date was a really promising one. For my blog.

“You do?” My mom looked skeptical. “A good date or a bad date?”

“A good one,” Rosie assured her. “A real, positive, find love kind of date. She's trying out this new dating service by Kindling Dating. They have this brand new application that's basically guaranteed to find your true love. And she has a date through it.”

“I do?” I looked at Rosie and she widened her eyes to tell me to play along. “Oh, right. I do. I totally do.”

“Sure.” Mom crossed her arms. “Who is he?”

“A local business owner,” Rosie answered. “And super cute. He likes football and has a great sense of humor. He's basically perfect for Harper.”

“Is that so?” Mom did not look convinced. She glared at me again. “Why didn't you say anything?”

“Well, I... um...” I had no answer because I didn't know what the hell Rosie was even talking about.

“She didn't want to get your hopes up, Mom,” Rosie interjected. “You get so excited for every single date she goes on, like she's going to get married next week if she finds the right one. That's hard to deal with.”

I wasn't sure whether to strangle or hug my sister. On the one hand, a good date would get my mother off my back, but on the other, I had no clue what Rosie had planned. If there was no actual guy, Mom was going to be even more trouble than usual. I'd heard of this Kindling Dating, but as it cost money and actually advertised yielding good dates, I had stayed far, far away from it. My business was bad dates.

What the heck was my sister doing?

“Is this true, Harper?” My mother fixed me with her best mom glare. When I was a kid, I would confess to anything under that look. It was hard not to break down even though I was twenty-six years old and no longer living under her roof.

“Rosie wouldn't lie, Mom,” I answered. It was true enough that I would avoid showing my guilty face.

Mom looked back and forth between the two of us for a moment before smiling broadly at me. “You have a real date?”

“Apparently,” I said while Rosie nodded vigorously.

“I can't tell you how happy that makes me, Harper.” Mom actually looked relieved. “I just want you to find that special someone and settle down like your sister. I need more grandkids and Rosie's baby needs some cousins.”

“That's the plan, Mom. Date this guy, marry him, have lots of babies,” I said, ticking off fingers for each item of my future.

“Don't be sarcastic, Harper,” Mom scolded, but then she wrapped me up in a big hug. “I'm just so proud of you for trying.”

Because I wasn't trying before
, I wanted to say, but I kept my mouth shut.

“See, Mom, everything will work out,” Rosie promised.

I looked over at her and she grinned with two thumbs up.

“Okay.” Mom let me go and stood up straight. There were tears of joy in her eyes. If I had known that promising her a good date would make her this happy, I would have done it a long time ago.

“You okay, Mom?” I asked.

“I'm great, honey.” She wiped her eyes and smiled. “I'm just so happy to hear you're actually going to give this one a chance. Please, give him an actual chance? Don't make him hate you like do with all the guys you go out with now.”

I managed not to let my jaw hit the floor. “Yes, Mom.”

“I have to get going,” Mom announced. She hugged Rosie, then dropped to her knees to kiss Rosie's belly. “Be good in there, little one. You keep growing, you little cutie.”

“Drive safe, Mom,” I said.

“I will.” She stood up from the floor and then gave me a big hug. “Thank you for trying this time, Harper. I love you girls so much.”

“We love you too, Mom,” Rosie assured her. I nodded.

“You didn't park me in, did you?” Mom asked, picking up her purse

“Of course not. You're free to go,” I informed her. She smiled and waved and headed out the door. I could hear her saying goodbye to Thomas in the living room as she went and as soon as I heard her car engine start, I let out a huge sigh of relief.

“Well, that was fun,” Rosie commented.

“Yeah.” I turned to face her. “Especially the part where I have a date from Kindling Romance? What the heck was that, Rosie?”

“I should probably explain...” Rosie blushed.

“Yeah, that would be good,” I agreed. “Please tell me how I have a date lined up at a service I never signed up for.”

It was a lucky thing my sister was pregnant. I couldn't kill a pregnant lady.

“
K
indling Dating
?” I rounded on my sister as she put the cute onesie away into a closet full of onesies. “Did you really sign me up for Kindling Dating or was that just a way to get Mom off my back?”

Rosie didn't answer right away. She took her time putting the new clothes into the closet and then turned to face me.

“You really are signed up and you really do have a date,” she finally said. “If you want it. No pressure.”

“No pressure?” I flopped into the rocking chair, nearly flinging myself right back out of it. “You told Mom. She's going to follow up on this until I marry the the poor guy!”

Rosie frowned, her hand going to her swollen belly and pushing as the little boy inside of her kicked her like I wanted to do. “I thought it would be good for you. I thought you'd be happy.”

“You signed me up for a dating service, Rosie,” I said, trying to calm myself by rocking. The motion was soothing, but I was still agitated. “One that costs money. There's a reason I stay on the free ones. I don't want you paying for this kind of thing. You have a baby on the way. I want you to buy booties, not booty calls. The reason I haven't tried this one is that it's so expensive.”

Rosie sighed and leaned against the wall. “I know. But the advertisements are so awesome! I'm trying to help you out.”

“You're supposed to be the good one. Signing me up for dates without my knowledge is not good.” I pressed my fingers into the bridge of my nose. “Maybe we can still get your money back...”

Rosie's lip quivered. “I really was just trying to help.”

“Don't cry, Rosie,” I pleaded. I knew her hormones were causing emotional swings. The last thing I wanted to do was make my baby sister cry because she was trying to help me.

“I'm not,” she said with a sniffle. “And I already paid for it. It was supposed to be a present.”

She wrapped her arms around her and looked at the floor, looking like a chastised child. I knew she really did just want to help.

I stood up and wrapped my arms around her. “I'm not mad, Rosie. Promise.”

Holding her like this, I was transported back in time. Back to when Dad was still alive and we were just little kids. Rosie and I would hear Mom and Dad arguing upstairs almost every evening. Their marriage was not a happy one, but they stayed together because it was the “right thing to do.” Whenever their arguments would fill the house, I would hold little Rosie close and we'd whisper secrets and jokes to drown out the unhappiness upstairs. She would bury her face into my shoulder, just like she was doing now, and I would keep her safe. It was why we were so close now.

“I just want you to find somebody. I want you to be happy, and you know that I'm proud of you and your blog, but it isn't taking you where you want to go.” Rosie held me tight, letting the words spill out without having to look at me. “You deserve so much more than these bad dates all the time.”

“Oh, Rosie...” I sighed, but I didn't know what else to say.

“So, when I saw the ad for this matchmaking service based on science and guaranteed to help you find love, I couldn't stop myself. I signed you up.” Rosie shrugged.

“What about the date part?” I asked, not letting go. As long as I had her like this, she would spill everything.

“That was kind of an accident,” Rosie admitted. “I filled out all the questionnaires and profile questions like I was you. It wasn't that hard, and it was actually kind of fun.”

“You pretended to be me?”

“How else was I supposed to sign you up? Anyway, after I did all that, a guy contacted me. I mean you. I mean, your profile,” she amended.

“And you answered him?” I asked, horrified. The first rule of online dating was not to talk to just anyone, but knowing Rosie, she probably responded to every single request sent to the profile. This was going to be a disaster.

“He was cute!” she shot back. “Super cute. And funny. You'll like him I promise.”

“Funny?” I pulled back so I could look at her face. Funny meant they had a conversation. “How do you know he's funny?”

Rosie refused to meet my eyes. “I chatted with him online.”

“Rosie, you're married!” I exclaimed. “You were totally flirting with another man. Does your husband know?”

“Actually, he helped a little bit.” She bit her lip, still refusing to look at me. “He actually does a really good impression of you.”

“Rosie!” I couldn't believe this. I was going to have to kill her
and
her husband now. It was a shame.

“He's charming,” she promised. “Just give it a try. I have a really good feeling about this, Harper. A really,
really
good feeling. Please?”

I sighed. That was really the only response I had. There was no way I could tell my pregnant, hormonal, baby sister
and
my mother that I wouldn't at least give the guy a shot.

“Fine.” I crossed my arms. “But just one date. And if it's awful, I totally get to blog about it.”

Rosie's face lit up like the Fourth of July. “Really? Oh, that's so great! You'll really like this guy, I promise.”

“Just how much did you chat with him?” I asked, suddenly a little nervous. She seemed way, way too confident about him for just a simple online chat. My stomach was doing nervous flips just thinking about what I was getting myself into.

“Not that much...” Rosie trailed off and began to mess with her phone.

“Rosie, how much?”

“Here, just look at him,” Rosie replied, handing me her phone instead of answering my question. The dating website was pulled up to my profile. The picture of me was from her birthday party last year. I looked happy. Not sexy or flirty or any of the other emotions I usually chose to display, but happy.

I scanned down to the chat logs. It looked like Rosie and her husband and chatted Mr. Perfect Match quite a bit. I groaned, knowing I was going to have to go through all the chat logs.

But, at least the picture of the guy was good. He was definitely attractive. His hair was dark and messy, as if he'd tried to tame it but the wind had just picked up right when the picture was taken. Green, piercing eyes the color of emeralds peered back at me from a smile that could light up a room. The photo was just a head shot, but even then, it looked like he worked out.

“He's cute in
this
picture,” I told Rosie. “If that's even him.”

Rosie rolled her eyes at me. “Oh ye of little faith.”

“I'm the one who has been doing this for a living,” I said. “Do you know how many guys have amazing pictures? All of them. Then, in person it turns out that it was them ten years ago. Or their roommate. Or the guy on their underwear package.”

“Just meet him, okay?” Rosie stood before me and batted her eyelashes. “If he's terrible, then you get a great article for your blog. If he's not...”

“Then you get a great 'I told you so,'” I finished for her.

I sighed again and looked at the picture again. He was really cute.

“Fine,” I promised. “Not like I have a lot of choice in the matter. Can you at least give me my user name and password so I can read through the novel you three wrote each other?”

“We did not write a novel!” Rosie replied, snatching her phone from my hands. “We just had a couple of very nice conversations. That's it.”

“Sure.” I gave her a nice smile. “User name and password?”

“HarpStrings and GonnaFindMeSomeLUV!23,” Rosie rattled off, emphasizing the capital letters. At least she had picked a decent password. I wasn't so sure on the user name, but it was too late now. Rosie chewed on her lower lip as she unconsciously rubbed her belly. Her dark brows were pulled together in fear that I'd still be mad.“Are we okay?”

“Of course we're good,” I assured her, pulling her in for another hug. “I'm not terribly pleased, especially since you let Mom in on your little secret, but your heart was in the right place.”

“Okay.” Rosie smiled and then let out an excited gasp. “He's kicking.”

She grabbed my hand and put it on her belly. It took a moment, but then I felt it. The life inside of her pushing and stretching, saying hello to the world outside. How could I be mad when I had that under my hands?

“He's getting so strong,” I murmured, lost at the awe of feeling life growing right under my fingers. “I can't wait to meet him.”

“Me too.” Rosie shifted slightly as the baby kicked hard. “You are about to have a lot of good men in your life, Harper.”

“Well, at least one,” I agreed quietly. For a moment, I hoped that I wasn't just talking about the baby.