Revelation: A Contemporary Erotic Romance (Iris Series) (13 page)

The next two hours brought in the rest of the parents due to arrive, along with Dr. Drew.  Tiffany avoided the doctor like the plague, constantly going in and out of the kitchen busying herself with one thing or another. 

Emily filled the girls in on the mentoring program which most of them knew about due to their significant others filling them in first.  They were completely supportive and loved the idea.

She said hi to Mike’s parents, having a great conversation with the senior Mr. Callahan who was very similar to his eldest son in temperament, always laughing and full of life.  Mike’s mom was fun as well, but Emily could tell she was definitely the one who kept a straight head in the family.

She was finally able to grab Jeremy and Luke to nail them down on the mentoring program at the Academy.  They agreed to help wholeheartedly.  Now that she had Jonathan, Michael, Jeremy and Luke, she only needed to check with Dr. Drew and then she would ask around at work so she had a good group from which to choose.

In other news, Janie didn’t seem to be spending much time with Detective Danny Fernandez.  Instead, she too made herself scarce, manning the grill.  However, the detective did seem to find sympathy in the lonely hearts’ club corner where he was talking to Luke’s date Vanessa, who was often times missing from his date as well.  The man in question was usually hovering outside near the grill, interestingly enough.

Once dinner had begun and people found their little groupings, the elder Callahans, Emily, and Emily’s aunt and uncle seemed to form a little dinner party off to the side of the living room.  When Emily’s uncle Ethan had moved away to talk with another group, Mike swooped in and sat down next to April and Emily.

“Hello there, Detective,” April said in between bites.

“Hiya April,” he said draping his arm over April’s chair.  “Hey, I wonder if you can help me out with something.”

The man was so natural with people.  He talked to her aunt as if he’d known her for years.  Given April had the same down to earth way about her, they were a natural fit with each other.

It made her nervous.

“Sure.  You want me to catch some bad guys for ya?”

Mike chuckled and said, “You would’ve been a great cop.”

“Sometimes I think I am,” she commented dryly.  “Have you ever met a kid in middle school?”

He laughed then leaned in closer to her.  “I’ve been having this problem and I think you’re just the woman to help me.”  He was speaking to April, but was zeroed in on Emily’s face.

Shit.  Please don’t…

“Yeah?” April asked.

“I’m majorly crushin’ on your niece and she won’t give me the time of day.  You have any suggestions on how I can go about changing that?” he continued, then removed his arm from around her and shoveled a forkful of pasta into his mouth.

All of the parents in earshot laughed.  Heidi Callahan, Mike’s mom, had a gleeful smirk on her face and turned to pat Emily on the arm.  “Atta girl.  Make him work for it.  It’s always been too easy for him.”

Emily swallowed hard and couldn’t believe the conversation that was about to unfold around her. She was seriously going to kill him.

“Yeah, I can see how you might need some help with that,” April smiled.

“Has she always been this difficult?”  Michael asked around his food, his eyes laughing.

“Maybe you’re just gonna have to prove to her that you’re interested.”

“That’s all I’ve been doing for weeks now.”  He said in a disgruntled tone.

“No, Detective.  You don’t understand.  Women know when a man is attracted.  What I mean is prove that you’re
interested
in her.  Only her.  Get to know who she is.”

Her aunt nailed it on the head, but Emily kept her face expressionless, watching Mike’s reaction.

“Hmm,” he nodded.  His eyes narrowed and stayed focused on hers.  Emily just raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything.

“Hey, Em.  Do you have a sec?” Tiffany asked, approaching the group.

“Of course.” 
Thank you, God.
“Gee.  I’m so sorry to leave the conversation,” she said in a wry tone.  “Good luck with your problem, Detective.”  Emily gave him an innocent smile and walked away with Tiffany.  “What’s up?”

“I had some ideas about a foundation and wanted to throw them by you.  See if maybe you’d want to, I don’t know, maybe represent me?” 

The friends had been encouraging Tiffany for weeks now to take her unused business degree and experience as a socialite/politician’s wife to focus her energies on creating a foundation or charity of some sort.  Tiffany, who had been on the receiving end of an emotionally abusive husband had not only made out well in the divorce settlement but had money of her own from her father who was an American diplomat to Spain where her parents had met.

She had a huge heart, a brilliant mind, and knew how to charm a crowd.  If she set her mind to it, she could make a lot of money for people who needed it.

“Tiff!” Emily exclaimed, so happy for her.  “I would love to.  I’m so glad you’ve been thinking about this.  What did you have in mind?”

“Hey guys.”

Emily turned to see Dr. Drew Huntington approaching them with a bottle of water in his hand.  She could almost hear Tiffany’s heart rate increase by her breathing.  It was understandable.  He was a handsome man, extremely built, and his eyes…well his eyes were like melted milk chocolate, and his sensual quality probably gave heart palpitations to most of his patients.

“Hey Drew.  How’s it going?” Emily asked with a smile. 

Drew smiled back.  “I realized that I hadn’t said hi to either of you yet.”  He turned toward Tiffany who had been silent since he walked over.  She looked like she’d swallowed a lemon.  “Tiffany.  How are you?”  His voice was so low Emily had to strain to hear it.

“Good.  I’m good.  We were actually just, Emily and I, I mean we were just going outside to talk.  On the steps out front.  On the front stoop?  I’ll just let you guys talk and I’ll wait for you out there, Em.  Okay?”

This poor girl could not get it together around the good doctor.  Emily tried not to laugh, but it really was a sight.

Drew, gracious as ever, touched Tiffany’s arm to stop her from leaving.  “No, I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to interrupt you guys.  I was just saying hello.”

“It’s okay, really,” Tiffany stammered.  “I’ll just be outside, Em.  Take your time.” Tiffany walked to the front door and went outside.

“What did I say this time?” Drew sighed.  “That girl just does
not
like me.  No matter what I say or how many times I’ve tried to make conversation with her.”

Emily chuckled.  “Drew, I got news for ya.  You don’t have to say a thing and she would still have that reaction around you.”

He looked at her stupidly.  “I have no idea what I did,” he said, his wounded moving toward the front door.

“You make her nervous.”

“Why?”

“Drew.”  He looked back at Emily.  “Please tell me underneath all your book smarts you’re still able to put two and two together.  You really can’t figure this one out?”  Emily smiled with a knowing look.

He furrowed his brow and blinked at her.  Then blinked some more and when the light bulb finally went off, his face broke into a huge grin.  “Really?”

Emily just looked at him like
duh.
 

He looked back at the door.  “Huh.”

Emily smiled and then touched his arm.  “Maybe if you could get her to stay put for more than a minute around you and then put a muzzle on her, you could, I don’t know, ask her out.”

Drew laughed.  “Thank you, Miss White.  I think I can take it from here.”

“Good.  I was starting to worry about you, Doc.  And may I say I’m extremely happy you didn’t bring your previous date with you today.”  Emily gave him another knowing look. 

When the group of friends had last gone out to dinner several weeks earlier, they had bumped into Drew at the restaurant where they had been eating.  His date had been none other than Jonathan’s ex-fiancé, and seeing the horrible woman after several years had surprised the shit out of Emily, not to mention Jonathan. 

“Yeah.  Sorry about that,” he said with a wince. 

Emily nodded.  “It was such a surprise to see her that night.  I’m sorry it was so awkward for
you.”

“No, I’m the one who’s sorry.  I obviously had no idea of the connection.  She certainly didn’t mind making it awkward for everyone though, did she?  You guys were nothing but kind and gracious.  Suffice it to say, we haven’t seen each other since.”  He casually looked back over to the front door.  “Well, I don’t want to keep you.  I know Tiffany’s waiting.”

“Right.  We’ll talk more later, okay?  I want your thoughts on my email.”

“I read it and I’m definitely interested,” he said referring to the mentoring program.

“Great!  We’ll chat in a bit.”

He nodded and she went outside to the front steps.  Along the tree lined sidewalk, people walked through the beautiful area, enjoying the boutiques down the street or the local coffee shop nearby.  The contented peace they exuded was in complete contrast to Tiffany who was sitting on the top step with her head in her hands.  She looked over at Emily who sat down next to her.  Tiffany let out a miserable groan.

“How is it possible that I’m a 32 year old divorcee who’s also done my share of dating, and whenever that man is near me I turn into a blithering idiot?  Honestly.  I feel like my heart is gonna beat out of my chest.  There’s just something about him.  Ridiculous.”

Emily smirked and bumped shoulders with her.  “You like him.”

“Ya think?”

“The only way you’ll know if he likes you back is if you stay in his presence long enough to have a conversation, you know.”

Tiffany groaned again.  “I’m such a doofus.”

Emily chuckled.  “Don’t be too hard on yourself.  Certain men have that effect on us occasionally.”

Her tone caused Tiffany to look at her a little more closely.  “I suppose Mike can induce some doofus-like reactions, huh?” she smiled.  “And let me just say this for whatever it’s worth, I’ve been around Mike for a long time and I’ve seen him with quite a few women on his arm at certain functions and what not.  But he does seem to focus his attention on you quite a bit.  Even at the art showing when he had a date with him.  He was still always near you.”

Emily’s memory was thrown back to the night of the art showing when Mike scheduled the rematch with her.  Although he hadn’t ever really ignored his date, he had followed her and Ollie around all night.  Every time she and Ollie had gone to a section of the exhibit, she’d turn around and Mike would be standing there with the porno queen herself.  At one point, when Emily had gone to the restroom, he happened to be standing near the door when she’d come out.  Porno queen was off someplace in the exhibit and he was casually leaning against the wall as if waiting for her.

When she’d had to walk by him, he’d said, “You planning on buying anything tonight for your apartment?”  It was a harmless question and she’d already hinted among the friends that she was going to purchase something.

“I’ve seen a ton of stuff, I just haven’t narrowed it down yet.”  She’d looked around him.  “Where’s your date?”  She’d emphasized the word ‘date’.

“Where’s yours?” was his response.  His eyes had stared into hers.

“Getting some food, I imagine.”  She’d paused for effect.  “Maybe you should keep better track of her,” she’d said moving the subject matter back to Candy Lane.  “She doesn’t strike me as a woman you’d wanna lose track of if she was your date.”  She’d felt a moment of guilt at the catty comment.  “I’m sorry, that was beneath me.  Did I say that out loud?”

He’d smiled.  “You did indeed, Counselor.  And you’re right.  If I was
interested
in her, I probably would keep better track of her.”  He’d stayed where he was and continued looking at her.

“If you’re not interested in her then what the hell did you bring her for?”

Emily remembered after asking that question that the thought had hit her he’d probably brought her for the sex and the sex alone.  She’d needed to mind her own business.  “Never mind,” she’d muttered.  “I need to go find my own date.”  She’d moved to leave and he’d moved away from the wall to stand in her path.

“Is he the kind of
man
you shouldn’t lose track of?  Because if he is, you should find some other schmoe to date, Counselor,” he’d said.

“That’s none of your business, Detective.  And you should talk, flirting with every woman on the planet. 
You
would be the kind of man a woman needs to keep track of.”  She’d crossed her arms and glared at him.

He’d paused then smiled.  “Any time you wanna keep track of me, Counselor, you just let me know.”

“I will,” she’d said, reaching up and patting his cheek.  “Don’t wait on that.”

He’d grabbed her hand, but she’d moved it away quickly.  He’d chuckled, “Have a good rest of the night with your date.  You know, when you find him.”  He’d winked, put out his arm to let her pass and that was that.  “And I’m looking forward to our rematch,” he’d yelled after her.