That was the magic mental image. Rex could see it in the way Jordan’s eyes glazed over and his smile grew dreamy, visualizing hordes of people just as eager to dive into the latest Angelica Whoever’s novel. For the briefest moment, Rex’s heart did that same annoying double-thud, but he squashed the emotion beneath his boot, reminding himself that this was all fun. Hope only led to misery, and for the first time in his life, he was done being miserable.
He was going to focus on the present, and presently, his goal was to cheer Jordan up and make his book club better than it had ever been before.
“Don’t screw with me, Rex. You said it yourself, I love this club more than a child. Do you know what parents do when someone messes with their child?”
Rex was willing to bet his life’s savings—however small—on the fact that Jordan meant every last word of his threat. As adorably uptight as the man was, he’d seen his fair share of documentary series on the ID Channel. He knew how easily people could flip the switch. He also knew that if he spent any more time imagining Jordan’s perfect face scrunched up in indignant rage, he might end up turning himself on.
“I’m not screwing with you, Jordan, Jesus Christ.”
“Watch it,” Jordan warned, and Rex was once again reminded just how close to a Southern belle this guy was, all prim and proper and shit.
“Do you want my help or not, man? Take me or leave me.”
Jordan’s eyes narrowed for a moment, deep in thought, until he finally said, “I’ll take you.”
“I’m sure you could.”
“Behave.”
Rex chuckled out a half-hearted, “Sorry, low-hanging fruit.”
“We have work to do. If we’re gonna make this club the next big thing, we need to get the word out. You think you can handle that, Rex?”
Feigning insult, Rex donned an exaggerated Okie accent to say, “You think I don’t know how to get attention? Why, I never…”
Jordan’s head fell back as he groaned, stomping off to the kitchen to throw away the trash in his hands. “Kill me now, God.”
Rex would’ve normally found himself rolling his eyes at just how dramatic Jordan could be, but his gaze was glued to the man’s ass as he walked away. He didn’t consider himself all that religious, but a gift like the one Jordan walked around with was the only evidence he needed for divine creation.
Six
“You take any longer to dial that phone number and I’m going to do it myself,” Amy warned Rex, putting one hand up on her hip and narrowing her eyes at him.
“Yeah, right,” he muttered, turning around and staring down at his phone. What the hell was wrong with him? He’d asked a million and one guys out before, and none of them ever made him feel this anxious. This was the furthest from how he operated, and the fact that he was twisting himself in knots over how to approach the situation frustrated him more than anything else had.
Jordan struck him as the wary type, always triple-checking before he leapt, and Rex wasn’t sure if his typical laissez-faire technique would garner the same positive results it usually did. Jordan might just laugh him off and tell him they’d see each other at the next Meet Cute Club meeting.
Before he could make his decision, Amy suddenly snatched the phone from him and pressed CALL, smirking at him and waving the phone in his face. “Amy, give me the damn phone!”
She spun around, avoiding his hand thrusting towards her for his cellphone. When he tried again, she let out a laugh and dashed to the other side of the room.
“I swear to god, Amy,” he warned. She dodged one more lunge before turning around and tossing it at his chest.
“I told you I would,” she said, winking at him. Rex had half a mind to throw one of Nana Bailey’s dusty couch pillows at her, but just as the thought popped into his mind, he heard Jordan’s voice on the other end of the line.
“Hello? Rex?”
Clearing his throat and straightening up, he said, “Hey. I didn’t interrupt your precious reading time, did I?”
“No. Just my precious Not Talking to Rex time. What’s up?”
Rex cracked a smile at the insult. “I was wondering if you were busy later today. I’m off for the day, and I had an idea.” With how laid-back his boss Carla was at Millerstone, Rex’s hours were constantly shifting, giving them all day to hang out.
“Wow, a whole idea all on your own?”
“You’re especially snippy today, aren’t you? Seriously, are you doing anything?”
“No. What did you want to do?”
This was the part Rex had been anticipating all morning, ever since he’d made up the decision that he was actually going to ask Jordan out rather than only see him when they had their meetings for the club. Seeing Jordan in his element was always nice, but he was tired of having to split his time with five other people. Well, four now.
“I was thinking we could head over to somewhere pretty damn special to me. You don’t have to come if you don’t want to, but I think you’d really enjoy it.”
The curiosity in Jordan’s voice was palpable. “Where would we be going?”
“I can’t ruin the surprise now, can I?”
Across the room, Amy gave him an exaggerated eye roll and stuck her finger down her throat. This time, Rex did manage to snag one of the pillows from the loveseat and hit her right in the face with it. She burst out laughing and quickly straightened her hair in the mirror.
“If you have a date with a good Christian cowboy and his Southern belle love interest, that’s totally fine,” Rex continued. He was absolutely baiting Jordan, and something inside him said it was going to work hook, line, and sinker.
“I’m not busy. You can pick me up at two.”
“One.”
“Fine. I’ll see you then.” And with that, the line went dead. Rex hated how wide his smile was, and he forced himself to cough so he had a reason to cover his mouth. It was all in vain, however, because the moment Amy spotted that toothy grin, she went in for the kill.
“Rhett, you’re positively blushing right now.”
“Fuck off, no, I am not.”
“Rhett’s got a boyfriend, Rhett’s got a boyfriend!” When she stopped her teasing, she returned the pillow to the loveseat and said, “You really like this guy, don’t you?”
His first instinct was to deny, deny, deny. No one ever got this power over him. No one ever got to take him to this level, to the point where he was feeling all mushy on the inside. He’d always made it a point to have that power, to be the crusher, not the crushee, yet Jordan had somehow turned the tables on him in a way that simultaneously intrigued and infuriated him.
“He’s fine,” Rex managed to say casually. Amy gave him a look, but he didn’t care. He wasn’t going to admit that there might’ve been a chance he wanted to spend more time with Jordan to himself, let alone his obnoxious kid sister. She’d have a fucking field day with it, and he refused to let her have that much leverage.
“Sure. Just know that whenever you two get married, I want to be your best woman. I also plan to find the love of my life at your wedding, too. Maybe a groomsman will sweep me off my feet…”