The Wrong Perfect Match (Fullilove in the House Book 1) Read online

  Why couldn’t the insides match the outsides?

  She eyed his choice of clothes.

  Slacks and a button down? For a Sunday afternoon visit?

  Nicole had specifically said he wasn’t religious, so this wasn’t his Sunday best for church.

  Did the guy just dress this way all the time?

  Brandi shook her head.

  “You said that Nicole was upset after our date.” He turned to face her. “She didn’t say anything about that to me.”

  She fixed him with her most withering glare.

  He stared right back at her with that smooth, expressionless face.

  God, he was pretty.

  And an asshole.

  She couldn’t forget he’d made Nicole cry, and that was unforgiveable in Brandi’s book. It was like documented girl code or whatever.

  She rolled her eyes. If she couldn’t get a reaction out of him from her withering stare, she’d ignore his painfully perfect face. “Because she’d tell the guy who was staring at his phone the truth? Yeah. Right. Not.”

  Jayden frowned and seemed honestly perplexed. “I told her, it was a work thing. An emergency.”

  “And you were the only one who could handle it?”

  “Yes,” he said with absolute certainty.

  Brandi considered that.

  She had assumed that was a lie. Was there a chance he was telling the truth?

  It still didn’t change the fact that his abrupt and callous way of communicating had bruised Nicole’s newfound confidence.

  His brow creased.

  A crack in the perfect facade?

  “Did she... Did she really cry?” he asked.

  “Yes,” Brandi said without hesitation.

  His gaze slid off her and he stared off into nothing. He lifted a hand and scratched at the back of his head, his face creasing as he began to see reality.

  “I told her it was work,” he muttered.

  Brandi sighed and sat on the sofa. She would not concern herself with whatever he thought of her or the house. “What did you expect to happen today? Seriously? You’d show up with some flowers and an excuse about work? Why would a woman give you a second chance? I mean, isn’t the purpose of dating to find someone who will make time for you? Seems to me you showed her where your priorities are.”

  “It was work,” he said firmly this time.

  “Yeah, well, hope you really love it.”

  “Where’s Nicole? I’d really like to talk to her.”

  “She isn’t here.”

  “I can see that. So, where is she?”

  Brandi drew her legs up under her. “Why should I tell you?”

  Jayden narrowed his gaze and reached into his pocket, pulling out his phone.

  She jumped to hear feet and swung, slapping his phone out of his hand. It hit the plush carpet and skidded under the sofa.

  “What the hell?” His voice rose.

  “You will not call her,” Brandi roared.

  His light brown eyes locked on hers. “What the hell?”

  “Nicole finally listened to me and went on a week-long training course. I’ve been trying to get her to do this for months. Her bosses all want her to do this. It’ll be good for her. She went to get her mind off you and that terrible, horrible date, so don’t you dare make this all about you.”

  To his credit, Jayden didn’t yell at her again. There was no bulging vein of rage on his brow. He didn’t look pleased, and honestly, she couldn’t blame him. The costs of phones was ridiculous these days.

  She shouldn’t have done that whole wild grab. She really had meant to take it from him, but her brain wasn’t as fast as her reflexes.

  He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

  Interesting.

  Most guys would keep blowing up, but he was visibly pulling back and calming himself.

  No.

  She would not find attributes to respect about him.

  “Let me see if I understand the situation clearly,” he said in a measured tone. “Nicole was upset enough by my work emergency and abrupt departure that she cried?”

  “Pretty sure that’s what I’ve said.”

  “And now she’s on a work trip.”

  “Yeah.”

  “How long is she gone for?”

  Brandi considered withholding that information, but in the end couldn’t justify leaving him in the dark. “Until Saturday. Though it’ll probably be Sunday.”

  “And you don’t want me calling her to distract her.”

  “Look at you soaking it all in.”

  “I still want to talk to her. To clear the air.”

  “Seriously? Can’t you just leave her be?”

  “No. I want to fix this.”

  “Why?”

  “Because.”

  “That’s not a reason.”

  “We had a connection.”

  Brandi felt her brows crawling up her forehead again.

  He thought they had a connection?

  He scowled.

  She must be getting under his skin.

  Score one for her.

  “What’s that look for?” he asked. Demanded was more like it, but there was a question on the end of the sentence, so she’d let him off easy for now.

  “I’m wondering what kind of connection you thought you had, because the way I understood it, you pretty much ignored her after the first ten minutes.”

  “This is going in circles.” He held up his hands. “I’m going to get my phone back and go.”

  She took a step between him and the phone. “Promise me you will not call her.”

  “I’m not promising you anything.”

  “You don’t know her.” Brandi didn’t care how attractive he was. In that moment, she wanted to wrap her hands around his neck and squeeze.

  “I want to. That’s the whole point of this.”

  Brandi scrambled to throw together some sort of plan.

  He wasn’t going to be scared off. Her glares didn’t intimidate him. And word of his failure hadn’t made him want to give up.

  Well poop.

  It was time to go with the truth.

  She fixed him with her most serious stare. “If you even think you care about Nicole a tiny little bit, let her have this week, dude.”

  “Why?”

  “Because...” She blew out a breath while he waited. “Look, I know Nicole hasn’t told you her full story. It’s not my place to tell you, so don’t ask. What I’ll tell you is that...she has made a lot of big, scary changes. She needs to do things—like this training course—to prove to herself that she can do this. Be independent. Manage her own life. If you call her and distract her, she’ll get wrapped up in her head and bomb this week, which will only strengthen this ridiculous idea she has in her head that she’s not good enough. So, please, if you care about her at all, let her do this. Let her prove to herself she’s good enough to pass the course.”

  For several long moments she and Jayden stood there staring at each other.

  If she could have willed him into compliance, she would have. There wasn’t much she wouldn’t do for her friend.

  “I don’t like leaving things like this,” he said.

  “I can appreciate that.” Even if she thought he didn’t deserve a second chance.

  Men always thought they were owed forgiveness if they said sorry and brought a present.

  He’d done both.

  It was a terrible cycle to reinforce, and she wanted no part of it.

  “You wouldn’t consider putting in a good word for me?” He smiled sheepishly.

  “No,” she snapped.

  Jayden blinked. “Okay, then. What would it take to get you on my side?”

  Brandi snorted. “I don’t think that’s possible.”

  “Why not?”

  “You don’t really want to hear my answer.”

  “I just asked, didn’t I?”

  “Yeah, but you don’t really want to know.”

  “Try me.
”

  “I think I’ll pass.”

  A new light burned in his eyes. He tipped his chin up the tiniest bit. “We’re going to have to figure out how to coexist.”

  “Why’s that?” she asked.

  “Because if we’re both going to be in Nicole’s life, wouldn’t it be easier on her if we got along?”

  “I don’t think you’re what she needs.”

  If Brandi were going to pick a partner for her best friend, he’d be sensitive, caring, he’d nurture Nicole. Stress practically rolled off Jayden. He wasn’t about to slow his upward climb for anyone, least of all a woman.

  Whatever Jayden thought he wanted from Nicole, he could likely get from anyone else.

  “Who made you an expert on what Nicole needs?” he asked.

  “She did. We’ve been friends since we were kids.”

  “What do you want me to do? Can I prove to you that I’m willing to put in the work? Would you believe me?”

  Brandi blinked at him.

  He was serious.

  “Why?” she asked. “Why Nicole?”

  “We...shared something. A moment. A spark. I think we could be what each other needs.”

  Damn him.

  He was persistent, and what he said sounded good in theory. But theories rarely worked out in real life.

  Brandi pursed her lips and held onto her evaluation of him with nothing more than mental fingernails.

  Damn him again.

  Nicole hadn’t felt a connection. In fact, she’d commented on how it felt dead between them, but she also didn’t have a lot of dating experience. Hell, she was short on general life experience. When they’d first moved out Nicole could have burned water and she hadn’t known how to use a washing machine.

  What if Jayden was right?

  He’d made the effort to come here, which was a positive.

  He had brought the flowers, which was a lame gesture in her book, but she knew other girls appreciated that sort of thing.

  Brandi was used to being Nicole’s protective big sister. What if those blinders prevented her from seeing an opportunity for more?

  Jayden was clearly not a deadbeat. He was driven. And clearly willing to hear input, though she didn’t know if he’d act on it.

  She drew in a deep breath and crossed her arms over her chest.

  “Another thing?” Brandi leveled a stare at him.

  “Yeah?”

  “Nicole’s allergic to roses. Pretty much anything with pollen, but she had a very bad reaction as a kid to crawling through a rose bush. Like, hospital visit. Overnight stay. We check all labels for beauty products that have rose essence or whatever. She hates roses, and they give her hives.”

  Jayden’s eyes widened.

  When it came to Nicole, Brandi knew all. Which would make her the perfect person to vet a man who seemed to want to put in the hard work to win Nicole over.

  Was this a good idea?

  Nicole had said she wanted to date. She wanted to do all the things she hadn’t been allowed to do growing up due to her conservative upbringing.

  Brandi wanted nothing more than for her very best friend to be happy. To figure out who she wanted to be.

  If that meant digging deep and discovering if this man deserved Nicole, well, then that was what Brandi would do.

  “You need to leave now,” she said. “I need to consider whether or not I’m going along with this.”

  He spread his hands. “I’ll prove it. Tell me what to do.”

  Tell him what to do?

  That made Brandi pause.

  Should she?

  Probably not.

  Was that going to stop her?

  When had it ever?

  She smiled at her interloper. Who said she shouldn’t get something out of her labor of love?

  Nicole was going to thank her.

  JAYDEN’S BRAIN STRUGGLED to comprehend what had just happened. How had he been so wrong? What were the chances this Brandi person was telling the truth?

  He wanted her to be lying, but her reactions had been sincere.

  Which left him with the uncomfortable realization that he’d completely missed the mark. Nicole hadn’t felt the same pull he had. The connection he’d thought they shared was one sided.

  No matter. He could do better. And once he’d convinced Brandi, the sooner she’d be on his side. Nicole wouldn’t be able to say no to him then. He’d win her over, and then everything else would fall into place.

  From the time Jayden had been old enough to understand his situation in life, he’d wanted this dream. To have a normal white picket fence life, with a wife and kids. He wanted to be settled, happy with his lot in life. He didn’t have grand designs, just something simple where he got to live out his days taking care of his small lot in life.

  His hands steered the car on autopilot. It wasn’t until he pulled into the wide driveway at the Fullilove house he even realized where he was going.

  Then again, it made sense to come home for Sunday dinner if he wasn’t going to woo Nicole. Maybe Mom would have some piece of wisdom for him?

  He parked at the curb. It would be his luck tonight would be the night all the brothers showed up for whatever reason. Jayden wasn’t in the mood to get stuck here. He loved his mismatched family and appreciated all that they’d done for them, but they could be overwhelming. And last he’d heard all the beds were full again.

  The Fulliloves were the best kind of people.

  Jayden would never forget the night he and his twin Asher had been brought to the Fulliloves. They’d been thirteen almost fourteen. It was a rainy, cold night in October. All their worldly possessions had been in one, ripped trash bag. He still couldn’t recall how many homes they’d been in previously. They’d begun to blur together.

  He’d thought this would be another temporary stop. That it would be like all the rest.

  And then Renata Fullilove had opened the door with James peering out over her shoulder. Jayden still recalled hesitating on the porch, squinting at them as he tried to figure them out in a few seconds. Everyone who’d cared for them before had an angle, something they wanted out of it.

  Renata—Mom—had sat them down at the wide rustic table that could sit eighteen when fully extended and given them each a steaming brownie the size of his whole fist along with an ice cold glass of milk. Her warmth had been there from day one, but she hadn’t tried smothering them with her love.

  Over the years he’d watched Mom and Dad receive other kids into the home in a similar fashion. If they only had a few minutes notice, well, there was always cookie dough in the fridge for one reason or another. Every child was greeted with a warm treat. Mom said it helped set the tone. Jayden was inclined to agree, though it had taken both Jayden and Asher quite a while to truly settle in and trust their surroundings. But that first night summed up perfectly who the Fulliloves were.

  They were love, in all its manifestations.

  That night, Jayden and Asher had needed the homey comforts their future mother would offer. Cold, hungry and scared, she’d known how to ease them into the crazy household.

  Something smacked the driver’s side window. Jayden started then glared at the two boys howling with laughter in the yard. He recognized them as two of the current fosters, kids who’d been around for about a year. Jayden didn’t miss the glimpse of his other brother, Maddox, behind the two. It was likely Maddox who’d put them up to the stunt, not that Maddox would ever admit to that. By the time Jayden got out of the car with the roses the kids had scattered and Maddox was nowhere to be seen.

  Out of the eight who were considered the Fullilove sons, Maddox was the only one who still lived at home. Part of the reasoning was necessity. Mom and Dad were older. It was harder for them to keep up with a house full of teenage boys on their own. But it was more than that. The way Jayden saw it Maddox had just never found his legs. He seemed stuck in limbo, not quite an adult, not quite a kid. And it was damn frustrating, especially since Jayden had go
tten his brother a job to help him along.

  He had a feeling that someday that decision would go down as one of his biggest regrets.

  Maddox didn’t try to be bad at his job; he just wasn’t good at it. At this rate, it was a matter of when he’d have to fire his brother, not if. And wouldn’t that be fun to discuss at family dinners?

  “Jayden?”

  He paused reaching for the front door and glanced right, where the porch curved around the side of the house.

  Maddox stood there in his grass stained shorts and shirt, his damp, curling hair sticking every which way.

  “What’s up?” Jayden asked.

  Maddox gestured at the house. “Can we talk real quick before...?”

  “Sure, man.” Jayden turned, mentally bracing himself.

  Sometimes it was hard to see the Fullilove connection between all of them. Out of the eight sons, only Maddox and Sawyer were biologically Fulliloves. The rest of them had been chosen. Jayden had never quite understood how they’d all come through the same home with such varied results.

  He followed Maddox around to the side porch. Baskets for balls and yard toys were lined up neatly along the wall under the window. Jayden had played with many of those with his own brothers.

  Maddox gestured at the wicker chairs where Mom and Dad would watch the boys play. Jayden sat on one chair, perched on the edge and leaned forward, elbows on his knees with the flowers at his feet.

  He didn’t want to think about work right now, but he rarely got his wish.

  Maddox sat, bracing one hand on his knee and sighed.

  “I’m really sorry about this week, man,” Maddox said.

  “It’s fine.”

  “You’re still pissed at me, so clearly it’s not.”

  Jayden closed his eyes. He did not want to do this right now. “Maddox, we’ve been over this. Just do what you’re supposed to next time, okay? Double check everything. That’s why I like to tab through the forms. You won’t miss a single field that way.”

  “Yeah, okay.” Maddox shoved a hand through his hair.

  What was Jayden supposed to do in a situation like this?

  It wasn’t like Maddox tried to screw up. He wasn’t a bad employee. He just didn’t try sometimes, and Jayden couldn’t force that out of him. Maddox had to want to succeed.

  If Jayden could snap his fingers and make a person better, he’d have done that with his twin already.