Blind Date (A Why Choose Romance)

“Um, it might taste nice, but is it imaginative enough to make a good first impression?” asked Gill.

Jake practically snatched the microphone back off her. “I’ll be making a great impression when it comes to dessert.” He licked his lips in a way that suggested something delicious and very rude. And he seemed to be staring exactly at me as he said it. He smiled, and it was enough to melt the room, literally, from the heat. He was so hot when he smiled.

“So, Jenny, it’s an old-fashioned steak and salad but with a mouth-watering dessert from contestant number three.”

“Okay, now, how about number four? What meal do you enjoy with your first date?”

I didn’t need to know anything about these guys to see that contestant number four was the brother to number three. Like his twin, he looked across the room in my direction before he started to answer the question.

“I don’t know; I’ll have a vegetarian option, because not all women like to chew on meat.” In a voice that was surprisingly different from his brother’s, Luke’s delivery was deadpan, but the humor in the comment washed over the giggling audience. “I’m thinking perhaps a tofu steak?” He rubbed his chin and narrowed his eyes before turning to his brother. “Is tofu steak a thing?”

Jake stood up, leaving his stool. He stepped over closer to Luke to speak into the one and only microphone shared between them. “Probably needs to be prepared a lot differently to turn out any good. I think you’d need to slather it in some sort of sauce to get it going.”

“What, like overpower it with the fact it’s not beef.” Luke glared at his brother before turning to the audience and continuing. “I think I’d check out some recipes and prepare it in advance, something like a sweet chili and ginger marinade and seasonal vegetables. Along with something rich and chocolaty for dessert.”

Gill turned to face the audience with a dramatically impressed look on her face. The audience cooed. At least one of the twins intended to make an effort.

“Nice, chocolate goes well with mint or raspberries,” Jake added.

“What about mint and raspberries?” Luke suggested. “I’d like to offer her every variation.”

Was that accidental or more deliberate innuendo? The audience giggled anyway.

“Guys, guys.” Gill waved her hand at Jake, shooing him back to his stool. “This is a dating game, not a cooking show.”

This had the audience laughing louder. In fact, the way the guys behaved like brothers was pretty funny. Of course, they were brothers. Twin brothers.

“Jenny asked us what we’d cook,” Luke objected. “Well, we’d discuss it like this. It wouldn’t be a one-man operation; we’re a team.”

I couldn’t help but giggle along with the rest of the audience. I’m sure we all liked the implication that if you dated one of the brothers, you dated both of them.

The sexy Rollins twins were well built, and I remembered something they’d been called on TV before, The Bruiser Brothers of the Arlington Argonauts.

Either one of them would be a treat, each slightly different in their own ways. If I could date either one of them, I’d have been blessed, but the weirdest thing was it seemed like both of them were eyeballing me from their pedestals. It felt as if they spoke directly to me.

It seemed like a crazy fantasy, and one I was crazy for even having. But I couldn’t help wondering what if they weren’t talking to Jenny, but directing their answers at me?

CHAPTER FOUR

TYLER REED

Dance as if no one is watching, fuck as if its going on porn hub, and live for today.

We all had media training, but it didn’t prepare me for the reality. When I signed up to the Arlington Argonauts, it seriously didn’t cross my mind that I might be signing up to anything like the ordeal of living through a dating game show live in front of a crowded bar audience. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, knowing it was also being filmed for social media posts.

Hell, I was not a stage puppet; I was a professional football player with a pretty face, nice hair, and a bit of a personality, none of which meant I should have to sit through a, frankly, humiliating experience. Win or lose, I didn’t care, so how was I supposed to answer the questions? Just keep in character. Be the bad boy they want me to be, but not too bad, as that wouldn’t reflect well on the team.

My full sympathy went out to poor Jenny, the girl behind the screen.

In my youthful manslut days, I sure as hell wouldn’t have kicked any woman out of bed. But that guy wasn’t me, not anymore. I was still young, sure, not quite thirty, but old enough to want something more out of a girl than a set of titties and her legs apart: I know, such a thing sounded fucking crazy, and it would have to teenage me too.