Blind Date (A Why Choose Romance)

My cock throbbed and swelled at the sight of her and all the memories that came flooding back. And I wanted to do something about all of my feelings right then, even if only to talk to her. But her dad and my mom wouldn’t appreciate that.

At the same time, I registered the fact her father would soon be my father: did that make her my sister?

So I’d have to deal with the situation and a significant case of confusion, frustration, and blue balls. Ain’t life a bitch?

“Barry Martin,” the silver fox said, throwing out his hand to greet me. “Nice to meet you. I heard a whole lot about you, Tyler.”

“Nice to meet you too, I guess. A lot of people know a lot about me.”

“Haha, yes, I was told to watch out for that tongue of yours.”

I glanced at Kayla, who turned bright red. We’d both obviously thought about what she knew of my tongue, but her father had to be referring to my mom warning him about my sharp and typically ill manners.

“This is my daughter, Kayla.”

She smiled graciously at my mom. “I’m pleased to meet you finally, after Dad has told me so much about you.” And she glanced at me before continuing. “Tyler and I have already met, so we’re not complete strangers.”

“Kayla, dear, are you going to sit down with the rest of us?” It took a bit more prodding from Dad before she snapped out of whatever daydream she’d slipped into and sat down across from us. It didn’t make her any more talkative, as she proceeded to sit in stunned silence. “Kayla?”

I felt much the same way as her.

Dazed by the shock of meeting her there.

But perhaps she’d known already.

My mom had told her boyfriend that I was her son last week, so it might make sense that Barry had told Kayla, and that might be the reason she hadn’t returned my calls. She hadn’t gotten back to Ethan either, and that might have been for the same reason.

“Are you a big football fan?” My mother asked Kayla, smiling and trying to engage her in conversation.

“Yeah, she’s a big fan of mine,” I snarked. “Huge fan. Can’t get enough of me.”

“Hmm? How do you and Kayla know one another?”

Kayla continued to pan between all of us in silent disbelief.

“Outside of the game,” I said. “Trust me; we’ll get along swimmingly.”

“That’s good to hear. I want to have a happy family where everyone gets along well together.” Mom beamed, her Brady Bunch dream finally coming together.

Mr. Martin narrowed his eyes, and then his expression changed. “At the charity event, I guess? At The Ugly Duckling? That was a great success. Thank you for doing it, Tyler. Oh, I don’t know whether you know, but I was there that night. I own the bar. But obviously, my daughter worked there. Did you know each other before that?”

“No, we met that night,” I said. “And I’m surprised I didn’t meet you too, Barry.”

“I leave everything to the manager, Gill. She doesn’t need me getting in her way, but I couldn’t resist looking in. And anyway, I had a date of my own to get ready for that night.” He winked at Mom.

And finally, pieces began to slot into place. Mom had been in the bar to meet her date, not to spy on me. And they met at that bar because he owned it and there was a big event going on. It all made sense.

The old folks would get married, and suddenly I’d have a brand-new relationship with Kayla and sure as hell, not the type I wanted.

Stepbrother. Stepsister.

Shit.

Fuck.

I didn’t want to ruin this for my mother. She deserved to be happy, and this schlub seemed to make her happy. Yes, he’d slipped from svelte silver fox to schlubby in my estimation within just a few minutes, and it was all irrational. I knew that. I was well aware that I didn’t want our parents’ relationship to scupper anything between Kayla and me.

But Barry made Mom happy. It wasn’t my place to ruin that.

Not even with my weird-ass feelings towards Kay.

I wiped my hand over my face, gritting my teeth.

“Something the matter, Tyler? Why the sudden shift, dear?” My mother had a hand on my shoulder.

She was always extremely sensitive and noticed everything about me. Unfortunately, as with most problems I had, it wasn’t something she could wave her magic wand at and fix.

“Nothing’s the matter, Mom. I’m just uh... worried about the big game tomorrow. A very important one.”

“Oh, you’re going against the Knights, aren’t you?” My wannabe stepdad said.

“Yeah, big important game. Pivotal to the playoffs.” Every game had been pivotal to the playoffs. Then every game would be pivotal to winning the playoffs and then winning the big game. Small pointless games didn’t exist this late in the season.