Dare You To Love Me (A NOLA Heart Novel Book 3) Read online

  As much as Anna wanted to cry at the thought that her son didn’t know her age, she knew he was just pulling her leg. Julian Bryce was a prankster through and through, and she was so thankful that their relationship had returned mostly back to normal after . . . everything that had happened last year.

  Although she did often wish they could talk about the past—actually discuss it rather than pretend it didn’t exist.

  Soon, she told herself. Julian just wasn’t ready yet, and she understood that. And, if she were completely honest with herself, perhaps she wasn’t ready yet either.

  They both climbed out of the car from their respective sides, but as Anna started up the path that led to their 1920s Arts-&-Craftsman-style home, Julian was already heading off in the other direction.

  “Where are you off to?” she called out, hand cupped around her mouth more for effect than acoustics. “I thought we could do pizza and beer.”

  “Mom, you’re so embarrassing,” Julian said, stopping in his tracks to turn around and stare at her.

  Anna tapped her nose and then pointed at her son. “Beer was obviously a euphemism for milk.” As he’d grown older, and with no father figure in the picture to influence him, Anna had found that wit and sarcasm worked best with her son. Hugs and motherly affection only went so far.

  But sometimes, Anna desperately missed his small, wriggly body tucked up against her side for movie night. They’d kept up the Friday night tradition through the Thomas the Tank Engine days to Pixar’s best. Now, if Anna wanted to watch a movie with him, it was a scheduled affair with guts-and-gore action movies. Two popcorn bowls as opposed to one, two couches instead of a shared sectional.

  For so long, Julian had been her best friend as well as being her son. Now, he had other best friends, and Anna had Shaelyn.

  Except that Shae also had Brady, and Anna couldn’t keep her cousin all to herself just because she was lonely.

  Another sign that you should get back out there and start dating.

  Without even realizing that the words had been vocalized, she heard Julian’s response loud and clear: “Just don’t get on Tinder, Mom. They’ve got loads of creeps on there.”

  “How do you know about Tinder?” The thought of her baby boy on a dating website was enough to send Anna into an apoplectic fit. “You better not have an account.”

  Julian waved away her worries with a flick of his hand and a teenage snort. “Um, no way. Tinder is gross.”

  Oh, thank Go—

  “Love Scope is better.”

  “Julian,” she started, in her sternest listen-to-me-now voice, “if I hear one more word about you being on a dating site I’m revoking your Xbox rights for a month.”

  His face broke out into a grin, and she just about strangled him right then and there.

  Her eye twitched. “You’re pulling my leg again, aren’t you?”

  The grin widened and he darted forward to drop a kiss on the top of her head. “Mom, for all of your business skills, you are way too gullible.”

  “Says the guy who I convinced for years that unicorns were real,” she grumbled good-naturedly, altogether too relieved to know that he wasn’t on any dating websites.

  “Unicorns are real,” he said. “We just haven’t found evidence yet.”

  It was a long-standing debate between them.

  He reached out and patted her head like she was a good dog. “Mom?” he asked, and Anna instantly went on alert.

  “Yes, baby?”

  Blue eyes dropped to her face. “I really do think you should date. You deserve someone, like how Shae has Brady.”

  And just like that, what felt suspiciously like tears stung her eyes. “We’ll see,” she murmured. She wasn’t getting her hopes up any. Over the years, she’d given dating a try time and again, and always she’d slunk back home with her dejected tail between her legs.

  An image of Mr. Green Eyes flashed in her mind’s eye, and she very quickly shoved it away. They’d barely exchanged two words. And he certainly hadn’t seemed enamored with her in the slightest.

  “You going next door?” she asked, already knowing the answer. Since the Ajax family had moved in over the summer, Julian and the eldest son, Toby, had become inseparable.

  Jules nodded. “Yeah, we’re going to go all out and play Madden until we can’t see straight anymore.”

  Anna patted his arm. “Sounds absolutely lovely,” she lied with a bright smile. “Tell Mr. Ajax hello for me.”

  A sly smile lifted Julian’s lips. “You know, Mom, Mr. Ajax is single.”

  Oh, Anna knew that already quite well. Sumner Ajax had asked her on a date the second weekend after he’d moved in with his two sons, and he routinely asked her out every few weeks. But her fear of things not working out and living next door to the guy always shut down any thoughts she had of taking him up on the offer.

  Anna didn’t like complications.

  Julian’s father had provided enough complications to last her a lifetime.

  His was the gift that kept on giving.

  “Have a good time, Jules,” she said, walking backward to her front door so she could keep an eye on him.

  “Want me to give him your number?” he shouted, mimicking her earlier move and cupping his hand around his mouth.

  Like mother like son.

  Waving him off, she ducked into the house and then waited in front of the window until she saw him disappear into the Ajax house.

  It was time to call in the reinforcements.

  Chapter Four

  “This is the best day of my life.”

  Anna caught her cousin’s gaze in the reflection of her full-length mirror. “Seriously,” she said slowly, “this day? What about the day Brady told you he loved you for the first time?”

  Shaelyn paused to consider that with a tilt of her head. “Nope, today’s the winner.”

  From Anna’s bed, the third member to their trio, Jade Harper, held up her hand. “I solemnly swear not to tell Sergeant Taylor you said that.”

  Shae snorted. “Girl, you are such a law enforcement nerd.”

  “To be fair, she does work for the NOPD,” Anna pointed out as she stuck her face close to the mirror and layered on two rounds of black mascara.

  Only a few months earlier, Jade had found herself embroiled in one of the most publicized homicide cases New Orleans had seen in recent years. She’d cracked the case and ended up in the hospital as a result—but Anna highly doubted Jade looked back on that period of her life too harshly. She’d worked the case with Nathan Danvers at her side, one of Brady’s coworkers in the NOPD’s homicide unit, and a man who loved Jade more than life itself.

  Anna had watched the whole thing go down as an outsider, and even though she had no desire to be a cop—she was just fine selling lingerie, thank you very much—she couldn’t help but feel a little envious of Danvers’ and Jade’s relationship.

  The two of them were truly best friends. The romance was just the dessert after a four-course meal at a Michelin-starred restaurant.

  Anna tossed the mascara tube into her makeup bag. “Perfume? No perfume? Did I mention that I’m thankful to y’all for keeping an eye on Julian tonight?”

  Shaelyn, ever the more boisterous one of the two cousins, plunked down on Anna’s leather bench. “Jules is my favorite. Also, what scents do you have?”

  “The usual, I guess. Rose, lavender, that sort of thing.”

  “My sister would be horrified at the small selection,” Jade said, referring to her younger sister who’d recently moved to New York City and was making waves in the fashion world. “The last time she and my mom came to visit, Sammie dragged me to this herbal shop in the Quarter. She was determined to find me a new scent.”

  Anna’s heart kicked up its speed at the mention of Herbal Heaven. It’d been a week since she’d sent Mr. Green Eyes stumbling to the ground, and the embarrassment had yet to lessen.

  Sticking her hand into one of Anna’s makeup bags, Shaelyn pulled o
ut a small glass bottle with a pretty pink topper. She uncapped the top, drew in a deep sniff, and then passed it over. Wordlessly, Anna accepted the perfume and spritzed the lavender scent on her inner wrists.

  For her first date in what felt like forever, she was going big. Blonde hair blown out around her shoulders, little black dress, and her favorite designer stilettos—if she and tonight’s date didn’t hit it off, it wasn’t for a lack of trying on her part.

  “You know who owns that place, right?” Shaelyn asked, bringing the conversation back to Herbal Heaven. She twisted herself around on the bench so she could look at Jade on the bed. “Luke O’Connor’s mom.”

  Anna paused, lifting her gaze to the vanity’s mirror so she could watch her friends. Luke O’Connor. Why in the world did that name sound so familiar?

  Jade seemed equally confused, her dark eyes narrowed in thought. “Not placing the name here. Let’s not forget that I’m the newbie from Miami.”

  Shaelyn waved away the comment. “Brady’s friend? You probably haven’t met him. He was deployed until only recently.”

  What was the likelihood of Mr. Green Eyes working in Herbal Heaven, the same place as Luke O’Connor? Slim to none. Anna didn’t believe in coincidences.

  And as much as she wanted to spend the rest of the night talking about a man with brilliantly clear green eyes, she had a different guy waiting for her.

  Anna was going on a date.

  She had to get her mind in the game.

  Anna was in Date Hell.

  Jason Hudson’s profile on Love Scope, which was a new variation of the same old dating website, had screamed normal. In the square profile photo he’d shared, the man had even worn a pocket-protector for God’s sake.

  Boring perhaps, but exactly what Anna had in mind for dipping her toes back into the dating pool.

  “More champagne?” her date asked, one masculine hand wrapped around a glass of Dom Perignon. When the server had come around to take their drink order, Anna hadn’t wanted anything fancy.

  Frankly, she didn’t even like Dom Perignon and found its price tag way too fussy.

  Of course, that was before Jason had shown her to their table, and she’d discovered that her date had brought a . . . friend.

  “Yes,” she said eagerly, “I would love more champagne.”

  If she could have wrestled the bottle from his grasp, she would have.

  “So,” Jason said, after topping off her glass, “you haven’t answered my question.”

  Anna’s gaze flicked to the “friend,” who hadn’t provided his name. She had a feeling it wasn’t coming anytime soon. Had she thought she was ready to begin dating again? Lies, all lies.

  “I have not”—she took another much-needed swig of her champagne—“no.”

  “Threesomes are not nearly as taboo as they used to be,” Jason’s friend said from his position at the head of the table. “Nor are quad relationships.”

  As the owner of New Orleans’s hottest lingerie boutique, Anna wasn’t a prude. There wasn’t anything she hadn’t seen or heard at least three times before. But this, this was new and she hadn’t quite wrapped her brain around the fact that seated next to the Friend was an inanimate doll.

  An inanimate doll that, apparently, would be the fourth member to their foursome should Anna agree to make it happen.

  “I don’t—” Anna reached for her champagne glass again. They were serious about this, and she certainly didn’t want to crush their dreams but . . . “I don’t think I’m the right fit for your quad.”

  Jason settled a hand over hers. “You’ll never know if you don’t try.”

  Apparently, she needed to reevaluate her standards of “boring.” She slid her hand out from beneath his. “I’m looking for just one guy to date right now. You know, test the waters.”

  The Friend wrapped a hand around the doll’s shoulders and drew it onto his lap. “We only want love,” he said, eyes narrowed in annoyance.

  “Me too.” Only, she wanted it with just one person. Dolls excluded, permanently. “I’m so sorry about this. Here, I’ll pay for your drinks.”

  The Friend was not done. He leaned forward, arms planted on the tabletop. “Might I add that the next time you go looking for love, you don’t do so on a novelty website?”

  She blinked. “Beg pardon?”

  “Love Scope,” he snapped, “is a dating site for those who like to flirt with the taboo or have certain fetishes. It’s not for people looking for vanilla experiences.”

  Her mouth unceremoniously dropped open. Julian. When she’d activated an account on the website, she hadn’t even thought to read the site’s About Us. Instead she’d felt so anxious that she’d simply uploaded a photo, typed up a small blurb about herself, and sent it out into the universe.

  The universe was currently feasting on pot brownies and laughing at her expense, she just knew it.

  “I’m terribly sorry,” she said, “I didn’t . . . You’re so right. It’s not for me, but I do hope that y’all meet your perfect match. And should you find yourself down in the French Quarter at all, stop by my shop on Chartres.”

  The date ended with her passing the men—and doll—business cards for La Parisienne with the promise to offer them the Family & Friends discount.

  All in all, it could have been worse.

  Not ready to head home yet and accept defeat, Anna found a secluded booth, and brought Mr. Dom Perignon and her champagne glass with her. She tossed her purse on the table and slid onto the cushioned bench.

  She pulled out her phone to text Julian. Son, I know where you sleep at night, she typed out before hitting send. She sent a group text to Shaelyn and Jade mentioning that the night had been a bust and she’d give them the details tomorrow.

  Sipping her champagne, she rested the back of her head against the booth and closed her eyes. This was not how she’d envisioned her first date going. This was why she invested herself so fully into her business. A business couldn’t confuse or hurt you, and while it sometimes hurled surprise curveballs, they were usually remedied with some good old-fashioned marketing tactics.

  Dating was . . . hard.

  “You rethinkin’ your decision to send those guys home brokenhearted?”

  The champagne sloshed over the rim as Anna jerked at the familiar male voice.

  It was him.

  Mr. Green Eyes. Luke O’Connor.

  He stood by the opposite bench of her booth, a towering male of loose sweatpants paired with a dark polo. It was a strange combination, especially for a bar on a Friday night. Tuck’s wasn’t fancy by any means, but sweatpants weren’t the norm.

  Despite the dim lighting, she noted his astute gaze, and he seemed to have read her mind because he said, “Jeans are too tight on my hip.”

  Almost belatedly she looked to the cane he gripped tight in his right hand, before meeting his green eyes. Strain lines bracketed his mouth, an unspoken indicator that the pain he suffered was more than he’d ever admit.

  “What happened?” she asked, belatedly realizing how intrusive the question was.

  Mouth twisting wryly, he lifted the cane just a smidge. “A football gone wrong while I was deployed overseas. Let your mind get creative.”

  She tapped the table with her nails, internally fighting with herself. She really shouldn’t even ask . . . “Would you like to sit?”

  For a moment, he didn’t move and Anna was positive he’d rebuff her invitation. In surprise, she watched as he carefully folded his large frame into the booth. He kept his body twisted so that his legs could sprawl into the open space. The cane he folded across his lap.

  Was it weird that she wanted to reach across the table and smooth the furrow between his brows? Yup, totally weird. To keep her hands busy, she topped off her champagne and took a sip. “Have you been stalking me, waiting for your moment to finally get the last word in?”

  He didn’t smile—no surprise there. “You stormed off like a bat out of hell. I took pity on you.”


  “Did you?” Perhaps it was the Dom Perignon making her feel bold, but Anna found herself playfully tapping his arm. “If you would have caught up with me, what would you have done?”

  The slant of his full mouth didn’t change, but Anna could have sworn his gaze darkened. “I don’t chase women.”

  Unexpected disappointment filtered through her, and she hid her embarrassment by coolly sipping her wine. “I thought men liked the chase.”

  His big shoulders lifted in a casual shrug. “Some do.”

  “But you don’t.”

  “I don’t see the point,” he admitted bluntly.

  Interesting. Based on the number of men who visited La Parisienne with the hope of spicing up their sex lives, she figured Luke O’Connor might be the only man in existence who couldn’t be bothered.

  Anna leaned back, studying him over the rim of her champagne flute. “So, what’s the point then?”

  “Depends on your goal.” The deep cadence of his voice was like liquid heat between her legs.

  It had to be the champagne. Anna wasn’t a huge drinker. When she got together with the girls, she always kept it at a glass or two. But tonight, the Dom Perignon was definitely getting to her head. Because if she’d had all of her senses, she surely wouldn’t have opened her mouth and voiced the question hovering on the tip of her tongue.

  Chapter Five

  “What’s your goal when you meet a woman?”

  Luke adeptly covered his surprise as he stared at the blonde who’d plowed into him like a Mack Truck. In the seven days since he’d unofficially met her, he’d wondered if she would pop back into Herbal Heaven.

  She hadn’t returned.

  For a reason that Luke couldn’t put a finger on, he’d found himself circling that same section of his mother’s shop, examining each of the glass bottles for some sort of clue of what she’d wanted and who she was.

  Realizing that the woman was waiting for his reply, he went for broke: “Getting her into bed, assuming I’m interested.”