Kylie in the City #1 Read online

Chapter 3

  I made good time getting to the chapel and found an empty seat outside of the Bishop’s office. The hottest guy I had ever seen was sitting across from me, totally absorbed in whatever he was reading on his phone. He was exactly my type, all JFK Jr.-ish with his dark hair and classic features, donned in a dark suit. Ooh la la. Yum.

  He glanced up realizing he wasn’t alone and promptly went back to whatever was occupying his attention on his phone, without even acknowledging my existence. The lack of courtesy totally bugged, but I had to admit if he hadn’t been so make-me-melt gorgeous, I probably wouldn’t have cared. Apparently, I was that shallow. Not exactly a surprise.

  I had a tendency to be attracted to all the wrong men. My past had been riddled with guys I had mistaken for confident, when actually they were just cocky and completely self absorbed. You’d think my picker would get better after all the times I had picked so blaringly wrong, but nope. I could still be sucked in by a pretty face and rock-hard abs.

  I knew I was focusing on all the wrong things. I seemed to always get myself stuck in their tractor-beam of irresistible hotness when one of them gave me any attention at all. I was just drawn to them, even if they possessed nothing of the traits I knew I wanted in a husband. The last year had been rough trying to break this little problem. I was doing much better with my man-picking skills, but it was still a struggle not to fling myself at every available gorgeous man, despite their apparent deal-breaker character flaws.

  Sure, I knew that not all of the gorgeous LDS men out there were jerks. I just had a knack for picking the ones that were, and that was where I needed help. I had friends who had found totally cute guys who were great husbands and fathers, so I knew it was possible. I just had to figure out how to weed out the jerks before I got involved with them and not after they worked their magic mojo on me, just to give me the heave ho when they were done playing. That was the real trick. I was getting better at spotting them though, so I wasn’t completely hopeless.

  The door to the Bishop’s office down the hall opened, and I heard a familiar voice speaking good naturedly with the Bishop. I was happy to see it was my friend, Jake when he emerged from hallway and into the foyer where I was waiting.

  “Kylie! Hey!” Jake’s smile was infectious, and he was always in a good mood. He was one of the coolest guys I knew and super cute, too. If he hadn’t been dating a girl in the ward for the last year, I would have totally tried to snatch him up long ago.

  “Hey, Jake! How’s it going?”

  “Pretty good,” He put his arm around my shoulders, “Word is you’re looking for a new roommate.”

  “Yeah, we are.”

  “My sister is looking for a place. She just finished up at the Y, and is moving out here as soon as she finds a place to live.”

  “Oh, cool. That will be fun for you to live close to each other again.”

  “Yeah, she’ll need some good friends when she gets out here, too. This city can be tough to get used to at first.”

  “Well, if she happens to be interested in our place, we’d love to have her be our new roomie. Just have to check with the others first.”

  “Ok, sounds good. I’ll let her know and have her call you.”

  I gave him a quick squeeze and shimmied out from under his arm, “Great, one less thing to worry about now. Thanks for thinking of us. Your sister will be in good hands.”

  He laughed, “I have no doubt she will be,” he said walking backwards towards the elevator.

  The Bishop was waiting patiently, so I waved good-bye to Jake before turning to greet him, “Hi, Bishop Anderson.” He shook my hand and smiled.

  “Nice to see you, Kylie,” I followed him into his office, and he motioned to me to take a seat in the chair opposite his desk.

  “Thanks for meeting with me, tonight. I’m sure you’re wondering why I’ve asked to meet with you. But first, how are you doing, Kylie?”

  “Oh, I’m doing great. Life has its bumps, but nothing I can’t handle.” I replied truthfully.

  “Good to hear,” he said nodding, “Well, the reason why I asked you here tonight is to extend a calling to you. I’d like you to co-chair the NYC YSA Conference this year, if you’re willing. What do you think?”

  My heart dropped. The Young Single Adult Conference was a huge undertaking.

  “Oh, wow. I wasn’t expecting that at all.” I said apprehensively.

  “You’ll be sharing the responsibilities with another co-chair and also a committee of your choosing. It’s a big responsibility, but you’ll have a lot of help,” he chimed in quickly. I was pretty sure he knew I was secretly freaking out.

  I knew I could refuse, but if the Bishop thought I could do this, then I could have faith in myself, too. It couldn’t be that bad. I could do this. Totally.

  “Sure, I’ll do it.” I shrugged.

  His shoulders eased a bit, “Great, thank you, Kylie.” He said with a relieved smile, “I’ve already met with your co-chair and he’s up to speed with all the details.”

  “Ok, sounds good.”

  He stood up, shook my hand again, and walked out with me to the foyer. The annoyingly hot guy was still sitting there. He actually looked up when we walked out of the office and had finally noticed me as he stood up. I had no idea if the half smile on his face was for my benefit, but I had a hunch it had more to do with how he was perceived by the Bishop, rather than the slight chance that he was actually being genuinely nice.

  “Kylie, I asked Damon to wait for us to finish so you two could meet. He’s your co-chair.” I recognized the name immediately, resisting the urge to let my inner mama bear loose in front of the Bishop. I clasped my hands behind my back. It wouldn’t do to claw his face off right there in the church.

  Damon extended his hand to shake mine, but I kept my arms firmly behind my back. Both men looked confused at my lack of civility. The Bishop said something about us working out the details for the conference, excused himself, and walked back to his office for another meeting.

  “So, you’re Damon, huh?”

  The animosity in my voice was apparent. I really couldn’t hide my distaste for the guy. Not after what he had done to Rachel. I guess he didn’t know who I was at all. He seemed to be totally unaware of the fact that Rachel was not only my roommate, but also one of my besties. I couldn’t believe my luck. I actually had to work with the jerk that had just hurt her. Great.

  “Uh, yeah, that sounds like you know me?” The look of apprehension on his face was somewhat rewarding. Good, I liked that he was a little bit scared of me.

  “No, I don’t. My best friend, Rachel does though.”

  He shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

  “Oh.”

  There was silence while I gave him my second best evil eye of the day.

  “Well, it was nice to meet you, Kylie. I have your number, so I’ll text you about a time to meet to figure out all of this conference stuff.” He turned around and picked up his scriptures and phone from the end table next to his chair.

  So that was it? He was just going to ignore the whole thing? I should have known he would try to evade the issue. How did men do that so well? I supposed there was really nothing more I could say anyway. He knew that I knew. That would have to be enough… for now.

  “Mmm hmm,” I murmured through pursed lips.

  He nodded in my direction before taking off towards the elevator, leaving me behind to glare at his back… a perfectly beautiful chiseled back that I could see through his suit coat.