Page 167 of The Bluffing Game

“GladYouCame? What, like in your pants?”

“Oh, no, that’s not what I meant. Like came to my profile.”

“That’s going to be a no.”

“SageLivesHere.”

“Boring.”

“SassyAndSingle.”

“You’re on the app; hopefully, that indicates you’re single. And no man is looking for sassy, trust me.”

“CoffeeAndCake.”

“That’s okay, not really that appealing though.”

“WetAndWild.” She giggles. “It’s direct and to the point.”

I side-eye her, and she winks at me, shaking her head as she points ahead to tell me to look back at the road. I want to tell her to go with a blatantly obnoxious username just so she can deal with all the idiot men in the world, but I want her to be safe more than I need to be right.

“I guess I’ll keep thinking on it.”

“If you must.”

“So, what do you do for a living, Dalton? Aside from bossing people around and owning Mama’s Kitchen.”

“Owning a whole restaurant isn’t enough?” I stop at the red light. “I also take care of Toby. Raising a four-year-old could be a full-time job.”

“I know—well, I mean, I don’t know, but I can imagine. I just wondered if there was anything else you did.” Her voice is monotone, which leads me to believe that this is actually a loaded question. That makes sense. She likely knows I haven’t owned the restaurant for very long, so she’s likely wondering how I’ve made money.

“A bit of this and a bit of that. I worked with my dad at the family business for a long time, but I’m not there any longer.”

“Oh, okay.”

“What about you?” I go on the offensive so that she can’t keep asking me more questions. “Any career goals, or is the sole goal to become a missus?”

“That’s super rude.” The lightness in her voice tells me she’s not actually that offended. There’s a huge grin on her face, and she shakes her head while pointing her finger at me to admonish me. “Dalton, you’re going to have to try a lot harder than that to bring me down.” She throws her head back and laughs. “Do you think you making a comment like that will make me feel bad?”

“I didn’t intend for it to make you feel bad.” That’s a bit of a lie, not that I want to admit that.

“Good, because you didn’t. Wanting to get married is only one of my goals, Dalton. Of course, I have other dreams and goals. I want to find my dad …” She shifts in the seat, and she makes a clucking noise. “And I would also love to open a workout studio focused on getting cardio through dancing and weights. It’s one of my dreams.”

“Oh. That’s interesting.”

“You sound like you don’t find it very interesting, but that’s okay. You seem to be the sort of guy who spends most of his time in the gym deadlifting and not much else.”

“Are you calling me a beefcake?”

“You do have a lot of muscles.”

“Glad you noticed.” I flex my right bicep for her.

I’m not surprised when she groans loudly. In fact, I kinda like it. I would have been taken aback if she had gasped in awe and fawned all over me.

“Hard not to when you’re flexing in my face.” She yawns loudly. “Guess the dollars at the gym were well spent.”

“I would agree, seeing as you can’t keep your eyes off me.”