Page 60 of The Bluffing Game

BRADLEY: Hi there, NewAndPretty. Thanks for accepting my message request. Hope you don’t mind me texting you through the app. I saw you were on and wanted to say hello.

SAGE: Hi, Bradley. Not at all. To be honest, I was on because I’m about to meet a date, and I was checking to see if he was here yet.

BRADLEY: A date? Don’t tell me I’ve lost my shot.

SAGE: It’s a first date! :P

BRADLEY: I hope it goes well, but not too well.

SAGE: Thanks, I think? Ha-ha.

BRADLEY: Beach date?

SAGE: No, a cute Mexican place near the beach.

BRADLEY: I love Mexican food.

SAGE: Me too.

BRADLEY: Maybe on our date, I’ll take you to Mexico in my private jet.

SAGE: Private jet? Wow.

BRADLEY: What can I say? I’m a man who likes the finer things in life.

SAGE: Cool. That sounds great. Can we chat later? I have to go. Would be kinda rude to stand up my date, chatting with you.

BRADLEY: I wouldn’t mind.

SAGE: My date might.

BRADLEY: Until we chat again. I hope I can get to know you soon.

SAGE: Thanks, Bradley. Have a nice evening.

I close out of the app quickly, even though my heart is racing.

Bradley messaged me last night, and according to his profile, he is more my type than anyone I’ve messaged in the last week on the app. However, no matter how much I want to chat with the gorgeous blond banker, I have a date with Chad, and I am determined to see if we will have a good connection. Not because he looks that promising on the app, but because going on dates is a way to get my mind off Dalton and his weird ways. I can’t figure the guy out, and I am determined to convince myself that I don’t want to either.

I look around the patio of the Los Almos restaurant and attempt to locate my date, Chad. He said he’d be wearing a red shirt and blue jeans and that it would be easy to find him because he looked exactly like his photos, which I hoped wasn’t true, since he was sticking his tongue out in one photo and making a funny face in the other. I took that to mean he has a good sense of humor, and hopefully, that is correct. We’ve only exchanged a few messages, but he was the first guy to send me a message, so I feel like maybe that was a sign—and the fact that he owns a helicopter and a castle in the French countryside doesn’t hurt. I know it is unlikely that he will be the one, but dating is a numbers game. The man I am most excited to meet is Bradley, as there is something really fun and personable about him, but he hasn’t asked me on a date. Not that we’d spoken much as yet.

“Sagey, is that you?” a nasal, high-pitched voice calls from the far end of the restaurant.

I look to the back, hoping it’s not Chad. My heart drops when I see the bright red shirt, looking like a fire engine, on the man who is waving madly at me. I slowly make my way over to Chad. He’s got a huge smile on his face as I approach, and I try to plaster a similar smile on my own face.

I’m annoyed with myself because I didn’t think to ask whether his photos were recent. Based on his receding, thinning hair and how much older he looks than in his photo, I am pretty confident the top photo on his profile isn’t accurate.

He lets out a low whistle as I walk over, and I regret wearing the short dress that I have on.

“Sagey, you look absolutely amazing.” He grins as he looks me up and down.

“The name’s Sage,” I correct him. “There’s no Y.”

“I know there’s no Y, but I like the name Sagey a little bit more.”

He cocks his head to the side and licks his lips, but before I can call him out for being a pig, he pops a mint into his mouth. So, maybe his lips were just dry, and he isn’t an absolute creep.

“You are one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever met in my life, Sagey.”