Page 8 of Bossman

“So who’s this new dope you’re with?”

“Dope? You don’t even know him.”

“Left me standing here with his girl. Dope.”

“He thinks we’re cousins!”

“I told you, we’re not blood-related.”

“Yes, but—” I laughed. “You’re bizarre, you know that?”

“Not any more bizarre than a woman who somehow took a photo of a perfect stranger and has it on her MacBook for her boyfriend to see.”

“He’s not my boyfriend.” I had no idea why I said that. It was sort of true, but sort of not. “Well, we’ve gone out twice.”

“Ah…so you haven’t slept with him yet.”

I hadn’t, but how would he know that? “What makes you say that?”

“Because you’re not the type of girl who sleeps with guys on the first or second date.”

“How would you know?”

“I just do.”

“What exactly is the type of girl who sleeps with a guy on a first date?”

“She sends signals—dresses a certain way, makes body contact. You know the type. I know you do.”

“Like Bridget?” That woman had been pawing him by the end of the night.

He said nothing.

I thought it was oddly gentlemanly that he didn’t agree about Bridget or confirm what I suspected happened after their date.

“So how did you get a picture of me anyway?” he asked instead.

I told the truth. Well, mostly. “I searched for you on Facebook after that night in the restaurant. I wanted to say thank you for saving me and making the evening fun.”

“You sent me a message?”

“No. I never did. It sort of…felt creepy that I’d stalked you, so I changed my mind.”

“And you liked my picture so much that you kept it?”

“I went to bookmark the page in case I changed my mind about sending you that note, and instead I saved the picture.” I felt the blush creeping up my face. I’d always been a terrible liar. My mom used to say I was easier to read than a book.

Surprisingly, Chase nodded. I hadn’t expected him to let me off the hook that easily. “Is this your regular gym? I haven’t seen you here before.”

“No. It’s Bryant’s gym. He invited me. I had a bad day and planned to wine away my stresses. But he suggested I come work them off at the gym instead.”

“Told ya. Dope. Definitely not what I would have suggested to alleviate stress if I was Brandon.”

“Bryant.”

“Whatever.”

“So what would you have suggested?”