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“Not that I want any part of this charade,” Grace said slowly, “but tonight might actually be an ideal time to find such a man.”
“Tonight?” Julie’s stomach clenched. She’d thought she’d at least have a few days to prepare.
“Sure!” Grace said, as though they were discussing nothing more dicey than a fifth-grade scavenger hunt. “It’s an education fund-raiser. I’m thinking many of the men here will be more family-minded than we might find on an average Friday night out.”
Riley nodded in agreement. “Baby call instead of booty call. I like the way you think, Brighton. We can for sure find a dull, committed kind of guy here. Assuming this is for our August issue, you’ll have over a month until you have to get a draft to Camille. If you keep this moving, that’s plenty of time to get serious.”
Julie chewed her lip. “You guys really think I should go man hunting at an education fund-raiser? Isn’t this a little … depraved?”
&
nbsp; Grace shrugged. “For the record, I think this whole thing is depraved. But if you’re going to do it, you might as well do it right.”
Julie’s eyes scanned the room, taking in the sheer number of conservative suits. Grace had a point. Tonight was as good a night as any to find a fake boyfriend. But could she do this? Should she do this?
Then she pictured Kelli’s gloating face. If she didn’t do this, it would be Julie who’d be assigned to fridge-cleaning duties, while Kelli moved her tiny butt into Julie’s office.
Not happening.
“So how do we do this?” Julie asked. She tried to keep the trepidation out of her voice. She’d never really paid much attention to the length of her previous relationships, but now she couldn’t seem to think about anything else. Once they’d run out of quips and banter, and after the sex haze had worn off … what did people do?
“Let’s split up,” Riley said. “We’ll cover more ground that way. Everyone keep an eye out for the quiet, rich, husband-material type.”
“Yeah, that should be a breeze,” Julie said. “Not like ninety percent of the women here aren’t looking for one of those.”
But Riley was already gone.
“I hate it when she does that,” Julie muttered. Grace started to glide away, but Julie grasped her arm. “Don’t leave me. Not yet.”
“Sure,” Grace said, sending her a curious look. “Camille’s over there. Shall we say hello?”
Oh, by all means. Let’s go see the woman who got me into this mess.
“Nah, let’s dodge her for a while. I’m not in the mood to be talking about how wonderful love is.”
Grace grabbed for Julie’s wrist so quickly that Julie’s champagne sloshed.
“I think I’ve got him.” Grace sounded positively giddy.
“Got who?”
“The guy. The one you’ve been looking for!”
“Oh, you mean Mr. Movie Night,” Julie said, looking around for one of the cute tuxedo-wearing gentlemen carrying the trays of booze.
“What?” Grace wrinkled her nose in puzzlement.
“Never mind,” Julie mumbled. “And what do you mean, you’ve found him? The plan has been in existence for all of ten minutes. How did you come up with my pseudo-boyfriend in the last fifteen seconds?”
But Grace ignored all of this, looking incredibly proud of herself. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of him earlier. I just talked to him this past weekend, and he mentioned that he’d broken up with his girlfriend of a couple of years. Trust me, this guy is definitely the type to be seeking a relationship.”
“That’s just great,” Julie said, glaring down at yet another glass of champagne. Didn’t this joint have any vodka? “I have an idea—how about you go talk to him? Then you guys can start picking out a first course for your wedding reception and names for your Stepford babies. Meanwhile, I’ll be over at the bar exploring new cocktails and enjoying a variety of men.”
Grace didn’t look the least bit impressed with Julie’s speech. “Don’t you snap at me, Greene. This is your idea. I’m just here to help.”
Help? Help with what, selling my soul? Julie sighed. “Okay, you’re right. Where’s the guy?”
“You can’t look now. He’s facing this way and it’ll be obvious.”
