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“Wade, I’m very sorry, but I’m not spending a week with a man I’ve barely met… no matter how muchfunhe is.”
He nods. Watches me from beneath a criminally thick fringe of lashes.
And then the corner of his mouth curves.
* * *
Harlow
Ninety minutes later,I’m parked at Nettie’s kitchen table, staring into her wide eyes still smudged with last night’s makeup.
“Wait, what?” she croaks, but quietly since Frank is talking on the phone in the other room. “You saidyes? Harlow, you don’teversay yes. To anything. No drinks with the department on Friday after work. No softball in the summer. I only got you to come out last night by threatening to bring the party to your place if you didn’t… You can’t say yes to a week with somestranger.”
Which is exactly what I’d been thinking when I told him no at lunch. But then he’d started talking and… next thing, I was asking what to pack.
“This isn’t some strange guy,” I defend with more gusto than the situation probably merits. Definitely. “He’s one of your clients. A pro-athlete on… one of Chicago’s favorite teams.”
She blinks. “Jesus, Harlow. It’s hockey. He playshockeyfor the Chicago Slayers. He’s a forward with a contract up for renegotiation this month. And he’s not my client. He works with Leo.”
Hockey. Right.
There it is.
“Even better. A contract means he needs to keep his nose clean.” Why am I arguing this?
“Well, yes,” she agrees slowly. “He does.”
“See, he’s harmless.”
Nettie scoffs. “Harmless?” Her thumbs fly over her phone and she sits back. “What is this guy, six-two, 200 pounds?” She holds up a picture of Wade on the ice, a scowl cut through every feature. “Makes his living fighting it out for a puck and slamming other six-two, 200-pound dudes into the boards to do it.Harmlessisn’t really the first thing I think of.”
I straighten in my seat, pushing my mug an inch to the right. I hadn’t really thought of it that way. But on an instinctual level, I just don’t think this guy is trouble.
He seems like fun. And like he needs a favor, bad.
Besides, “If I’m wrong and Wade turns out to be a jerk, then… favor revoked. I’ll leave.”
Her eyes narrow and she reaches for her coffee. “Are you serious right now?”
I take a breath and shake my head. “I know this is crazy. I know it’s not me. But God, Nettie, I’m just so sick of weighing every choice I make against how it might impact my future. Whether it aligns with my goals. If it’s sending the right message to the right people.”What my father will think…“I’m so sick of always doing the right thing and never seeing the results I’m waiting for.”
“It’s just a matter of time before Junior fucks up. Sorry. But PHR Bank and Trust is going to want you back in that position.”
I shake my head. “I don’t want to wish that. And I can’t count on it. But— Nettie, I’m just tired. I’m exhausted from being me, and I guess a weeklong vacation of pretending to be someone else feels like exactly what I need.”
She clucks her tongue. “Are you going to tell your dad?”
I shift uncomfortably. “If he asks.”
Nettie has the good grace not to point out he won’t.
Chapter 3
Harlow
The men I date fit a certain mold.
They went to the right schools, have the right professions, know who my father is, and are almost as careful weighing the risk-to-reward ratio in asking me out as I am in who I say yes to.
