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“Wow, perv, I was going to say motorcycle.” She giggles.
“Yeah, and having intercourse in Intercourse, Pennsylvania is not on your bucket list.”
“That is correct. It is not on that list,” Claire answers smugly.
I raise my eyebrow at her, not buying it.
“It’s on my fuck-it list,” she clarifies with a cheeky smirk.
I smack my palm to my forehead, shaking my head at her blatant gift of embarrassing me and detouring us completely away from the real topic of discussion. Claire grew up on the East Coast but definitely blends in well here on the western side. “I can see your reduction in swear words is no reduction at all.”
“When I use it with a hyphen, it doesn’t count.”
“Sounds like you make up rules as you go.”
“Hush, child, and let’s get back to trying to figure out this man of yours.”
“First off, I have no man. Second, Graham ditching Sophia is pretty harsh. But isn’t this how the business goes? It’s fake dating. Nothing real.”
“Anyone who observed them could see that it was more than that. So maybe she was into him more than he was into her. That happens about ninety percent of the time. But the way he ended it appeared callous and cruel. Her heart was broken, says the casual onlooker.”
“Is she still with the agency?”
“I don’t think so. I haven’t seen her in months.”
“Is that why you warned me against Graham? Or am I not reading between the lines well enough?”
Claire shrugs and looks off to her left, avoiding direct eye contact. “He’s a charmer. You’re an innocent. Those two types of people seem to inevitably attract and react.”
“Or implode,” I say with a shrug.
Her attention is back on me, her expression warm. “You know? He is searching for a girl he can use his charm on. If you were easy, his talent would be wasted. I just don’t want him to do to you what he did to Sophia, Angie. You deserve better—fake dating or not.”
“Well, I would have to allow him to get that close to me. It is free will. For me and for Sophia. Did she honestly think that a guy paying her money for her company would fall in love with her and they would live happily ever after? Who would want to be with a guy long term like that anyway?”
“It isn’t as hard as you think. Some of these men you may encounter are experts at getting what they want—in both their business and personal lives—by using whatever resources are at their disposal. Graham seems like a man who is not used to hearing the word ‘no.’ I am sure that you are a challenge to him. Something new that the agency hasn’t seen in a long time.”
“A shiny new toy,” I interject, slurping the last drops of my banana-flavored cocktail from my glass. Or fresh meat.
“Something like that. But seriously, Angie. Just be careful. Keep work professional and keep your personal life out of it. It’s safer that way.”
“Well, I have been encouraged not to have a boyfriend while working for the agency anyway. So for the next six months, I am automatically forced to be impersonal.”
Claire nods. “I strive to do that too, but it isn’t easy.”
“How did your date go last night? We never got a chance to chat about it.”
“So, Ethan. He’s pretty cool. He’s been married before but his ex-wife seems like such a bad match for him, a.k.a. a royal bitch. No wonder why it never worked. What I am saying is that I have done this for several months and have been able to keep everything separate. Until last night. I got that pang of something that I haven’t felt in a long time.”
“Wow. You really like him?” I ask the redundant question, mainly out of shock. “Even more than the last guy?”
“Yes,” she states flatly. “That guy just had a huge—”
“Personality.”
“Why yes, a huge personality.” She accentuated the last word slowly into staccato syllables. “Too bad his skills at using it were lacking. But anyway, I’m wary and on guard. With extremely low expectations.”
“Ethan has a kid?” I ask.
