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“He should. There’s no competition—you’re equals.”
“But that’s just the thing,” I said. “Thereiscompetition. This project and who wins it is a big deal, and Troy wants it as badly as I do.”
Rachel leaned over and squeezed my arm. “Sometimes, a little fierce competition is exactly what the doctor ordered.”
I groaned. “Don’t talk to me about doctors right now.”
Rachel laughed. “You’re not the sick one, I am, and they pulled me through with ease.”
She was right.
“I think this is good for you,” Rachel said. “You need someone who’s as serious about what they do as you are to be able to understand you at all. I think Troy could be a great match.”
“You haven’t even met him,” I pointed out.
“No, you’re right. I see what you look like when you talk about him, though. That’s more than enough for me.”
I smiled at my sister. I was so grateful she was okay, and it was so nice to be able to talk to someone about these things. She was right. I hadn’t thought about dating and relationships in a long time, but if Troy was as dedicated as I was, maybe having something going with him could work.
I just had to get this project behind me. Would he still think I was all that after I won and took the contract away from him?
Well, that would be the true measure of what kind of man he was, right? Maybe it was the best test of all to figure out if he was dating material or if he was just like the rest of them.
Although, after what I’d seen of him over the weekend we’d spent together, he was nothing like the men I’d been with before.
That counted for something.
In fact, it counted for everything.
13
TROY
Istoodinthesupermarket with a pack of celery in one hand and a bag of chips in the other.
“How am I supposed to know what she likes?” I asked Scott, who was on the phone with me. He was working the graveyard shift for the next month, and he’d just woken up after sleeping all day.
“Come on, man, it’s not like you’ve never seen this woman before.”
“Yeah, but it was so much easier when I thought she was a guy.”
Scott snorted. “That sounds so fucked up.”
“You know what I mean.”
I did know what he meant, and I studied the bag of chips. My trolley already had fruit juice and carrots in it. The idea was to put together a platter of healthy snacks and give Mackenzie something to drink while we had our brainstorming session tonight. I hated the idea of having healthy stuff, but wasn’t that what women wanted?
“Look, just treat her like one of the guys,” Scott said. “Isn’t that how it all started?”
“So, get chips and beer for tonight?”
“You got it,” Scott said. “Come on, man, it’s not like you’re trying to impress her.”
That wasn’t entirely true. I wanted to impress Mackenzie. I couldn’t stop thinking about her, and the more I thought about her, the more I wanted to do something nice for her that she would appreciate. Scott was right about one thing, though. Celery and fruit juice was nothing like Mackenzie. Beer and chips was how we’d met. I’d liked that about her—she wasn’t insecure, she knew exactly who she was and what she wanted, and she did everything unapologetically, rather than fussing about what she looked like, her hair, her makeup.
The fact that she still had a stunning body and a gorgeous face, always looked put together and like she wasn’t even trying, was exactly for that reason. She wasn’t trying.
“Yeah, okay,” I finally said, putting back the healthy snacks and loading up on chips and beer instead. Tonight, we could order in and get pizza while we work, too.
