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I bit back a sigh. It was always one of the first questions people asked when I told them about my job as Mr. Fake Date. By now, I had a practiced speech ready to go, listing all the potential reasons someone might hire me rather than finding their own date or going alone.
When I finished, he rubbed a hand along his perfectly shaved jaw. “Huh. You learn something new every day.”
“Hey, you know what they say about the best ideas. They’re the ones that seem so simple yet nobody’s thought of them. It’s a great way to make some extra money, and I’m filling a void in the market.”
“The dating market or the gigolo market?” he joked, laughing at my feigned scowl. “So what happens if you fall for one of these dates? You gonna quit doing it?”
My face scrunched into an actual frown. “What?”
“I don’t know. Seems to me like it would be a great way to vet a woman.”
“How do you figure?”
“It’s like you’re getting a lot of the weird stuff out of the way in advance,” he explained in that gravelly voice of his. “Weddings can bring out the best and worst in people, so at least you’d be able to see how she handles it. Almost like you’re taking her—and herfamily—for a test drive before committing.”
I laughed heartily, shaking my head. “Bro.”
“Seriously. If they’re all nuts and you want nothing to do with them, no harm, no foul. Then again, I guess if I would have met my in-laws before I fell for Tess, I might not have gone there. So maybe ignore everything I’m saying.”
I smirked, taking a drink from my canteen. “I’ll do that. Besides, this is a business. It’s not about catching feelings. That’s probably the worst thing I could do.”
I swallowed hard then, hating howyet againLyndi’s face popped into my mind.
“Yeah, I mean, if this side gig is something you think you wanna do forever, sure. But if you catch feelings and you’re already technically dating, why not make it a thing and hang up the side gig if it works out?”
I glowered at the dirt under my boots. Now he sounded like my old man. And it was a far cry from the normal reactions I got from fellow Marines when they found out about my business. Sure, there were the gigolo jokes. But this was the first time anyone had ever suggested that it was a good way to enter into a relationship aftertest-drivinga woman and her family.
“I don’t know,” I said, pushing air through my pursed lips. “It’s not really something I’ve ever thought about. Hanging it up, that is.”
I didn’t add theuntil recentlythat flitted through my mind.
“Yeah, well, like I said. Probably better to ignore everything I’m saying. Anyway, gotta get back out there and stomp some maggots.”
I laughed as I watched him go, marveling at the way the casual set of his shoulders went rigid as he turned the corner. Though, really, what I did when I arrived at a wedding wasn’t much different. Minus the screaming, of course.
* * *
Thanks to Grant and the other DIs scaring the pants off the recruits during table one, my day wound up being a lot shorter than I thought it would be. I made it to karaoke only an hour late, and the sounds of people laughing, glasses clinking, and terrible singing filled my ears the second I walked into Mickey’s Pub.
I nodded at Mickey as he waved at me, then my eyes traveled around the bar, scanning the faces in the crowd for my friends. When I spotted them seated around a large table, I was glad to find Chase Mitchell seated with them. That way it wasn’t Paul and Shelby with Zac and Layla, leaving Lyndi and I to automatically feel like the fifth and sixth wheels.
We definitely weren’t the thirdcoupleand having Chase there as a buffer would allow me to remember that.
So far this week, I’d done a decent job not thinking about Lyndi and the way my pops had spurred these new feelings I had no right to have. Except for today, of course, but that was probably just because I knew I’d see her tonight.
I didn’t think about the hug she’d surprised me with as we stood outside the hospital.
I didn’t think about the way she seemed to feel like she was made to sit beside me as I drove her home, along for the ride wherever I went.
And I definitely didn’t think about the timid yet completely breathtaking smile she’d given me when she thanked me for seeing her home. It’d made my stomach flip in a totally new and uncomfortable way, and I’d barely managed to choke out a reply before she hurried into her bungalow.
But now, meeting her eyes as I took a seat at the table had it all flooding right back. She looked at me with that same mix of shyness and gratitude, and it had me searching for words as if I weren’t a master at saying the right thing as Mr. Fake Date.
“We just ordered a bucket of beers,” Paul told me, saving me from having to address her without looking like a bumbling fool.
“Great,” I replied. “How’s everybody doing?”
They all answered with the usual mix of pleasantries, Layla adding that Aria and Oliver were doing well, too. She handed me her phone to show me a photo of the little guy, and I took it with a wide grin.
