Wow. She looks even better in person.
He was rocking an awesome blue seersucker suit, but he hadn’t used a profile picture, figuring it’d be too risky to let free into the net. He was surprised the woman even agreed to meet.
Peyton made his way over to the woman. “Tricia?”
“Peyton?”
“Surprise.” He held out his hand.
Tricia smiled and shook his hand. “It’s so nice to meet you, Peyton. You’re a lot cuter than I imagined.” She gasped and put a hand over her mouth. “That sounded rude.”
He took a seat and winked. “Not going to complain about someone saying they like how I look.”
Peyton’s phone vibrated and he pulled it out for a quick glance.
Might be trouble. Might not be. I’ll let you know.
The arrival of the waitress saved Peyton from groaning at his phone. He was half-convinced Shay was screwing him over on purpose while she sipped wine in a hotel room somewhere rather than desperately trying to avoid the attention of authorities in Greece.
“I’ll have a glass of cabernet.”
Tricia smiled. “Funny. That’s exactly what I was going to order.” She winked.
“I’ll have that right to you,” the waitress replied.
Peyton laughed. “Guess the site was right about our compatibility.”
“Yeah. Oh, I just wanted to tell you, I love your sense of fashion. It’s so bold and memorable.”
“Thanks. I try.” He shrugged.
See, Shay? Some people appreciate my look.
“It’s one of my passions, actually. I work in an office right now, but I have my own online company where I sell clothes I design.”
“A fashion designer? Nice.”
Tricia’s cheeks reddened. “I don’t know if I’m comfortable calling myself that yet, but I do design clothes.”
“Why didn’t you mention any of that on your profile?”
The conversation stopped as the waitress delivered their drinks. “Ready to order?”
Tricia and Peyton both shook their head.
“I’ll be back in a few minutes then.” The waitress departed.
Tricia took a sip of her drink before speaking again. “I didn’t want to seem pretentious and scare you off, but once I got here and saw you, I knew everything would work out. You’ve got a good air. I feel like I can be honest with you.”
Wish I could say the same, Tricia.
“That’s cool.” Peyton smiled.
“What about you? You just said you were in IT?”
“I work for a tech start-up, actually.” Peyton took a sip of his wine. Easy lies came with his lifestyle both before and after his “death.”
Tricia’s eyes widened. “Really? You’re going to be a billionaire someday?”
“Probably not. It’s all…you know, a bit more limited. It involves providing organizational software for charities. Not very sexy.”
“I don’t know about sexy, but that’s impressive. You sound like you’re really making a difference.”
Wonder what she’d think if she knew I helped Shay in a tomb-raider business. Collecting artifacts makes a difference. Maybe not a good one all the time, but a difference.
“Okay, have to move fast,” Shay barked, her breathing heavy. “Confirm the flight number for me. I can’t look at my phone so just tell me.”
It took Peyton a few seconds to realize it wasn’t Tricia talking.
He forced a smile. “I’m really sorry, but my phone just buzzed. My boss has me on call…you know, 24/7, so I just have to check on this real quick.”
Tricia blinked. “O-okay.”
Peyton sighed and brought his phone up to his mouth.
“What’s the flight number?” Shay hissed into his earpiece. Something thudded in the background and a loud groan followed.
“What was that?” Peyton inquired.
“Don’t worry. He didn’t see my face, and he’s not dead.”
“He’s not… Okay.”
“Tell me the fucking number. I’m kind of in a hurry and busy.”
“It’s…”
Peyton sighed, not wanting to give away sensitive information right in front of Tricia. She might not be anything but a sweet girl he had met online, but Shay would kill him if she ever found out he gave out her flight number in front of a civilian.
“What’s the fucking number, Peyton?”
“U102.”
He nodded, satisfied with his answer. It’d be hard to know that referred to United 102 without context.
“Thanks.” Shay’s ragged breathing continued over the line for a moment.
Just what I want to hear when I’m on a date.
Tricia gave Peyton an awkward smile, confusion in her eyes. He lowered the phone just in time for the return of the waitress.
“Are you ready to order?”
Tricia nodded. “I’ll have the pepperoni pizza.”
“No pizza for me. Just a burger.”
“Need you to see if you can ID someone for me,” Shay murmured into the earpiece. “Need to make sure I don’t have a tomb raider tail.”
Oh, this is going to be a long night.
Tricia’s stomach churned as Peyton opened the door to his apartment. She’d not gone home on a first date with a guy in a long time, but Peyton intrigued her. He seemed so nerdy, yet mysterious. Something about the combination was alluring, and it didn’t hurt that the man was easy on the eyes.
She also would never, ever complain about her boss again. She might have to work weekends on occasion, but her boss would never call her four times in a single night to badger her about her job. There was no such thing as work-life balance at Peyton’s start-up from what she could see.
Tricia stepped inside the sparsely decorated loft apartment with a smile. “I love how you’re so close to the beach.” She inhaled deeply. “You can even smell the ocean.”
“Exactly.” Peyton grinned.
A small orange tabby appeared from behind the couch and meowed at Tricia.
“What a pretty cat.”
“That’s Osiris.” Peyton made an eager face and tilted his head. “Ah, one sec. I have to go check on something.” He hurried into his bedroom.
The woman almost laughed. He was cute, and she wouldn’t mind having a little fun. He was probably checking if he had condoms.
Osiris meowed again, this time louder.
She knelt to pet the cat. She sighed at the same time. The cat rubbed against her hand and wandered off, no longer interested in humans.
The rather spartan decoration of the apartment gave the whole thing a very transitory
