River texts me at 6:45 to let me know that he’s close but he got a little turned around. I told him that my house was notoriously hard to find, considering it’s in an unmarked gated community at the end of another residential street. I help him navigate his way to the right place; he was just a couple of streets off, and once the security guard calls to let me know that he let River in, I start to pace.
The headlights shine in through my office window, and I take a few deep breaths and try to calm myself down, because there’s absolutely no reason to be this way.
It’s a business deal, that’s it. River and I are coworkers, striving towards a common goal.
Yeah, that’s how I’m going to look at it.
He rings the doorbell and Gigi goes wild, completely flipping her shit as she runs circles around the front door. I let her go for about thirty seconds, not wanting to hurry to greet him like I’d been waiting, even though that’s exactly what I’ve been doing.
I open the door and he’s standing there in a casual button-down and a pair of jeans, holding a bag of Thai food that is way too big for two people. Yet another point in my book for my new fake boyfriend.
“Hi,” I say, sounding a little breathless.
He gives me this soft, friendly smile in return. “Hi.” He picks up the dog in his free arm, and follows me back into the kitchen.
“We can eat in the kitchen or in the living room, maybe out on the back porch, although—”
He puts the bag down on the island and touches my forearm, which instantly calms me and shuts me up. I don’t flinch like I did yesterday, I just take a calming breath. “There’s nothing to be nervous about.”
“I know, I’m not nervous.”
He raises his brow.
“Okay, I’m nervous. I’ve just never had a fake date before, not counting the two times I thought I was on a date but wasn’t.”
He laughs, a low rumble. “Sounds like their loss to me.”
“You know what? It was.”
I walk over and take a couple of plates out of my cupboard, then dig into the bag. There’s one container of Pad See Ew, then another container of Pad See Ew, some chicken satay, some spring rolls, and an order of drunken noodles.
He gives me a sheepish look. “I’ve been training for this role I’m going out for that involves a lot of shirtlessness. Today’s my cheat day and maybe I went a little overboard on the carbs.”
“In my world you went just right on the carbs. Pad See Ew’s my favorite, good call.”
“Mine too. I don’t like Pad Thai, it’s the bean sprouts.”
“I know! What a weird, unwelcome crunch.”
He nods. “Exactly.” He gives the dog a few more pets, then puts her down, much to her chagrin.
“Sorry about that. You’ve made a friend for life; anytime you have a free arm or a free lap to sleep on, she’s gonna want it.” I look over at her, wanting the two of us to be able to eat in peace. “Go lay down.”
She doesn’t listen the first time, but does on the second, the cute little pain in the ass.
“I guess it’s good that she likes you,” I say, reaching into a drawer to pull out some silverware. I crack open one of the containers and portion it out on our plates. “She didn’t like Cam, and that should’ve been a huge warning sign.”
His fist clenches for just a second, then he opens up the satay. “There are too many assholes just like him running around in the world. At least he got exposed, although I’m sorry that you got hurt in the process.”
“That’s the upside to being a cautionary tale, I guess. Some really nice people I’ve never met have expressed their sympathy and sincere belief that he’s Satan incarnate, so that’s also nice to hear from strangers.”
“Having strangers know intimate details of my private life is one of the weirder parts of this job.”
“Tell me about it.”
“I’ve had fans come up to me and ask me how my sister’s doing, when I didn’t even know it was common knowledge that I have one. Then I find out she actually has some…fan pages, I think they’re called. Luckily she gets a kick out of it.”
“You have a sister? What’s her name?”
“Casey,” he says with a smile. “She’s my assistant. You didn’t do any research on me? See what kinda demons I have in my closet?”
“Is your sister a demon?”
He laughs. “I thought so when I was little.”
“Is she younger or older?”
“Younger. Two years.”
I nod. “Good to know. And no, I didn’t do any research on you, because I figured Claudia vetted you enough to be safe, and if there’s something you want me to know about you, I was hoping that you’d tell me yourself.”
“I can do that,” he says, smiling softly. “Same for me. I didn’t go snooping, I was hoping you’d tell me anything you want me to know about you.”
I walk over to the fridge and open it up. “I have seltzer, beer, orange soda, or the dregs of my last bottle of wine.” I look over my shoulder to see what he’d like.
“I’ll take a beer, please.”
I grab one for him and get a water for myself, then pop the top off on my counter top before I hand it to him. “Where would you like to sit?”
“Where do you sit when you’re here alone relaxing?”
“Relaxing? Ha! When I’m being lazy, I just eat on the couch.”
“Let’s eat on the couch, then.”
We grab our provisions
