“Considering people were falling asleep at the actual party.”
Dylan looked wounded. “Cat fell asleep. She’s your friend.”
She shrugged. “And she married your friend.”
“There’s no accounting for taste.”
They each grabbed an armful of trash and moved into the house. “Did you mean what you said earlier?” she asked, making room on the counter. “About love being an illusion?”
He raised an eyebrow. “Is that a surprise?”
She supposed it wasn’t. That was why she was here, after all. Hot emotionless guy, right? But he didn’t seem emotionless earlier. He seemed angry. She moved to the sink and started rinsing plates. “I just hate to think of you being bitter about something. You’re such a happy guy.”
“I make myself happy.”
“And humble. Also a humble guy.”
He laughed, grabbing a dish towel to dry. “I just mean that’s where people go wrong. They start putting their happiness in other people’s hands, then when the other person doesn’t give it the attention they’d hoped for, the resentment starts. It’s always the same.”
“Wow. I never knew you were such a romantic.”
“Your date next week the romantic type?”
She froze. So he was listening. “Why do you care?”
He shrugged and gave her that grin of his that reminded her of a wolf, all bared teeth and hungry eyes.
“I don’t know,” she said. “First date, so I guess we’ll see.”
“How’d you meet him?”
There was her opening. She turned away and started packing cookies into Tupperware. “Um. I haven’t actually met him yet.”
“Blind date?”
“Dating app.”
He laughed. “You’re kidding.”
She huffed a sigh. “Why does everyone keep saying that? Plenty of people use online dating.”
“Sure. But you’re Dani. You walk in a room and men stop talking to stare. You could just spin and point and take one home.”
“That’s what I’m trying to stop doing.”
Dylan abandoned the dishes and came to stand across from her. “Look, I’m just saying you can’t be that hard up.”
“I’m not ‘hard up’ but you wouldn’t understand. You don’t know what it’s like. All you’re looking for is a good time.” Dylan was a summer night—hot, fun, fleeting. She didn’t want to be that anymore.
“And what are you looking for?” He cocked his head and crossed his arms over his chest. “Something like Josh and Cat?”
“Not like that,” she said quickly. Though, after her conversation with Benji, she wasn’t sure what she was looking for. Apparently she’d been leading herself astray for years, and now she needed an app to get her love life sorted for her. “Maybe I’m turning over a new leaf.”
Dylan studied her. That wolf look was gone and his smile tipped curiously. The thing with Dylan was even when he was spinning lines in her ear, his big green eyes always had an innocence to them that sucked you in. Like he was born with the perfect disguise. She was never sure which one was the real Dylan: the one who had a new woman every week, or the one who’d looked genuinely hurt when she’d insinuated sleeping with him had been a mistake. If she looked at him just the right way, she was almost inclined to find out.
Now wasn’t the time to explore whatever lurked under Dylan’s outward facade, though. She had a proposition to make and it had nothing to do with his emotional nuances.
“This dating site,” she said, “it has… rules.”
“Sounds like a blast.”
“Shush. The rules are simple. Eight matches, you schedule your dates when you can. But the thing is, you’re not allowed to sleep with any of them until you’ve gone on all the dates.”
“So you’re giving up sex for however long it takes you to go on eight different dates? Have fun with that.”
She grinned. “Actually, the rules say no sex with the matches… not no sex.”
His mouth turned up at the corner. “I see.”
“I just thought, maybe, since we’ve already been there…”
Now both corners were creeping upward, his pointy canine teeth peeking out from beneath his upper lip. He looked so dangerous sometimes. “Are you suggesting a little arrangement between me and you?”
“Limited time only deal,” she rushed. “It would be over when the eight dates are up. That has to be clear.” She blew out a breath and squared her shoulders. “What do you say, Dylan? You up for some benefits with this friendship?”
Dylan leaned back against the counter, crossing his arms over his chest. His arms bulged, and her tastebuds flooded. She couldn’t read his face, though, and it was making her nervous.
“Let me get this straight,” he said. “You practically ran out of my hotel room a few weeks ago, and now you want to use me for my sexual prowess while you go on some dating pilgrimage to find the love of your life? Do I sneak out in the night, like you did the morning after the wedding?”
Dani winced. It sounded really harsh when he framed it that way. “It’s not that…” she started. Her stomach twisted. She never would have asked him if she thought for a second that he was going to be anything other than one hundred percent game. “I don’t want to use you, Dylan. I swear that’s not what I meant.”
His cheek twitched. Then his eyes crinkled and he started to laugh. “I’m kidding, Dani-pie. Use me. Hell, you’re the one who has to date these guys after being with me. Honestly, I think it’s going to put a sort of pall over the whole thing. But that’s the price you pay.”
Her lungs deflated in relief. She was afraid for a minute that she’d accidentally stumbled upon a secret living chamber in Dylan Pierce’s heart of stone. “Okay, well. I guess your feelings are intact,” she said. “So, do we have a deal?”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe?”
“I think I need a preview on my new investment.” He dropped his eyes down her front and dragged them slowly back up.
Goosebumps flared on her skin. “We’ve done this before,” she said. “You know exactly what you’re getting.”
“True, but that was old Dani. This is new-leaf Dani. How do I know the features haven’t changed?”
“Fine,” she said. “You want a test drive?” She leaned the inches she needed to close the distance between them. Now that he’d said yes to her proposal he was hers to flirt with.