Page 11 of Man Candy (After We Fall 1)
“Do you like it?”
“For the most part. Sometimes I wish I got to do more of the creative stuff, more of the research and whole campaign strategy, but I’ve only been at this a couple years. I get that I have to work my way up.”
“What do you do for fun? Hang out with all your male friends?”
She rolled her eyes. “My closest friends are actually women. Do you remember Claire French and Margot Lewiston from school?”
I nodded. “Yes. You three together were nothing but trouble back then.”
“Ha. We’re less trouble now, but still together.”
“That’s awesome, to have friends like that, to be so close for so many years.”
She tilted her head. “Didn’t you have good friends in L.A.?”
I shrugged. “I had a few. But I traveled a lot.”
“What about a girlfriend?”
“One or two. Nothing serious.”
She sighed dramatically. “I suppose it’s hard to have a serious girlfriend what with young women throwing themselves at you all the time.”
I nodded. “And older women too. Don’t forget them.”
“Come on, older women like your bathroom mirror selfies? What’s with that, anyway? You’re so vain you have to capture yourself in a towel capturing yourself in a towel?”
I cocked a brow. “Now who’s making fun? And does this mean you follow me on Instagram?”
She lifted her shoulders, like she couldn’t remember if she did or not, but her cheeks looked like two splotches of wine on a white linen tablecloth. “I follow a lot of people.”
“Right.” God, she was fucking delightful. So different from most women I met—so determined to put me in my place. “And what about you? Boyfriend?”
She snorted, lifting her glass. “No. I don’t do relationships.”
“And why’s that?”
“I work a ton, I don’t like anything to interfere with my girl time or my alone time, and I’m not a good girlfriend. Every guy I date more than a few times wants more than I can give.”
“More what? More time? More emotion? More sex?”
“Let’s go with time and emotion,” she said, looking me in the eye. “I’m all for no-strings sex. But like I told you earlier, I don’t believe in love.”
“Oh, that’s right. You did tell me that. And is this something you announce on the first date?”
“No, smartass, it isn’t. But I don’t think it hurts anyone to be honest up front about where dating me can and cannot go. So I lay it all out there.”
I nodded, setting my wine glass aside. “OK, then. Lay it on me.”
“Why?”
“Maybe I want to take you on a date.”
She made a face. “I’m not going on a date with you.”
“Why not? My mom said I’m a good catch.”
“I don’t trust you.”
