Page 36 of Dream Date With the Millionaire
“That night at the restaurant. You knew I’d be there with Gymguy.”
Bryce nodded once.
“How?” she asked.
“Your e-mail.”
“And you’re upset over what I was doing?” Her eyes darkened to a midnight-blue. “Reading e-mail is an invasion of privacy. It’s—”
“Part of the terms of service you agreed to when you signed onto Blinddatebrides.com.”
“It’s still not right,” she said. “We’ve both been keeping secrets but, except for telling you about my job and why I joined the site, I was open and honest about everything. I never lied to you or invaded your privacy.”
“I was doing my job.”
“And, as I said, I was doing mine,” she countered. “I had misgivings over doing it, but it’s still part of doing business on the Internet. I’m sure there are other competitors who signed up at Blinddatebrides.com, too.”
But he hadn’t just kissed them passionately or wanted to kiss them again. “If I find out about them, I’ll kick them off. I want Blinddatebrides.com to be a safe place.”
“Safe doesn’t exist, Bryce. You just proved that to me by saying my job didn’t matter when it does. At least I was honest about my feelings for you, unlike you.”
“I’ve been honest.”
“If that’s your version of honesty, I’d hate to see you being dishonest.” She pressed her lips together. “I’ll admit what I did wasn’t right, but neither was what you just did to me.
“And, just so you know, I didn’t want to join your site or go on dates, but James threatened to fire me if I didn’t. I couldn’t afford to quit.”
“You’ve thought about quitting?” Bryce asked.
“Every single day since I signed up for an account on Blinddatebrides.com over six months ago.”
The sincerity in her voice clawed at his heart. Everything he believed people capable of—misrepresenting themselves and lying—was right here in the room. He was guilty of it himself which made this all the more confusing.
He didn’t know what to say or do.
Everything they’d experienced, everything they could share together in the future, was unraveling. The way they were arguing reminded him of his parents fighting. A part of him wanted to walk away and not look back. Yet another part couldn’t imagine never seeing her again. Never kissing her.
Blood pounded at his temples. A headache threatened to erupt. He squeezed his eyes shut.
When he opened them, she was staring at him.
“I never wanted to hurt anyone. That’s why I wrote the profile I did. So guys wouldn’t want to go out with me. I’m sorry if I hurt you. That wasn’t my intention.” Her eyes glistened. “I’ll cancel my account tonight.”
Bryce hated feeling the way he did, but he also hated seeing Dani so upset. “What about your friends?”
“We know each other’s personal e-mail addresses. There are other places on the Internet where we can chat and send IMs from.”
“What about your job?”
The truth was clear in her eyes. She expected to be fired. “Why do you care?”
He shouldn’t care. “Because you told me what drove you to take the job in the first place. I’m not the bad guy here.”
“No, you’re just the hypocrite telling me one thing and doing another. I trusted you. I believed what you said. But you used my falling for you to set a trap.”
She’d fallen for him? Bryce wasn’t sure what to think or believe right now.
“I just wonder what your reaction would have been if I’d been a stripper. I doubt you’d have been so understanding then, either.”
Her criticism stung. The disapproval in her voice made him feel like a jerk. “Don’t cancel your account until you find another job.”
Her shoulders sagged for a moment, then she straightened. “I’ve been trying to find a job for months with no luck so that might take a while.”
“As long as you work for James, you can use my site for e-mailing and chatting with your two friends. Nothing else.”
“Will you be checking up on me?”
Bryce’s jaw clenched. “What do you think?”
Blinddatebrides.com is running sixteen chat rooms, forty-seven private IM conferences, and 7305 members are online. Chat with your dating prospects now!
Private IM conference #28 (3 participants)…
Sanfrandani: I feel so bad.
Englishcrumpet: Don’t worry, Dani. We can find another place to chat if we need to. The main thing is we don’t lose touch.
Sanfrandani: I agree. At least he didn’t kick me off the site right away, but I’m sure that’s coming.
