I left the meeting feeling a little better about our project, though I still didn’t know how I would pay for all of it. As I popped out of the elevator into the parking garage beneath the building, my phone started buzzing in my big bag, and I cursed and struggled as I dug past my laptop and all my junk, trying to get it. I didn’t even have time to register the caller ID before I gasped, “Hello?”
“Kayla! Glad I caught you.”Rick the CEO.“Remember I said I wanted to do some of those prototype dating interviews in the real world? Well, I need one ASAP for a surprise visit from one of our investors. Do you think you can get one done by Friday noon? I want to get it staged on the app. You have all the gear, right? I can pay you…”
He quoted a figure that would cover my part of the rent this month and a couple of pizzas besides. As pissed as I was at the oblivious goofball, I couldn’t say no.
And he wanted itwhen?“Did you say Friday at noon? I have to shoot it and edit it, but I guess I can get it done. Who did you have in mind as your dater?”
“We don’t have enough time to schedule one of our alpha testers. You know people, right? Anyone will do. Only make it interesting, OK? If they’re boring, then make shit up. Oh, and they shouldn’t break the camera, if you know what I mean. Ugly doesn’t sell. Ha ha. We’re emailing you the title templates now. Let Maria know when you’ve sent it to the FTP, all right? Thanks.”
And he hung up.
“Bastard!” I exclaimed. I looked around to see a guy emptying trash cans who gave me a sour look. I waved at him meekly and got to my car as quickly as possible, slipped inside and shut the door. “Fucking bastard!” I screamed in the relative privacy of the sedan. The dude wanted me to turn the video around in a day and didn’t even have a victim for me? “MALE PRIVILEGED ASSHAT!”
I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths. Now I felt better.
I needed a plan. I needed to interview aninterestingsingle person for this video. And fuck Rick for judging people for their looks, but he wanted someone attractive, too? Where was I supposed to find this unicorn at such short notice? I had friends here now, but not one of the annoyingly lovey-dovey dopes was single.
Except maybe one.
Chapter 16
“You want me to do what?” Landon asked later that afternoon, squinting slightly in the glare of the battery-powered work light. He looked down at me from the top of the ladder, where he’d been dusting off the chandelier in the foyer of Milkweed Mansion. We’d decided that while the cobwebs and dust were definitely scary, they were also gross, and a more elegant approach to our haunted house might be appreciated here.
“I need to film someone for a dating video in their natural environment. I have to capture them doing stuff they love to do and ask some questions. It’s supposed to capture the real person and make them look attractive for this dating app.”
He shook his head, and his brow creased. The one-sided light brought out the strong lines of his face and threw a long, film-noir-worthy shadow that extended up and behind him. “I don’t need to be on a dating app.”
“I’m not sayingyoudo. This isn’t actually going to be used on the dating app. It’s like a prototype thing they can show to investors and prospective customers and get them excited about paying for a high-end video profile.”
Landon crossed his arms over his filthy “Trust me I’m a Jedi” T-shirt and lounged at the top of the ladder — something only he could possibly do — while obviously trying not to laugh. “Who the hell would pay for that?”
“I don’t know. Egomaniacs? Lonely people? I’m not here to judge. But I need the money, Landon. I really, really need the money. And can you get down here? I’m getting a crick in my neck.”
He sighed, put down the cleaning rag next to the bucket at the tippy-top of the ladder, and made his way down.
“What do you want, Kayla?” he asked in a low voice when he reached the floor and stood in front of me. Here, he was only a little taller than I was. Only now, his eyes bored into mine, and his tone carried all kinds of suggestiveness that wasn’t there a minute before.
So he hadn’t forgotten last night.
God knows I hadn’t.
I swallowed and tried to sound confident. “They gave me an impossible deadline.” I glanced at hisStar WarsT-shirt. “Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You’re my only hope.”
He guffawed. “OK, but only if it doesn’t take more than an hour. I have to wrangle the electrician and the plumbers tomorrow.”
“A half hour. I swear. We can do a couple of shots at the apartment with your golf clubs, and then—”
“I hate golf.” His voice was harder now, and he crossed his arms.
“Um — yeah. Sorry. Maybe with your glove, tossing a softball in the air, looking cute? Because you’re on your company’s softball team, right?”
“Nice of you to notice.” His voice had softened again, and his dark eyes danced. “And you think I’m cute?”
“I — oh, hell. I mean, my friends think you’re cute.”
He took a step closer, smelling of sweat and cedar and lime, and I tried not to faint.
“What about you?” he asked.
