“You think we’re more serious than we are.”
“When was the last time you went out?”
He cleared his throat. “A few nights ago.”
“A few nights?”
“Yes.”
“After I saw you?” I asked. “But you and I . . . we walked, and . . .”
“And what?”
What could I say? I didn’t have a leg to stand on. He could—and should—see who he wanted. But did it have to beDani? “Nothing,” I said, watching the sidewalk disappear under my feet. After a moment, I said, “I forget how good you are at that.”
“At what?”
“Juggling women.”
“I wasn’t juggling women,” he said. “You and I are just walking, remember?”
I nodded. “But you do . . . juggle women. Because you’re a player. Aren’t you?”
“So you keep saying,” he said. “You called me that at the Meet and Greet that night.”
“But isn’t it true?”
He frowned. “I don’t have time to pursue women.”
“You could be pursuing someone right now instead of walking with me.”
He covered his heart with his hand. “Ouch. But yeah, you have a point.”
“So if you don’t pursue women, does that mean you and Dani are in a relationship?”
“Relationships also take time.”
“So you just have . . . flings.”
“I generally don’t deny myself a beautiful and interesting woman if she’s offering. If that makes me a player, then I guess that’s what I am.”
I was surprised when an arrow of jealousy shot right through my heart.Jealousywas the ugly monster that lived in my mother—up until recently, it was something I’d rarely felt. “Does Dani know that?” I asked.
“Listen,” David started, “I like her. She’s a sweetheart. But you don’t need to worry. Lucy has been very persistent in trying to set us up. Nothing will come of it, though. I’ve told Dani so, but she’s stubborn. Lucy’s given her this idea that I want to be tamed, and I just don’t know it.”
My jaw tingled as I clenched it. The thought of them together crept back into my head. I wasn’t sure I believed him—after all, Dani had given us the impression things were more serious. “Are there others?”
“What?”
“Are you seeing anyone else?” I asked.
“Not really . . . but Maria and I still talk.”
Oh, of course. Maria. Gorgeous, straight-off-the-catwalk Maria.
Since the first time I’d seen them together, her image had been seared into my memory. Maria, smooth-skinned with ribbons of caramel hair, in her siren red dress. His go-to girl, the one who was ever-present in his life—available for events, work functions, andotherthings. . .
“Well, obviously there’s Maria,” I said snidely. “Thatis a given.”
