Maybe this is what I’m looking for.
What I need.
Royalty
Decker isn’t home the night after my date with Ken, and I hate the jealousy that creeps into my mind. All I can imagine is him out with some big-chested woman with piercings and tattoos.
Worse is the thought that he found someone he feels he fits with better than with me. Someone he can settle down with, and he’s staying with her rather than bringing her here because I’m here.
Yes, I know how irrational and hypocritical it is to be jealous when I’m out here dating like a mad woman. Well, kind of dating like a mad woman. My only good date so far has been with Ken who I met off-app.
Out of pure boredom, I decide to pick a random silly category. Scrolling through, I stop and click on Royalty. “How the hell is this one going to play out?”
Carlos responds almost immediately, suggesting we meet at a bar not far from my apartment in thirty minutes. Curiosity gets the better of me, and I agree. The logical part of me thatsays this is probably a disaster does nothing to stop me from primping before going out. Even if it’s a joke, I still want to look presentable.
The air has a chill as the sun goes down, but I make it to the dive bar only a few minutes early. Scanning the room, I realize I didn’t look closely at Carlos’s profile picture.
“How will I recognize him?” I ask, reaching for my purse. But then I spot him.
My eyes lock on the back of a man wearing a royal purple robe and a large crown. Yep, this has to be him.
As terrible as it makes me, I just can’t do it. I can’t bring myself to talk to him, and I turn on my heel and head back out the door, the “emergency” message I’ll send already forming in my mind.
“Woah, hey,” a familiar voice says.
Tyler’s hands are on my biceps, stopping me from running him over, and he smiles at me. “Sorry,” I mumble.
“Leaving already? It’s not even that late.”
The look in his eyes twists something inside of me that I didn’t expect. It’s not a look I’ve ever seen before—even when he looked at Rachel when they were head over heels for each other.
“It’s… a date thing. I just… I left.”
“Care to get a drink with me?”
Nodding, I smile but move away from the door. “Yes, but not here.”
He guides me to his car—a sleek Porsche that’s a few years old—and I like how he holds the door open for me. Old-fashioned. Exactly what I like in a man.
The bar he drives to isn’t far, and I know if I indulge too much, I can still walk home. Might have a hangover in the morning, but I’d choose that over talking to a man in a purple cape.
I shoot a quick emergency message to Carlos and apologize, but I don’t take him up on the offer to reschedule.
As I sit in the corner booth with Tyler, our bodies side by side, I begin to have second thoughts. This is my boss. I can’t risk something happening with my boss… can I?
“What do you want?” Tyler asks.
“Um, I’ll take a cider. Any brand and flavor works. I’m not too picky.”
The booth feels darker than the rest of the room, but I don’t know if it’s real or just in my head. And we are very isolated compared to some of the other booths.
Tyler slips out and heads to the bar. When he returns with two drinks, it feels… awkward. Like I’m drinking with… well… my boss.
“Maybe this was a bad idea,” I admit.
“Why?”
“It feels wrong. Like nothing good comes from this.”
