“How many side hustles do you have?” Frankie asked. “It was my understanding you’d be working for us full-time if we hire you.”
“Just a few. My Etsy shop, and dog walking for the elderly. And I run a monetized YouTube channel where I read Junie B. Jones stories to children at bedtime. And, once in a while, I’ll cover a shift at the local bar so my friend can stay home if her child is sick.”
“Good God,” Frankie snapped. “Are you even capable of staying on task? It sounds to me like your career life is a hot mess.”
“Leave her alone,” Ms. Birdie admonished. “I currently own over fifty businesses, and I manage just fine to be a professional. Sophie, the job is yours with the understanding thatNaked Runwaytakes priority. If any of your side hustles get in the way, you’ll have to put them on hold.”
“Deal.” Sophie squealed. “I can’t believe this is all happening. Thank you so much.”
“You’re welcome,” Ms. Birdie said. “Isabella, be a doll and find Sophie a fully equipped office she can work out of. Those cardboard cutouts she mentioned will need someplace to hangout. I don’t imagine your apartment is big enough to hold twelve extra people…real or not real.”
“Fabulous idea,” Isabella said with a smile. “There’s an empty office down the hall from mine. Sophie, did you have any other concerns, or are you on board with our bodyguard slash fake boyfriend plan?”
“Of course, I’m in,” Sophie replied. And she was. Sure, that part of the plan wasn’t something she wanted, but they’d given her so much more than she’d expected. Who was she to say no to their one condition? “What could possibly go wrong?”
“Probably nothing,” Ms. Birdie said.
Isabella chuckled.
“What’s so funny, dear?” Ms. Birdie asked her.
“I was just recalling some of the funny plot twists that have caused things to go wonky in the romantic comedies that this whole endeavor is being based around.”
“Oh my,” Ms. Birdie said.
“Not to worry,” Sophie jumped in beforeNaked Runway’sowner could change her mind. “I mean, really, how bad could a fake relationship plot twist be?” Unlike the real relationship plot twist she’d recently survived.
One time. One freaking time, Sophie had gone off-brand in her preferred boyfriend type of choice and had quickly regretted the decision.
Never again.
Chapter 2
Stone stared in exasperation at the woman who had adopted him and his brothers when they were in elementary school. “Have you lost your mind?”
“I have not,” Clarabelle Peabody replied sharply. “It’s a perfect solution to your current problem. You’ve never been good at being idle. This will keep you from idling on every one of our last nerves.”
“Babysitting some airhead columnist in search of the perfect living, breathing book boyfriend”—the most asinine thing he’d ever heard, and he’d heard a lot of asinine things in the past couple of years—“is not my idea of a perfect solution to my inability to do my damn job.” He glared at the bandage on his middle finger.
“Language,” Clarabelle said, rearranging her skirt around her legs.
“Sorry.” He dropped into the chair across from her.
“Darling, I recently spoke to a psychologist who moved into the… neighborhood, and she said your current predicamentcould quite likely be psychological and not physical. She suggested you take a mental vacation.”
On the surface, the comment seemed innocent enough, but Clarabelle did not live in a normal neighborhood. Her friends were anything but normal everyday people. Hell. Most of them no longer breathed.
“How will watching this fluff piece be a mental vacation?”
“One, she’s easy on the eyes. Cute as a button, I’m told. Two, the assignment is a cakewalk. The odds of her being harassed, once word gets out that she has a six-foot-four, broody boyfriend who is built like a fortress and has a serious jealousy issue, are nil.”
“If that’s the case, why isn’t this god of all men filling in as her bodyguard?”
Clarabelle sighed. “Don’t be dense. You’re that guy.”
He laughed only to cut it short when she didn’t laugh in return. “Mom, I’m six-two. Not broody. I don’t have a jealous bone in my body. And I’ve never even met this woman. How can I be her boyfriend?”
“You absolutely are broody. And everyone exaggerates their dimensions. And once you find the right woman, you most certainly will be the jealous sort. Think of her as your practice forever person. Get all the kinks out with her so you don’t screw it up when the real thing comes along that you want to impress.”
