“Watch the road!” I barked at my little brother.
“We’re here to give you a crash course before your date with thirty of Manhattan’s finest women,” Finn told me.
“Just be yourself,” Wes advised.
“No, don’t!” Carter said, fiddling with the radio while I hung onto the car door for dear life. “Your real self is boring and off-putting. You need to channel your inner Carter.”
“I do not and will never have an inner person that acts in any way as immature as you do,” I told him.
The car lurched to a stop in front of a hip-looking bar in Midtown. I wrenched the door open and stumbled out.
I’ll suffer through speed dating if it means I can have a drink.
“All you have to do is say something funny and memorable,” Wes said, slamming the passenger door and slipping off his sunglasses. “Women like men who make them laugh.”
“No!” Gunnar Svensson said, throwing open the door to the bar. “Women like men with money!”
Dana shoved him out of the way, rolling her eyes. “I’m so glad you came.”
“Wait, is this a TV show?” I asked suspiciously.
“It’s for a reality dating show we’re doing,” Gunnar said, running a hand through his shaggy blond hair.
“I’m not being in any of your TV shows. I refuse.” I crossed my arms.
“Relax!” Dana said, ushering me inside. “This is just a casting session. You won’t be filmed.”
“Well, you will,” Gunnar amended, “but it’s not going on TV. It’s just for internal review.”
The bar had dark leather furniture and moody lighting. Carter rubbed my shoulders like I was a prize fighter.
“Don’t think of this as finding your soul mate,” Gunnar said, his cuff links softly reflecting the light. “You’re just here to play the field.”
Finn nodded. “You’ve only been on three dates since Rhonda. You just need to work up to being in a relationship. Baby steps.”
Wes shoved a piece of paper at me. “Grant and I wrote out some memorable opening lines for you. Just try them out. And have fun!”
“Yeah, you don’t actually want to date anyone here,” Dana said, lowering her voice. “These are bottom-of-the barrel people. One woman is here with her daughter.”
“Lots of broken people do speed dating,” Gunnar said, nodding.
“See, Mark!” Carter exclaimed. “You’re going to fit right in.”
Wes pinched the bridge of his nose.
“You don’t want to stay, Finn?” I asked wryly. “You’re still single.”
“Yeah, for good reason,” he said. “Don’t want to take the chance of ending up like my father.”
“Hey,” Gunnar said, swinging an arm around Finn’s shoulder. “My father is a leader of a polygamist cult. I feel your pain.”
“I think my dad is worse than yours.”
As my friends and family left—abandoned me—several well-dressed women came into the bar and looked around critically.
“The women in Manhattan are savage,” Dana said in a low voice. “If they don’t like the pickings, they just leave. But billionaires are the best bait.”
One of the women saw me, and her eyes went wide.
