Page 21 of The Rules

“Okay…”

She looked at Sonya over her glass. Benji hadn’t understood her problem with the fine print. Cat and Emma would have been mortified if she’d said it out loud in their presence, but Sonya would get it. They had a few things in common.

“See, the rules are you can’t sleep with any of them—the matches.”

Sonya scrunched her nose.

“I know.”

“How are you supposed to know if someone is your soulmate without sleeping with them?” Sonya asked. “What if you’re completely incompatible?”

“I guess the point is by taking that off the table, you’re more likely to, I don’t know, bond elsewhere first.” Dani shrugged. It made sense on paper but—

“So you’re supposed to go out with all these great guys while becoming a born again virgin for, like, months?”

“Mm-hmm.”

Sonya made a low whistle. “That’s going to be tough.”

“I know. It’s like sitting in front of a dessert buffet trying to eat a salad.AllI’m going to think about is the dessert. I’ll be too tense to focus on any redeeming qualities.”

Sonya chewed on her straw, then flipped her braid to her other shoulder. “Okay, so you can’t sleep with the soulmates. What you need is a freebie, then. While you do this.”

“A what?”

“A freebie.” She took a bite of a chip, crunching loudly. “Like the extra snacks you eat during the day but don’t record on your calorie tracker.”

“That’s not a thing.”

“Yes it is. What you need is a guy to keep around just for the sex. To tide you over.”

Dani threw her hands up. “I thought that was the problem. I’ve had a lot of those.”

“Yeah, but those were guys who disappointed you and ended up being in that category by default. I’m saying maybe you pick one guy on the side to keep you, you know, satisfied, while you put in the time finding a good one. Someone with no expectations and no potential.”

“Hmm.” That technically wouldn’t be cheating. She could pay her hundred-dollar subscription for cake and eat it too. She understood the reason behind the rule—you weren’t supposed to be thinking about having sex with the guy before you checked some of the other boxes—but what better way to not be thinking about sex than to be having sex with someone else? If she was satisfying the part of her brain that was leading her astray, sending her toward all of the wrong guys, then she would be more inclined to seek out the good ones. Ones that had more to offer. Same destination, different route. It really was about the spirit of the law, right?

“I think this could work,” Dani said, her mood turning brighter.

“Of course it can. You just have to be ultra clear with yourself as to what it is so you don’t get confused. And be clear with the guy too. Call up one of your old stand-bys and set some rules.”

“Right,” she said, already writing her profile in her head.

Sonya pointed at Dani with a tortilla chip. “And most importantly, pick someone whose feelings won’t get hurt when you cut them loose. You can’t be taking someone else down on the way to your soulmate. The karma alone would kill any chance of it working out.”

“Right. Of course.” So find a hot, emotionless guy with no expectations or desire for anything more than sex.

She just might know a guy like that.

It was nearly midnight when Dani dropped onto her couch with her laptop and a glass of wine. She’d had to take an Uber home after drowning her sorrows in tequila and Sonya Advice, now she was in her pajamas, no makeup, the television on for company. Basically a “before” picture for Benji’s website.

She let her laptop boot up, considering all of the pros and cons. Sonya’s plan would work, and she was serious about wanting to take control of her life, push it in a more stable direction. A picture of Josh and Cat laughing together at some secret joke flashed inside her head, then one of Shawn and Minnie hijacking the microphone at the hotel bar at the rehearsal dinner, singing off-key while giggling like kids.

She wanted that. Did it make her a little less badass? Maybe. But everyone grows up.

Here goes nothing.

After the hundred-question form that she was surprised didn’t include a saliva sample, she got to the free-form section titled:What I’m looking for.

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