Page 25 of Fraud
I couldn’t help but smile at his awkward attempt to ask me out.
It was a vast difference from the suave guy I’d met the night before, as if there were two distinct sides to Killian. This new, slightly clumsy side oddly appealed to me. Flashy guys were much more Jane’s style. She preferred her men tall, dark, and rich.
Me?
Maybe it was time for me to figure that out.
“You’re going on a date?” Jane nearly screamed.
When I’d called her in a blind panic, she’d just arrived home, sounding as fresh and awake as she looked in the picture she’d sent me early this morning.
“Yes, and I have no idea what to wear. Why didn’t you prepare me for such an event? I don’t have date clothes. I don’t even have fun clothes. I hardly have clothes that are acceptable for this century!”
Her casual laughter had me sending daggers through the phone—if that was possible.
“Here’s what you’re going to do,” she instructed. “Go downtown. There’s this amazing boutique I love to visit whenever I’m in the area.”
I rolled my eyes. “This sounds expensive.”
“Kate, have you forgotten you’re a rich woman now?”
My stomach attempted to do a back handspring in my belly. “No, I haven’t forgotten. I’m aware, but that doesn’t mean I want to flaunt it. Especially in a small town.”
“Fremont isn’t that small.”
“Small enough,” I huffed. “If I suddenly started traipsing around town, throwing around cash like I was one of the Kardashian sisters, don’t you think, eventually, someone would get suspicious?”
“You know,” she said, “you’re right. They’d see those fancy clothes on you, and a lightbulb would suddenly go off. Then, they’d all show up at your apartment—all of them, every single townsfolk—with pitchforks, ready to kill the evil woman who wrote all the dirty words they all secretly devoured and loved.”
I shook my head, trying to keep from smiling. “Not all of them were so secretive about their devotion. My coworkers can’t stop talking about it.”
She laughed. “That must be really awkward for you.”
“It is. You have no idea. Especially when they go into detail about reenacting the scenes with their husbands.”
“Whoa. Even that one scene with the—”
“Yep.”
She let out a slow, appreciative whistle. “Props to your coworkers. I didn’t know they had it in them.”
“I wish I didn’t know. Anyway, I feel like we’ve gotten seriously off topic. My date with the incredibly handsome mystery guy from the bar?”
“Mystery guy? What’s so mysterious about him? You know his name and occupation. You already know he’s hot. What else do you want to know for a first date?”
I opened my mouth to reply, but honestly, I couldn’t think of anything.
“Exactly, Kate. This is the time to learn all of that. Ask questions; be curious and open. If you find you don’t like him at the end of the date or you two aren’t compatible, at least you got a nice dinner out of it.”
“You make it sound so easy,” I grumbled, picking out a dress from the back of my closet. It wasn’t hideous. Simple silhouette. Nice color.
“It is easy. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you all these years. I know you haven’t really dated much since—”
“Don’t,” I said, stopping her mid-sentence. “We’re not turning this conversation into the typical poor-Kate conversation.”
“I just want you to be happy.”
“I am happy,” I said in a convincing tone. I stared at my reflection in the large mirror in front of me. “I swear.”
