Page 36 of Man Cuffed
“Well, I could have. So we’re even.” Obviously.
Her smile grows very wide, and I know that somehow I’ve missed a crucial detail. “Wewouldbe even. But you just broke intomyapartment. And now I could have you arrested.”
Oh, for fuck’s sake. “But I was trying to save you!”
“And that really was kind of hot.” She fans herself. “But here you are. No invitation…”
“I thought you were being killed.”
“And that is adorable. But one misunderstanding cancels out another one, wouldn’t you agree?” She bats her eyelashes. And they are very long eyelashes, lining a pair of impossibly large brown eyes.
This has always been a problem for me. Women start talking, and rationalizing, and reasoning with me, and I get befuddled. Meg’s short shorts and pink lip gloss are robbing me of all my executive function.
“What sort of favor?” I croak.
“Take me out for lunch.” I’m just about to agree when she adds, smiling, “On a date.”
“A date?”
“For your favor, you asked me out on a fake date. I’m asking you for a real one.”
That sobers me up. “Why?”
“What do you mean, why?” Her smile loses a little of its certainty. “Because that would be fun, Copper. And today, for once, anything seems possible. This TV role. You.” She holds my gaze for a moment, daring me to disagree.
I don’t want to let her down. But I have to. “I’m sorry. I don’t date.”
“Ever?”
“Never.” And I never will again.
There’s an awkward silence. I suppose I could leap in and say, “Just this once.” It’s not that I don’t want to have lunch with Meg. But I don’t believe in lying, and I’m not good at sugarcoating the truth. Ask anyone. I suppose I can at least try.
“Look,” I say, wondering if I can save our friendship. “I like you. I like your attitude. I really like your smile.”And every part of your body, I privately add. But I suppose she already knows that. “And if I was the dating kind of man, you’d already have aced the audition.”
Her eyes dip. “It’s okay, Copper. I have a thick skin.” She looks up at me again. “Seriously. An actor knows how to take rejection. It’s a life skill. But it makes me wonder if you’re for real. Do you really not care that your friend with benefits was screwing another guy?”
“I didn’t,” I say immediately. “Except for the dog hair.”
She actually rolls her eyes. “How could we forget that detail? If I had a dog would you have refrained from jumping over that fence to save me?”
I open my mouth and close it again. “That’s unrelated. I was just doing my job.”
“Right.” She nods. “Who ripped your heart out, Mac? It must have been bad.”
“It’s not like that,” I say immediately.
Although it’s totally like that. Fucking actors. They are too empathetic for their own good. “Okay, Copper,” she says, letting me off the hook. “Instead of a date, you can help me with research.”
“Research?”
“About police work. That email I just got is from a Chicago cop show I auditioned for. It’s calledPierson of Interest.”
I snort. “That’s cute, I guess. A TV cop show? They always get lots of shit wrong.”
“Well here’s your chance to correct that.” She puts a hand on my shoulder, and now her shampoo is all I can smell. It’s something a little fruity. Apples, maybe. “Whoever they cast in this role flaked out. So I’m invited back in two weeks for a screen test. This is big, Maguire. I’d play Pierson’s sidekick. It’s a real speaking role.”
“Wow, Trouble. That’s amazing.” My hot neighbor, the famous actor.
