Page 18 of New Girl in the City
I went pale. I started to sweat. This man did not need to know I was desperate enough to be on a dating app, let alone the specific one that I was on.
“Give me my phone!” I thrust my hand over the seat before adding, “Please, Liam.”
“Not while the car is in motion, Princess, but I do like the way please sounds coming from you.”
“I say please all the time.”
“Yeah, but you have a ‘tude then. Don’t have it now, and you sound sweeter.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, but he continued on as if I wasn’t shooting a death glare at the back of his head. “Like it when you sound sweeter.”
Claudia made a strangled sound in the back of her throat and I knew I was never going to hear the end of that.
“Just, ah, get me my phone when you can,” I finished finally, not sure of what else to say. I settled back against the seat, my body feeling prickly as we cruised silently towards the office.
The ride was quick with no more near accidents or message notifications, which was great, but I knew the damage had already been done. When the car came to a stop Claudia gave me a raised eyebrow with a quick, “Should I wait?”
I shook my head and gestured for her to go on. I didn’t need for her to see the awkward dance of me picking the contents of my purse off the floor while Liam watched me.
“No, I’ll see you in.”
She didn’t even hesitate before she knifed out of the car and gave me a quick. “See ya! Thanks for lunch.”
I was going to remember that for a long time.
I shot daggers at her, but the traitor was halfway to the office building by the time I had one foot out of the car. I got out and stood awkwardly beside Liam’s door while he slid carefully out, making sure not to step on anything that had rolled underneath the seat and into the driver’s side floorboards.
“Here’s your phone,” he said, handing me my phone. I wanted to melt into the sidewalk when I saw the entire screen was filled with notifications—all with men’s names attached. I took it from him with a quick nod.
“Thanks.”
“You want me to help you, or let you get to it?” he asked, hand going to his pockets and glancing towards the mess on the floor of the car. I held out a hand and shook my head.
“I got it. Thanks, it shouldn’t take me long.”
“All right.” He nodded at me and moved away from the door, but he didn’t go far. He leaned back against the car, looking like he was settling in to watch me clean up the mess.
I squatted down and began to just grab things, shoving them into my purse without really seeing any of them. If I got it all put away in time then maybe I wouldn’t have to have an awkward conversation with Liam, but it seemed the man was of little mind to give me what I wanted.
“That’s a lot of guys messaging you.”
“Yep.” I snatched up two lipstick tubes and cursed when I missed my bag and they clattered to the ground.
“Why are you on that app?” he asked. “It’s full of gold diggers.”
I froze and glanced at him over my shoulder. “And how do you know that?”
He shrugged and smiled down at me. “Just because I don’t have time for vacations doesn’t mean I don’t know what’s what in the city. Everybody knows the Diamond Dating League is a gold digger magnet.”
“And why is that?”
“All the men have cash. That’s why.”
I turned back to the car, finally managing to get the lipsticks stuffed into my bag. I quickly snatched up a small amount of receipts that had no business being anywhere other than a trash can.
“I don’t care about money.”
“Then what is it that you care about?”
