“I don’t want to do this anymore,” Hallie said quietly.
“Me, neither,” he agreed. “Should we bolt? There’s a Taco Hut on the corner, and I need a burrito.” He looked dead serious.
“Can we?” she asked. “Won’t that throw off the numbers?”
“Nah,” he said, turning his gaze to the woman sitting down across from him as he spoke to Hallie in a low voice. “There are two of us, so it’ll still be even. If these two aren’t love matches let’s go when the bell rings.”
Hallie met her next candidate while wearing a huge smile, eager to finish the date quickly and painlessly. “Hi, I’m Hallie.”
“Nick,” the guy said, giving her a very nice smile.
Nick looked good—as in, someone she might actually be interested in dating if appearances were all that mattered. He was wearing a Yankees hoodie and jeans, he had dark hair and light eyes, and his smile was easy, like he did it a lot.
“Nice to meet you, Nick,” she said. “How’s your night going so far?”
He gave her a look with his eyes, like come on, and they both laughed as she said, “Okay, I get that. So, um, what do you do for a living, Nick? I think that’s what I’m supposed to ask you.”
“That is the norm, isn’t it?” He leaned back a little in his chair and said, “Well, I don’t actually do the work thing at all.”
Hallie laughed, but he didn’t change his expression.
So she said, “You’re, um, like, in between jobs right now?”
He shook his head. “I’m in between no jobs. I grew up with money and invested it well. I’ve got enough to live on, so why would I want to work?”
“Wow,” she said, shocked and awed by his honesty. And wealth. “You’re literally living the dream.”
“Right?” He crossed his arms across his chest and said, “I just need a wife and a few kids now.”
Hallie nodded but didn’t really know what to say. She rubbed her lips together and came up with, “So what do you do all day, since you don’t have to work?”
She didn’t know what she’d expected, but it wasn’t, “I play a lot of COD and Madden.”
She laughed, but then his eyebrows went down like he didn’t know what was funny. Like he’d meant it for real. She said, “When you’re not, like, traveling the world, right?”
He shrugged. “I don’t really like to travel. I’m a total homebody.”
She nodded, even though she absolutely didn’t relate. She knew she should move on, but she had to know more. “So tell me what you do on a normal day. Like . . . you wake up at nine, and then you . . . ?”
He went on to tell her that he never got up before noon; it was bad for his sciatica. After he was up, he pretty much just played video games all day until dinner. He usually went out to a restaurant, then hit the bars if they were “jumpin’.”
“Don’t you get a little bored?” Hallie rolled her eyes and said, “I mean, I’m sure you don’t, but it just seems—”
“I have a lot of money, Hallie,” he said. “If I get bored with my awesome life—which I won’t—I’ll just buy a new one.”
“A new life?”
“Sure,” he said, shrugging like he didn’t care about anything, and she found him to be utterly fascinating.
“What do you usually eat for breakfast?” she asked.
He gave her a weird look. “Apple Jacks.”
“Pour them yourself, or does the maid do it?”
“The cook,” he replied.
“In a crystal goblet, or normal bowl?”
“Normal bowl.”
The bell rang and the guy leisurely got up, like he was in no rush. Because, y’know, he wasn’t—he had all the time in the world. Fascinating. Hallie said, “It was very nice meeting you, Nick.”
He gave her a chin nod. “Same, Hallie.”
“You ready?”
Hallie turned to her right, and Jack was there, looking down at her with his eyebrows raised. “We have to go now, before—”
She grabbed his arm and started for the door. “Let’s get out of here.”
Chapter
SEVEN
“The guy was lying.”
“I don’t think so.” Hallie picked up her beer and said, “He didn’t talk about cars or houses or anything braggy that would score him lady points; he literally just said he doesn’t work because he doesn’t have to.”
“I bet we see him drive away in a Kia,” Jack said. “With a taped-on bumper.”
Hallie drained the rest of her beer and said, “I bet we see him drive away in a Kia with a taped-on bumper and a pile of diamonds in the trunk.”
He gave her a look. “Diamonds, she says.”
“Diamonds.” Hallie grinned at Jack and was shocked that she was having a great time. She’d assumed the night would be an awkward bust, but since they’d left the date-a-thon and snagged an outdoor table at Taco Hut, she was actually having fun.
“Here you go.” The waiter set down Hallie’s taco basket and said, “Two chicken tacos with cheese on the bottom for you.”
Jack looked at her and gave his head a slow shake, like she was ridiculous.
“And four steak tacos with the works for you.”
As soon as the waiter walked away, Jack said, “Seriously, Piper? Cheese on the bottom?”
Hallie shrugged and picked up one of her tacos. “If it’s on top of the lettuce it doesn’t melt, and what is the point of cold, hard cheese?”
He just looked at her for a long moment, and then he said, “I have no idea.”
It was a gorgeous night, the downtown streets were buzzing with activity, and she herself was buzzing from the two quick beers. Jack had been wildly entertaining as he described in great detail the conversations he’d had with his candidates, and he’d thrown his head back and laughed his ass off when she told him about the TV-hater.
“So speed dating sucks.” Jack drained the last of his tequila on the rocks and set the glass on the table dramatically. “Let’s never do that again.”
“Agreed.”
“Want another one?” he asked.
She shook her head. “No, thanks. I’m going to have to go camp out at Starbucks for an hour as it is to get rid of this buzz.”
“Pathetic. What happened to my Crown-guzzling buddy?”
“She hit rock bottom when she found herself in a stranger’s hotel room.”
“Whoa.” Jack looked offended. “You consider me your rock bottom?”
“No,” she said, laughing, “but I consider the event my rock bottom.”
“Well,” he said, looking amused, “I thought your rock bottom was an amazing fucking time.”
Hallie laughed at the absurdity of the situation. Being with Jack was so different than being with Ben; it was so chill. Although it was ridiculous that she was even comparing the two, since she barely knew Jack Marshall.
“Okay. Jack.” Hallie cleared her throat and looked straight into his devilish eyes. “I only know you in the context of rock-bottom night and the dating app. But we don’t really know each other, do we? Are you from here? How many siblings do you have? What does a landscaping architect do?”