Page 28 of Wanted Beta

“Well, aside from being so irresistible that he had to drug me and stuff me in his closet, but I don’t know if I’ll ever figure out how to not be psycho-bait. Maybe I’ll just have to learn to live with that curse.” I sigh dramatically.

“Ha ha.” Catherine shakes her head. “If you feel bad, talk about it. That’s all I’m saying. Don’t keep it in and let it make you feel worse.”

“I’m fine,” I assure her. “And you should buy that dress for your date.”

“I don’t know,” she muses, looking at it again. “I think it’s too boring.”

It’s a little plain, I guess, but that seems to be what she usually goes for.

“Are we past the third date, or …” I start to ask, making her flush.

“We’ve been dating for a few months,” she admits. “Just going out on dates.”

“But you’re sleeping together, right?”

Now, she turns a brighter shade of red. She glances around, as if she thinks the other women shopping in the store might be listening in on our conversation.

“Beth!”

“What?”

“That’s not really something we should be talking about.”

“I think if you can know I almost peed my pants in that closet, all because I wanted to have a one-night stand with a weirdo I wasn’t even sure I liked, you can tell me if you’ve been having relations with your boy-toy.”

“He is not a boy-toy,” she mutters. “He’s …”

“An actual serious boyfriend? Oh my God. Is he sleeping over tonight? Do I get to meet him?”

“He’s not sleeping over,” she says, keeping her voice quiet while she pretends to look at the dress again. “We don’t do that.”

“Oh. So, you’re ace?”

“My God, Beth!”

“Sorry, I just don’t get it.”

“Clearly.” She sighs. “We meet at a hotel, okay? We have dinner and drinks and a nice night together, and we both go home after midnight because we both have professional jobs where we need to be up early and work overtime at a moment’s notice.”

“So, you are knocking boots?”

“Seriously?” She looks exasperated.

I nod slowly. “Okay, sorry. I know every relationship is different. I’ll stop asking questions.”

“Thank God,” she says.

I’ll just be patient and google the crap out of the guy once she gives up his name.

My sister deserves a great guy. I might not have the best judgement in that area, hence the plan to stalk his social media accounts. If he’s a dick who talks shit about women or his relationship status is ‘it’s complicated’, then he’s not going to know what hit him.

“So, are we heading to another store? Or are you ready for lunch?”

She laughs. “You’re always thinking about food.”

What else can I do but shrug?

She’s not wrong.

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