Page 1 of The Plus-One Deal

CHAPTER 1

CLAIRE

“And that leaves… Claire Colt and Conrad Farley.”

I jumped in my seat, startled from my scribbling. Had Professor Nolan just stuck me withConrad?My hand shot up, still clutching my pencil.

“Professor?”

His gaze passed straight over me. He flipped his book shut. I waved my hand, frantic. Conrad stood up.

“I get it,” said Nolan, still avoiding my eye. “No one loves group work, but it’s an essential skill. You need to learn to co-ordinate, to manage a team. To figure out who to rely on and what to do when you can’t. Working in teams?—”

“I have my own concept,” I said, cutting in rudely. Professor Nolan ignored me.

“I’ve put a lot of thought into who’s paired with whom. So let me rip off the Band-Aid: no swapping. No whining. No flying solo. I’ll be grading you on your synergy with your project partners, so any concepts you’ve got, direct them at…him.” He lockedeyes with me at last, and pointed at Conrad. A few snickers went up. Conrad’s mouth turned down. I thought for a moment he might take up my cause, but he just slung his laptop bag over his shoulder.

“I’m hungry,” he said. “I’m going to Gold’s.”

I grabbed for my notebook, my laptop, my coffee. My half-empty cup slipped through my fingers. I lunged for it, caught it, and lost it again. It spun in the air and its loose lid went flying, and a spill of cold latte fanned over the floor. I cursed and went after it, but Conrad didn’t wait. By the time I’d cleaned up, he was long gone.

I caught up to him at Gold’s Deli and plopped down at his table.

“I know what you did. And it won’t work on me.”

He arched one dark eyebrow. “What did I do?”

“Power games.” I breathed deep, winded from running. “You thought if you didn’t wait for me, if you made me chase you?—”

“Breathe.” Conrad smirked. “Can I get you a drink?”

“A drink?” I could feel myself flushing, my Irish complexion betraying my fury. “You’re still talking down to me. Being condescending. You think if you do that, I?—”

“You spilled your coffee. I thought you might like a fresh one. Some fuel before we fight over whose concept to run with.”

I stared at him, Conrad Farley, my nemesis. The one obstacle between me and graduating top of my class. He looked cool, relaxed, GQ-cover perfect. His hair was immaculate, lush charcoal waves. His dark eyes sparkled. His full lips quirked up. Even his stubble looked sexy, not awkward — not patchy or scrubby like most men his age. And then there was me on theother side of the table, redheaded, red-faced, a freckle-nosed mess. I looked away quickly.

“Mine’s more developed.”

“What, your concept?” Conrad cocked his head. “What makes you say that?”

“My roommate’s brother took Nolan’s class. He always assigns this, so I got a head start.”

Conrad shrugged. “My frat brothers too. And they left their assignments, so I’ve seen what they did. I know what the trends are, so we can be different. We can show Nolan something he mightnothave seen.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but our waitress glided up.

“Get you anything?”

I smiled up at her. “An everything bagel and a large mint tea, please.”

“Me too,” said Conrad. “Another mint tea.”

The waitress headed off and Conrad pulled out his laptop. “The trend’s been disruption. Business plans that essentially ask the question, ‘how can we take a thriving industry and turn it into an exploitative gig economy?’ I think we should ask ourselves a different question.”

I leaned back, trying to hide my interest. “Oh, yeah? What question?”

“How can we take a struggling industry and make it better? Can we make workers’ lives better and turn a profit?”

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