Page 24 of Perfect (mis)Match

It was hard to put his good looks into words, because it wasn’tjusthis face and body. It was his whole aura. He was so attractive it was distracting.

Darcy scrolled through her phone, then held it out to me. “You meanthisguy? You have to fake datethisdude?”

I leaned closer and squinted. It was a Getty Images shot of Vincent from some fundraiser, and he was in his typical allblack, but this time a tux. His hair was a little messy, like he’d just run his hand through it. And he was furrow-staring like he was ready to hate fuck whoever was looking at his photo.

My heart flip-flopped reflexively.

“Yeah,” I frowned at the image. “That’s him.”

“Um, can we make it a throuple deal? Because I amintoit!” Darcy laughed as she studied the picture. “Why are you acting like you’ve been paired up with Quasimodo? You’re going to have a blast with this one.”

“No, you don’t know what he’s like,” I complained. “Demanding, and self-important, and bossy, and rude…he’s a total nightmare! And now I’m going to have to pretend to like him, and convince his father it’s real?How?”

“Make it all about sex,” she snorted with a shrug as she scrolled through a few more images. “You clearly want to saddle up and ride this man into oblivion, Piper. It’s so obvious.”

My mouth dropped open. “Why would you think that?”

“How could I not? The way you described him, you were practically drooling. And hate and passion are just a few clicks apart. I bet it wouldn’t take much for you to shift from wanting to slap his face to wanting him to slap your ass. Hard.”

“Darcy Jean Moretti, you shut your mouth right now!” I squealed and kicked her in the thigh.

“You know it’s true,” she laughed and fell over on her side. “You’re talking a great game about how awful he is to cover up for the fact that you’re attracted to him. If you truly didn’t care, you’d just shrug it off. But you’re, like,addictedto this man. I’ve never seen you all fired up like this.”

I opened my mouth to fight back, then snapped it shut. There was no harm in admitting the truth to Darcy. She knew all my secrets.

“Okay, yeah, maybe I’m a littletinybit attracted to him. But that’s only because I’m a little pent up. It’s been a while since I’ve even kissed a man. But that’s theonlyreason. His looks are all he has going for him, I promise you.” And maybe the fact that he cared about his dad. And Paul. And the grandma of that college friend of theirs, Nana Dee. He hadn’t straight-out said that she was why he loved Jamesport when he’d brought it up at the engagement dinner, but I’d heard Paul talk about going out to see her enough times to make the connection. Clearly, she was important to Vincent, too.

Not that any of this made Vincent a nice guy, of course. But maybe, justmaybe, he wasn’t head-to-toe evil, even if I’d gotten into the habit of thinking of him that way.

“Andhis business acumen that grew a multi-billion-dollar fragrance brand. And access to everything you could want in the world. No biggie.”

A text buzzed on my phone. “Speak of theliteraldevil,” I said as I scanned it. “Mr. Bossman himself.”

“Does he realize it’s Friday night?” Darcy asked plainly. “Boundaries, my dude.”

“He’s a total workaholic,” I sighed. “But he’s actually asking if I have any dietary restrictions for the upcoming dinner with his dad. Huh. That’s surprisingly considerate.”

“Tell him how much you love sausage, and that you can handle a full eight-inch link.”

I cracked up and kicked her again. “No, I’ve got one better,” I typed quickly, before I could overthink my response.

I eat everything but souls, so I guess I won’t be joining you for your next human sacrifice.

“You talk like that to yourboss?” Darcy shrieked, reading over my shoulder.

“Hey, if we take a step back and look at the big picture, I’m technicallyhisboss. He needs me to take everything to the next level in a big way.”

I refocused on the bubbles on my screen as Vincent typed his response.

“What did he say?” Darcy asked, leaning closer to try to read the screen.

I bit back a laugh.

The council of evil is off for the summer, so there won’t be any additional soul consumption till fall.

“Oh, he’s a sassy one. I like it,” Darcy grinned at me.

It was a lighthearted side of Vincent I hadn’t expected. How far could I push him?

---