Page 143 of Square Deal

“Fine,” I huffed. “What do you think, Mrs. DeRossi?”

“I think you need to let me set you up on a date.”

“Mads,” I groaned. “I literally just got dumped. Don’t I get the customary relationship bereavement period before you turn me out again?”

She shook her head. “That’s why I said hear me out. You just told me that Isaac was the opposite of what you wanted, right?”

I conceded with a nod.

“I have the perfect guy in mind. He literally checks all your boxes. Let me see if he’s interested, and I’ll set y’all up on a blind date.”

“Because manipulating Isaac and me into hooking up worked out so well,” I said sarcastically. “Maybe just take the win with Steve and Erica.”

She patted herself on the back for that one.

“Maddie, I can’t even think about dating right now.”

She shook her head. “It wouldn’t be dating. Just one date. He’ll be everything you think you want. It’ll either confirm that you’reright about what you want, or it will tell you to expand your horizons.”

“If he lives in Beaufort and checks all my boxes, I’ve already been out with him,” I argued.

She grinned like a mad scientist and tapped her fingertips together. “Trust me. You haven’t been out with this one.”

34

ISAAC

Jackhammers pounded inside my ears. I wasn’t sure if it was from the absurdly loud music or the hangover I was staving off with more alcohol.Hair of the dog, baby.

I sank back deeper into the vinyl couch and spread my legs wide. Cynthia—or was it Cinnamon—shook her artificially enhanced tits in my face.

She lowered herself onto her knees and straddled my hips. “Tell me what you like, Mr. Lawson,” she soothed as she rolled her toned abs up my body until those plastic tits were just the right height for me to bury my face in them. “If you want,” she said as she glanced at the security cameras in the room before leaning closer. Her lips grazed my earlobe. “We can take this somewhere a little more private.”

Her acrylic nails scraped at the back of my neck. I’d have to bathe in antiseptic when I finally stumbled home.

The poor thing was trying. She was sexy, but it wasn’t her fault that I had a limp dick.

I hadn’t been sober since I left London. There was no reason to be. I’d been club-hopping since we landed at Teterboro. I wasthankful that Alice didn’t ask questions. She just picked me up and dropped me off when I told her to.

That’s all my life was. People did what I paid them to do. That’s how things worked in my world. When the money went away, people stopped pretending to care.

Everything was a deal.

“You’re even better looking in person.” She smiled.

Eh, might as well get my money’s worth.The fees this club charged for privacy and discretion bordered on extortion.Then again, those fees allowed me to do a lot more than spectate.I slid my hand up her waist and squeezed her breast.

She trailed her hands down the front of my suit. I’d throw it away when I left. Dry cleaning wouldn’t get her cheap perfume and body glitter out of the fibers.

The stripper, whose name I couldn’t remember, tipped her head back and pretended to be into it. I could tell she was faking it, but I had to give her credit for not half-assing it. She probably fooled every other client who paid for a VIP dance.

Too bad for her—I wasn’t every other client. I read people like books. It’s what made me unbeatable in negotiations.

It’s also how I knew I crushed Hannah Jane.

I didn’t mean to. I wasn’t trying to be cruel.

Cruelty would have been leading her on.

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