Page 33 of Just One Fake Date

“Is that why you’re talking to me in the middle of the night?” he teased.

“Point to you,” Shannyn ceded. “Thanks for the story of Giselle and the bathrobe. I feel like I’ve become your confessor or something.”

“Or something,” he mused. “Turnabout is fair play.”

“Meaning?”

“You could tell me a story.”

“I don’t have one to tell,” Shannyn said quickly.

“I doubt that,” Tyler said. “Although I can believe that you don’t want to share any story you have.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“That you’re a lot more prickly than you used to be, and that makes me curious about whatever has happened to you since that class.”

There was no way Shannyn was stepping into that. “Well, thanks for the details on the wedding. I’ll see you there.”

“Maybe I could give you a ride.”

Here it came. The slippery slope was suddenly beneath her feet. “Don’t worry. I’ll solve it.”

Tyler made a little growl of disagreement that she liked too much. “We have a deal.”

“And I’m keeping to the terms,” she reminded him.

He didn’t end the call. She could hear him, just thinking, on the other end of the line, and that kept her from signing off. When he finally spoke, his voice was so low and seductive that she wanted to listen to him all night long. “So, what do you want, Shannyn Hawke?”

“Excuse me?”

“You said that to amend our deal, I’d have to offer something you want.” Tyler spoke with that beguiling confidence, as if there was nothing more unavoidable in the world than the two of them making another deal. Shannyn’s mouth went dry. “I don’t know what you want—in fact, I can’t even begin to guess, so I’m asking.”

There was an easy and obvious answer. Shannyn was going to her best friend’s wedding the weekend before the wedding of Tyler’s sister. But she was doing Kirsten and Lukas’ photographs as her gift and would be busy—and she didn’t need a date to go to a wedding. No one was going to fix her up. Her friends were too smart for that.

“You must have something in mind,” Tyler said, guessing why she didn’t answer. “Go on. Say it. I don’t scare that easily.”

“A new roof,” Shannyn said impulsively, then wished she hadn’t.

“You have a house?” There was surprise in his tone.

“Spoils of war,” she said under her breath then hurried on, hoping he hadn’t heard. “It would be strange to want a roof otherwise. Where would I put it?”

Tyler laughed and she felt a little glow of satisfaction that she’d surprised him. “Point to you. Tell me about the roof.”

“What do you know about roofs?” She paused and frowned. “Rooves?”

“I think roofs, but I’m not positive.”

“Me neither.” It was too easy to talk to this man. “What difference does it make what kind I need?”

“I don’t know much about roofs, but I do know about money, and different roofs must cost different amounts of money.”

There was that.

“Okay,” Shannyn said. “It’s not optional at this point. It’s more of an ASAP issue.”

“It’s leaking,” he guessed.

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