Page 8 of Can't Always Get What You Want

Never break the first two rules.

But …

It’s notdatingif I never actually meet up with Luca, right?

What we’re doing is a fun, low-stakes ego boost, wrapped in late-night banter and lighthearted sass.

This flirtation is harmless flirting andnothingmore.

At least, that’s what I’ve been telling myself.

Keep Luca on the app, don’t agree to see him in person—no harm, no foul.

Luca only knows me as Gio’s twin sister; cocky, cool, distant. Aloof, at times, because the last thing I want is to be hurt by a man, especially one close to my brother.

I’ve got this under control.

Seriously though…Would my brother notice if I went out with him once or twice? Probably not. He is so far up his own ass right now he hasn’t checked in on me at all this week.

Gio and Austin have a newborn baby girl, Vivi, named after our mother—who passed away when we were teenagers—along with our dad.

The thought sobers me several seconds.

I want to be happy. That’s the only thing Gio wants for me, right?

You’re not serious about Luca Babineaux, the little voice in my head reminds me.You’re bored.

“Oh shut up,” I mutter to myself. “You’re not bored, you’re…selective.”

My last date—which lasted all of ten minutes—does not help tip the scales toward a date with Luca. The guy—Cam? Clark? No,Calvin—seemed normal enough over text, but the second I walked into the bar, I discovered he was four shots deep before I’d arrived.

He spent a solid five minutes rambling about his ex’s “psycho tendencies”, the government’s secret mind control experiments, and my personal favorite—how he thought he could fight a bear and win if he was “properly warmed up.”

Which, apparently, required another shot.

Bye, Calvin.

I stare at Luca’s message, my finger hovering over the keyboard.

Luca:One drink. One hour.

What would be the harm? “Because bad decisions start with good intentions.”

And let’s be honest—this would be adisasterwaiting to happen because:

Uh, for starters, Gio would kill me. Full-on, big brother meltdown.And if he somehow managed to get over it? The team wouldn’t. Locker room gossip spreads fast, and I have no desire to become anyone’s pregame joke.

Worse? Luca is exactly my type.

Why is thatproblematic?Because my type never works out! I fall for the good-looking, cocky ones. They make me feel special right up until they dump me and move on to their next conquest.

Besides his position on the Houston Baddies (and what he’s presenting on the dating app) I know virtually nothing about him.

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