Page 115 of The Wingman

“Is this because of my list?” I ask. “The player-worthy pad item?”

It feels like I made that list ages ago. The idea of inviting some strange guy into our place makes me recoil.

His jaw ticks. “No.” He glances away, and the tightness in his expression clears. “I had a designer buy all that stuff, but I want something that feels like us.” The corner of his mouth slides up. “I want it to look like our home.”

There’s a warm pull in my chest and I swallow past my warring emotions. This feels suspiciously like a girlfriend kind of thing, to pick out new furniture with him. I should be setting better boundaries, but when I picture it, Ilovethe idea of a home that Hayden and I personalized together.

“I want that, too.” For a long moment, we just smile at each other. “You get home on Thursday night?”

He nods, gaze resting on me while he wears a small smile.

“I’ll pick you up from the airport.”

“You don’t have to do that. I can get a ride.”

“I want to.” Another girlfriend thing I shouldn’t be doing. Something occurs to me, and I clap my hand to my forehead. “Wait. I can’t. I have that Women in STEM event on Thursday night. The roller disco fundraiser.” I sink in disappointment. Hayden does so much for me, and dropping him off at the airport earlier in the week made him so happy.

“Don’t worry about it.” He waves me off. “This is the seventies thing?”

I nod. “We’re fundraising for the tuition fund, to send low-income girls to university. Too bad you can’t make it.” My mouth twists. “You’d love it.”

“You could say we’re trying on false teeth we found on the beach, Darce, and I’d probably have fun as long as you’re there.”

I gag and he laughs.

He’s in love, the delivery guy said.That goal was for you, Hazel said. And he brings the photo of us on the road with him. My heart thumps harder in my chest.

“I bought some more lingerie,” I blurt out.

His brows shoot up. “You did?” His eyes darken, and the strong line of his throat moves as he swallows. “For me?”

“Forme,” I tell him with a teasing grin. “But yes, also for you.”

“Show me.”

My face goes pink, but I’m delighted. “No.”

He sits up on the bed, focused on the screen with fascination. “Please.”

I laugh. “You’ll have to wait to see it when you get home.”

His head falls back and he groans. “Darce, when I get home, you’re going to show me a lot more than the new lingerie.”

A thrill runs through me, and I bite back my excited grin, my mind racing with dirty images. “I can’t wait.”

CHAPTER 53

DARCY

“Hey, Darcy?”Carmelita asks at the Vancouver Women in STEM event on Thursday.

ABBA plays over the sound system, and a disco ball hangs high above the rink while members of the organization roller skate with girls from local schools and their parents, many of them wearing ridiculous seventies costumes.

“Phoebe needs help at the front,” she says. “Will you be okay here for a few minutes?”

“You bet. Go do your thing.”

She squeezes my arm. “Thanks, hon.”

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