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He had to know she was all bark and no bite, but still, Brendon gave a full body shudder. “Got it.” Brendon thanked the waitress when she dropped off his salad. Fork poised to dig in, Brendon paused, stare going serious and sincere. “I’m happy you’re happy.”

Her stomach twisted itself into a pretzel. “Thanks, Brendon.”

“You know,” he said, picking the tomatoes off his salad and tossing them on her plate. “You do kind of owe me for introducing you to Elle.”

She owed him something all right.

“You know how you could make it up to me?”

She arched a brow. “How?”

Brendon dimpled. “This Saturday, eight o’clock. You, Elle, me, and Cherry. Double date. Say yes.”

Darcy shut her eyes. “I’m sorry, did you sayCherry?”

When she opened her eyes, the corner of Brendon’s mouth twitched. “She’s sweet.”

She was choosing to ignore the innuendo wrapped up in that statement becausegross. “Brendon, I don’t know if that’s—”

“Please, Darce,” he begged. “Say yes. Please say yes. Please, please, please with a cherry on—”

“Jesus, all right!” She lifted her hands in concession. Anything to make himstopbefore he finished that sentence.

Brendon’s entire countenance shifted, posture relaxing into his usual laissez-faire, long-limbed slouch. He grinned, looking pleased at having pushed the right buttons to get his way. “Thank you. You and Elle, me and Cherry. We’re gonna have a blast.”

Chapter Six

DARCY (4:57 P.M.):I think we need to discuss the details of this arrangement sooner as opposed to later.

ELLE (5:08 P.M.):how come?

ELLE (5:09 P.M.):i mean that’s fine

ELLE (5:09 P.M.):jw if there was a reason

ELLE (5:09 P.M.):something i should know

Elle wasn’t keen on being kept out of the loop again anytime soon.

DARCY (5:16 P.M.):My brother has invited us on a double date this Saturday. And by invite, I mean strong-armed me into agreeing. In the interest of selling this, I believe it would be best to have our ducks in a row ahead of time.

Elle had already had several stress dreams about Brendon finding out this was all a ruse and hating her for it. In her lastdream, she had been on a trashy tabloid talk show. Brendon had forced her to undergo a lie-detector test and after she’d failed, he’d torn up the contract negotiations between OTP and Oh My Stars before storming off the set. In the audience, her entire family had booed. Darcy had been conspicuously absent.

It was just a dream—Elle didn’t really believe the deal with OTP was predicated or somehow tied to the success of her relationship with Darcy—but Darcy had a point. She didn’t know Darcy’s birth date or... well,anythingabout her beside the fact that she was an actuary and workaholic. They needed to get to know each other better before this double date or else it’d look like the sham it was.

ELLE (5:20 P.M.):what are we doing?

ELLE (5:20 P.M.):on the double date i mean

DARCY (5:24 P.M.):I didn’t ask. Is it relevant?

Elle rolled her eyes. Looks like she’d have to ask Brendon.

ELLE (5:25 P.M.):okay np

ELLE (5:26 P.M.):you free tonight?

ELLE (5:26 P.M.):say 7?