Page 37 of Date and Switch

“Blame your wife!” Raven laughed shoving Bear’s shoulder with mock annoyance, “I was never a hugger until you forced me to shower in her glitter and now I swear I sparkle even if I don’t want to.”

“Bear or Ted.” He gestured towards the conference room chairs. “Like Raven, I go by either.”

“Am I interrupting?”

An older woman dressed in a prim suit dress, with her hair tied in a bun poked her head in.

“Esther! Holy shit woman, I’ve missed you.” Tillie pushed out of the chair she’d just taken and rushed to greet the woman. “It’s been too long! You should come and visit us in Chicago.”

“You know these Ellis men; they keep me busy!” She turned to me and introduced herself before asking, “Bryce wanted to make sure that you’d eaten. He was worried you may have forgotten to grab breakfast. He had me schedule an hour for lunch and would like for you to join him upstairs.”

“Before I forget. I want to sincerely thank you for the gorgeous dresses. I have no idea what kind of superhero magic you had to use to get them all the way to Brazil, but they were stunning.”

“Oh, I’m so glad!” She covered her mouth as if I’d genuinely surprised her with my thanks, “I was so worried I would be terribly off when guessing your tastes. I saw the holiday pictures on the blog and the two of you make an absolutely stunning couple.”

Her phone rang and she answered with a crisp “Mr. Ellis”, dashing out the door before I could correct her.

“Ivy and Hillary just landed. They’ll be here in about twenty minutes,” Raven told me.

No one mentioned I’d be meeting everyone today. I probably would have put more effort into my outfit if I thought we were doing more than having lunch together. I wore flip flops for fucks sake.

“Before everyone gets here and this turns into a full on pow wow, I just want to say how grateful we are to you for kind of exposing yourself in this way. I’m sure it can’t be easy docking in a port, finding wifi, getting everything up and posted, and then I don’t know how much you pay attention to comments but then having to wade through all of that too. We really appreciate it. Our listeners are obsessed with the two of you.”

Raven opened her laptop and connected it to the presentation screen on the wall.

“Take a look at these engagement numbers.”

“Show her the poll! Real fast, before they get here.” Bear pointed toward the screen as if by action alone he could get it to change.

“Which one we do a poll like every week.”

“The one about her and Bryce. Jesus. You know the one. We spent hours dissecting it.”

Raven turned bright red, stumbling over her words while she clicked around on her laptop.

“I wasn’t planning on sharing that one, big mouth. Bryce will flip if he sees it.”

They shared some kind of unspoken death stare showdown across the conference room table that seriously began to freak me out.

“You guys. Just show me. Whatever it is.”

“Nearly ninety percent of our listeners think you’re fucking.” Bear just laid it out before Raven had a chance to object or change the subject.

Thank god I had no coffee, water, or anything else near my mouth otherwise I would have had a very unladylike reaction.

“And they’re going bonkers over it.” He continued, pulling up various comments on social media to show me their enthusiasm in black and white. “You wouldn’t believe the kind of heated discussions people are having over the progression of your body language, and the change in the types of pictures you’re taking, to your captions on your Instagram. You would think our listeners were FBI Profilers and Podcasters the way they have totally devoured your every word and action.”

“What do you want me to do?” I asked because no way in hell would I admit either way what went on between Bryce and me.

“Play it up. For real. Like I’m begging.” Bear continued, “Our social media following has quadrupled. We have people falling over themselves to partner with us, and once Ivy and Hillary get here with their fancy folders full of market research, you’ll see all the people that want to partner with the two of you.”

“You two realize that Bryce is like an open wound right? He is still really broken up about Sarah.” I looked right at Raven because between the two of them she’d been the one to know the emotional state Bryce moved in and out of.

“We’re not saying to do anything out of your comfort zone.” Raven added, “We just suggesting you show a little leg now and then.”

Bryce: Angel—all I can think about is you in that matching bra and panty set.

I tried valiantly to remain unaffected by his texts. I forced my brain to focus on what my colleagues said but his texts were relentless. They weren’t even that naughty, yet I could feel my breath coming out in pants.

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