Bossman(12)
“Incredible.”
“It is. Just don’t tell him I said that.” She smiled softly. “So how did you two meet again? He mentioned a double date but didn’t get into details. Pulling anything personal from that man is like breaking into Fort Knox. And we’ve known each other since middle school.”
“It’s actually a bizarre story. I was on a bad date and hiding outside the restaurant bathroom leaving a message for my friend to call me back and pretend there was an emergency. Chase overheard me and basically called me out for being rude. After I went back to my date, he wound up coming over with his date and joining us.”
“He knew your date?”
“Nope. He pretended we were old friends and joined us—told these elaborate stories about our fake childhood. Some of them were so detailed and real, I started to feel like they were actually true.”
“The story part sounds like Chase. In high school, he wrote a creative writing paper for my friend Peyton once. He handed it to her right before she had English class, so she didn’t have time to read it beforehand. The guidance counselor called her down the next morning because her English teacher had become concerned about her well-being. He’d written some crazy story about being attacked by a wild boar during a camping trip with her parents, who were too drunk to help fight the thing off. The way he’d detailed the trip to the emergency room and all the stitches, it seemed too explicit not to be real.”
“Yes! That’s exactly what he did to me. He told some crazy story about our first kiss in eighth grade and how I’d gotten a bloody nose in the middle of it. It was so far-fetched that it was believable.”
She shook her head and laughed. “There’s a fine line between genius and unhinged.”
When we arrived back at the street exit from the park, Samantha extended her hand. “It was really nice to get to meet you, Reese. I have to say, I was curious when Chase called me at home last night to ask me to look into helping you find something. He doesn’t usually mix his personal life and business. But I get why he’s so taken with you now. You’re down-to-earth, smart, funny in a quick-witted type of way—a lot like Chase, actually.”
“Oh…we’re not…there isn’t really a personal relationship to speak of. Just that one strange double date, and then we ran into each other again at the gym yesterday.”
She looked at me skeptically. “Well, you must have made a good impression on him, then. He doesn’t usually farm me out.”
My brows drew together. “Farm you out?”
“I left industry recruiting three years ago. I usually just recruit for Parker Industries now.”
“Oh! I just assumed…Chase said he knew a bulldog recruiter…I assumed you were also a corporate recruiter, not one exclusively for his corporation.”#p#分页标题#e#
“That’s what I used to do. But I’m glad he put us together. I have a lot of contacts in the women’s product industry from Parker Industries. I’ll put out some feelers to see who might be hiring. I actually know someone who might be in the market for a product brand manager. It’s a lower-level position than what you’re leaving, but it’s soup-to-nuts advertising and marketing for a few products, so you’d get to do a full rebranding campaign. Although, they’re looking for someone to start as soon as possible. Is that something you’d be interested in?”
“My last day at Fresh Look is next Friday, and I don’t have anything lined up yet. I’m not the type of person who likes to sit around, so I’d definitely consider something like that.”
“Great. Give me a day or two, and I’ll see what I can do.”
***
Tonight was my third date with Bryant—fourth if you counted the afternoon at the gym. He’d invited me over to his place for a home-cooked meal and a movie, and I knew that given the privacy, things were likely to progress physically between us. We’d shared some heated kisses, but that had pretty much been it so far.
In the shower, I thought about whether I was ready to have sex with him. By no means was I a prude, nor was there a certain number of hoops a guy had to jump through in order to get me into his bed. I’d had first dates that ended in sex, and I’d had four-month relationships that never progressed there. For me, it was what felt right. As I shaved my legs, I tried to wrap my arms around exactly how I felt about Bryant. He was a nice guy—thirty-one with no kids or ex baggage—handsome, held a solid job as a mutual fund manager, and wasn’t afraid to show affection. Yet, as I ran the razor up my thigh, I found myself thinking of someone else entirely. Chase Parker.