SAFE FLIRTING

Drake waited until after noon, and then he texted Sarah ’s phone.
You dead?
Her response came a few minutes later. Feel like it.
He laughed. Couldn’t help it. She wasn’t even pretending that she was fine, which was kind of adorable. He decided to skip the texting and called her instead.
“Mmmello?” Sarah’s voice was husky, blurred with sleep.
“Glad to see you survived last night.” God damn, he sounded cheerful. Regular fucking sunshine right over here.
“Surviving is debatable,” she said. “My head feels like it wants to abdicate from the rest of my body.”
“Yeah, well, that’s what happens when you mix wine with the hard stuff.”
“Never again,” she moaned. “Never, ever again.”
“Eat some crackers and drink some water,” he told her. “I’d tell you hair of the dog, but I don’t know if your stomach could handle it.”
“Crackers. Got it.” She sighed heavily. “Now to find some crackers.”
“I’ll have the front desk run some up to you.” Or one of his assistants. “Don’t get out of bed. Just rest.”
“You’re an angel,” she said in a soft voice. “I’m so, so sorry about last night. I really don’t know what came over me.”
“It’s all right. I still had a good time.” Though his best time was this morning, when she peeked at his junk. “You were entertaining,” he said, teasing her.
“I don’t remember.”
No? Time for some fun. “I especially liked the part when you flashed the bartender in exchange for a free drink.”
She was utterly silent on the other end of the line.
“Sarah ?”
“Yes?” Her voice was small.
“That was a joke.”
Her moan of relief was audible, followed by a giggle . . . and then another moan. “Please don’t make me laugh. It hurts.”
He snorted. “You still on for date number two?”
“You sure you want to go out with me again?” she sounded surprised.
“I do.” Which should have surprised him, too. But he kept thinking about that curious peek from this morning. That little action trumped any amount of vomit. “We’ll go someplace low-key. Wear jeans, and I promise there will be no alcohol.”
“I think I can handle that,” she said. “If you’re sure . . .”
“More than sure,” he told her, amused.
“Where are we going, then?”
“It’s a surprise.” Because he honestly had no idea.
“Okay, then. See you in the lobby. Just let me know what time.”
“Will do.” He hung up, thoughtful, Where could he take her? They did dinner—and it had turned out terribly. Not to the fucking beach. He still had nightmares about how he and Lilian did it there,It had to be someplace that one of the paparazzi her other wouldn’t run into them even though he needed them to help him spread the good news.Just because Sarah didn’t know what he was up to didn’t mean he shouldn’t let her have a bit of privacy . He wanted to avoid that conversation for as long as possible. Long enough to show Sarah that he was a good, wholesome guy.
Or at least pretending to be one.
Last night was a dud. She didn’t remember much of the evening, so he’d have to start fresh tonight.
A movie? Too cliché.
He was still pondering things, hours later, as his afternoon meeting with his assistants rolled around. His suite had an adjoining room with a table that functioned as an office, and they filed in with notepads and binders in hand, ready to discuss the prior evening’s ratings and their current to-do list of projects.
Drake wasn’t all that interested, though. Things would run themselves for another day. So when they sat down, he turned and gazed at the three of them, thinking. “If you were dating someone and you wanted to take them somewhere low-key, where would you go? Somewhere fun. Not a movie. I want to actually be able to talk to my fucking date.”
Ashroff ’s mouth opened and then snapped shut again. He looked bewildered, and shot a glance at Lawson.
“Date, sir?” Lawson asked.
Fucking save him from incompetent assistants. Drake rubbed his forehead. “Did I fucking stutter? Date. D. A. T. E. Me and a woman. I’m taking her out, and it has to be someplace that Hawkings won’t run into us because I don’t want him mucking up the works. Now. Ideas?” How on earth he referred to the paparazzi as hawkings didn’t occur to him a bit
Lawson ’s brow wrinkled. He tapped his pen on his notebook. “Dinner?”
“Not dinner. Dinner was a bad call.”
“Dancing?” Ashroff asked.
That kid was so asking to get fired. “Not fucking dancing! Something else.”
Stephenie watched him with her pale eyes. Drake nodded in her direction. “Any ideas?”
“Bingo, sir?”
“Bingo?”
Smith nodded. “The resort operates a bingo session every night in one of the dining rooms. so you’re safe there. And if Ms. Rosewood is used to spending time with the elderly, it’s probably bly a good guess that she enjoys bingo.”
“Bingo,” Drake repeated.
“My mother plays,” Stephanie told him. “She also knits.”
“Bingo sounds like a winner,” he told them, and pointed at Stephanie. “Remind me to give you a raise when we get home.”
Her smile was pleased. “I’ll remember, sir.”
“Okay,” Drake said, rubbing his hands together. “Now I need to figure out what I should wear to bingo.”
****
Sarah had just spoken to Ben and her dad before she called Enny who have been texting non-stop .“So how did your date go, honey?” Enny asked Sarah who had lounged, poolside.
Sarah tucked her floppy hat even lower on her head. Even with sunglasses and a straw hat, there was still entirely too much sunlight around. “Not so good.”
“Oh, no. What happened?” Enny sounded so disappointed.
Sarah told her what she could recall of the evening. She skipped the part where she’d woken up in his room, though.Including the part that Drake purposely set up the date to entice Lilian .Some things just didn’t need sharing.
Enny gave her a sympathetic sigh. “Oh, sweetie. Maybe you don’t drink on first dates in the future,” Enny said with a little encouragement in her voice “You want to impress him, not scare him.”
“I know,” Sarah said glumly. The iced tea in her hand was helping to keep her hydrated, but not doing much for the headache that wasn’t going away. “I really messed up last night. I just . . . wanted to seem sophisticated, you know? And I ruined it by puking everywhere.”
Humiliated didn’t even begin to cover how she felt today. Hangover notwithstanding, the awful, awful realization that she’d tossed her cookies—repeatedly—in front of the sexy guy she was trying to impress? Nightmarish.
She’d just been so very uncomfortable. Drake had looked suave and dangerous in his dark suit, so out of her league. Add in the fact that her clothing had never seemed to stay in place and she had taken whatever liquid courage that wine could offer.
And then some, she thought with a groan. Gosh, she was never drinking ever again. Ever, ever, underlined and signed.
“Well, that’s not how you impress a man,” Enny said with a sniff. “I’ve caught a lot of men over the years, and I never did it by getting drunk.”
Sarah peered over her glasses as she listened “Really? I’ve never been good at flirting. I never know what I should be doing. What do you do?”
“ not a big deal honey.”
Curious, Sarah looking firm and interested . “Go on, ’fess up! I want to know.” She really liked Drake and she wanted to be a success dating him. She wanted to be someone that he would want to spend the rest of his life with . And she had a pretty good idea that being herself wouldn’t do it for a guy as sophisticated-seeming as him. She needed to up her game.
And if Enny had a game, Sarah wanted to copy it.
“Well,” Enny said in a coy voice. “You start with the basics. Wear something that tells him you’re interested.”
Sarah blanched. “I think I have that part covered.” Because she hadn’t had any of her parts covered last night. “What else?”
“You touch his arm when you talk.” Enny said with a cool tone “It creates a private moment between the two of you.”
“Oooh, that’s good.” Sarah said, eyes widening. Arm touches. She could do that. “Tell me more.”
“Men like to feel needed, and they like to feel smart,” Sarah said smugly. “You want to impress him? Laugh at everything he says. Even if it’s not funny. Just act like he’s the wittiest, most entertaining man you’ve ever met.” She nodded and Enny continued . “Come on, try me.”
Enny cleared her throat, and then assumed a gruff voice in imitation of a man’s voice. “You look very well today, Enny.”
It was amazing that she still managed to make it sound sexy despite the rasp of a heavy smoker’s voice.
Enny continued in her man’s voice. “Isn’t the weather nice today?”
Again, Enny tittered in a flirty manner. “What, did you bring me out on a date so we could talk about the weather?”
Sarah’s eyes widened. “Wow.”
“See,” Enny told her, “You hang off of him and act like every word is gold. He’ll be so crazy over you that he won’t know which way to turn.”
“I believe it,” Sarah said. “I wonder if I should write these down?”
“No, no. It has to be natural. Just practice before your next date.” Enny snapped her . “Oh, and I nearly forgot the most important thing.”
“What’s that?”Sarah asked with rapt attention like her life depended on it . Surely there weren’t more hints about to be tossed her way? She had already learned so much just from listening to Agnes solid descriptions .
“Act like you don’t know anything.”
Sarah’s brows furrowed. “Huh?”
“That’s right. If he talks about cars, you don’t know anything about them.”
“But I don’t know anything about cars—”
“And if he talks about the weather, you don’t know anything about weather. And if he talks about running a diner or anything that you do know a lot about, you don’t know anything about it. Understand me?”
“I-I guess so. I just wonder why—”
“Because a man that is in control is a happy man,” Enny said. “Trust me.”
“You should,” Enny told Sarah again. “She knows what she’s doing. She’s had six boyfriends .”
Well, if that wasn’t an indicator of success, Sarah didn’t know what was.