I breathe a sigh of relief. One down… I’m going to need all my charms to keep up with Zelda and her third degree, but instead, she turns to me with a smile.

“Sit by me, Callie. I want to hear how you came by that killer backhand.”

To my surprise, my cutthroat performance on the court seems to have won Zelda over. Or at least thawed her by a couple of degrees. She spends the meal chatting to me about her own sporting adventures, and asking me questions about my makeup ambitions, and working at the store.

“It sounds like the time I had in my hostess days,” she remarks, after I tell some stories about my regular clients. “The people we’d meet! Of course, you’re probably not fending off drunk bachelors getting handsy after dark.”

“You’d be surprised,” I smile, relaxed now. “Plenty of men drop by wanting a gift for their wives… And then wind up asking for our numbers.”

“That’s terrible!” Piper exclaims.

“Lorelei gives them the number of a male sexual health clinic,” I say with a grin. “I just add a gift bag to their purchase. Because she deserves it.”

Zelda chuckles along, then tuts. “Put that phone away, Dash.”

“Huh?” He looks up. He’s been checking it all through lunch.

“Manners, please.”

“Who are you texting, anyway?” Piper asks.

“My other girlfriend,” Dash answers with a wink.

“Oh, how is she?” I ask, playing along, even as I feel an unwelcome flicker of jealousy.

“Great. You don’t mind if I bring her to the gala, do you? The more the merrier, I say.”

Zelda tuts again, so Dash drops it, but he still keeps surreptitiously checking his phone for the rest of lunch.

Like he has something to hide?

I sneak a look over his shoulder and see a message from someone named Cindy. I wrestle with that jealous flame. It’s none of my business. Dash could be texting ten women simultaneously or setting up a beachside orgy, and it wouldn’t change a thing. He’s a free agent, and so am I.

Two impulsive kisses don’t change that.

Two hot, wild, passionate, melt-my-panties kisses…

Ahem.

I gulp some iced tea—at this rate, I’ll be chugging the stuff—and try to think clearly, but none of my logic is any comfort when Dash checks his phone against and then brightens, bouncing to his feet.

“I’m afraid I need to excuse myself.” He says, looking suspiciously perky. “I have… An errand I need to run. For the gala. But I’ll see you all later.”

He practically sprints out of the room.

“How mysterious,” Zelda says, sipping her water.

Mysterious, or… Suspicious.

“I forgot; I need to tell him something.” I bob up. “I’ll be right back.”

I hurry after him, hating that I’m acting like a jealous girlfriend, but hey, isn’t that my job description? Dash did promise that as long as we were running this ruse, I would be the only woman around. And it won’t help sell the act to Zelda if he’s sneaking off to meet this Cindy. Anyone could see! And then where would our deal be?