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He hadn’t noticed the dark circles under her eyes until she admitted to being tired. “You sleeping okay?”
“Yeah.” He wasn’t sure what it was about her tone or facial expressions, but he could tell she was lying. “You know what you need?” he asked as he spied a way to cheer her up…and keep her from going out with Doug this weekend.
Not that keeping her away from Doug was his primary objective.
Now who’s lying? he thought to himself.
“If you say sex, I swear to God I’m going to walk out of this apartment and never come back.”
He chuckled, then pretended to lock his lips and toss the key away on that subject. “What are you doing Saturday night?”
Erika, the clever woman, looked instantly suspicious. “Why?”
“Just answer the question,” he pressed.
“I’m busy.”
Blake laughed as he strolled over to the digital organizer, clicking on a button to show the weekend portion of the calendar. He already knew the answer to his question, noticing she had nothing listed under the date when he’d filled in his own plans.
“Hmm,” he said, pointedly looking at the empty space.
“Fine. I’m not doing anything…yet. But there’s a chance Doug might text me for a date.”
Blake made a buzzer sound, indicating her answer was wrong. “Nope. You’re going to have to tell the not-bad-kissing nice guy that you’re busy.”
“Doing what?” Erika took a drink of beer.
“I have to go to this stupid charity event, some black-tie gala, and you’re coming with me.”
Erika responded by giving him back the same “wrong answer” buzzer sound. “Pass.”
“Nope. No passes. You owe me one, and I’m collecting.”
Her brows furrowed. “How do I owe you one?”
“I picked you up at work when your car was in the shop, and you said so.”
She scoffed. “Those favors hardly match. You drove ten minutes out of your way to bring me home. You’re asking for hours at some stuffy party with a bunch of people I don’t know.”
“You’ll know plenty of people,” he reassured her. “Tank, Coulton, Victor, Preston, and a few other guys will all be there with dates too.”
“Take Mindy,” she grumbled.
Blake shook his head. “Took her last year and…it didn’t go well. One of the organizers of the fundraiser, an older gentleman and a widower, was there with his twenty-year-old daughter. Mindy made a comment about what a cute couple they were.”
Erika giggled. “To be fair, Mindy’s assessment of the male population probably falls into two categories, hot hockey players or sugar daddies.”
Blake groaned because she’d hit the nail on the head. Mindy had made a remark after he’d explained her mistake to her at their table, asking if the widower was still single.
“I’m not taking Mindy.”
“Fine. Pick another bunny.”
He shook his head. “Nope. You’re pretty and smart, you clean up good, you know the difference between the salad and dinner forks, plus, I don’t have to worry about you embarrassing me.”
Erika held up her hand. “Stop with the compliments. My head will explode.”
Blake wiggled his eyebrows at her, chuckling.
