Page 44 of The Billionaire Mismatch

“Hopefully not. Or it would totally blow our cover,” Henry chuckles.

“Right,” Sadie says.

“I don’t know. We kind of agreed to disagree on the concept of love. Seeing as how he is Mr. Realr and all. And then there was this party on the beach and we went down there and had s’mores and danced,” I go on.

“You got the CEO of Realr to eat toasted marshmallows and dance in the sand?” Henry asks in disbelief. “Did he take off his shoes?”

“No. But he kissed me,” I say.

Kiersten and Henry are eating it up. But Sadie wants to get right down to business. “So he took you somewhere expensive, played along with what you wanted to do on the beach, and trust me, he was playing along. Luca Laurent is not a beach person. And he’s definitely not a s’mores and dancing man. It’s all part of his game plan to keep you on the hook.”

“You think?” I ask, suddenly remembering the motives in play.

“Oh, hell yes,” she goes on. “Olivia. Please tell me you aren’t falling for his charm. He is a charming man. Cold, maybe, but charming. This is what he does. He leads women on and then, once they’re invested, once their hearts are involved, he drops them. Trust me.”

“This is great,” Kiersten chimes in. “He’s obviously invested,”

“Very invested if he took you to North Current. Not that that’s a lot of money for him,” Henry says.

“It’s not,” Sadie waves her hand. “He’s a billionaire. I’m sure places like that are his go-to for dates.”

“Either way, this is such good content,” Kiersten says. “It shows the lengths men like him will go to before destroying a woman’s faith in love and finding their soulmate all so they can fulfill their own selfish needs.”

I set my glass down, my lips tipping in a frown. “Are you sure about that?” I ask.

“I am sure that men will string women along while they use them for sex and whatever else?” Kiersten snorts. “Absolutely.”

“But we haven’t had sex. Not since the first night, I mean,” I say.

“It’s all part of the act,” Kiersten says, and Sadie agrees.

“Yep. Because if he kept sleeping with you each time it would be too obvious that he’s just doing the dinners and the dancing and kissing for a happy ending at the end of the night,” she says.

“Or…he’s not the guy we thought he was,” I say carefully, and everyone stops.

“What do you mean by that?” Sadie asks sharply. “Of course he’s the guy we thought. The guy we think. I know him, Livv. Don’t let him fool you. He’s an ass.”

“I don’t know,” I say. “I’ve seen men like you’re describing. And it’s always a little bit obvious. There are always red flags. But so far, every date he’s taken me on has had zero red flags. And the fact he hasn’t tried to get me to sleep with him the last two times…it’s just not the pattern of a catfish. It’s more…” I trail off.

“More what?” Henry pries. And suddenly I feel like I am in a danger zone. “I don’t know. More…like he might be…”

“Actually trying to date you for real?” Kiersten asks.

I don’t say anything, but my attention darts over to Sadie.

“Wait. Livv…” she says. “You don’t actually think he’s interested in you, do you?”

“I’m not saying that,” I jump in.

“Are you interested in him?” Sadie presses.

“No. Of course not. I’m just saying…if we are wrong about him–”

“We’re not,” Sadie cuts me off. “Livv, I worked with him. I know.”

“But if we are,” I go on. “Then I don’t feel right about this. About any of it. Because it’s one thing to catfish a catfish. But catfishing someone who is actually a well-intended person…that’s not what I’m about.”

“Well, we can’t stop now,” Sadie says as the waiter sets our food down. “We can’t stop until we get revenge for what he did to me. You do still want to defend me, don’t you? That was the whole point of this. It was your idea,” she says.