Page 142 of The Bluffing Game

“We’ll be forced into meeting as many men as possible because who wants to stay here for a long amount of time?”

“Well, we do have a year lease.”

“Oh, shit, you think it will take us a year.” It’s her turn to sigh as I park the car. “We can always go back to Coconut Beach and stay with Juniper. She’d love to have us.”

“Yes, but our dear cousin has a boyfriend now,” I remind her. “She won’t want to entertain us for months.”

“She wouldn’t have to. Plus, Coconut Beach is lush. I wouldn’t mind living there. It would be fun. And Mia is there. And maybe Luke could give us jobs, and then we could …” Her voice trails off. “It was just an idea.”

“We have a year lease here. We thought it would be cool to meet billionaires …” It’s my turn to let my voice trail off.

I don’t want to be manipulative, but I don’t want to tell her the other reason why I want to be here. The more important reason. I will tell her eventually. I just need time. It always comes down to time.

“I know. I was just saying we have a backup, in case it doesn’t work out. It will work out though,” she says quickly, and she reaches out to squeeze my hand. “I have faith in us.”

I turn off the ignition and twist to face her. There’s a nervous expression on her face, and her eyebrows are scrunched. Her fingers play with a hairband on her wrist, and I know she’s just as worried as I am.

“It will.” I nod. “But, yeah, you’re right; we’re broke, and I think we need to find jobs. Let’s get the keys, check out our new home, then grab breakfast and look for jobs.”

“Sounds like a plan.” She offers me a smile that radiates in her eyes, and I can feel the warmth of her love deep inside of me.

I’m so lucky to have a sister who is also my best friend. And even though we often get on each other’s nerves, it’s moments like this that make everything worth it. It’s times like this that remind me that even if we weren’t blood-related, she’d still be my chosen family.

“You know what I just realized?” she asks as we both exit the car and make our way to the front of the building.

“That you don’t want pancakes after all?”

“Never.” She laughs. “I just realized we’re never going to be on that TV show about cool cribs while we live here.”

“What made you even think of that?”

“I don’t know.” She giggles as we head toward the rusted bright yellow door, marked Office. “I just hope they don’t have rats or cockroaches here.” She mock-shudders. “And I hope there are no thin walls either. Or loud stompers. Or people with babies who cry a lot.”

“I have a feeling you just doomed us to all of the above.”

I throw my hands up in the air and wail like a banshee. Rosie joins me, and after a few moments, we bend at the knees to catch our breath.

“We’re certainly on an adventure now,” I say as we make our way to the office.

The door swings open with force, and a tall man stands in the doorway.

“Oh shit,” I can’t stop myself from muttering as my heart races at the sight of him. “Is that the guy from last night?” I whisper to Rosie. “Makes sense he would work in a dump like this,” I continue.

But then the man steps forward, and I realize that it is not the handsome man from the night before. Of course he wouldn’t be here. I’m totally losing my mind.

“What did you say?” Rosie moves toward the entrance like a princess would move through a muddy field.

Her expression shows she’s not impressed with our new home. Not only does it not look good, but it smells as well.

Squaring my shoulders, I step in front of her and nod at the man as he passes us. On closer inspection, this man has zero facial characteristics to match the delicious specimen I met the night before. He nods back with a disinterested expression, and I walk into the office, hopeful that I can get the keys as quickly as possible and go on my way.

“We could have looked around a little longer.” Rosie licks her lips as she finishes her stack of pancakes.

There’s a small trace of maple syrup on the side of her mouth, and I’m about to tell her when our perky waitress drops back by the table.

“How’d you like the food, girls?” She seems genuinely interested to know.

I’m happily surprised by how congenial and friendly she’s being. I look at her name tag again; it reads Izzy, which suits her. She looks like an Izzy, with her long blond hair, big blue eyes, and curvy figure.