Page 34 of The Bluffing Game

“No, thanks. I can listen to whatever you want, seeing as you’re driving.”

She’s typing on her phone again, and I want to grab the phone out of her hand to see what she’s doing, but I know that would be unhinged.

“If you’re hell-bent on creating your profile, I wouldn’t go with a name like TooSexyToBeSingle. That’s just going to beckon every man on the app for sex.”

“Oh.” She looks up from her phone with thoughtful eyes. “You think so?”

“I know so. Men are waiting for any excuse to get sex or talk about sex. With a username with sexy in the title, that’s all you’re going to get.”

“I guess you’re right.” She nods and leans back in the seat in thought.

“Don’t overthink it and keep it simple.”

“GladYouCame?”

“GladYouCame? What, like in your pants?”

“Oh, no, that’s not what I meant. Like came to my profile.”

“That’s going to be a no.”

“SageLivesHere.”

“Boring.”

“SassyAndSingle.”

“You’re on the app; hopefully, that indicates you’re single. And no man is looking for sassy, trust me.”

“CoffeeAndCake.”

“That’s okay, not really that appealing though.”

“WetAndWild.” She giggles. “It’s direct and to the point.”

I side-eye her, and she winks at me, shaking her head as she points ahead to tell me to look back at the road. I want to tell her to go with a blatantly obnoxious username just so she can deal with all the idiot men in the world, but I want her to be safe more than I need to be right.

“I guess I’ll keep thinking on it.”

“If you must.”

“So, what do you do for a living, Dalton? Aside from bossing people around and owning Mama’s Kitchen.”

“Owning a whole restaurant isn’t enough?” I stop at the red light. “I also take care of Toby. Raising a four-year-old could be a full-time job.”

“I know—well, I mean, I don’t know, but I can imagine. I just wondered if there was anything else you did.” Her voice is monotone, which leads me to believe that this is actually a loaded question. That makes sense. She likely knows I haven’t owned the restaurant for very long, so she’s likely wondering how I’ve made money.

“A bit of this and a bit of that. I worked with my dad at the family business for a long time, but I’m not there any longer.”

“Oh, okay.”

“What about you?” I go on the offensive so that she can’t keep asking me more questions. “Any career goals, or is the sole goal to become a missus?”

“That’s super rude.” The lightness in her voice tells me she’s not actually that offended. There’s a huge grin on her face, and she shakes her head while pointing her finger at me to admonish me. “Dalton, you’re going to have to try a lot harder than that to bring me down.” She throws her head back and laughs. “Do you think you making a comment like that will make me feel bad?”

“I didn’t intend for it to make you feel bad.” That’s a bit of a lie, not that I want to admit that.

“Good, because you didn’t. Wanting to get married is only one of my goals, Dalton. Of course, I have other dreams and goals. I want to find my dad …” She shifts in the seat, and she makes a clucking noise. “And I would also love to open a workout studio focused on getting cardio through dancing and weights. It’s one of my dreams.”