The Boyfriend Experience (The Boyfriend Experience 1)

CHAPTER ONE

“Does anyone know a hot single guy they could set Evie up with for a weekend?”

Evie Bennett shot Jessica—her good friend and one of her business partners—a what-the-hell look, though she couldn’t say she was completely shocked by Jessica’s impulsive question to the women in their salon and spa since her friend had little to no filter. But seriously, Evie didn’t need their clients knowing her personal business.

“Why do you need a hot single guy, Evie?” the young, twenty-something girl sitting at Jessica’s nail table asked. Her name was Lacey and she was adorably ditzy and clueless. “Aren’t you already dating someone?”

Ahhh, the drawbacks of working in a small, open-concept salon, where no topic was off-limits, including Evie’s love life . . . or lack thereof, she thought with a grimace as she continued flat ironing her client’s hair.

“Was dating someone,” her other friend and business partner chimed in as she walked toward the reception area to greet her two o’clock facial. Scarlett was the spa portion of Beauty and Bliss Salon and Spa. “But he ended up being a shady, two-timing jerk.”

Asshole was a more apt term, in Evie’s opinion. After four months of dating Eric, she’d discovered that he’d been living a double life and she’d been his dirty little secret. And in a desperate attempt to appease his furious fiancée, he’d devastated Evie in the process with his insistence that she’d meant nothing to him. Even a month later, that embarrassing recollection and those words still stung like a fresh slap to the face.

As far as dating and relationships with men went, she couldn’t seem to get it right. Her judgment when it came to their sincerity and fidelity sucked and she was clearly too easily charmed. Seriously, how had she allowed Eric to fool her so completely when she should have been more cautious and aware of all his excuses, last-minute changes of plans, and the fact that he preferred that she call before just dropping by his place?

Now she knew why. It would have been too much of a risk of her finding him with his fiancée. Instead, she’d run into the two them, hand in hand and being very affectionate, at the movie theater. He’d told her he was going out with the guys for the night, and at the last minute, Evie had decided to join Scarlett and Jessica in seeing the latest blockbuster romantic comedy. Needless to say, seeing Eric with another woman had led to a confrontation that had put a damper on the evening and left her feeling used.

“Men can be such dogs,” Jessica said vehemently as she filed down her client’s nails.

“I agree,” the younger girl sitting across from Jessica said. “We should kidnap him and tar and feather his dick and balls.”

The idea made Evie laugh and lightened her mood. Yeah, she could definitely get on board with that.

“Not all men are dogs,” Peyton, the pretty, blonde-haired woman sitting in Evie’s chair getting her hair done, interrupted. “Trust me, there are some really great guys out there.”

Scarlett snorted in disbelief. “Finding a great guy these days is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. They are a rare breed.”

“True,” Peyton agreed with a smile. “And yes, sometimes you have to kiss a lot of trolls to find your prince, but it’s so worth it.”

Both Jessica and Scarlett stared at Peyton as if she was from another planet, and Evie quickly interjected, “Don’t mind Peyton. She just recently married her prince, so she’s a little biased about the whole dating scene and everyone getting their happily ever after.”

“Ahhh,” Jessica said, nodding in understanding. “That explains it.”

Peyton blushed, and Evie met her gaze in the mirror in front of them and smiled. She wasn’t best friends with Peyton, but as her client, they’d gotten to know one another fairly well. Evie had heard all about how Peyton and Leo Stone had ended up together. It was a cute story, and sort of similar to Evie’s current predicament of needing a guy for a family function. Peyton had managed to persuade her college crush to fill in as her fake boyfriend for a wedding, and their attraction from years ago had evolved into love.

At the moment, Evie’s heart and emotions were far too battered and bruised to even consider falling for another guy anytime soon.

“You know, I could set you up with my best friend’s older brother and you can see how that works out,” Jessica’s client offered enthusiastically. “He’s thirty-two, very good-looking, super successful, and single.”

“Good-looking and successful are definite pluses,” Scarlett said, adding her two cents as she led her appointment back toward the private spa room. “You might want to consider it, Evie.”

“What does he do for a living?” Jessica asked, voicing the question that Evie was wondering herself. Successful could mean anything from a lawyer to a drug dealer.