As a bonus, she wouldn’t have to worry about any complicated or messy emotional attachments with a hired boyfriend. Once he’d fulfilled his end of the bargain, they could go their separate ways, because Evie definitely wasn’t in the market for anything serious, and especially not with a guy who was on an app that essentially made him a serial dater.
“Okay, I’ll give it a try,” Evie said, and hoped she didn’t come to regret her decision.
By the time Evie arrived home after work, there was an email in her inbox from a Dylan Stone, owner of Stone Media, letting her know that Peyton had contacted him to ask that Evie be added to The Boyfriend Experience app. In his message, Dylan explained how the program worked since it was still in its beta stage. The men were required to provide a recent headshot and personal profiles that included their physical characteristics, personality traits, and what kind of role they were willing to take on as a boyfriend for hire.
He assured her that all the men went through a rigorous background check before being approved, and once she found someone she felt was a match for what she needed, she could ping them and discuss the details from there. All of the “boyfriends” adhered to the same flat-rate charge for an evening of their services, and any more time than that could be negotiated between both parties.
At the end of the email, Dylan provided a link to download the beta version of the Boyfriend Experience app so she could create an account.
Needing a bit of liquid fortitude before she went on the hunt for a temporary boyfriend, Evie poured herself a tall, generous glass of wine, and with her cell phone in hand, she curled up against the corner of the couch and tucked her legs beneath her. After a few long drinks of wine, she put her glass down on the end table and started setting up her account.
Surprisingly, she was only required to input her basic personal information, along with a profile picture. No physical characteristics or personality traits necessary. Since she was essentially the customer, shopping for the perfect guy based on her needs, there was no reason to list her attributes. She liked that the women had all the leverage since they were the ones doing the hiring.
After uploading a recent photo for a headshot, she glanced through the search terms listed on the app to define what kind of guy she was looking for. There was arm candy, the charmer, the guy next door, businessman, bad boy . . . The list was endless. She steered clear of the bad boy and clicked on the charmer.
Next, she selected the top three character traits that were most important to her. Confidence, because he needed to be convincing enough to pull off the whole fake-boyfriend charade. Kind and considerate, because if she wanted to introduce her family to an asshole, she would have taken the cheater home. She skipped over passionate and romantic because she wasn’t looking for a man to sweep her off her feet, and opted for a good sense of humor. He was going to need one to deal with her offbeat parents.
While she took another drink of wine, the app went to work finding matches based on her selections. Once that was done, she scrolled through the names and photos of the guys that appeared on her screen. She wasn’t looking for a love match, but the first few men did nothing to stir her interest. If she was going to spend a weekend with a stranger, she wanted to make sure she felt some kind of attraction so they at least looked convincing as a couple.
Then she found him. Eric Miller. The fact that he had the same first name as her ex would make it easy to keep his name straight so they weren’t outed. But honestly, it was his profile picture that appealed to her the most and not just because he was drop-dead gorgeous. His face, expression, and appearance summed up his personality. His dark brown hair was a little longer than what was the norm and appeared disheveled, so he clearly wasn’t an uptight metro-sexual kind of guy. His eyes were stunning—a deep vivid green rimmed in gold, but it was the glimmer of amusement in their depths that conveyed that he didn’t take life too seriously. And the slight, flirtatious curve to his lips was potent enough to charm the panties off of a nun.
So far, he checked off all the attributes she’d listed.
Intrigued, she clicked on the link that took her to his profile page and the bio he’d written about himself.
Looking for a temporary boyfriend for hire? Then I’m your guy. I’m friendly, outgoing, and depending on your needs, I can take on any role you require. I make an excellent wedding date and/or I can impress your boss at a business-related function with my wit and charm. I’m happy to make your ex jealous by focusing my full attention on you, until you’re blushing and he’s fuming. I can play the doting boyfriend and convince your family and friends that you’re in a solid, committed relationship, complete with public displays of affection if requested. No matter what type of boyfriend you hire me to play, I always aim to please!