Ready to Run (I Do, I Don't 1)

“Yup. He’s, um…not interested.”

“The good ones rarely are,” Dana said. “You know the rule. Always go with the candidate whose friend applied for him, not the guy who applied himself.”

“Yeah, well, that’s sort of the problem. This guy didn’t apply at all.”

“How’d you find him?”

“Google.”

“Nice.”

Was it? It felt a bit more like…stalking.

“At what point do I back off?” Jordan asked, pulling a throw pillow onto her stomach and tugging at a loose thread.

“Hmm. You’re sure he’s the right guy?”

“On paper, yes. And he’s got this…quality. A quiet reluctance that I think viewers are going to swoon over.”

There was a moment of silence. “Are you swooning over him?”

“Of course not,” Jordan scoffed. She and Dana weren’t nearly close enough for Jordan to confide her kinda-sorta crush on Luke. “And he hates me.”

“Nobody hates you. You’re too nice.”

“He called me a vulture in high heels,” Jordan blurted out. She hadn’t meant to say it, but it had been on her mind, and apparently she needed to tell someone.

“Ouch,” Dana said with a little laugh.

Yeah. Ouch. It had…well, it had hurt. Not only because the description was unflattering but because it had felt true.

Jordan didn’t want to be that woman. The one who was so focused on her own goals that she steamrolled right over other people’s wants.

But she didn’t want to give up either. Not just because of professional pride; her gut was telling her there was some sort of unfinished business here. That if she didn’t see this through, she’d always…wonder.

“What’s your deadline?” Dana asked.

“End of the month.”

“Three weeks. That’s workable. What about seducing him?”

“Dana!”

The other woman laughed. “Come on. It wouldn’t be the first time.”

“It would for me!”

Dana sighed. “Fine, okay. How’s the backup-candidate list?”

“Short and shrinking,” Jordan replied glumly. The list had only had six viable guys, and two of them had gotten back to her yesterday with thanks but no thanks.

“So tell Raven you’ll have to open it up to applications.”

Jordan groaned, and Dana made a sound of understanding. “I know, I get it. It means thousands of weirdos to weed through, but it does widen the pool.”

“Raven’s gonna be pissed.”

“Probably,” Dana agreed. “She’s been wanting to keep this whole thing under wraps so the other networks don’t know what we’re up to. Our sneak attack goes out the window once we do applications. But, Jordan, if your guy’s a no-go…”