By the time Evie finished reading the blurb, she was grinning—something she hadn’t done much of since her ugly breakup a month ago. The whole bio seemed very tongue-in-cheek, and there was something about this guy’s humor she found appealing and irresistible. It didn’t hurt that he was gorgeous and his eyes alone made her stomach flutter with awareness.
He had the potential to be exactly what she needed to make her family reunion more tolerable, and before she lost her nerve, she finished off the last of her wine and pressed the link to send him a notification that she was interested in hiring him.
CHAPTER TWO
Now that Eric’s best friend and business partner, Leo Stone, was in the midst of wedded bliss with his new wife, hanging out after work didn’t happen very often anymore. But once a month, Leo and his two other off-the-market brothers, Dylan and Aiden, made it a point to have beers and a burger at a local joint with Eric, just to keep their man card intact, Leo jokingly told him.
Whatever the reason, Eric was grateful because he enjoyed the male friendship and camaraderie, even if at times he felt like the odd man out, being single while listening to his friends talk about how great their significant others were, or Aiden being completely smitten by his adorable daughter.
But despite being the only single guy in their group, remaining a confirmed bachelor was a conscious choice Eric had made long ago. Not because he was against matrimony or a committed relationship. No, his reasons went much deeper than superficial playboy tendencies, though he had no doubt that’s what a lot of the women he dated pegged him as. It was easier to let them believe that than admit the truth and reveal deeper fears he’d never shared with any woman.
As they finished up their burgers, Eric’s cell phone let out a ping, indicating that one of his apps had pushed through a notification. He knew it wasn’t a text or call for the Prestige Car Service business he ran with Leo, but he picked up his phone and glanced at the message, just to make sure it wasn’t something important.
You have a notification from the Boyfriend Experience app.
Eric frowned, momentarily confused by the notification. He knew what the Boyfriend Experience app was since Dylan had created and designed the software and had been bugging the shit out of him to be a beta tester, but Eric had flatly refused to be one of his guinea pigs. He had no problem getting women on his own, and he had zero interest in pretending to be someone’s significant other for whatever the reason some random woman desired.
Eric knew, without a doubt, that at no time had he downloaded the app to his phone . . . which meant that Dylan was most likely the culprit.
Pushing his empty plate to the side, Eric glanced across the table to confront said culprit. “Hey, Dylan, I just got a notification from the Boyfriend Experience app. Since you’re the developer, care to tell me how the software ended up on my phone without my knowledge or permission?” Then a thought occurred to him and he narrowed his gaze. “Did you hack my phone?” Eric wouldn’t put it past the other guy, because he was certain Dylan was computer savvy enough to do exactly that.
Dylan popped a French fry into his mouth and smirked at Eric while his brothers, Aiden and Leo, looked on with interest. “No need to get your panties in a twist, Miller. I didn’t hack your phone. I’m good, but I’m not that good.”
Eric arched a brow. “Then how did your app, the one I didn’t want any part of, suddenly appear on my phone?”
“It wasn’t sudden,” Dylan clarified. “The program has been on your phone for a while now. I put it on there when you were my partner for trivia night. You conveniently left your phone on the table while you went to the restroom, and it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.”
Eric remembered that evening . . . mostly, how neurotic Dylan had been about one-upping his current fiancée, Serena, and her then date, mostly out of jealousy. Dylan had won the trivia game and bragging rights, but it had driven a deeper wedge between him and his best girl friend. Luckily, Dylan had realized just how much he loved Serena before he’d lost her for good.
“However,” Dylan went on, a devious gleam in his eyes. “I did just recently activate an account in your name, and since the app was already downloaded to your phone, that data automatically transferred to your profile, which now makes you eligible to receive requests.”
Leo chuckled and shook his head. “Wow, that was kind of ballsy, Dylan.”
Eric agreed and was pissed off. “What the hell would you do that for?”