The Boyfriend Project

by Farrah Rochon

  Except he would only be here a few more weeks. A few more days if he was able to catch a lucky break with this case. Daniel sobered. Lucky no longer seemed like the appropriate word, not when it meant he’d never get the chance to explore what could become of the attraction that pulsed like a heartbeat between himself and Samiah.

  This lunch date—whether she considered it a date or not—was likely the only one they would ever have. And if this was the extent of the personal time they would get to spend with each other, he wouldn’t waste any more of it thinking about how little time he had left with her.

  “I’ve been meaning to thank you,” Samiah said after swallowing a bite of fish.

  He sucked soy sauce off his thumb. “For what?”

  “For being such a decent guy when it came to that stupid video. I appreciate that.”

  “That was a hard thing for you to go through. Seems rude to continue to harp on it.”

  “Tell that to your coworkers.”

  There wasn’t much hostility behind her indelicate snort, but Daniel could tell it still bothered her.

  “Now that you’ve mentioned it, how are you holding up post going viral?” He put his hands up. “I’m only asking because I really am concerned.”

  “I know you are,” she said. “I appreciate that too.” She swirled the chopsticks around the bowl, mixing up the vegetables. “Things are starting to die down a bit. At least the friend requests on Facebook aren’t in the hundreds anymore.”

  “The views on the video have slowed a bit too,” he said.

  “You’ve been checking?”

  Daniel shrugged. “Just wanted to see how long your celebrity status would last. Gotta decide if I should move on to someone else.”

  Amusement gleamed in her deep brown eyes. “I think there’s one of a dog riding a vacuum cleaner that’s getting all the attention now.”

  “Told you dogs were better than cats. I bet he handles the fame better too.”

  “The dog can have the fame,” she said, some of that spark leaving her eyes. “I never asked for it.” Her shoulders dropped with the sigh she released. “But at least I found out Craig was a dog before things got too serious with him. I consider myself lucky, despite the unwanted notoriety.”

  Daniel stared at her bent head for several moments. He should let it go. It was obvious she was uncomfortable talking about this.

  He stabbed at a pink square, but then set the chopsticks on the rim of his bowl.

  “There’s something about how all of that went down on that video that I can’t figure out.” So much for letting it go. But then she encouraged his question with a nod. “You learned about the other date on Twitter, right?”

  “Actually, it was my sister, Denise. She’s the Twitter fanatic. I was at home getting ready for a date I was supposed to have with Craig later that night. Of course, Denise had no way of knowing I was connected to the guy when she started reading those tweets. Craig and I hadn’t been seeing each other for very long. I hadn’t introduced him to family or anything.”

  “So how did you get to the restaurant so quickly? Wait, how did you even know which restaurant to go to? It wasn’t mentioned in any of the other woman’s tweets.”

  “Taylor.”

  “Come again?”

  “The woman he was out on the date with? Her name is Taylor. The tall one with the gorgeous hair is London. And I knew which restaurant because it’s the same one he’d taken me to for our first date. It just so happens to be in my neighborhood. The moment she mentioned the volcano sushi roll in her tweet, I knew where to find him.”

  “Ah.” He nodded. “Guess that makes sense. I know that restaurant. I haven’t been there, but I’ve seen it while out running.”

  “Oh, do you live nearby?”

  Daniel realized he’d just outed himself.

  No, he hadn’t outed himself; he’d just given himself a credible reason for being in her neighborhood. Not that he planned to run into her. He’d decided to never put himself in that predicament again.

  But it didn’t hurt to establish the story. Just in case.

  “No, I live near the Triangle,” he said. “It’s nice up there, but I like running along the river and sometimes through downtown.”

  “It’s gorgeous, isn’t it?” Her eyes lit up. “The moment I moved to Austin I knew this area was where I wanted to live.”

  “You’re not from here?”

  She shook her head. “Houston. The Third Ward. Or, as the rest of the world knows it, the place where Beyoncé grew up.”

  He tipped his head in acknowledgment. “Living among royalty, huh?”

  “She is the Queen Bee.” Samiah laughed. “And she still does a ton for her community. Much more than you see in the news.”

  “Does your family still live there?”

  “Mom and Dad do. My older sister moved here last year. She and her husband both teach middle school math with the Austin ISD. Independent School District,” she tacked on.

  He took a sip from his bottle of ramune. “Must be nice to have family here with you. I haven’t lived near mine for a while. My mom said she’ll disown me if I’m not home for Thanksgiving.”

  “You’d better buy that plane ticket now.” Her sly grin was so lovely it hurt. “Angry mamas are to be avoided at all cost. Especially around the holidays.”

  “Speaking from experience, huh?” Daniel chuckled.

  “Oh, yeah. I’ve gotten ‘the look’ on more than one occasion.”

  “If it’s anything like the look from a Korean grandma, you have my sympathies.”

  “Oh, your grandma is in Philadelphia too?”

  “Philadelphia?” His brow rose. “How did you know that? You’ve been checking me out?” Her cheeks immediately darkened with her blush. It was the most beautiful thing he’d seen in years. Everything about her was the most. The most enchanting smile, the most engaging laugh, the most captivating eyes, the most intriguing mind. With every additional moment he spent with her, he became more entranced by her.

  He was within an inch of falling over the edge. He needed to take a step back. Shit, make that several steps back. He had to walk a fine line between playing a role in a casual, lighthearted office flirtation that he could possibly convince his supervisor back at FinCEN was necessary for pulling off this undercover job, and plunging head first into lust with this woman.

  The first would get him a reprimand, but it was survivable. The second would be career self-sabotage.

  “Well, the fact that you seem to own sports gear from every single Philly sports team was my first clue,” she finally answered. “But, yeah, I asked about you,” she added with a rueful smile, as if she knew she’d been caught and didn’t care. She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and Daniel’s breath arrested in his lungs. He’d give anything to have just one taste of those lips.

  Fuck.

  He shifted in his seat, trying to stave off the images that usually came to him in his dreams. Annoyed by the route his brain had taken yet again, he settled his elbows on the table and tried to recapture the relaxed, lighthearted mood of a few minutes ago.

  “It’s not as if I’m trying to hide anything,” he said. “I’m proud to be Philly born and raised.”

  “So what brought you all the way to Austin? Was it the job?”

  He nodded, returning to his poke. “I’d been hearing a lot about Trendsetters, so I kept my eyes open. Job openings are like unicorns at that place.”

  “We have an extremely low turnover rate. We even have a few people who left Silicon Valley to come here.”

  “Cost of living alone would do that, but I understand the appeal.” Going with the story they’d set up back at FinCEN, he said, “I’d never visited Austin; the Thursday before I started at Trendsetters was the first time I’d ever stepped foot in the city. It’s great here. And you can’t beat the weather.”

  “That’s because it’s unusually mild as we head into the fall this year. Just wait until summer roll
s around,” Samiah warned. “You’ll see how you like those jogs along the river when the thermometer is nearing three digits.”

  “Aw, don’t tell me that.” Daniel groaned. “Just the other day I had to stop in the middle of my run and peel my shirt off.”

  Her gaze dropped to his chest. “That must have been nice.” Her horrified eyes shot back up to his face, wide with dismay. “I said that out loud, didn’t I?”

  He coughed, a feeble attempt to dislodge the desire clogging his throat. Daniel could feel the heat on his face rising. “Yeah, you did,” he said.

  A potent, electric charge sizzled in the air between them, a sensation so strong he felt it on his skin. It put to rest any hope that this could remain something between friendly coworkers. He wanted to be more than just a friend, and he didn’t give two fucks about being her coworker.

  But that’s all he could be to her. Anything else would jeopardize everything he’d worked for.

  His fingers clenched the napkin he’d picked up. Daniel had never resented his job more than he did at this very moment.

  “Umm…wow,” Samiah said with a nervous laugh. “Well, okay. Umm…we should probably head back. I’ve got a ton of work on my desk.”

  “Samiah—”

  She snapped her fingers. “I totally forgot that Keighleigh wanted to talk about some…something.” She started to push back from the table, but Daniel stopped her, capturing her wrist.

  “Samiah, wait.” She looked down at his hand, then back to his face. He let go. “Look, do you want to maybe do something one day?” What in the hell was he doing? “Something other than lunch?” he clarified.

  Shit, he was asking her out. On a real date.

  “I’ve read about how great the scenery is around here and how there are all these great trails to explore, but I haven’t had a chance to venture out. I just thought maybe…I don’t know. Maybe you could join me.”

  “Trails? Do you hike?”

  “Yeah.” He nodded. “I haven’t been able to do much lately. Do you hike?” he asked. That hadn’t been in her dossier.

  “I do.” A soft smile replaced the panic that had been in her eyes a moment ago. “I know it doesn’t sound like something a girl from inside the Loop in Houston would be into, but I love it.”

  “Do you want to go hiking one of these days?” Don’t say it. “Maybe this weekend?”

  Shit.

  He’d pushed too hard. He could tell by the caution that entered her eyes, as if just realizing that, apart from their coffee bar encounters, they didn’t know each other all that well.

  “Not this weekend,” Daniel corrected before she totally shut him down, which she would have every right to do. “Why don’t we grab lunch a few more times. I can tell you about my Philly upbringing, and you can tell me what it was like growing up in Beyoncé’s backyard. Then, maybe, by next weekend you’d feel more comfortable hiking through the woods with someone who you’ve known all of three weeks.”

  “Was it that obvious?”

  “You’re smart to be cautious, Samiah. And I’m not here to make you feel uncomfortable. I just thought…maybe,” he said with another shrug.

  “I’ll think about it,” she said.

  Daniel couldn’t curb the smile that spread across his face if his life depended on it. “That’s a start.”

  He pushed away from the table and gathered the remnants of their lunch, depositing the food in the compost bin and the recyclable containers in their proper place. Then he held the door for her to exit the restaurant.

  As he walked alongside Samiah on the way back to their building, alarm bells continued to ring out through his brain. He chose to ignore them.

  He liked her. He wanted to get to know her better. If there was a rule against it at Trendsetters, he hadn’t come across it. As for FinCEN? As long as it didn’t get in the way of him doing the job he came here to do, why should it matter who he became involved with?

  Yeah, tell that to the boss.

  Chapter Eleven

  You’re not ready?”

  Samiah looked up from her computer and experienced a sudden flush of warmth throughout her body. Daniel leaned against the wall just inside her door, looking like a midday snack. The least he could do was try not to be so damn gorgeous all the time.

  It was the cheekbones. She was supremely jealous of those high, angular, pronounced-without-being-too-pronounced cheekbones. And don’t get her started on his deep brown eyes or that flawless warm, golden skin. His African American and Asian makeup forged a medley of the most scrumptious features.

  So. Un. Freaking. Fair.

  “Am I ready for what?” she asked.

  He made a point of looking at his watch as he pushed away from the wall and strode into her office. “I do believe we’re supposed to have lunch.”

  “Oh, really?” She propped her elbows on her desk, folded her fingers, and rested her chin on them. “I don’t remember agreeing to lunch today.”

  “Didn’t we establish this already? Me and you. Lunch. Until you’re comfortable enough with me to explore some of the hiking trails around town?”

  “But we had lunch yesterday.”

  “Hey.” He held his hands up. “I don’t know how they do it in Houston, but up in Philly we tend to eat lunch every day.” He shrugged. “Maybe it’s a regional thing.”

  Samiah clamped her lips together, taking a moment to collect herself. If she laughed she would only encourage him.

  “You think you’re cute, don’t you?” she said. The moment she did, she wished she could snatch the words back.

  That delectable dip in his cheek appeared with the emergence of his smile. He advanced several steps and perched his hands on the edge of her desk. His eyes glittering with amusement, he said, “The question is, do you think I’m cute?”

  His unrepentant grin was evidence that he was enjoying this way too much. So was she.

  And that was the problem.

  She couldn’t do this. She’d decided last night that resisting—no matter how irresistible the dimple and the man who possessed it was—was her only option. She’d made a pact with London and Taylor to focus on her personal goals. Getting involved with anyone, even on a casual basis, would blur that focus.

  “I really can’t,” Samiah said. The light in his eyes dimmed and his smile faded by several degrees. “I’m so bogged down right now, and then I have a meeting out in Wells Branch in less than—” She glanced at the time on her computer. “Shit, in less than an hour.”

  “Wells Branch? That’s even further up than where I live. What’s going on all the way out there?”

  “I’m meeting with the directors of a foster care center. Trendsetters offers technical support to nonprofits that can’t afford IT staffs. It’s one of the projects I spearhead.”

  He nodded. “Owen mentioned something about that during my orientation. I guess it’s not just lip service like most of the companies I’ve worked for. They really take giving back to the community seriously around here.”

  “I make sure they do, even if I have to do it myself,” Samiah said. “And that’s, unfortunately, why I can’t have lunch with you today,” she lied. “Sorry.”

  “You will have something to eat, right? Even if you have to eat it at your desk?”

  “I was planning to grab a granola bar. Just an FYI. You know, in case you want to make sure there’s a peanut butter one in there.”

  That slow, easy smile reappeared. She wasn’t 100 percent sure, but there was a pretty good chance the sensation she felt below was her panties melting.

  “Will you pencil me in for lunch tomorrow?” Daniel asked. “I’m not sure how you’re ever supposed to get comfortable with me if we don’t do this lunch thing.”

  He wasn’t even trying to be adorable right now and it still took everything she had not to give in to his irresistibleness.

  “I’ll try to make myself available.” She would have to come up with a list of excuses she could use if she plann
ed to stick to this pact she’d made. Her phone rang. “It’s the foster care center’s director,” Samiah said. “I need to take this. Hello?”

  Sorry, Samiah mouthed.

  He lifted his shoulders in an it is what it is shrug before shoving his hands in his pockets and backing out of her office, resignation evident in the rueful slant of his lips.

  She stared at his retreating back as he walked down the hallway, not tearing her eyes away until he turned the corner.

  It took a second to remember there was someone on the other end of the phone call. She returned her attention to the center’s director, who asked if their meeting could be postponed by an hour. The moment Samiah ended the call, she clicked into her messaging app to tell Daniel that she was free for lunch. But then she stopped herself. She could have made lunch work even if the director hadn’t pushed the meeting back. That wasn’t the reason she’d turned down his invitation.

  She was doing the right thing. It didn’t matter how perfect Daniel seemed. Craig had seemed perfect in the beginning too.

  No. That wasn’t true. Craig had never seemed perfect. It was unfair to even compare the two men. With her relationship with Craig—if it could even be called that—she’d shouldered the lion’s share of the work, not only starting the conversations but keeping them going. With Daniel, it was effortless. When they met for their morning coffee they never had a problem finding topics to discuss. She knew his favorite music artists—a bunch of rappers from the eighties and nineties who were probably grandparents by now—and that he could recite verbatim entire scenes from The Hunt for Red October.

  If her life depended on her knowing Craig’s favorite movie, her family would be picking out funeral clothes.

  But just because you know a person’s favorite movie or that they prefer mochas to regular coffee doesn’t mean you know them. Who’s to say Daniel wasn’t a serial dater, just like Craig. He could have hookup partners all over this country.

  You know that’s not true.

  No, she didn’t know. And whether it was true or not didn’t matter. Her priorities had shifted. Finding a man was no longer on the list. It was time she focused on her.