Her Leading Man. Maggie Dallen

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СКАЧАТЬ and call, and Alice was a walking reminder that life was incredibly unfair.

      Pushing a stray lock out of her face, Alice turned to her. “I know you’re new to dating so trust me when I say that good dates are the exception to the rule. You’d better get used to the lousy ones.”

      Alice’s lips turned up in a small smile as she added, “Although a night that ends with insults and a lap full of beer is pretty bad as far as bad dates go.”

      Caitlyn turned to Meg, who was sitting in the corner flipping through the chore list for the day—the only task her big belly would allow. “You told her?”

      Meg shrugged. “She’s my sister.”

      Caitlyn rolled her eyes as the others laughed. Clearly her bad date had been the source of everyone’s amusement this week. She bit back a weary sigh. Wonderful.

      Tamara passed her again, lugging a full trash bag, her face screwed up in a sympathetic pout. “I’m sorry you had such a terrible experience. That is exactly why I don’t date.”

      “You don’t date because you’re too shy to speak to the opposite sex,” Marc called out. Marc had taken it upon himself to break Tamara out of her shell but hadn’t had much success. They’d been roommates and friends for more than three years, and so far his “interventions,” as he called them, had yet to pay off. Tamara was pretty in a fragile, ballerina type way, but she hid her looks behind her long blond hair, which tended to act as a veil she could duck behind, and baggy clothes that did nothing for her figure. Marc still had his work cut out for him.

      Tamara kept wiping down the refreshment stand, unfazed by her roommate’s comment. Caitlyn supposed Tamara heard remarks like that night and day since she lived with her biggest cheerleader.

      “I’m too busy to date. This theater doesn’t run itself, you know,” Tamara said with a toss of her hair. It sounded like something she said more out of habit than anything else. Marc gave a snort of disbelief but let it drop.

      “How’s the mission going?” Caitlyn asked.

      “The mission” was Tamara’s ongoing quest to get the old theater on the list of N.Y.C. landmarks. The current owner was not exactly aware that Tamara was pursuing landmark status from the Landmark Commission—and if he knew, he most likely wouldn’t be pleased. It was a not so-secret-secret that the barely-there owner was hoping to sell, and it was clear he didn’t care what the new owners did to the place. He hardly took an interest in the Ellen Theater now, and he was the sole proprietor. Tamara, the woman who actually ran the place, was determined to keep the integrity, not only of the architecture but also of its original purpose.

      “It’s not,” Tamara said. “I filed all the paperwork, but I’m still playing the waiting game.”

      “Do you think the owner found out and is using his connections to stall?” The owner wasn’t exactly a real estate mogul, but he owned enough properties to have connections where it counted.

      Tamara sighed. “I honestly don’t know if he’s intervening or if the red tape is just so thick that this wait time is normal.”

      Meg chimed in from her seat in the corner. “While you’re waiting, you could be dating.”

      Tamara and Caitlyn shared a grin. They were both on the hot seat these days. Marc and Alice were persistent, but as fellow single people they weren’t nearly as bad as Meg and Jake, who thought everyone should be as happy and content as they were.

      They’d met first semester freshman year of college at a dorm mixer and had been together since. Meg and Caitlyn had been roommates at NYU so she’d been witness to the whole disgustingly perfect romance from the very beginning. Sometimes Caitlyn was convinced the two lovebirds had no idea just how lucky they were to find one another at such a young age.

      “You heard Alice,” Caitlyn said. “There are no good men left.”

      Alice’s red head popped up from behind the concession stand. “I did not say that! I just said that good dates were hard to find.”

      Jake cut in. “Alice has a point, Cait. Most men aren’t worthy of your time.”

      Caitlyn rolled her eyes, but his sweet words made her heart ache. Caitlyn caught Meg’s eye and struggled not to laugh as her friend made a face. Jake was a few years older than the rest of them and had a tendency to act like a big brother to all of Meg’s friends. Although, she and Meg joked that at times—like this one—Jake had a tendency to sound like a dad. Which, Caitlyn liked to point out, was just another sign that he was going to make an excellent father. He had lots of practice.

      Ignoring their giggles, Jake added, “You know what they say—you’ve got to kiss a lot of frogs…”

      “But she didn’t even get a kiss out of this one,” Alice chimed in. “And what Caitie needs isn’t a kiss. She needs to get laid.”

      Caitlyn’s cheeks burned. Her friend was teasing, of course, but the words scraped her nerves more than she cared to admit.

      “Here, here,” Marc said.

      “Amen to that,” Jake called out.

      Caitlyn stopped her lame attempts to mop and stared at them, not sure if she should laugh or chastise her friends. She was so not the type to sleep around and they all knew it. They’d been mocking her for years for being the prude of the group. It wasn’t like she was opposed to sex or anything. She just didn’t see it as a high priority. Romance, love, partnership—that was what she needed.

      Which was probably why her ex thought she was boring. He’d always teased her about being an old lady, with her knitting and her homebound ways. But over the last year or so his teasing had grown more caustic, and he’d made more than one pointed comment about her lack of enthusiasm in the bedroom.

      Her friends didn’t know about that, of course. The fact that her ex thought she was frigid was too embarrassing and private to share. But for Alice and the others to think that she would throw herself into the arms of some stranger was ludicrous. Laughable. Yet somehow all she could do was gape at them, speechless.

      Alice caught her open-mouthed stare. “What? Even a serial monogamist is allowed a fling or two between healthy, long-term commitments.” Alice feigned an exaggerated yawn as she trailed off, making Caitlyn laugh along with the others.

      “Not all of us are looking for casual sex,” she reminded her friend.

      Alice sighed melodramatically, but she was smiling when she said, “Suit yourself.”

      The fact that Alice had echoed the exact words from her date was not lost on Caitlyn. You need to get laid. While Alice was clearly teasing, that jerk had been serious. More than that, he’d all but offered to be her lover. As if she would ever stoop that low.

      Her traitorous brain flashed on the ruggedly handsome face, with his sharp features and the scruffy beginnings of a beard. And then there were those sexy dark eyes and that cocky smile. Too bad he had to be such a jackass. She shook her head to come back to sanity. She pulled her phone from her back pocket to check the time and moved to put away her cleaning supplies. “Much as I’d love to hear all of your thoughts on my love life—or lack thereof—I’ve got to head out of here a little early. My new subletter is showing up this afternoon and I’ve got to get the place ready.”

      Meg’s СКАЧАТЬ