The Fidelity Files (Jennifer Hunter #1)(31)

"Well, for starters, he likes Asian women."

Sophie rolled her eyes. "C'mon... that's a little obvious. I could have told you that... and I know nothing about men."

I held up my hand. "Yes, but would you be able to tell me that he's never dated one before?"

Sophie's doubtful expression slowly morphed into masked intrigue, and I knew I had to keep talking. "This is a relatively new obsession for him. He's always liked classic-looking white girls. Blond hair, blue eyes, the usual. In fact, he'd never even given Asian girls a second glance. But he probably recently saw Memoirs of a Geisha or some other movie that had a beautiful Asian woman in it, and then suddenly he wondered why he'd never noticed them before.

"So, very soon after, he decided he would start trying his luck with Asian women. Partly because he now saw how beautiful they were, but mostly because he just hadn't had any success with the blondes. He comes to bars at least twice a week to try to meet girls, but for the most part, it's a fruitless effort. Because he doesn't know how to talk to them. In attempting to impress women he ends up sounding either too anxious or too arrogant, because those are the only strategies he knows."

I took a deep breath and sat back in my seat. I knew I was right. I only hoped that Sophie knew it too.

She stared at me, her mouth gaping. "Have you been practicing or something?" She spoke slowly and cautiously, as if I were a crazy, volatile witch who had been known to chop people up and bake them into pies when aggravated.

I took a sip of my chocolate mint martini and avoided eye contact. "No ...it's just something that has progressed with age, I guess. Like balding."

Sophie continued to stare at the man, who was now standing alone at the bar after the Asian woman had promptly rejected him and moved on to work the next room. "But how do I even know that you're right?"

And with that I was immediately out of my seat, with nothing to lose – except possibly my best friend if this plan didn't work out. "I'll prove it to you."

Sophie skeptically observed from the booth as I walked over to the man, tapped him on the shoulder, introduced myself, and politely invited him back to the table with an unassuming smile. He followed me willingly, and I stood next to him in front of the booth.

"Sophie, this is Brad. Brad, this is my friend Sophie."

They shook hands, and Sophie shot me a look implying her lack of confidence in my sanity.

"Brad," I began playfully, "Sophie and I were wondering if we might be able to ask you a question. You know, to get a guy's opinion."

The man looked apprehensively from me to Sophie, unsure of what this was all about but relatively certain he didn't want to walk away from two attractive women who had, for some reason, handpicked him from the crowd to help appease their curiosity.

"Sure," he responded warily.

"Great!" I said, giving his upper arm a flirtatious squeeze. "Well, we saw you chatting with that beautiful Asian woman just a few minutes ago, and we started talking about guys who have a thing for Asian women. We were just wondering what that was all about. Is it because they're exotic looking, or because..." I trailed off, knowing full well that he would interrupt me.

And he did.

"Actually..." he started.

"Mmm-hmm?"

"I'm probably not the best person to ask. I've just recently developed a 'thing' for Asians, and judging by the way that one blew me off, I'm not sure how long it will last." He chuckled, trying to mask his feeling of rejection.

I looked at Sophie with an "I told you so" expression and then returned my attention to my unassuming guinea pig. "Really? Why's that?"

The man shifted his drink from one hand to the other. "Well, the truth is...I just rented House of Flying Daggers and..."

I gasped and grabbed Brad's arm. "Isn't Ziyi Zhang breathtaking?"

Sophie looked at me suspiciously, and then Brad let out an orgasmic sigh. "Yes! She's... amazing. In fact, don't tell anyone, but I just added Memoirs of a Geisha to my Netflix queue today."

Sophie's mouth dropped open again, and she shook her head at me in disbelief.

Brad continued talking. "It's not really the kind of movie I'd usually watch, but..."

"Well, that's about all we wanted to know." I gave him a brusque pat on the back and slipped into the booth across from Sophie. "Thank you so much for your time."

Brad watched us, certain he had missed something. He opened his mouth to speak but then on second thought decided he probably just didn't want to know . . . and he definitely wouldn't understand. In his mind he would chalk it up to "Women are from Venus" and that would be the end of it.

He nodded. "Glad I could help," he said, slightly annoyed, and then headed back to the bar for another round of rejection.

"So?" I said to Sophie after Brad was out of earshot.

Sophie closed her eyes and surrendered a laugh. "Wow, Jen. All I can say is 'Wow!'"

"So now you'll believe me when I tell you that Eric is trustworthy and you should reconsider this ridiculous test thing?"

"What test thing?" Just then Zo?'s voice came sailing over the top of the booth. I looked up to see her standing mere centimeters from where Brad the Bewildered had stood only moments ago.