I Flipping Love You (Shacking Up #3)(26)

“Ah.” I hold up a finger. “That’s where you’re wrong. She was first out of the gate. I was behind her by three minutes. She took her sweet old time getting out, so she was born at eleven fifty-eight and I was born at twelve oh one, so technically we don’t even have the same birthday.”

“So you were prickly right from your first breath, then,” he says with a smile.

“Seems that way.”

“Tell me about the date you were on the other night.”

Oh, no way. That was mortifying the first time around; I don’t need to relive it. “There’s not much to tell. You saw how it ended.”

“I assume he’s tried to reschedule, though.”

“How would you know that?”

Pierce crosses one leg over the other, posture decep tively relaxed, but his eyes are sharp. “He’s not an idiot. He knows he’s dating up with you.”

I’m sure my confusion is obvious. What does that even mean? “Dating up?”

“As in, he’s aware that you’re out of his league and that he’s lucky to have had an opportunity to go out with you at all. Especially with a name like Terry.”

“What’s with everyone ragging on his name? My name is Rian. I sure don’t have a right to make fun of anyone else’s name.” I take another sip of my wine, mostly to keep my mouth and hands busy. Pierce does that chuckle thing. I fight the urge to look at him, and lose. “What’re you laughing about?”

“I think your name suits you perfectly, and I think Terry’s name suits him perfectly, but I don’t think you and Terry suit each other at all, so I’m curious as to how you met and how many times you’ve been out.”

“What is this? Some kind of dating inquisition?”

“Like I said, I’m curious. Especially since you’ll go out with him and not me.”

“Well, I’m here now, aren’t I?”

“Only by chance.” He props his chin on his clasped hands, giving me his full attention. It’s unnerving. “So back to this Terry guy. I want to know how he managed to get you to willingly go out with him, yet I have to pretty much blackmail you into it.”

“If you must know, I met him through a dating site,” I mutter into my glass.

“Excuse me?”

I glance up to find him staring at me with disbelief.

“Don’t give me that look. Lots of people use online dating sites. It helps weed out the undesirables, and it’s a lot better than the kind of guys I’d find in the bar.”

“Based on what I witnessed the other day, I’m not so sure the site you’re using is doing a very good job at the weeding part, or the matching you up with someone appropriate.”

“Oh? How would you know what’s appropriate for me?”

He lifts a casual shoulder. “I’m calling it how I see it. Terry isn’t a good match for you. Even my sister agrees.”

“Well, you’re wrong about that. Terry and I are a nine out of ten on the compatibility scale.”

He arches a brow. “Is that so?”

“It is so.” Why do I enjoy this tension so much? I avoid guys like Pierce for a reason. I might be attracted to him, but I’m well aware nothing good can come from dating someone like him. Especially if he ever found out about my past and my scandalous family history. The last guy I told couldn’t ditch me fast enough. His excuse? He couldn’t associate with someone who came from a family of thieves. Those were quite literally the words that came out of his jerk mouth.

“And how exactly does one determine a nine out of ten level of compatibility?”

“There’s a test.”

“Of course there is.” He pulls out his phone. “Which site would I find the test on?” He starts thumb typing. “Is it e-Love Forever, or The Right Fish, or oh, what about this one, LoversRUs?”

“It’s none of those.” I shrink down in my seat, my face heating under his scrutiny. “It’s a paid site. Those are better.”

“Ah yes, that makes sense. So Match4Life then?”

I purse my lips and glare.

“Perfect.” He pulls his wallet out of his back pocket and flips it open, slipping out a black Amex.

“What’re you doing?”

“Setting up an account so I can take the test.”

“But why?”

“So I can see how compatible we are, of course.”

“Oh, of course.” I don’t know him well enough to be able to tell if he’s making fun of me.

We’re both silent as he fills in the credit card information. Next he completes his general profile. My curiosity piques when he gets to the questionnaire portion of the test. I don’t know what I want more, for the test to come back determining we’re incompatible, or the opposite.

“Height, six two,” he mumbles, “Am looking for, hmm…” He scrolls through the options. “What did you put down here? Hang out? Is that like playing video games in Terry’s basement apartment in his mother’s house?”

“Haha. He has a condo, and he doesn’t live with his mother.”

“So he says. Have you been to his place?”

“No! Absolutely not!”