Masquerade (Swept Away #2.5)(23)
“I’m not dating online again,” I muttered as I deleted another rude message from a man known as Matt, or as his profile said, KnightInShiningArmani.
Online dating was something I’d been doing since David and I had broken up. At first, it had taken my mind off everything that had gone down with David. Now it helped me to occupy my thoughts when my mind drifted to dark areas. Generally, I enjoyed my online conversations, but there was something about Matt that had really turned me off. He just wasn’t getting the hint. I’d made the mistake of talking to him twice on the phone before deciding that I wasn’t interested in going on a date with him. He definitely looked handsome in his photos, but he’d been arrogant and demanding on the phone, and his e-mails had gotten creepier and creepier. I stifled a sigh as I saw another e-mail come through from Matt and picked up my phone to call my best friend, Rosie.
“This is Rosie speaking.” Rosie’s voice sounded tired as she answered the phone.
“Hey, it’s Bianca,” I said lightly, and walked over to my vanity. “What are you up to?”
“Just a little something called work,” she responded with a sigh. I could tell she was tired from the lack of excitement in her tone. “What’s up?”
“Want to grab a drink tonight?” I checked my reflection in the mirror and sighed. Months of facial exercises hadn’t helped to define my cheekbones at all. “Not that I need any alcohol. My face looks puffy. However, I haven’t seen you in over a month, and we need to catch up. There’s some stuff I need to tell you about.”
“I’m sure it doesn’t look puffy, and yes, we need to catch up.” Her tone changed. “I want to hear what you’ve been up to.”
“Trust me, it does,” I muttered, frowning at the bags under my eyes. “I’m going to make myself a face mask and put some cucumbers on my eyes.”
“Must be nice to be self-employed,” Rosie said jealously.
“Must be nice to have a steady income,” I responded tartly. I’d been freelancing, writing entertainment articles for a couple of online newspapers, for about a year, and I wasn’t sure if I’d made the right decision. As much as I loved movies, my true love was for the kings and queens of England, and I really wanted to become a history professor. However, freelancing gave me the opportunity to play Sherlock Holmes, or, realistically, more like Stephanie Plum. I needed the flexibility in my schedule to allow me to investigate what had happened to my mother more freely.
“Touché.” She giggled. “And yes. I’m down for a drink. It’s been a long month and an even longer day.”
“Boss back?” I made small talk even though I didn’t want to. I really just wanted to tell her about the note and the fake policeman. I wanted to tell her about the woman who watched me from across the street and the feeling I had that someone was following me. I knew this wasn’t the time though. I’d have time to tell her everything tonight.
“Yes, he’s back from Shanghai, and he’s acting like a bigger douche than ever,” she moaned. “He’s treating me like his assistant again. It’s not like I’ve been running the department for the last month or anything.”
“Drinks are on me, then,” I offered. “Maybe he’s treating you like that because he knows you can take over his job and do a better one in a heartbeat.”
“Bianca, you think very highly of me,” she said appreciatively. “However, you can’t afford to buy me all the drinks I’m going to need tonight.” She laughed and then paused. “Ooh, you also have to tell me how your date went with that guy you met online.”
“Oh, I told you about that?” I frowned into the phone, confused. I couldn’t remember mentioning that I was going to meet Matt, but ever since I’d started doing detective work on the side, I couldn’t really remember who I was telling what. I really needed to keep a journal of the information I was giving to different people. Rosie had been my best friend for years, but I knew that she wouldn’t approve of my investigations, so I hadn’t really told her much. But I was starting to think I needed to confide in her when I saw her later.
“Yeah, you told me you were going to meet that guy online, to help get over David, remember?”
“Oh, that was weeks ago, and I canceled it.” I groaned. “I had a feeling that it wasn’t going to work out.” I stared into my eyes in the mirror as I spoke. I felt bad about keeping secrets from Rosie.
“Bianca, you can’t cancel the date before you meet him. Plus, he looked hot in those photos you showed me online. All masculine and sexy.”
“Yeah, he was hot.” I nodded as I walked back to my computer. I shook my head as I sat down. I’d obviously told her about Matt if I’d shown her photos. “He just seemed like a bit of a creep.”
“They’re all creeps.” She sounded annoyed. “Anyway, he looked cute.”
“I don’t want to date a guy who’s creepy before we even meet.”
“How was he being creepy?”
“Listen to this e-mail he sent me last night.” I sat on the bed and put my laptop on my knees. “Hold on a sec. I’m going through my trash, since I deleted the e-mails.”
“No worries.” She paused. “Hey, I wanted to tell you that I saw David a couple of weeks ago.”