The Hookup Handbook(3)

But Ryder’s right—I do need to chill out. I’ve got that feeling in my stomach like I’m waiting in line to go on a roller coaster.

But who could blame me? It’s my first day of work at a job where I’m the only employee who isn’t having sex for a living. Ryder’s line of work never bothered me much, but I was always able to keep the details at arm’s length. Now I’ll be right in the middle of the action, so to speak, and I can’t help but feel a little grimy about the whole thing.

“You seem tense,” Ryder says as his gaze remains out on the road. “Are you thinking about Evan or something?”

“I never should have told you about him at all.”

He turns the volume down on the radio. “Why not?”

“Because you keep pulling the older brother card on me. I’m fine, I swear.”

“That’s what brothers do. They also lend out their spare bedrooms to their little sisters. So, are you thinking about Evan?”

I resist the urge to roll my eyes. I never should have told Ryder about my breakup with my college boyfriend. Now he brings it up all the time, like he thinks he’s supposed to ask about it or something. I spared him the details, like the real reason Evan ended things with me. I also left out the part about my personal goal to chase Evan’s memory away with a summer fling.

“No, I’m not thinking about Evan. I’m way over him. That was months ago. I’m just nervous about my first day. This isn’t exactly a typical job, you know.”

“You’ll be great,” Ryder says. “And I promise it’s not nearly as awkward as you think it’s going to be. Case is fuckin’ awesome.”

Okay, then. Apparently, my new boss is fucking awesome. Yay, me.

I pick at a loose thread on my charcoal-gray pencil skirt, hoping Ryder is right. I just have to think of this like any other temporary office job. Just something to buy me time and give me a little experience while I sort out whether to apply for grad school. It’ll look good on a résumé, as long as I leave out the company’s details.

“Just administrative work, right?” I ask, verifying for what has to be at least the hundredth time.

“Of course. Filing some paperwork, helping the boss stay organized. No funny business. You’re just here to do office work.” Ryder takes his hand off the wheel to lay it on his heart, then puts three fingers up in the air. “Scout’s honor.”

The car veers a bit, and I grip the dashboard for dear life.

“Any way you can put your ‘scout’s honor’ on getting us to the office without crashing the car?”

Ryder returns his grip to the wheel, and my blood pressure returns to normal. “We’re not gonna crash,” he says as he makes one last sharp turn down what looks more like an extra-long residential driveway than an office entrance. “Besides, we’re already here.”

As we cruise down the driveway, an enormous white stucco-and-glass home emerges from behind the sycamore trees. Ryder swings the car into a miniature parking lot off to the side of the house, parking next to a small collection of luxury cars.

“Quite the office,” I say in a hushed voice, taking in the gorgeous landscaping.

“The office is the entire first floor. Otherwise, it’s the boss’s house.” Ryder unbuckles his seat belt and hops out.

“More like the boss’s mansion,” I mutter, following Ryder’s lead out of the car and up the limestone walkway. I’m wobbling a bit in my black heels but keep my chin high, repeating my brother’s promise over and over in my head. No funny business. You’re just here to work.

Ryder punches in a pass code at the door, and with a whir and a click, we’re in. “It’s ten twenty-two,” he says over his shoulder. “Case’s mom’s birthday. But I’ll pretty much always be here with you, so you probably don’t have to memorize the code.”

I smile, knowing that I’ll commit it to memory anyway. I’m not one to let the details slide.

My heels clack along the white marble floor as I follow closely behind Ryder, avoiding eye contact as he greets a tall, toned man who walks by, and then another and another.

“Do I need to know them?” I whisper.

Ryder laughs. “Not if you don’t want to. They’re just like other coworkers, except they happen to be escorts. The only one you really need to know is Case.”

Past the kitchen and then a conference room, Ryder leads us to a big wooden door and knocks twice. A low, gravelly voice comes from the other side, telling us to come in. And we do.

“Hey, Case, this is Sienna. Sienna, this is the big man, Case.”

I step out of Ryder’s shadow and lock eyes with Case’s ultra-serious stare.

Big is the correct adjective to describe this man. He’s sitting, so I can’t properly gauge his height, but he’s got to be six and a half feet tall. Dressed in jeans and a white T-shirt that his biceps are trying to escape from, he makes me feel overdressed. His coffee-colored hair is short and neat, just like the scruff hugging the angle of his jaw.

He’s handsome, there’s no denying it. I guess his profession suits him. But it’s the stare that catches me the most off guard. So serious and unwavering. If my brother is the easygoing one, Case looks like he’s all business. His hands are folded neatly on his wooden writing desk next to an overwhelming stack of paperwork, which I can only assume will soon become my responsibility.