over Mark’s folder. A lot of the stuff I knew, except what he’d been doing for the past four years. The gaps weren’t hard to fill, and after two hours I knew exactly how I would help him get the girl.
Then again, the guys’ handy playbook was really helpful in regards to the steps someone like him needed to go through in order to gain a girl’s trust and affection.
“Hey, I said—” Mark’s eyes met mine. “Gabi?”
“Mark.” Was it wrong that saying his name out loud made me wince a little? What had I ever seen in him? His sandy blond hair was way too long, his blue eyes a little too light. Even his face was too round.
He was Lex’s opposite.
Huh, imagine that.
“Gabi.” The gap between his two front teeth appeared more pronounced. “I can’t believe you’re here. I mean, we should catch up sometime.” He swallowed and nervously glanced around the coffee shop. “But really, I am meeting someone and—”
I slid the Wingmen card across the glass table, then took a large bite of my scone. “You were saying?”
“You?” he blurted. “You work with Wingmen? I highly doubt you’re the brains.” Sigh. And we were off to such a promising start.
“The brawn, actually,” I corrected, half tempted to flex. “And my best friend owns the company. Now, why don’t we talk about the object of your affection?”
Mark’s ears burned bright red as he quickly averted his eyes and drummed his fingers against the table. “I, uh, wow.” He coughed into his hand. “This is awkward.”
You’re telling me. But I offered a professional smile. “Only awkward if you make it awkward, and I’m here to help.”
I didn’t trust him. But that didn’t mean I could walk away either. If he’d applied to Wingmen Inc., and if the stats matched him, then I needed to follow through.
Besides, I needed the paycheck.
Especially after my dad’s text that morning. I shook it off and tried a different approach. “Charlie’s pretty.”
Mark snorted. “She’s gorgeous.”
“Smart too.”
He started playing with the straw in front of him, twisting the crap out of it before finally dropping it onto the table. “Look, Gabi, how exactly are you supposed to help me, when—” He pointed at me. I looked down. Did I have something on my shirt?
“When . . . ?” I prompted.
“Well, I’m not trying to be rude, but how’s a seven supposed to get me a ten?”
I almost gasped out loud. The rat bastard! Was he insulting me? To my face? I gripped the bottom of my chair to keep myself from grabbing his straw and stabbing his throat with it a few hundred times.
Four years ago that comment would have wrecked me.
Maybe even a few weeks ago.
But . . . funny thing. Even though being with Lex was leaving me torn up inside—mainly because of the lying—I knew from the way Lex looked at me I wasn’t a freaking seven.
I was an eleven.
Hah! Seven-eleven.
“Why are you laughing?” Mark asked. “I wasn’t kidding.”
I pitied the woman who ended up with him. Then again, he’d always been very literal, dry, smart—almost too smart—and, if I was completely honest, one of the most narcissistic individuals I’d ever met.
“Look.” I eyed the door just as Charlie made her way in, her eyes zeroing in on our table and then flickering away. Ten? If she was a ten, I’d hate to see what constituted a one.
Love is blind, folks. Love is blind.
And suddenly, I wasn’t insulted, not one bit.
Charlie was adorable, beautiful even. Something clicked into place, because it didn’t matter if I thought she was a one, zero, six, five . . . Who cared? What mattered was that to Mark she was a ten, the best of the best, and he wanted her.
“You like her, right?” I asked as I stood to my feet.
“‘Like’ is such a weak word for what I feel in here.” He slapped his chest, his eyes widening as if trying to show me how big his love was. “I would die for her. She’s just . . . She doesn’t even know.”
“Oh, I bet she knows.” I held out my hand. “Now, do exactly as I say.”
The playbook specifically said that jealousy mixed with confusion was the easiest way to get the opposite sex to notice you, because it forces them to look at you through a different lens. If I found him amazing, even if the thought had never occurred to her to do so, she’d do a