her and jerked his thumb toward the woman next to him. “Diana, this is Stacy.”
“Tracy,” the woman said.
Diana smiled. Run you poor girl, run! “Nice to meet you.”
“So, I’ll give you a call this week,” Matt said, turning his back to the woman.
“Okay. Great!” Tracy blinked at him, then left.
“You leverage your good looks to the detriment of your inner qualities,” Diana said, with a sigh.
Matt set down his drink. “What? What did you say? That was an insult, wasn’t it? I told you, no psycho-babble talk around me.”
She ignored him. “I’m working on a relationship book and I wanted to ask you a few questions.”
He grinned and crossed his muscular arms. “You’re coming to the master. Very smart.”
“All of your relationships have been spectacular disasters.”
“Spectacular?” He made a mock-bow. “Why, thank you.”
Diana rolled her eyes. “When you start dating a girl, do you know it isn’t going to work out, or do you always think that there could be a chance she’s the one?”
He arched an eyebrow. “I know she’s the one for the night. That’s a good start.”
“Matt…”
“What? I don’t think that far ahead.”
“Of course not. How do you meet them? Always at a bar?”
“Usually. How else would I be meeting them?”
Diana shrugged. “Setups. Online dating.”
He laughed. “Do I look like I need to do online dating?”
“It has nothing to do with what you look like. It’s a way to meet someone compatible.”
“I’ll know if she’s compatible once I kiss her.”
“I think I’ll change the title of my book to the Neanderthal’s Guide to Dating.”
“I want half the profits.”
“I don’t think it will sell very well.” She hopped off her stool. “Well, I’ll leave you to Tracy.”
“I think her name’s Macy. And I already got her number. I’m going to hit another bar and get a few more. Maybe some girl will be lucky enough to come home with me tonight.”
“You’re pathetic. Mom must’ve been having an affair when she got pregnant with you because you’ve got some bum DNA mixed up in there.” Diana went to the restroom to touch up her makeup. Or rub it off, is more like it, she thought, looking at herself in the mirror. Since she usually just dabbed on a bit of lip-gloss and mascara, the full foundation, blush eyeshadow and liner she was wearing was a little overwhelming. She blinked at herself. She certainly looked different, but she had to admit, she did look good.
She walked back into the bar and her sights immediately zoomed in on a tall, hot, dark-haired guy in a suit, leaning against the bar laughing. She smoothed down her skirt, dismayed that her fingers felt flesh so high up on her thigh, and headed for the guy.
His gaze followed her. “Hello. Can I get you a drink?”
She tucked her hair behind her ear and swallowed, searching for the right thing to say. “If you’re lucky.” Good lord, maybe she did share DNA with Matt.
The guy smirked. “I’m Toby.” He looked familiar.
“Dina,” she said, quickly creating an alter ego on the fly.
Another tall, buff guy squeezed between them. “And I’m Eric, Toby’s younger, hotter brother.”
Diana shook Toby’s hand and then Eric’s. She met Toby’s gorgeous blue eyes, and checked out his smart-fitting suit, his lean build, and his expensive shoes. Shit! He’s a carbon copy of all the men she’d ever dated. No wonder he looked familiar. She’d probably bumped into him at a charity event before.
She forced herself to look away from Toby and smile at Eric. He was good-looking too, in his tight t-shirt, scruffy hair, and dark jeans. He had a little patch of hair under his bottom lip. Steeling her nerves, she reached out and ran a finger over it. “Looks like you missed a spot.”
Eric gave Toby a look. “Nope, I left that there on purpose. Just a little something to enhance the kissing experience. And other things.”
Diana’s hand flew to her mouth. What did a flirty girl say at a moment like this? She forced a giggle. God, a giggle—from her mouth. “I like my men scruffy.” Which wasn’t true. Toby’s clean-shaven face was very appealing, but going after him would be following a road to nowhere. She needed a guy like Eric for the book.
Toby closed his eyes and nodded. “I’ll leave you two alone.”
Her instincts had Diana longing to follow Toby to a table, but her instincts had never been right before, so she turned back to Eric and asked, “Wanna buy me a drink?”
***
And he did. Three