Mr. Virile and the Girl Next Door (3 page)

“Oh, Mr. Martin, I promise you’ll find bigger, better game and forget all about me.”

But would she be able to forget about him?

Scene Around: Two of Port Calypso’s celebrities holding hands at the newly trending club, Felony, is usually not news, but, last night, this society page reporter got a lead on an up-and-coming viral sensation, because these two aren’t your average celebs.

Dane Martin, of popular dating advice website
www.virile.com
, and author of the coming soon release, Coming on Strong
was seen canoodling with none other than our favorite
www.GirlNextDoor.com
blogger, Holly Winters. As most of our PC Daily readers know, Ms. Winters was our advice columnist for three years before striking out on her own. Her untitled book, out next year, is reportedly a self-help book for women struggling to find commitment among the Virile sycophants.

Has the Girl Next Door tamed the most Virile man alive, or is she just another notch on the bedpost?

…
Scene Around
column from
Port Calypso Daily

Chapter Three

Holly eyed her agent across the conference room table, waiting in vain for him to give her a satisfactory explanation. Mitch, on the other hand, refused to look up from the fascinating grain of the wood in front of him. He was not himself, that much was clear. She almost felt sorry for him, despite the fact that she was livid.

Usually, her agent was 007 cool. It didn’t hurt that he was also 007 hot, either. At least that’s what her friends said and she pretended not to notice. All that black wavy hair and McDreamy eyes were hard to ignore though.

“Mitch,” she began.

He sighed. “I’m really sorry, Holly. What I did was completely unprofessional and you should fire me right now. I had no idea the press would be there. It was supposed to be a simple blind date, not a media event, I swear.”

Temples throbbing despite her attempts to soothe them with her hands, Holly didn’t know what to do. She didn’t want to fire her agent. She liked Mitch. He was doing a great job handling all the things she had zero interest in taking care of herself. But she didn’t understand what had possessed him to set her up on a blind date, with or without a gossip columnist nearby.

“Why on Earth did you want me to go on a date with Mr. Virile?” she asked, finally, since, apparently, he wasn’t offering to fill in the blanks voluntarily.

“It was a stupid bet. Magdalene thinks the sun sets on that guy. I knew you could take him on with one hand behind your back, so I may have casually mentioned that not every woman is into that kind of Don Juan…and somehow a cage match was born.”

His explanation actually made things worse. Holly’s blood pressure began to rise. “You were right. That was totally unprofessional of you. I still don’t understand why you would risk our working relationship and your reputation for a bet. It’s not like you at all.”

Mitch leaned back in his chair and blew out a breath. He wrestled with some inner demons for a long minute before he met her eyes. “It isn’t like me at all and you have every reason to be upset. I’ve lost my mind…losing still more every day. It’s just that…it’s…I’m in love with her.”

His confession wasn’t easy. A blush painted over his cheeks and softened Holly’s anger, righteous as it was. “Oh, Mitch.”

He held up a stilling hand. “I know, I know. Don’t say it.”

“Say what?”

“It’s stupid. I don’t know what I was thinking other than I hoped if you could manage to wrangle the virile guy somehow, she might be less inclined to hero worship him so much.” He scrubbed his hands over his cheeks. “She says she doesn’t want a commitment. That relationships and monogamy are outdated. I am, essentially, her booty call. I’ve tried everything. I’m so in love with her that I’m willing to take whatever scraps she’ll heave at me and it’s tearing me up.”

Holly covered Mitch’s hand with her own in a gesture of comfort and solidarity. How many letters and emails about this had she answered over the length of her career? Granted, usually it was the women who pined for men who refused to commit, but the predicament was nothing new, even in a mirrored image.

“How long has this been going on?” she asked.

“Two years. I shouldn’t be telling you this, it’s so unprofessional. Of course, you’re probably going to fire me anyway…”

“Stop, Mitch, please. I’m not happy with what you did, but you’re more than my agent, I consider you a friend.” And she couldn’t walk away from a friend in need any more than she could walk away from the hundreds of emails she got each week asking for advice.

Mitch’s posture became more relaxed. “This is just between us, right?”

“Of course,” Holly answered.

“Magdalene and I hook up a few times a month. Very informally. Nobody at the agency knows about us. We are very discreet. I’ve been trying to breach the friends-with-benefits line since the first time, but she’s adamant that a relationship would kill what we have now and it’s too important to her to lose.” He shook his head ruefully. “She’s killing me. I haven’t been with another woman since. She’s all I want. I don’t know how to convince her to give us a try, though.”

It didn’t sound good to Holly at all. Especially not if Magdalene was hooking up with other men. But she didn’t know how to ask if that were the case without pushing him over the cliff at this point. “Before you…um…hooked up, did you notice if she was ever involved with anyone in a serious relationship?”

“Yeah. She got burned pretty badly, and I know that’s why she won’t commit, but to hear her tell it, she’s never been happier. Alone.”

Holly shrugged. “Maybe she is. Not everyone is wired for a monogamous relationship. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s when they drag people who do want commitment into their sphere that it becomes an issue.”

“She loves me, Holly. I know she does. It’s not just the sex, which is great. Phenomenal, really. We have a great time when we’re together even if we’re just watching TV and eating pizza.”

And wasn’t that always the way of it? How many readers had she coaxed from this ledge over the years? “Look, Mitch, I’m going to shoot from the hip here. Magdalene may very well care about you deeply, but if she’s been honest with you about her expectations, the problem here isn’t her, it’s you.”

“You think I should give up on her.” It wasn’t a question. It was a resigned statement.

“I think that you either need to be happy with what she’s willing to give or move on. Stop sleeping with her. Stop being the friend that drops everything to be there for her. Put yourself first and start actively looking for a woman who wants the same things out of life that you do.”

Mitch started to argue and then stood up abruptly. “You’re right. I know you’re right. It’s not like I haven’t read your book. I just thought if she saw her client fall for the Girl Next Door…”

Holly blanched. “That was your bet?”

“Not exactly. She joked that he could get you into bed on the first night but I said no way.”

It was a good thing Mitch didn’t know how close her body came to betraying her principles last night. Dane Martin was a whole lotta potent male heat. “What were the stakes, exactly? I mean you won, right? Why do you look so miserable?”

“In the interest of preserving what little chance I have at keeping you as a client, I’m not going to divulge the stakes. But they are personal and…er…personal.” His hand reached to loosen his collar a bit. Judging by the scarlet flush of his cheeks, she really
didn’t
want to know.

Holly blushed. “I see.”

“But then the reporter happened. And now, well, now we have something a little more interesting on our hands.”

As if scripted, the conference room door opened and Magdalene and Dane entered stage right. At least this time she knew the meeting was happening, but no matter how she’d tried to prepare for it, Dane’s presence damn near knocked her over.

In the daylight, he was extraordinary. Wearing a “practiced casual” look of jeans and a v-neck sweater, he exuded a let’s-do-brunch-and-hit-the-farmer’s-market vibe. Only she knew he probably never did either of those things with a date. It was too domestic for someone like him. And yet, despite knowing that he was
artificially
wonderful, her body responded automatically.

It should be a crime to look so good. For one thing, his jeans hugged a world-class, Grade A ass. And yes, she knew how sexist she was being. Then there was his face. Dane was chiseled to near-perfection, yet missed the pretty boy look and went for testosterone infused precision. Something about his nose, maybe. Like he’d been in a brawl once or twice. He wore it extremely well.

After the greetings were had, the water was poured, and the four “mature” adults were seated around the table, an uncomfortable silence weighed heavily in the atmosphere. Magdalene fidgeted uncomfortably while Mitch clenched his jaw and stared at his water. When Holly glanced at Dane, she found him openly watching her.

He made a face and Holly couldn’t stop the giggle. Apparently, that was all the room needed. The oppression leaked as if someone had poked a hole in a balloon and everyone chuckled.

Magdalene cleared her throat. “I’ll start this damage control meeting with an apology. I think I speak for Mitch as well, when I say we are very sorry that we put both of you in this uncomfortable mess. We hope you will both forgive our lack of professionalism and understand that we never meant to cause you any discomfort. The press was a fluke. Apparently, the new society reporter is a bridesmaid, and they had a bachelorette party last night at Felony. That said, no publicity is bad publicity.”

Mitch shot a warning glance at Magdalene. “Uh, Mags…”

She waved him off. “There are worse things than soon-to-be-published authors being called celebrities and making the society page in the newspaper. Trust me. This is not a bad thing.”

Holly couldn’t believe it. “Actually, I think being linked to the town playboy when my platform is teaching women to stay away from the playboys of their town can be construed as a bad thing.” Belatedly, she added to Dane, “No offense.”

Dane released a good natured laugh. “None taken.”

Likely because he was proud of his playboy status.

“Think about this for a minute, Holly. If your readers see that the girl next door managed to take Mr. Virile off the market for a time, your blog hits will go through the roof. Not to mention preorders on your book.”

Dane blinked several times and furrowed his brow as if his agent’s words finally caught up with him. “Off the market?”

Mags pushed her voluminous hair to one shoulder. “Mitch and I discussed this before the meeting. We think you two should date for awhile.”

Interesting that
Holly
and Mitch had not discussed this before the meeting. And she let him know so with her best “what the eff?” face. “Oh really?”

Even Dane looked uncomfortable. Especially when Mags added, “Monogamously.”

Mitch interjected a calming voice. “Before you two shoot this down, remember it’s for publicity. You don’t actually have to have a romantic liaison. And you don’t need to lie or answer to any press. Just be seen together in public for a few weeks. Dane, you can really benefit from this. There are a lot of men who follow your blog who are actually looking for a girlfriend or even a wife.” He paused long enough to glance at Magdalene. “Seeing you in a relationship will bolster interest.”

Mags nodded. “We actually think the more coy you two are about not discussing your relationship, the higher the benefits will be. It won’t hurt either of you to go on a few dates. Just,” she pointedly added towards Dane, “don’t date anyone else for the duration.”

Dane shook his head. “My blog followers know I’m happy being single. I don’t think this will work.”

“It feels dishonest to me,” Holly said.

“If you are asked point blank about the nature of your relationship, just say you are friends. They’ll eat it up. And it’s not lying. Look, I saw the picture in the paper. Neither of you looked like it would be a hardship to spend more time together.”

Holly blushed. The “canoodling” picture did look pretty intimate. Dane hadn’t so much as kissed her last night, but the camera caught them both looking very much like they wanted it.

Mitch caught her gaze. “Unless either of you is worried you won’t be able to keep it platonic, what do you have to lose here?”

“Really, Mitch? Psych 101?” Holly shook her head. “The two of you should be ashamed of yourselves.” Reverse psychology was not going to work on them.

“I’m in,” Dane said, surprising everyone at the table.

“Really?” Holly asked. “Because you know they are just trying to cover their own asses here, right? By spinning this into some sort of publicity coup they don’t have to face up to the fact that they totally crossed the line.”

At least they looked sheepish.

“We’ll have plenty of time to make them pay for that. In fact, we can come up with some great ways to torture them while we are on our ‘dates.’ They’re right, my reputation is solid with men who want to stay single, but I do have followers who want relationships. It can’t hurt for me to get more perspective. Having a committed non-sexual dating relationship will help me understand their needs better. You can tutor me.”

She wasn’t sure if she should be flattered or insulted by that. He was serious, though. It didn’t feel like he wanted to deceive his readers as much as he wanted to gain some experience with their perspective. While it still felt a little shady, dating Dane would give Holly a chance to help him change his mind about relationships. Not that she wanted him. But it was sort of her duty to help him to the light, wasn’t it? Of course, it also meant that he was going to keep trying to get her into his bed.

She ignored the light flicker of butterfly wings in her stomach and held out her hand to shake on a venture that was probably a really bad idea.

He took her hand, but instead of shaking it, he brought it to his lips. “I know a great place for brunch if you’re not busy.”