“Well, I’m not Chris.” And he rounded the front of the car to jump in while she slid into the passenger seat.

What was he doing? Sure he was at a bit of a loose end, and yeah, he’d enjoyed the last hour talking to her about ideas and plans, in fact he was buzzing from the adrenaline of it. But spending time with Chris’s girlfriend without Chris shouldn’t be a problem. Really. Why would it?

Just that sexual tension underlying everything they said, every glance they shared, and never mind if he actually were to touch her. Then he wanted to, just to see if actual sparks would fly. Bad. Bad idea.

He followed Kassidy around the store. He’d lied to her. Well, actually no. It was true, he wasn’t Chris, but truthfully Bed and Bath wasn’t his favorite store to shop in. He was more into electronics and cars. But he had to admire how she shopped—with a purpose and organized efficiency. She had a list, and headed straight for the towel department. She knew what she wanted. She selected some other bathroom accessories, and then led the way to the curtains, where she took a little longer to make her selection.

She pulled out fabrics and studied them, nibbled her bottom lip as she looked at different rods and checked prices. When she finally made her decision, she tried to lift a long package into the shopping cart.

“Let me,” Dag said and easily shifted the carton into the cart.

“Two of those,” she said, and he grinned.

“What’s next?” he asked after they’d gone through the checkout.

“Well.” She glanced sideways at him as he pushed the cart through the parking lot. “I was going to just browse around some of the shops on Armitage Avenue. There are some funky little places. But really. You don’t have to come with me.”

“Why not?” He loaded her purchases into the trunk of the rental car, slammed the lid shut and dusted his hands together. “Like I said, take pity on me. And if we finish early, I’ll buy you a drink and we can talk more.”

“We’re going out tonight,” she reminded him.

“I know.”

They climbed into the car and he drove back toward the condo, the shopping district she wanted to look at not far from there. His memories of how to get around Chicago were coming back to him, despite having only lived there for the years he was in college. His mom was still in Springfield. Not that he ever saw her or ever wanted to.

They strolled the sunny sidewalks, wandering in and out of the little shops, and Kassidy bought a few things—cool things he actually liked. In one store, she stood there looking at chunky dark wood candle holders, each of them a little different in shape and size. She picked them up and set them down, until finally he said with amusement, “Tough decision?”

She smiled at him. “Yes. It is. I don’t know which three to get.”

“Then buy all of them.”

“There are six.”

“So?”

“It can’t be an even number,” she said patiently. “Don’t you know the rule of three?”

He lifted an eyebrow. “Rule of three?”

“Yes. It’s some kind of design rule. You have to have an odd number. Three is the best number for an arrangement.”

“And you know this how?”

She grinned. “I like to watch a lot of home decorating shows on TV.”

He laughed.

“Seriously. The rule of three applies to lots of things.”

“If you say so.” He reached out and picked up one candle holder, set it aside, picked another slightly shorter one, and another, grouping the three together. “There. There’s your three.”

She studied them and nodded. “Okay. Now I need candles.”

She chose three pillar candles to sit on top of the candle holders, some funky office accessories for the room that was to become Chris’s office, and a small rug for their bedroom.

“I’m done,” she said, surveying the shopping bags he was carrying for her out of the store. A warm smile curved her pretty mouth. “Thanks for helping.”

“No problem. Now how about that drink?”

“Sure. I guess.” She glanced at her watch. “Chris’ll be finished work soon. I’ll text him and tell him to meet us.”

After dropping her purchases into his car, they walked to another outdoor patio nearby. Kassidy thumbed a message into her cell phone as they waited for a table. It was early on Friday afternoon, but the weekend happy-hour crowd had already begun to arrive at the small bar.

The hostess showed them to a small table under a bright umbrella, potted palms dancing in the breeze next to them. “This is nice,” Dag said, looking around. “You know all the good places to go.”

She laughed. “Actually I don’t. Chris and I really don’t go out much. Now my sister, on the other hand, knows everywhere. And everybody.” Her phone buzzed and she flipped it open to read Chris’s message. “He says he’ll be here in an hour.”

Dag grinned. “He’s turned into a workaholic, hasn’t he?”

She made a face. “Oh yeah.”

Dag laughed.

“What’s so funny about that?”

“If you’d known him when I met him, you’d get it.”

A cute crease appeared between her eyebrows. “What does that mean?”

“Chris was a supreme slacker when we met,” Dag said, leaning back in his chair.

Her frown deepened. “Hey…”

He shook his head. “He thought the world owed him everything. Well, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but you gotta admit, he grew up in a pretty uh…privileged lifestyle.”

She still frowned at him. “I…I wouldn’t say that.”

“Well,” he lifted a shoulder. “Maybe not from where you’re coming. But compared to how I grew up, he did. Anyway, it’s good to know some of that stayed with him. A workaholic. Who’da thought.”

She lifted her chin. “There’s nothing wrong with working hard.”

He laughed out loud at that. “Nope. Nothing at all.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You seem like someone who doesn’t have to work very hard. Someone everything just comes to easily.”

His jaw almost hit the small table. What the fuck? “You gotta be kidding me,” he said slowly, staring at her.

She drew back a little. “No. Am I wrong?”

“You are so wrong.” He shook his head, forced a smile. “I’m not making a very good impression on you, am I?”

She blinked. “No…I mean, yes…”

He laughed again, shook his head. Wow.

“From what Chris told me, you didn’t like working for someone else so you started your company developing online games, things went crazy, you made a pile of money, sold the company for even more money and now you’re resting easy looking for something else fun to do.”

Well, it was true, on the surface, and he wasn’t someone who particularly liked defending himself. He never gave a shit what people thought of him. But Kassidy’s words burned a hole in his gut. He shrugged. “Yeah, that’s pretty much it. Never wanted to slave in a corporate box working for someone else.”

“There are benefits to working for someone else,” she said, a little quietly as if he’d annoyed her.

“Sure there are. I didn’t mean…”

“Chris loves his job.”

“I wasn’t insulting him, Kass.” His gut tightened even more.

She rolled her lips in briefly. “No?” Her defense of Chris made something inside him go soft, drew him to her. Dammit.

“No. I admire Chris. He has the logical mind that I don’t. He’s focused, I’m all over the place sometimes. He’s accomplished a lot.”

She nodded slowly.

“And you too,” Dag added. He looked up as the waitress approached, and ordered a beer. Kassidy asked for a mojito. He turned his attention back to her. “You obviously love what you do.”

“I do, but I’m never going to be a millionaire, working in training and development, even for a big company like RBM.”

“So you equate success with how much money you make.”

Her eyes widened. “No! I don’t. That’s my point.”

“Then why’d you say that?”

“Because…you…”

“Because I have money, you think that’s how I define success.”

She gave a short nod. He sighed. “Well, it’s not. Don’t get me wrong, I like money, but that’s not what it’s about for me. You like the security of working for someone else, but I like taking risks—it’s a thrill for me. It’s not good or bad, right or wrong. Everyone’s different. And right now, I have money, but a couple of bad decisions could flush that all down the toilet. Whereas you know you’ll get paid next week. And the week after that. Right?”