Chapter 11
EDEN
Kayla’s eyesgo wide when I show her the app’s stats. “This is wild.”
Danny and I nod in agreement from our usual sitting spots: me on the couch with Kayla and Danny in the armchair next to us.
I try not to look too long at Danny, given he’s decked out in a tux from his date with Ava and looks like James freaking Bond.
James Bond wishes he looked as good as Danny. That suit looks like it was tailored to his body. Every muscle, every long line of his body?—
“You guys are right. We need more Dream Guys,” Kayla says, pulling me out of my totally inappropriate fantasy. Good lord, I need to get this schoolgirl crush I have on Danny under control.
I let out a sigh and refocus. “That’s true, but here’s the thing: a lot of the users that just signed up want more than just a dream date—they want real romantic dates. Would anyone be up for that? I’m not sure Ian and Jamie will be.”
Because of how last-minute tonight’s meeting is, Ian and Jamie couldn’t make it. Jamie is off on some camping trip in the middle of nowhere and Ian is working a late-night shift at the restaurant where he’s a sous chef.
“Both of them are only interested in doing fake dates,” I say.
“Our friend Gavin would for sure be up for going on some real dates for Dream Guy,” Kayla says. “He’s a horndog and is always up for a date with a pretty woman. I bet I could get him to recruit some of his rock-climbing buddies too.”
“Oh, that would be great. You’re a lifesaver, Kayla.” I pull up a new Word document on my laptop. “Let’s brainstorm more. Who else can we recruit?”
“Pretty much all of my adjunct friends,” Danny says. “Not all of them would be up for real romantic dates, but I know a lot of them would be up for going on Dream Dates. Especially if the clients want Dream Guys with specific areas of interest, like art or business or politics or academics.”
“Yes, yes, yes to all of that,” I say as I type furiously. “Now, I think we need a plan to accommodate this growth that Ava’s publicity has given us.”
“What do you mean?” Kayla asks.
“Ava’s a public figure with huge reach. At the moment, Dream Guy is operating solely in the Portland area, but some of the requests we’ve gotten tonight are for other cities. And if even more people see Ava’s post, there might be more requests for Dream Guys in other parts of the country—even overseas.”
My stomach flips as I say it. My app could be on its way to going international.
Kayla claps her hands. “You’re going global, Eden!”
She hops up and heads to the kitchen to grab a drink.
“Not quite yet.” I fight back the giddy smile I’m aching to let loose.
“Come on. Don’t sell yourself short, boss,” Danny says, the corner of his mouth quirking up.
“Boss?”
He nods, his gaze glued to mine. “Yeah. You’re in charge of this—of us.”
One of his eyebrows quirks right along with the corner of his mouth. Damn. There’s something so teasing and bold about the way he’s looking at me right now—about the way he’s so playfully calling me boss.
You’re in charge…
I really, really like the sound of Danny saying those words in that low growl of his.
I shake my head, trying like hell to keep my brain from veering further into that potentially naughty direction.
“‘Boss’ seems like the right word for you.” He winks at me and, oh my god, how did I not pass out after watching him do that?
I clear my throat in an attempt to refocus. “I’m not in charge of you,” I say quickly.
Danny tilts his head, that teasing smile still playing on his lips. He leans closer to me on the couch. “Don’t make it out like it’s a bad thing, Eden. I like that you’re the boss of me. I like it when you tell me what to do.”
There’s a flash behind those hazel eyes. The way the corners of his mouth quirk teeter on the edge of a smirk, like he relishes just how much he’s riling me up with his comments.
I open my mouth and make a choking sound just as Kayla walks back into the room with a glass of water.
“Here.” She hands me the glass and I take a long swig, noticing out of the corner of my eye how Danny is grinning to himself.
I thank Kayla for the water and focus back on my laptop.
“So, um, growth. Revenue. Location expansion. Customer base.”
For the next few minutes, I talk out a plan for how to expand Dream Guy through the Pacific Northwest in this first phase, then across the west coast for the next phase.
“We’ll tackle a possible nation-wide expansion after we see how the Pacific Northwest and west coast expansions go.”
Kayla and Danny help me strategize how to recruit more Dream guys.
“Let’s see how well word-of-mouth and referrals go at first,” Kayla says. “I mean, we already came up with quite a few guys between the three of us just now. Maybe once we recruit this new group of Dream Guys, we’ll ask them to refer people they know too.”
“Good idea,” I say. “Let’s reach out to the guys you two mentioned tonight and ask them if they’d be interested in joining Dream Guy.
When I finish typing, I look up and see Kayla and Danny texting on their phones.
“We’re on it!” Kayla says while tapping quickly on the screen of her phone.
“We’re gonna make you proud, boss.” Danny winks at me before looking back down at his phone. I focus back on my laptop and resist the urge to swoon. No time for crushing on Danny. Okay sure, I freaking loved how flirty he was being just minutes ago, but he was probably just messing around. We’re friends, and friends joke about all sorts of ridiculous things. It’s time to focus. This is my business. It’s taking off. I smile to myself, shocked, thrilled, and nervous all at once.