SecondSightDating by Marianne Stephens

the entry into her kitchen then aimed an
embarrassed peek at her. “Sorry for the intrusion. I’ll go now.”
    Huh? Could he have gotten a completely different idea when
Mike opened the door and she appeared in her bathrobe? Could he be jealous?
    Hmm. She’d encountered that green-eyed monster herself back
in the restaurant. At first jealous over Dan’s date with size two,
model-goddess Monica, relief had settled in after he’d been dumped. No matter
how hard she tried to tell herself otherwise, his failure pleased her.
    It could have been because she still wasn’t
convinced of his honesty at wanting to meet women. Then again, Dan had a way of
causing her body temperature to jump a few degrees every time he looked at her
with those bedroom eyes.
    A tiny niggling of remorse replaced her anger. So did
curiosity. Was he jealous?
    Serena quickly padded over to the door, opening it for Dan.
“Look, it’s been a strange night for both of us and it’s late. Neither of our
dates turned out the way I thought they would.” Not true. I knew they
wouldn’t work . “Come to my office at noon tomorrow. Let’s work on what
you’ll say to Miss ‘E’ for your next date.”
    His face brightened a bit as he said, “You’ll still help me?
Can we set up a date soon? Like Sunday?”
    Desperate Dan, on the prowl for a date? Or, a woman to
fleece?
    “I’ll, uh, try for that. For myself, too. See you tomorrow.”
    * * * * *
    “Steve, I still can’t believe she’s involved in shady business,
but there’s no doubting Serena comes across as someone with something to hide.”
    Dan’s night had been anything but restful after leaving
Serena’s apartment. He’d lingered outside for awhile, hunkering down in the
driver’s seat of his car, keeping a close eye on her front door and window.
    After an hour of spying, frustration set in and he’d made
the decision to leave. Why the hell had she let “Gino” stay but kicked him out?
    “What happened?”
    Over the next few minutes, Dan related his evening’s trip into
the dating world of Serena’s making. Not a pleasant sight, no pun intended.
Things had gone from bad to worse.
    “Romeo, turn on the charm. You’ve got to get her away from
this new Gino guy. Make her think you’re interested in being her partner.”
    Dan rubbed his face with both hands, then aimed a dubious
look at his boss. “Her even considering me as a partner has to be a long shot,
but hey…all she can do is say no. I’ll have to have some bankroll behind me for
this if she somehow wants to check my finances. Are you authorizing funds? How
much?”
    Steve shrugged. “See what she’s asking. We’ll go from there.
Tell her you have a trust fund you can dip into for a good investment. But keep
working on the dating thing and meet these other two women.”
    “Why? If I get her to take me on as a partner, why do we
need the others?”
    Steve shrugged. “Witnesses, part of her stable of women, who
knows what we’ll come up with.”
    Hands balling into fists by the sides of his legs, Dan
trudged out of Steve’s office after uttering an audible, “Hell.”
    * * * * *
    “Sis, I’m not sure I understand what’s bothering you about
this Dan guy. Quite honestly, I’d say he’s jealous and has a crush on you.”
    Serena scrutinized her brother as he sat across from her at
the kitchen table, ready to do verbal battle with him.
    She’d looked like an undesirable fool with playboy Sean. Did
Dan take pity on her? Commiserate with a fellow dumpee? Dan? Jealous? Maybe he
really thought she and Mike, newly named Gino, were an item.
    “I told you already. I watched him snooping around my
paperwork, checking out bios. And, come on. How could such a handsome, sexy man
need help in finding women? Wouldn’t women line up outside his door, fighting
each other for a chance at him?”
    “Oh, little sister of mine.” Mike laughed as he waved a
finger at her. “You’ve got it bad for this guy. Admit it. This is me