“Your friend’s a jerk,” Bianca complained to Steven when he finally caught up to her. “Why did you bring him?”

“He’s not that bad,” Steven argued. “I told him to stay away from you. He was shocked that you would say something like that in front of him when I’d been adamant that he back the hell off.”

“Yeah, let’s talk about that. Why did you warn him off like that? It’s always been pretty unspoken between us that we wouldn’t go after each other’s friends. Why tell him I was off limits?”

Steven shrugged, making Bianca frustrated. “I don’t know. I knew you’d been in a slump with men lately and George is exactly your type. I knew you’d be all over him, and I just didn’t want to see you get hurt.”

Bianca exhaled slowly, calming herself and trying to figure out how to ask exactly what she didn’t want to ask. “Why do you think he would hurt me? Is he dangerous?”

Steven laughed. “George? No. He’s not dangerous. But I’ve never seen him go out with a woman more than once or twice. You’re not that kind of woman, B. You’re a lifer.”

Bianca sighed. She didn’t want to be the way she was. She wanted to be able to hook up with a guy and not worry about the future, but she always did. She was a planner. Her life was always lined up in advance. Bianca had a five year plan. Hell, she had a thirty year plan if she was honest with herself. She knew what she wanted, and she wasn’t going to waste her time on the things that didn’t help her get there.

And hook ups fell squarely into that category.

“You’re right. It’s not worth it for me to have a fling, no matter how cute he is.”

A throat cleared from behind Bianca. She whirled around to face George. And he was laughing. Again.