This Changes Everything Read Online Free PDF Page B

participated in a win-a-date function for charity, and she loved to tease him about it. “No, nothing like that. This will have trips to the Riviera, rare tech prototypes, butt lifts—”
    “The really classy stuff for rich people.”
    “Exactly.” Here we go. “I want you to go with me.”
    Her eyes widened. “Me? Why?”
    “Please, Cleo. I can’t go to this one alone.”
    “So don’t. Ask one of your girlfriends.”
    “You make it sound like I have a harem,” he said.
    “You know what I mean. One of the women you’ve dated in the past.”
    “I don’t want to start…” Resting his elbows on the railing, he looked over at Alcatraz on its famous rock out in the middle of the bay. “I wouldn’t want her, whoever, to get the wrong idea. The auction is on a Saturday. We’d drive down Friday night, spend the weekend there. It’s… a nice place. Expensive and…” He trailed off.
    “Yes?”
    “Romantic. There’s a woman there I want to meet—”
    “Oh, I get it.” She threw her head back and laughed. “You know I won’t get in your way.”
    “It’s nothing like that. She’s a business contact. Or I’d like her to be.”
    “Ah. Work again.”
    “It’s not for me. It’s for Mark. I think he might like to hire her in my place.” He rubbed his eyes. “I left him in the lurch when I quit his start-up. It was his idea, you know? And I know the guys I left behind can’t do it without help. This is the best way I can think to meet her.”
    “But you said the idea wasn’t going to fly. What can a new person do?”
    “I don’t know. Maybe something I couldn’t. I want to walk away, but this bad feeling is keeping me up at night. I owe Mark. Don’t let him hear me say that, but I do.”
    “Why can’t you go to the auction by yourself?”
    This was the part he’d rather not get into. “I’d rather not get into it,” he said.
    “Which is why I probably don’t want to go.”
    “Yeah, probably. But I hope you will anyway.” He gave her his most toothy, charming smile, which made her roll her eyes. “Teresa’s going to be there,” he said.
    “ Teresa Teresa?”
    He nodded grimly.
    “You can’t show up alone if Teresa’s going to be there,” she said.
    “Exactly.” His ex-girlfriend periodically attempted to reignite their former relationship.
    “But you can’t show up without a serious girlfriend if Teresa’s going to be there,” she continued. “Maybe even a wife. And full-body armor.”
    “Since I don’t have any of those things, I thought of you.” He gestured at the crowded path, and they resumed walking. “It’s a really nice place. A resort overlooking the ocean. Some of the best views on the entire coast. I’d pay for everything, of course. Two nights, two days. Spa treatments. Food. Whatever you want.”
    “I work on Saturdays, Sly.”
    “I know, but sometimes you make special arrangements if you have to.”
    She crossed her arms over her chest, gazing up at the suspension cables, and didn’t say anything for a minute.
    “Other than joining me at the auction,” he continued, “which is only a few hours, you’ll be free to do whatever you want. Bill everything to the room.”
    “Room, singular?”
    “I’ll sleep in the bathtub.”
    She shook her head. “I’d be willing to do it—”
    “Excellent! I’ll make sure—”
    “If it weren’t for the Teresa thing. She’s never going to buy it that I’m your girlfriend. Nobody will. You might as well go by yourself or find a new female sacrifice who’s willing to sleep with you right away.”
    “People will believe it if you wear something other than men’s pajamas.”
    “I’m not doing a Pretty Woman makeover just for a weekend with a bunch of rich Silicon Valley geeks.”
    “I’m not asking you to. Wear whatever you want other than pajamas.”
    “Nobody will believe it.”
    “You’re mental. They will.”
    “I bet you they won’t,” she said.
    “I bet you they will.”
    “How