Page 20 of Good at Being Bad (Rock Canyon, Idaho 8)

“Also, have you ever thought of buying a motorcycle?”

“God, did you and Gracie join forces or something?” he asked.

She cocked her head, bewilderment written all over her face. “Huh?”

“She told me the other day I should get one.”

“So, why don’t you? They are totally hot. Plus, the gas is cheaper and—”

“Yeah, I got the speech from Gracie.”

“Yo, Ellie, time’s up!” Eric hollered from the bar.

Ellie sighed and waved at him. “Why don’t I bring over Chinese tomorrow and we’ll discuss the rest of my evil genius plan.”

“I believe the evil genius part.” Why was he doing this? Did he really think she was going to be able to help? What if she was just trying to make him look like an idiot as some revenge plot for his asshole behavior and he was going along with it?

Because I will always be that pathetic high school nerd who can’t say no to a pretty face? Weak, Stevens.

“Oh, and I need the little Pickup Artist book so I can make notes.”

“Yeah, no, I’m not giving it to you,” Mike said.

“Why not?” Her tone was sickly sweet, and didn’t help his suspicion. “Don’t you trust me?”

“As much as I’d trust a mouse in my cupboard.”

“Come on, I promise I won’t show anyone.” She rolled her eyes when he hesitated. “If we are going to have a professional work relationship, you gotta take a leap of faith and trust me. I promise, I will not make you look like an idiot.”

And just like he when believed Felicity Marshall when she’d promised to go out with him if he did her science homework, he said, “Okay.”

Once a sucker, always a sucker.

Chapter Seven

The next morning, Mike headed down into the canyon to run along the Snake River. It was seven-thirty and the cool May air felt amazing as he stretched. There were several more populated trails, but he preferred to run alone.

Plus, the landscape of lush trees and bushes, and the sound of the rushing water was soothing.

If only he wasn’t so tired today.

As far as Ellie and this partnership went, he wasn’t sure if this was really going to work. Especially since Ellie’s promise of not making fun of him lasted until about eight o’clock when the texts had started. He’d given her his number so they could make a plan to meet up and she’d blown up his phone until almost midnight.

Now he couldn’t force her voice from his mind.

Seriously? Give a woman a “neg”. How in the hell is there an 82% success rate on that?

Mike knew what a neg was, but he had never used one on a woman. Mostly because he couldn’t imagine saying, “Normally I’m turned off by tall women, but your curves more than make up for it,” and not getting slapped. Plus, there was the fact that two of his closest friends were women and had pinched his arm for saying they looked tired. His mother raised him to think complimenting women was more effective than being a dick.

Obviously, she had been a little off on that advice because from what he had seen, most women seemed to prefer their men on the douche bag side.

As he stretched and prepared for his run, he caught the flash of something black-and-white in the bushes. The creature hadn’t been bigger than a rabbit, and had moved fast.

He sniffed the air, worried it might be a skunk.

Instead a puppy peeked around a bush hesitantly, its dark eyes wary.

“Hey, there.” Mike squatted down and made kissy noises. If there had been anyone else around, he may have been embarrassed, but he loved dogs. “What are you doing out here?”