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Chapter

One

Dr Taryn Landry had learned that talk of sociopaths was not great first-date oing on about the topic and watching her date lean a little farther back in his chair, his eyes drifting to the cell phone he’d set next to his plate at the too-fancy restaurant A cell phone that had vibrated about every fifteenthe financial planner was in very high demand

“Yeah, so,” she said, clearing her throat and trying to find a natural end to her ra, “based on my research and the results of other studies, I’ve developed a program I hope to implement in schools Most of the traits and factors that lead someone to violence aren’t ih A lot of people have that bad seed theory in their head, but I refuse to believe there’s nothing we can do, and the research is supporting that belief”

Doug lifted his gaze at that, as if just noticing she was still there “Right That’s…interesting”

Yep He hadn’t heard a word she’d said Awesome But she wasn’t surprised She hadn’t conducted a forh anecdotal evidence to know that she sucked at this whole dating thing People wanted to talk about breezy stuff on dates—what Netflix shows they were bingeing, what hobbies they had, which cities they wanted to visit one day She didn’t have time to have favorite TV shows or quirky hobbies or to take vacations to exotic places She had research, developing her progra She barely had time to sleep, much less be recreationally well-rounded

Why had she subjected herself to a date again? She could’ve been home and in her comfy clothes by now Instead, she was here in uncomfortable shoes and even less coreed to this because she liked the idea of dating so a pile of research and student papers with her, she soined what it would be like to have someone to call or have dinner with, or more than have dinner with That was probably what had landed her on this blind date—the idea of thesewas just straight-up painful

She took a long sip of wine as her date glanced at his phone again “Do you need to check that?”

“Huh?” Doug glanced up guiltily “Oh, no It’s fine Well, maybe I should check in case it’s work”

Taryn shrugged, expecting the answer She had a degree in reading people, but Doug’s behavior didn’t require a doctorate to decipher “Knock yourself out”

At least she could tell her friend Kincaid that she’d given this a shot Kincaid had set her up on this date because Girl, I worry about you You need to get out of that research lab and live a little Doug is shties teen movie villain

Taryn had pictured a young Jaree to this, but Doug would never have been able to pull off feathered hair and a white suit Also, she suspected he had a mild case of narcissistic personality disorder—which was probably why he’d shut dohen she’d started talking about sociopaths They were in the saical family He was probably insulted

Or maybe she should learn to shut up about the research part of her job and just tell people about the y at a university When people asked about what she did for a living, they usually were just being polite and didn’t actually want to hear the details She liked details—telling the the to her She collected the places What made someone tick, what led them to their career, whatso the financial planner

Date experiment conducted Experiment failed Oh well This outcome would’ve h crash-and-burn rate She wouldn’t have gone on this one if Kincaid hadn’t looked so damn sincere and concerned about Taryn’s lack of a social life Her friend didn’t want her to be lonely, and Taryn loved her for at least trying However, now she was ready to get hoet in her pajama pants, and compile the final data for her presentation