Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 100277 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 501(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100277 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 501(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
He nodded and then gestured me impatiently out of his office. “Let me show you out.”
“But . . . don’t you want to arrange our first . . . appointment?”
“I’ll text you with the arrangements and we’ll set up that app thing you were talking about.”
“All right. Try to give me as much notice as possible.”
He gave me a brief nod. “Text me your email and I’ll send over the contract. Once that’s signed, I’ll need your bank details.”
Wow. This was actually happening. To cover my sudden uncharacteristic burst of nerves, I muttered dryly, “I would have thought your PI would have dug up my email address at the very least.”
“Funny. Should I prepare myself for this level of humor during our fake relationship?”
I grinned. “I don’t know. Should I prepare myself for droll stick-up-the-ass responses to everything I say?”
Rafe groaned and brushed past me into the hall. “This is going to be a long six months.”
Chapter Five
Music from the neighbor directly beneath me swelled up through the floor, but luckily the guy was a mutual fan of the Airborne Toxic Event, so I hummed along to “Faithless” as I made an omelet for my late dinner. I had spent the last thirty-six hours line sitting for theater tickets in the pouring rain and all I wanted to do was grab a bite to eat that didn’t have processed, artificial crap in it, and then fall asleep on my Murphy bed.
While my apartment was bigger than any I’d rented in New York, it was still a studio. My landlord had furnished the place with a bed and two chairs, but I’d asked him to take those out because Jude had a friend who was selling one of those fancy new Murphy beds with the built-ins. I got it for a steal! It was the first time in my adult life that I had shelves. I’d only been in the apartment a year and I’d already filled every inch of them with books.
Books made a place feel cozy and lived in. So much so, I didn’t care it only took three steps to cover the entire length of my kitchen.
I switched off the cooktop after I’d plated up my omelet, grabbed water, and settled down on my sofa to watch a show Kendall had waxed lyrical over for years. I’d finally given in to her pleading to watch it and fired up my laptop.
Eleven and Mike had just met on the screen when my phone buzzed beside me. At the sight of Rafe’s name, I experienced a flutter in my chest. That was normal, considering our unusual agreement, right? There was absolutely no other reason for my heart to skip a beat.
Pausing the show, I swiped my screen and hit the speaker button. “Howdy doo-dee,” I answered.
“Tell me that is not how you answer the phone,” Rafe commented wearily.
I grinned. “For you, I’ll make sure it always is.”
“May I request that you don’t?”
Seriously, I was smiling so hard my cheeks hurt. “Oh, I don’t know. I quite like the reaction I got.”
“You are exasperating.”
“Did you say I’m exhilarating?”
“Exasperating,” he repeated, exasperated.
“Exasperating, exhilarating, tomayto, tomahto.”
“Why is it when I call you, I immediately forget why I called?”
Chuckling, I shoved away my nearly empty plate and relaxed against my sofa. “Because I’m dazzling.”
“Someone likes herself.”
“Of course I do. Don’t you like yourself?”
Rafe was quiet a moment and then when he spoke, his tone was tighter, more formal. “I’m calling to arrange our first date. My plan is to pretend with my family that I’m busy this next month, so that when I announce we’re dating, they’ll think we’ve been dating all this time.”
“Does that mean we won’t start this thing for a month?”
“Exactly. That should give you plenty of time to figure out your schedule, right?”
“Yeah, that’s great.” So why did I feel disappointed I wouldn’t see him for the next month? It made no sense! The man was a pain in the ass.
“It means that our actual first fake date will be at our monthly family dinner because they’ll think we’ve been dating for weeks.”
Wow. Talk about throwing us both to the lions. “Don’t you think we should practice or something before we just dive right in with the family?”
“I’ll come over to your place the day before the family dinner to tell you what you need to know. My parents live in Harrison, so we’ll also have the drive to go over everything again. We’ll make sure you know the things about my family that you would know if we’d been dating for a month.”
It all sounded a little too laid-back, even for me. I mean, I was a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of gal, but I felt like a deception on this level required research, test runs, spending more time together to be comfortable enough that we appeared as if we’d been dating for a month.