Elise
I gave Thalia a fake smile and yawned. “Yes—umm, long day.” I didn’t know what Jack was up to, calling me his girlfriend, but I figured I’d go along with it. For now.
But not before I pinched him hard in his muscular flank. How dare he drop a fake-dating scheme on me without consulting me first?
He flinched and gave me a closed-mouth grin, squeezing me tighter.
He knew how I felt about committing to anyone, least of all him! Even if it was only fake dating.
I’d been a wreck for months after our hookup. So much so I’d had to leave the country to get back on track via an internship opportunity that had fallen in my lap at the time. That was why even faking dating Jack was a dangerous proposition.
He grabbed my purse and handed it to me, said a hasty goodbye to the group, who were staring in mild confusion—probably because Jack had never introduced me as his girlfriend—then we stumbled out of the glitzy bar on Grant Avenue with him holding my waist and pushing me forward at the same time.
Once outside, I shoved him away. “What was that?”
He scratched his jaw. “Sorry, I panicked.”
“What in the world made you panic? You were having a blast vetoing my potential dates.” Sadly, Jack proved to possess a discerning eye when it came to other men. He’d point out some awful characteristic about a guy I hadn’t noticed, and then that was all I could see. It was super annoying, but likely spared me in the long run.
He grinned. “That was fun. But no, that’s not why. I was getting vibes from Thalia.”
“Oh, that,” I said and straightened my purse across my body. “She was all over your tip.”
He grimaced. “Do you have to put it like that?”
“She wants a slice of the Jackson salami. Wants to be the bun for your hot dog. Wants to be the ass in the tapping. Wants to slime the banana…”
He winced, and I inwardly smiled. Irritating Jack was the best part of my day.
“Must you put it that way?” He looked green around the gills.
“Am I wrong?”
“No,” he said grudgingly and flagged a passing taxi, going old-school instead of using a ride app.
I tucked my hair behind my ear and looked away. “She’s wanted you from the start, you know.” I glanced over, and he was staring at me in shock. “You didn’t know?”
Jack might be able to sniff out the secret desires of my prospective dates, but I was highly attuned to Thalia. She seemed nice enough, and she must be whip-smart or Jack wouldn’t have hired her. But that woman had a thing for him. The touching of his arm, the giggles in his bedroom when she’d come over the one time… Oh yeah, she wanted him.
Our past was in the past, but it still irked me to watch another woman get all up in Jack’s business.
And I needed to get over that.
There had to be some way to make myself immune to him. Which was why I’d attacked the mission of finding a date tonight like a marauding Viking. Nothing like moving on with someone else to help you forget the past. Granted, having your past help you find someone to move on with was twisted, but what could I say? Jack and I didn’t do things the normal way.
That was why I was so upset over the fake-dating thing; it went in the opposite direction of my moving on.
“What are we supposed to do if we’re together and we see her? Because given our luck, we’ll run into Thalia.” The frustration in my voice was clear.
The taxi stopped at the curb, and Jack opened the back door. I scooted in, and he climbed in beside me, man-spreading, with his thigh nearly pressed against mine.
“There’s nothing we need to do.” His tone was low and intimate now that we were inside the confines of the taxi. He gave the driver directions to our building. “I’ve made it clear I prefer working with her at the office. I doubt she’ll come by the apartment. Besides, now that she knows I have a girlfriend, she won’t continue to hit on me.”
I snorted. “Sure, she won’t.”
“What was that?” he asked as a loud horn blared.
“Nothing—” I said, my words cut off as I braced one hand against the side of the car and the other on Jack’s toned thigh while the driver made kamikaze moves to get us through downtown traffic. I glanced up, and Jack was watching me. A spark of awareness made my senses snap.
I quickly released my hold and looked out the window, flushed and disconcerted. “I’m just saying, I hate lying. I don’t want to have to do it in the future.”
“Understood.” He looked over sheepishly. “Thanks again for tonight.”
I made a disgruntled sound. “That was the one and only time, Jackson. I’m serious.”
Not forty-eight hours later and Jack was on my last nerve, asking me to lie for him again.
He stood in the doorway to my bedroom, where I was eating corn chips and scrolling social media. “I need your help.” His wavy hair was extra poofy, as though he’d run his fingers through it a few thousand times, and his face was lightly flushed.
I sat up and brushed crumbs off my chest. “What’s up?” Jack was a chill guy. He wasn’t the type to embarrass easily or get flustered—the incident with Thalia notwithstanding—so I was concerned.
“There’s a society party I need to go to tomorrow night, and Thalia will be there.” He squeezed his forehead, let out a deep sigh, then looked straight at me. “There’s no way you’d be willing to be my date, is there?”
My jaw dropped. “Are you kidding me?”
He held up his hands. “Hear me out. Thalia thinks you’re my girlfriend. I could go by myself, but…well, I think I need more than one time with you to bring the point home that I’m off the market.”
“You don’t think she believed you the other night?” Of course she hadn’t. Or at the very least, she wasn’t ready to give him up yet.
He glanced away. “Thing is, she’s a shark in business, and I’m getting the sense she might be in dating too.”
I sighed. “You’re just now figuring that out? I could have told you that the other night. What the hell, Jackson? Tell her you’re not interested.”
He favored me with a dry look. “She’s not the type to take no for an answer. Ask me how I know.”
“How do you know?”
He threw up his hands. “Because these women gravitate to me like flies on shit!”
I smiled. It was a funny image, and entirely possible. He was cute and sweet and successful. What wasn’t to like? “I see your point. But if you know this, and you’re used to women behaving this way, don’t you know how to deal with it?”
He crossed his arms. “Clearly not. My track record isn’t stellar. I haven’t gone out with anyone in over a year because I’m fucking paranoid of repeating past mistakes. I also don’t want to hurt Thalia’s feelings.”
“Back up. Did you just say you haven’t dated in a year?” That was a long time. And it would mean I had been the last person he’d… No, couldn’t be. He’d probably slept with many women since that night. Just not dated them.
He lifted one shoulder. “What can I say? It’s been a long dry spell.”
He was serious. He hadn’t… “Shit.” I tipped my head back and stared at the ceiling.
This man… I might kill him. Because I was actually considering this. He was helping me out with a place to stay, and he didn’t want to flat-out reject Thalia, his star employee. Pretending to date me would make it so he never had to. “How fancy is the party? You know I don’t own any clothes right now.”
He fist-pumped the air. “You don’t need anything. Tell me your dress and shoe size, and I’ll hook you up. Already got your bra size.” He tapped his temple.
I closed my eyes. “You looked at my bra size when I we shopped at Target?”
“Hell yes, I did. Fascinating stuff. Still thinking about those granny panties—”
“Stop while you’re ahead.”
He grinned. “I promise you won’t regret this. Keep whatever I buy you and add it to your new wardrobe.”
Free clothes? Good quality too. As casual as Jack came across, the guy had excellent taste. He’d pick out better stuff than I ever could.
I was a sad example of the female population. Until now, my fashion sense consisted of sweatshirts and jeans. But I was getting tired of my black pants and Sophia’s hand-me-downs. What would it be like to own something nice?
Getting a pretty dress out of the deal was a perk. Though the idea of his buying me anything made me uncomfortable. “I don’t know.”
“Keep in mind,” he said, “you’d be doing me a favor, not the other way around. Think of the dress as a uniform, like the apron.”
Well, when he put it like that…
“Fine. I’ll do it. But this is the last time.”
