Page 42 of Tempting the Player
“Before you say a word,” Bridget said, holding up a hand as she twisted toward Miss Gore, “I want your promise that this will only be a month.”
Chad’s brows shot up.
Jumping in before Chad could open his mouth, his publicist nodded. “It would be a little over a month—a few days. Basically until New Year’s Day.”
Bridget lowered her hand and took a nice, long, and healthy gulp of vodka. Now his eyes narrowed on her. “Do you think you can make it that long?” he asked sardonically.
“I think I’ll need to develop a drug habit to get through this,” she said, smiling sweetly.
Miss Gore stepped forward. “Actually, I would advise against that.”
Bridget’s brows rose as she took another drink of the vodka. “Sorry, but this is all new to me.”
“Well, I’ve never had anyone pretend to be my girlfriend, so I’m in the same boat as you.”
She glanced at him but quickly looked away. “What are the ground rules?”
Miss Gore’s gaze traveled between the two, her eyes sharp. “No public intoxication or drug use.”
Chad folded his arms, exasperated. “I don’t do drugs.”
“That last part was meant for her.”
Now it was Bridget’s turn to look riled. “I’ll try to refrain from doing my daily hit of crack.”
Chad barked out a short laugh, but Miss Gore was not amused. “You two will need to be believable. I suggest that you do not tell any of your friends or family about this arrangement. If this were to get out to the press, we’d all look like fools.”
“Then maybe we should find another way,” Chad suggested.
Bridget’s gaze dropped to her half-full glass. “I agree.”
“There is no other way. You’ve made your bed with Bridget and now you get to roll around and lie in it. Moving on.” Miss Gore straightened her glasses. “You must be convincing to the public. No arguing. You have to act like you like each other, and given the fact that you two shared a very public kiss, that shouldn’t be too hard.”
A pretty flush crawled over Bridget’s cheeks. “Can we not talk about that?”
Chad had been entertaining a quick fantasy of tracing the rush of blood with his fingers, mouth, and tongue. “Oh, you’re going to start the whole ‘I’m not attracted to you’ thing again?”
“Just because you kissed me doesn’t mean I’m attracted to you,” she shot back.
Oh, here the fuck we go again. “You kissed me back. “
“I didn’t have much of a choice.” Her hand had tightened around the glass. “Just like I don’t have much of a choice right this second.”
The way Bridget said that made it sound like she was about to take a job shoveling pig shit. “It could be worse. I hear I’m a pretty good catch.”
“Yeah, when you were named Sexiest whatever alive last year, when you were still relevant.”
“Ouch.” Chad’s brows shot up, and he laughed, genuinely amused. “I’ll be expecting a written apology when I’m named again this year.”
Bridget eyed him over the rim of her glass. “If that happens, then I seriously question the taste of American women.”
He remembered easily how great she had tasted. “If I recall correctly, you’ve—”
“Children,” snapped Miss Gore. “You two kissed. We’ve established that. All right? Obviously there is some sort of attraction between you, but I cannot have you two behaving like bickering children in public.”
Bridget glanced down at her glass. “I need more vodka.”
“Aw, come on,” Chad drawled.
