Page 144 of Handsome Devil
“That’s probably true…”
“I think it would be in our best interests to just give them a story that’s believable and satisfying. Since we went to school together, it makes a lot more sense to say that when my family’s company bought the agency you worked at, a spark was ignited between us. You know, an old spark brought back to life. It’s a lot more believable than a whirlwind romance where we met each other and married within a few days. And it’s not all that far from the truth. I mean, spark aside.”
He glanced at me, and even when I wasn’t looking at him I could feel his gaze.
Ever since he’d put his fingers inside me… the ice had thawed, revealing glimpses of something else beneath that I was not expecting.Heat.There was a spark there, for sure.
I couldn’t tell if he’d just enjoyed the sex stuff we did that much… or if he now thought it might give him free reign to do more sex stuff.
Either way, I wasn’t sure I liked it.
“So, going forward, that’s the story we work with,” he went on, when I said nothing. “Probably easier to sell a lie if part of it is truth. Friends, family, media, anyone who asks, that’s the story. If you agree.”
“Okay. It makes sense.” Unfortunately, it did. “We can go with that.”
“And this part is key… We have to really sell it to my handler. He has to believe we’re in love and everything here is on the up and up.”
Say what now?
“Hold the fucking phone. You have a handler?”
“Yeah. Unfortunately. Corben the Crypt Keeper. You met him at our wedding.”
“The old guy? I thought he was like a valet or something. A butler?”
“No. Hopefully I won’t be stuck with him that much longer.” He grimaced a little.
“Stuck with him…?”
“After the sex tape leak, my mother hired him. Assigned him to babysit me.”
“You’re kidding me.”
“Nope. And believe me, he’s watching. And listening. Everything I do, everything I say. And now he’ll be watching you, too. He’s in the car behind us. He goes where I go, for now. But I’m kind of hoping my new status as a happily married man will get both him and my mother off my back.”
“Well… I don’t particularly want some guy on my back critiquing every word I say, either. So I’ll do my best to be convincing for both our sakes.”
“Glad to hear it. Because leaving me in a pool with two guys, for hours, on our wedding night, while you hung out with your best friend on the beach? It didn’t look so good.” He shot me a look. “We need to sell this a little better than that. You know, like the part where you pretend to like me? And you can stand to hang out with me at important events? Like our wedding?”
“Right.”Oops.“I mean, if you’d told me he was there spying, I could’ve joined you guys in the pool.”
“It’s fine,” he said. “Let’s just move on.”
“Sure. I’ll try harder,” I forced out. I wasn’t sure why I felt kinda bad about it. We spent the night in the honeymoon suite together, and everyone at the resort knew it.
Maybe it was the fact that he actually seemed a little… disappointed or personally offended or something… that I didn’t hang out with him?
“Maybe together we can get rid of him,” I said. “Another common goal to hold this marriage together?”
Dane glanced at me. “Well, look at us. Working as a team. Maybe there’s hope for us pulling off this fake marriage thing yet.”
“Of course there is,” I said simply. “We’re professionals. And if he’s your mother’s eyes and ears right now, it’s our job to convince him. How is your mother taking this, by the way?”
“Really not sure. She seems pleased, actually. Suspicious that I’m up to something, probably. But as long as it looks good, she won’t complain. She’s probably just relieved to be done with it already. She wanted me married pretty badly. Actually… I think that was a large part of the reason I was marrying Tina.”
“Because your mother wanted you to marry her?”
“Right. Not because she was the right woman for me, but because she was the right woman for my family.” He glanced at me as I considered that. “You’re judging me. I can feel it.”
