Page 19 of Pretend I’m Yours
Drake looked at me with raised eyebrows. “Gala?”
I shook my head. “They love to pat themselves on the back for being such giving citizens since they make donations to the police and fire departments. If they are feeling really generous, they might throw in an exclusive, snotty school, too.”
“Oh,” Drake said. “And are you going?”
“I’m not sure it’s going to happen, but if it does, we’re both going,” I said with a smile. I could see the lack of enthusiasm in his face, and I reached forward, patting his hand. “Don’t worry. He loves to talk about these sorts of things months before he actually does them, so odds are we are going to be through with our little arrangement before he does.”
A strange expression washed across his face ever so briefly. For a moment, I almost thought that he was disappointed. But then, he chuckled. “And what are you going to tell them when you show up without a husband? Seems pretty strange to tell them you are married one month then all of a sudden be single again.”
“I’ll just say that we got an annulment, or a divorce, depending on how long this takes,” I said with a shrug. Drake looked surprised, and it was my turn to chuckle. “Come on, when people marry for money and status above all else, you’ll find that many of the marriages are brief, even compared to celebrities.”
“Crazy,” he said with a shake of his head.
“Is it, though? I told you that I didn’t believe money made a person, and that’s the sad mistake many people cling to. They think if they have money, they are going to be happy and never want for a thing. They don’t realize at the end of the day it’s all just stuff,” I said. “That’s why I never judge or treat anyone based on how much money they have.”
“That’s noble,” Drake said. He gave me another strange look, and I wanted to ask him what was on his mind. There was clearly a lot more going on in his head than what he verbalized. I’d learned that just a couple days in to us living together.
I did prefer it to a person who was constantly prying into my life and asking me what I was doing. All in all, I was growing quite attached to the man. I knew it was stupid, and I never let myself dwell on it for very long, but I could almost see the two of us together as a real couple.
Perhaps there were times when I also gave him a strange look and didn’t realize it. The times when I had a brief yearning for more with him. The times when I almost let myself believe that we weren’t just pretending for a few short weeks or months.
I could tell myself that I could ignore those feelings entirely, but I knew that wasn’t true. Drake was everything I wanted in a man and more. He wasn’t just my knight in shining armor; he was everything I could ever wish to have.
He was quiet, reserved, strong, and confident. He knew how to be friendly when the time called for it, but he didn’t have the need to be the life of the party. I liked that more than I could say. It was the opposite of how needy Brandon had been – how demanding and domineering he chose to be no matter where we were.
Drake let me be me, and somehow, he fit into my world flawlessly. Though he merely gave me another smile and said nothing as we sipped our waters and waited for our server, I didn’t feel the need to break the silence.
Just sitting with him was enough.
And that scared the shit out of me.
9
Drake
The restaurant was busy, and I tried not to feel flustered with the fact that it was taking our server a long time to ask us what we wanted to drink. I wasn’t quite sure how to act and was doing my best to mimic Hannah’s behavior. We had our waters, and she would sip hers from time to time as we made small talk.
I was trying to act completely natural with her, but I couldn’t have felt more like a fish out of water if I had literally been one. There were so many people about, and knowing what my leather jacket alone cost, I couldn’t help but wonder what some of the other patrons had spent on their apparel.
Hannah looked incredible. She was wearing a simple sundress with a light jacket over the top, and wedge shoes. Her makeup was simple, flawless, yet elegant, and her hair was pulled into a braid draped over one shoulder. It wasn’t a perfect braid, but there was something about her entire look that made me feel I was out with some sort of a celebrity.
