Page 25 of The Fake Family Deal

“Okay,” she says, hiding her blush behind the menu. “It looks fancy here. What’s good? I assume you’ve been here before?”

“I assume you haven’t.”

“This is way outside my price range,” Marina scoffs before clamping her mouth shut again, like she just said something she wasn’t supposed to.

I decide not to push it. “Any of the pastas are usually good, though I’m feeling the risotto.”

“I do like risotto,” she says with that forced smile I’m becoming so familiar with.

“And,” I add, “we’ll get some garlic bread to share.” It isn’t a question. What kind of Italian meal is it if you’ve not got any garlic bread?”

“Good,” grins Marina, her face softening. “Anything with garlic is the best.”

I nod in firm agreement. “If I could shake the hand of the person who invented garlic bread, I would.”

She catches my eye again, and despite the cameras looming over our shoulders, the world seems to fade out around us, like nothing else matters. It’s only because we’ve spent every second of the day together all week, but this very nearly passes for time to ourselves. And it very nearly feels good.

It can never feel natural with everyone watching, but for a second I lose myself in the fantasy that it is just us. That that smile is for me, and not for show.

“I guess you must come out to places like this a lot,” Marina says.

I shrug. I can hardly admit to her that I have no friends worth speaking to, so I say, “I go out with business interests relatively often. Clients like when you wine and dine them. But other than that, not too much. I can only see the point of going into restaurants with other people. It’s sad on your own.”

“Yeah, me too,” says Marina, her eyes glittering under the chandelier. “That’s why I never go out.”

“That can’t be true.” It comes out too forcefully, more like I’m chastising her than expressing my surprise.

She shrugs, her eyes darting around the room. “Turns out friends are hard to keep when you’re too busy to do anything because you’ve got a baby.”

“Yeah, but you’re young and beautiful and kind. Why would anyone not want to hang out with you?” I say, then reach for the water just to do something with my hands because that was far too complimentary. It was far too honest.

If I’m not careful, she’s going to realize that Idofeel more than a passing indifference towards her. And it’s not going to be reciprocated at all.

Marina’s mouth drops open, and she reaches for her drink too. “You think I’m beautiful?”

I fumble to recover my cool, and say whatever’s in my head. Which turns out to be a stupid thing to say. “I mean, you did give us one of the worst interviews I have ever seen, but yes, I would have considered hiring you if you hadn’t said anything, because you did look good.”

“You can’t hire people for their looks, Ellis. What century are you from?”

I shrug. “It’s not the only thing, obviously, but I do run a company called Beautiful Fitness. Looks do kind of come into my consideration, and you did score well on that one.”

“Shame I messed the rest of it up, then. I could have really done with some of those benefits.”

“You won’t have to struggle anymore,” I say firmly, clenching my fists to stop myself from bringing them down on the table. “I’ll make sure of it.”

She blinks at me like she can’t believe what she’s hearing, and maybe it is ridiculous to say, but she doesn’t deserve to struggle. Nobody does. I might not like other people very much, but I don’t want them to suffer.

I want Marina to be happy more than anything.

It’s not the first time that thought has occurred to me, and it isn’t getting any less alarming. I think I might really be attracted to her. I think it might be becoming a problem.

“You’re a good man,” she says softly. “Why do you let people get the wrong idea about you?”

“They don’t,” I say, forcing my face back into a neutral expression. There’s been far too much emotion today already. “I am exactly the man everyone thinks I am.”

“That’s not true, though. I’ve seen you with Lila. I’ve seen you withme. People say such awful things about you. Why do you let them?”

“No publicity is bad publicity.” I take a swig of my drink, hoping it will magically transport me out of here.

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