Page 38 of Faking the Shot

He chuckled.

He had a nice laugh. “Hey Zac, thank you. It’ll be good to see you again.”

He paused. Then said, “It’s what I signed up for, remember?”

* * *

He had not signedup for this.

Zac swallowed as Ainsley smiled at the doorman and moved to Zac’s new model Porsche. He hurried around to open the door, wanting to touch her, knowing he shouldn’t. And he’d thought seeing Ainsley Beckett in leggings was bad. Seeing her in a slinky black dress was not good for a man’s imagination. And it didn’t matter how long he’d been a Christian.

“You look nice.” That was safe, wasn’t it? Innocuous enough? Something a friend would say, anyway.

“Thanks. You look good, too.”

“This old thing?” He gestured to his suit. He might need to get a few more, lean on his bespoke suits tailor sponsorship if he was going to be out as much as she seemed to expect.

“You look perfect.” She smiled up at him as he closed the door.

Perfect? He still had a long way to go to wrestle these feelings into line when she looked at him and said things like that. Friendly.Be her friend.That was all.

He heaved out a frosted breath as he moved to the driver’s side. Vancouver had gotten cold. And sure, it might never reach the lows experienced by Canadian cities further east, but it felt plenty cold to be out tonight. He didn’t know how she managed with no sleeves. Again. Something he could ask, perhaps. Seeing they were friends, after all.

He got in, started the engine. Tried to ignore how her perfume filled the small space.

“Ooh, fancy car. It sounds like a spaceship.”

“It gets me where I need to go.”

She smoothed a hand over the red leather. “It’s very nice.”

“Glad you approve.”

He drovethe short distance to Stanley Park, then through the park, along the tree-lined roads he’d biked and run along many times before. He turned where the road led to tonight’s venue, the Aquarium, that had been threatened with closure after the pandemic affected its visitor numbers. Now, it was looking refreshed, although still in need of money. And while he cared about animals as much as the next person, he preferred his personal charitable contributions to go toward supporting people, such as the domestic violence charity of White Night. Not that he’d say anything like that tonight.

He parked. Thank goodness they’d soon be exiting, and he could escape the perfume that had filled his senses the second she’d gotten in. He got out then opened her door, helping her to stand, and she smiled and thanked him. His chest thudded. “Are you cold?”

“The price of beauty.”

“Do you want my jacket?” he asked.

“I’m okay at the moment, but thank you.”

“You let me know. I don’t want to look like a bad boyfriend or anything.”

She smiled. “Now, speaking of that, you’re happy if we play it coy?”

“Like the fish?” he joked.

“Ooh, look who’s witty.”

“Plenty more bad jokes where that came from.”

“I don’t doubt it.”

He laughed. “Wow. You’re harsh.”

“Sorry. I forgot. It just sounded like something my brother would say.”

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