Page 17 of The American

He tapped his ears. “Super hearing.”

Sage snorted but Devon turned red in the face. “Confidentiality agreements mean nothing anymore.”

“Don’t be too hard on them, Devon. Everyone loves to tell a good story.”

Devon nodded to them both and stomped out of the room.

Sage shook her head. “You shouldn’t pester him like that. He is actually a very powerful man around here.”

Thad sat down beside her. “I’m not concerned. Power doesn’t intimidate me.”

“I can well believe that.” Thad emanated power, in a cheery jolly sort of way, the man probably got whatever he wanted from most people. And strangely, she was not inclined to deny him anything either. “How was your lunch?”

He shifted, a flash of discomfort on his face. “Fine. I took a picture of the sandwich for my brothers. He held it up to her. “Six inches.”

She smiled. Too much meat for her. “The famous NY deli sandwich.”

Zachary burst into their room. “What are you doing, Thad?”

He froze, his eyes widening. “Pardon me?”

Zachary clicked a remote and images flashed on the screen. “One of your fan websites is showing this. Someone screen shotted it and the tweets are just picking up momentum. “New girlfriend?”

Sage’s insides curled. Thad was seen welcoming a blonde into his arms, kissing her mouth. Kissing her mouth. She turned to him.

He held up his hands. “That is not what it looks like.”

But he even sounded guilty.

Sage counted to five before she responded. She had no right to claim anything from him, but after refusing to kiss her, he had openly kissed this other woman in broad daylight. She was happy to do her job, but she didn’t want to be played. “It looks very much like what it is. You kissing a woman.” She started to clean up her lunch. “Thad, I know we are having a fake relationship, but I can’t come out of this looking like an idiot.”

“You won’t, you don’t. That’s Monique. I told her to stop. She planned it, cameras and all. She’s just looking for attention. People do this all the time in Torren. We stop inviting them places.”

“And you agreed to meet her.”

Zachary kept clicking. Image after image of them, all on different sites.

“Stop already. I know.” Thad motioned to Zachary. “This is bad. But it will blow over, go away, if we ignore it. Me and Sage are about to have the most romantic first week of dating of our lives. No one will care about the greasy Monique once they see us.”

Sage snorted. “This conversation is getting more ridiculous by the minute. Look Zachary, maybe this isn’t such a good idea. As soon as my family knows about us.” She pointed to herself and Thad, “They are gonna be paying attention to stuff like this. Real feelings will become involved.”

Thad humphed. “You don’t think I’m affected by real feelings? I have a whole nation of people just waiting to gossip about me, a family full of brothers, and a mother. Yes, I have a mother too.”

“Then why are you meeting women for lunch, kissing them in broad daylight? Use some sense, man.” Zachary’s voice sounded harsher that Sage thought it needed to, but she was grateful for the sentiment.

“I could ask the same thing.” She stared him down. No matter who he was, Sage refused to be treated unfairly, or to come off worse after this whole thing.

He ran a hand through his hair. “She’s an old family friend, but she’s known for this stuff. I should have predicted. I just think everyone deserves a second chance, you know? Or twentieth. She’s pretty predictable. I should have known.” He tuned to Sage. “Look, I know how this makes you look. I’m sorry. I’ll make it up to you. We can write the story so you have the upper hand or something.” He got down on one knee. “I will spend our whole fake dating relationship worshipping you in every way. Taking note of everything you say, working to make all your dreams a reality.” His eyes, wide, earnest, she almost melted at his feet until she had to remind herself a couple times, that he was talking about a fake relationship. That he didn’t mean any of it. And that he was trying to get out of the doghouse.

“What are we going to do to fix this?”

Thad winked. “I have a few ideas. I’ll pick you up at seven?”

Sage paused. She didn’t trust Thad, not when he had such quick responses, but she agreed to give him a chance. “Seven it is.”

Chapter 10

Thad knew he had a lot to prove on this first date. A playboy image was fine as long as he was respectful and single, but a playboy image when he is supposed to be developing a relationship with a respectable woman, would not fly. And Sage deserved better. When all is said and done the whole charade would have to leave her better off because of their time together, personally and in the press.

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