Page 22 of The Best Wrong Move

Chapter 15

I admit, the whole idea is almost too delicious to pass up.

I could go out with Dom while also making Rex jealous?

“You want me to make Rex feel like shit by going out with you?”

His grin tells me that’s exactly what he has in mind. Just the thought of it makes me turn pink again.

“And what do you get out of this little arrangement, sir?” I raise one eyebrow at him.

“I want a renter who stays put in my Airbnb for the next eight weeks and leaves me a good review.”

I shrink into the couch a little. I was hoping for a different answer.

“Got it. I can leave you a decent review.” I straighten up my spine. “That seems fair. You don’t even have to go through the trouble of taking me out on a fake date.”

He laughs, then his face curls into the same wicked grin he gave me yesterday. “I also want to get to know the girl who proposed to a guy on national television, then dropped everything she had to run across an ocean to finish a film script . . . You kind of fascinate me.”

“Oh.” I blink at him a few times.

“Is that a good enough reason?”

I shrug, wobbling my head back and forth, giving it some thought. I’m all for a real date, but a fake one? What if Rex found out it was all just an act?

“Take your time considering it,” he says. “I’m in no rush here.”

He then hops to his feet and starts measuring the window frames. The shirt he’s wearing slides up above his board shorts, revealing a little sliver of smooth, tan skin. Knowing the row of abs lying just underneath that fabric makes my pulse quicken, then settle right between my legs.

I swear he did that just to entice me.

Admittedly, it’s working.

“What would this fake-dating situation entail?” I’m curious, though the whole idea feels ridiculous to entertain, especially since I’m here to escape from drama, not get involved in any more of it. “And how can I know for certain that Rex won’t find out it’s all just for show?”

He stops what he’s doing at the window and turns to face me.

“Well, I’ve never faked it with anyone, but I imagine that I’d just treat you like any other woman I’m taking out on a real date. Especially when Rex is watching. Or any other boneheads.”

My stomach slingshots toward the floor, imagining how Dom treats a woman he’s interested in. Even if it’s all just pretend.

“So, you’d open car doors for me and act like the perfect gentleman, I imagine?”

“I didn’t say anything about being the perfect gentleman.” He cracks a smile that breaks the mounting tension between us — just a hair.

The pink in my cheeks pounds into something a bit more red.

“Kidding. But I’d make my intentions clear in front of Rex, if that’s what you’re asking. We’d have to agree on some boundaries.”

I tuck my lips into my mouth, biting the lower half, trying to stop a shit-eating grin from taking over my face. I want to say that he doesn’t have to be kidding about not being the perfect gentleman, but I don’t. It’s been ages since I allowed myself to flirt like this with another man, and it feels delicious — similar to taking a bite from the most decadent chocolate cake after a painfully long diet.

Small bites, I tell myself.Make it last.

“Give me an example,” I prod. “I need to know what I’m buying here, before I sign on the dotted line.”

Dom sets his tools down next to the boxes, putting his hands on his hips, sizing me up. My pulse quickens while he takes me in, but I force myself not to look away. Whatever this guy has going on is magnetic.

“Well” — he takes a step closer — “usually when I take a woman out, I make sure she knows that she’s the only woman in the room to me. And that goes for all rooms. This one or any other.”

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