Page 23 of Never Fake Date the Financier
I look at Ella standing in the doorway to the only bedroom in the suite. Continue to look because I can’t keep my eyes off her. Those legs. I shouldn’t be staring like this, given the circumstances. I shouldn’t be thinking about the way her hand felt in mine. Her scent. The way her lips?—
“Adrian!” Ella shouts, finally ripping me out of my head. “There’s only one bed!” She jabs her finger at the bedroom behind her.
“What happened to separate bedrooms?” Ella sets her purse down on the couch and then takes slow, methodical steps around the suite.
At first, we considered separate rooms entirely, but that would’ve been even more complicated if someone caught either Ella or me slipping into a random room. Instead, I booked the largest suite where we’d hardly see each other. Or so I thought.
I scratch my neck.”That’s a good question.”
“A good question?” She takes a few steps toward me. “This is a dealbreaker. We’re not sleeping in the same bed. It’s in the contract. Separate rooms. Remember rule number one?”
“I didn’t set this up. I have no idea what happened, but I’ll fix this.”
As much as I’d like to share a bed with Ella, I’d never force it. And I’d never risk the little progress I’ve made with her for something so silly.
She sighs heavily. “At least there’s dessert.”
I look at Ella perusing the desserts, her hands hovering over the spread. None of it looks appetizing. The only dessert I want is currently pissed at me, and rightly so. I swallow hard, trying my best not to push my luck, openly gawking at her as she selects a chocolate-covered strawberry. But I can’t stop staring. I can’t peel my eyes away from her.
She’s so sexy with her skin flushed, shades of pink that are a stark contrast to her bleached white romper. The same romper I’d fantasized about tearing off with my teeth from the moment I saw that picture of her in my office. But seeing her wear it in real life… I’ve been slowly losing my mind from the moment I opened that door to her apartment and saw her wearing it.
I damn near choke as I watch her bring a chocolate-covered strawberry to her mouth, her lips wrapping around it. What I wouldn’t give to be that strawberry, even if it meant my life would be over. Ella’s lip wrapped around me one time would make it all worth it.
“So what’s the plan?”
“Plan?” My voice is ragged. Strained. Every muscle in my body is tight after watching Ella devour that strawberry.
She snorts and then turns to me. “We’re not sleeping in the same bed.”
She’s not wrong. If Ella and I slept in the same bed? There are limits to my self-restraint, and being that close to Ella with nothing but a layer of thin fabric between us… Every single line item on our contract would be smashed to pieces.
“Never crossed my mind.” More than a thousand times.
She makes a face as I close the gap between us.
“I’ll fix this.” I’m close enough that I can breathe in her intoxicating scent. Her lips are glistening from the strawberry, and I can’t help but wonder if they’re as soft and sweet as I imagine. “I’ll head to the front desk and figure it out. I promise you.”
She turns to me. “Thanks. I don’t mean to be difficult, but I need rules. We need rules.”
Boundaries. Guard rails. A prison to keep the feelings raging inside me at bay. “You’re not. It was part of our contract, and I have no intention of reneging.”
Ella’s lips part for a brief moment as though to say something, but then she walks away, leaving nothing to grasp but her scent in front of me.
“I’m going to rest,” she says, pausing. “I’m a little worn out after the flight, but we should review our backstory in an hour or so. I want to be prepared for the rehearsal dinner.”
“Nervous?”
She turns around, her fingers toying with the fabric cinched around her waist. “Aren’t you?”
I shake my head, staring at her fingers. Her petal-pink nails. Remembering how soft they felt in my hand. How soft they’d feel wrapped… “Not at all.”
She laughs, and that sweet noise envelops me. There’s no better sound than that. She has no clue how powerless I am to it. And there’s no reason to be nervous when Ella’s at my side. We’ll make it through.
“Of course. You’re not the one who has to memorize a long list of fake attributes. Names. Family histories. Fake dates and vacations that we’ve been on but somehow have no pictures of. How am I supposed to explain why we don’t have any pictures of us together?” She groans. “And why did you have to tell them I’m a vegetarian? And opera? What world do you think I live in? And another thing?—”
I can’t help but smile as Ella’s voice dissipates into the background. My vision tunnels, focusing on her. On those sweet lips, moving as she lobs a laundry list of complaints at me. Watching how her chest rises and falls beneath that thin fabric I want to strip from her like wrapping paper on Christmas morning. All I see in front of me is perfection, and I can’t help but stare, my smile deepening at her as her rant crescendos.
Fuuuuck. She’s gorgeous.
