Page 30 of Fight For Her
Scoffing, she rested both forearms on the table. “You’re kidding, right? I know for a fact that you started it. I may have been a little bit tipsy.” A little? I had to put my hand across my mouth to keep from laughing. That only pissed her off more. “But I remember that it was you who asked for the battle in the first place.”
“Only after you baited me. You know I’m competitive.”
That rosy glow migrated up from her cheeks toward her entire gorgeous face. She was pissed, and I didn’t know why, but I loved watching her get fired up. Something about pulling the brat out of her made my dick hard.
She huffed. “None of that matters now anyway. The fact of the matter is, not only do our closest friends think we’re back together, but a million other freaking people out there do as well. And,” she leaned close enough that I could feel the warmth of her breath on my skin, “most importantly, my dream job is on the line now. Freaking Stratestar Agency. Do you even know who they represent?”
“Uh, no idea. Do you want to enlighten me? You seem to be getting yourself a little worked up there,” I said.
“Of course I’m worked up,” she yelled before looking from side to side, realizing where we were. She took a deep breath, dropped her voice back down a few notches, and added, “This is the job of my dreams, and I’m struggling to believe that my entire future is riding on us convincing the world that we’re together so Aiden and everyone else will stop talking about that video.”
I guess I got my answer. This wasn’t real for her. She was in this for her gains and that was all. For all I knew, she probably still hated my guts. Thinking about that made me clench my jaw almost painfully. Everything in me wanted to use humor to defuse the situation and make her feel not so freaked out by all of this. But that’s how I always did things, and clearly, that hadn’t gotten me very far. I sucked in a deep breath.
“So just to be sure I have this right, you want us to pretend to date so you can get this dream job that’s all the way in LA? What if they’ve already seen the video, and it bites you in the ass? And what we just lie to Mia and Shawn and everyone else?”
I thought about how, not more than ten minutes ago, I was reassuring Jill of how we were a family and how we took care of each other. A lump formed in my throat at the thought of lying to them, but I guess it was me that technically started this whole mess. Goddamn I was an idiot sometimes.
Kendahl watched my face closely like she could pick through my unspoken thoughts.
“I hate to lie as much as you do. But, yes, this job means that much to me. To at least have the chance to go through with the interview…” Hesitating she added, “It would mean the world to me.”
It was like my fucking heart was in a vice grip. I knew then and there that I’d do anything to make her happy. Maybe that’s why I hadn’t thought twice about it. I wanted to earn her forgiveness even if that meant I knew I couldn’t keep her.
“Okay then. Fake boyfriend checking in for duty. I can tell by the look you’re giving me you have more to add?”
“I do. We need to lay down some ground rules especially if Aiden Aarons is going to be lurking around all weekend recording and live streaming whenever he can.”
“Agreed.” I ran my hand through my beard, interested to hear what her rules would be.
Tapping her fingers on the table and chewing that bottom lip again, she finally looked back up at me.
“Rule number one, no PDA. That means no kissing, intentional touching, and one hundred percent, no sex.”
Chuckling, I leaned in. “Now wait a second, aren’t we supposed to look all lovey-dovey? You said yourself that the little twerp would be live streaming. I think it would look a bit suspicious if we didn’t have a little bit of PDA.”
She glared at me as I watched her mind work on a rebuttal.
“Fine. Only PDA when we know Aiden is around, but nothing crazy.” She narrowed those big blue eyes at me. “I know how your charm works. I’m on to you.”
For the second time, I held my hands up in mock surrender. “I have no idea what you mean.”
I knew exactly what she meant.
“Rule number two, no fooling around or flirting with anyone else. We need to make this look real,” she said.
Well that was easy. She was the only one I wanted anyway even while we were a thousand miles apart.
I nodded. “Gotcha. What else?”
Tap, tap, tap. Her pink painted nails clinked against the table.
“Rule number three, no taking on any interviews or important conversations without consulting with each other. That means no answering DMs, no scheduling interviews, and absolutely no reaching out to any press. I’m in PR, this is what I do. We need to swing the narrative in the direction we want it to go. Better yet, we need to do whatever we can to make the video disappear.”
Leaning back in my chair, I nodded. Another easy one. I had no desire to make this into anything more than it already was. If anything, I wanted the opposite. The more attention we received, the greater the chance of people finding out about my past.
“Yes, warden. Anything else?” I purposefully gave her my widest smirk, knowing it irritated her. With a sharp look straight into my eyes, she nodded.
“Yes, one last rule, absolutely no sharing a room. Last night was an anomaly. A mistake. It can’t happen again.”
