Page 23 of Fiancé for Hire

“Nice try, sweetheart, but I read your information from front to back—twice. There was nothing about kissing or not kissing on any of the documents.”

Antika smiled, knowing there hadn’t been any rules like that on anything that she’d read when completing the profile.

At the moment, kissing was the least of their problems.

“Dre, what are we going to do? Getting engaged, for pretend or not, is serious business. How are we going to get out of this without one of us getting hurt in some way?”

We’re so screwed.

ChapterTwelve

If it ever got out that she had paid someone to date her, or that Drevon had proposed marriage to protect her honor, Antika would look like a fool. On the other hand, if the public found out that Drevon was in a fake engagement of his own doing, they’d crucify him.

“And where did you even get a ring?” Antika asked and glanced at the jewelry on her left ring finger, then slid it off to study it. Small double stacked diamonds circled completely around the white-gold band, sparkling bright enough to make her squint.

“How many carats is this?” It was probably a tacky question, but curiosity got the best of her.

“Seven.”

“Se—seven?” she sputtered.

He’d slid a seven-carat diamond ring on her finger without having security guarding her?

“Wait.” She glanced at his right hand. “This is your pinky ring. I saw you fiddling with it at lunch the other day.”

She noticed it because whenever she asked him a question that he had to think about, he started twisting it around on his finger.

“It is. I had to improvise.” He shrugged. “I figured it would do for now, even if it’s a little big. But if we keep up this…this act, I’m going to have to get you a real engagement ring. I wear that one so often, if anyone who knows me sees it, they’ll know that we’re not engaged.”

Antika shook her head. “That’s because we’re not!” she insisted. “Edward might be an asshole, but he wasn’t wrong about me and you. No one’s going to believe that you, the man who dates models and actresses, is going to hook up with someone like me. I’m just a district manager for a wine distributor. Not some…some famous person.”

He pulled into a Chick-fil-A parking lot, and Antika released an unladylike snort. “You wear a seven-carat diamond ring and eat here?”

He shrugged. “What can I say? I like their chicken sandwiches and their nuggets.”

Antika shook her head. “This is crazy. We can’t pull off an engagement. I’m not that good of an actor.”

He parked the car but kept it running, and then undid his seat belt before facing her.

“Let’s get a few things straight. First, I’m just a man, Antika. Sure, I’ve had a little fame, but that doesn’t make me better than you or anyone else.

“Second, we might be in a fake relationship, but I didn’t lie when I proposed. From what I know of you so far, you’re an amazing, beautiful woman, and you’re funny as hell. I might’ve dated women in the industry, but mainly because that’s who was around. Any man would be lucky to have you as his woman, and until further notice, I’m that lucky guy.”

Antika didn’t know what to say. At the rate this man was going, it would be way too easy to fall for him. Something she didn’t want to do, but he seemed to always say and do the right thing. Yet, she already knew that if she wasn’t careful, and if she didn’t guard her heart, she’d be the one getting hurt.

“Thank you for saying that,” she said.

“I meant every word.”

Instead of them going into the restaurant, Drevon went through the drive-thru to place their order. Neither of them wanted to be around people at the moment, so they ended up eating in the car with the air conditioner blasting.

“Have you considered reporting Edward to your HR department? From the little I heard, when it was just the two of you in that room, he was out of line. Especially when he said,I’m sure he’ll lose interest like I did.You even mentioned that he’s body-shamed you before, and after meeting the guy, I’m sure some of that took place at work.”

Antika didn’t respond. She could agree that Edward had crossed the line one too many times when they tossed verbal jabs at each other.

“The asshole’s condescending tone and the inappropriateness of what he was saying shouldn’t be tolerated, especially in a work environment.”

“I agree,” Antika said. “And to answer your question, no, I haven’t reported him.”

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