We laughed as we sat down and relaxed while the crew did their preflight checks. I knew it would take them a little while to make sure everything was in order before we could go, but I didn't mind. The jet was at the perfect temperature, I had an unlimited amount of leg room, and the drink in my hand calmed most of my nerves.
Most of them.
There were some nerves in my body that couldn't be calmed by the charming atmosphere or the champagne. In particular, was the fact that Dane was so close I could smell his cologne. Hints of lavender and sandalwood filled my nose. I felt the urge to lean over and sniff him, but I still had at least two brain cells working. Being labeled a weirdo five minutes into our contract together wasn't a good way to go.
"Oh," Dane said, glancing at me. "Did you receive the money last night? I wired it to your account."
I dug out my phone. "Let me check."
I logged into my phone and checked my bank account. The added cash made it look pretty and I promised myself I'd go on a little self-care shopping spree when we returned. I'd probably need it after being back home. Dane and I both came from a small town in Michigan, not exactly glamorous, but tiny enough that everyone knew almost everyone. It was a surprise I didn't know his friend Robert, but I knew of his bride. She was a couple of years older than me and she was one of those blonde all American girls that all the boys wanted to date. It felt weird to go home though. I hadn't seen Michigan since I'd left shortly after college.
"Yup, it's all there," I said, bringing myself back to the present. "Thank you. Not that I had any doubts you would pay me."
Dane raised a brow. "No? How did you know?"
I shrugged. "You clearly have more than enough money, but I think it's more than that. You don't seem like the type not to fulfill your word."
"I try to be a man of my word."
I nodded and tried to keep my head straight. The smell of his cologne seemed to grow as if it had a mind of its own. I wanted to bury my face in his neck and inhale that scent until I was dizzy and weak. Instead, I kept my distance.
It didn't help that sitting right beside him made my heart race. My body responded all on its own like it couldn't get enough of him. He turned his blue eyes on me suddenly and to my horror, I felt my panties dampen. My face flushed. What the hell was wrong with me? I couldn't afford to let my pussy do the thinking, not around Dane. Concerned he would smell my arousal I pushed my knees together…just in case.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
I nodded. "Yeah," I said evenly. "I think I need to use the bathroom."
"Go ahead. We have a little more time."
Savannah
I quickly got up and shimmied past him. I threw the bathroom lock and turned on the water. As it ran, I splashed my face and neck with the cool water before I looked at myself in the mirror.
I pointed directly at myself. "You will not get involved with that, that hunk out there," I stated firmly. “Dane was trouble years ago and he's trouble now. All you have to do is be professional, do your damn job. Get in, get out."
Restlessly, I sprayed some perfume on myself. This should have been a simple job, but Dane was making it hard. I couldn't help looking at him and admiring his body. Instead of listening to him talk, sometimes I found my eyes helplessly tracing his lips. I was a lost cause.
I splashed more water on myself and dried off with the fluffy towel that rested on the towel rack. I was grateful for a real bathroom and not a tiny closet with a toilet. I wondered what it must be like to live like a billionaire. I flushed to make it sound like I'd gone, so it didn’t look like I had just freaked out in the bathroom.
"Savannah?" Dane called. "Are you okay in there? We're about to take off."
"Just a second."
I quickly exited the bathroom and walked back to my seat. Once I was settled in, I buckled my seatbelt and stared out of the window while we waited for the plane to take off. Dane's knee brushed against mine as he made himself comfortable.
I swiveled my head around.
“All right?” he mouthed.
I nodded and turned away again. My body was throbbing. Jesus, I needed to get myself under control, but it was so hard to do when Dane looked at me with those liquid green eyes and I drowned in them. This is just a job to him. A few nights and it'll all be over with, so don't get sucked in.
I needed to continue to remind myself that he wasn't into me.
I wasn't naive. What we'd had before he went off to college was just a one night stand to him. So going back there was a nightmare waiting to happen, and I didn't relish the thought of repeating our history.
I braced myself for takeoff, but it was beautifully smooth. We flew for a while before the little seatbelt sign went off and I unbuckled myself. The stewardess came back and served us fruit and more champagne. I bit into a strawberry.
"I could get used to this,” I murmured.
Dane laughed. "I don't blame you. I told you it's the best way to fly."
I sipped at my champagne. "Tell me about it. So, how did you go from a rat-infested, shared two-bedroom hole to this?"
He laughed. "Well, I didn't know what I wanted to do. I thought about going into the medical field like my father, but it never interested me. I couldn't imagine being a doctor when I had no passion for it. That felt wrong. So, I spent the first few classes in college exploring. One of my buddies was taking a CAD class and I decided I'd join him. I doubted I had the skills or desire to pursue it, but it was fun compared to the rest of my required classes."
"You fell in love with architecture, didn't you?" I asked as I smiled over the rim of my glass.
"I did and I had a natural knack for it. I could design anything and my designs became hits. Before I knew it, everyone wanted a Brando home built. And then office buildings, condos, hotels, resorts. It just grew and grew..."
I whistled. "That's an awesome story. I can't believe it."
"I can't believe it myself sometimes," he said.
The smile that touched his soft lips looked so inviting, I wanted to press my own against his, run my tongue over his teeth and taste him. It was something about how happy he looked talking about a job that he loved. It wasn't just money for him, it was his passion, and he'd pursued it fearlessly.
"What about you?" he asked. "Why did you choose to work at Just Right?"
I sighed. "Now that is a long and boring story."
"Try me."
I shrugged. "Well, after I graduated, I went to college for business management. I didn't have anything else that called to me, but I knew I needed to take something. Before I graduated, my mom got sick."
"I'm sorry." He frowned.
“Oh, don’t worry, by then I had already realized that the corporate world was not for me.”
"Is your mom okay?"
I nodded. "She's fine now. There was just a while back there, when it seemed like everything had gone to hell in a handbasket and I was the only one who could fix it. I picked up shifts doing odd jobs. Some days I would waitress, others I did construction, it was all over the map. And there wasn’t enough stability for my liking. One day, I was offered an assignment from Just Right. This woman needed me to pretend to be her best friend."
"A best friend assignment?" Dane asked. "How the hell does that happen?"
"She had just moved to our state and she didn't have any friends in town. There was this guy she liked a lot, and he wanted to go out with her too, but he found it weird she didn't have any friends. Guys can be skittish with things like that.”
"Really? I wouldn’t give a damn if the woman I wanted had friends or not."
"I think he was worried she'd be someone who couldn't get along with his friends. Anyway, I pretended to be her best friend for a few weeks. We got on real good, but when the coast was clear, we ended it with me pretending to be a massive dick to her in front of him, so she could call off the friendship. By then, she'd met some other women and she was very grateful to me. I was satisfied to have helped her and to be hon
est, I enjoyed our big dramatic break-up. I wanted to do it again. I went directly to Just Right and with her glowing recommendation they hired me full time."
"Wow," Dane said. "How many of these assignments have you done?"
"Countless. I used to keep track, but I gave up after a while."
"I still can't believe it," he said as he shook his head. "You used to be so shy."
"I grew out of that." I laughed. "This job helped with that. You can't be shy when you're an actress. Besides, it's easier to be outgoing when you're pretending to be someone else."
"Why not pursue actual acting since you like this so much?"
I shook my head. "No thank you. I don't have a desire to be famous and live in the spotlight and I feel like you need to want that if you're going to chase being an actress. What I do makes people happy and I like that."
"You're amazing," he said as he handed me another glass of champagne.
I smiled and tried to contain my body’s reactions. The alcohol was going to my head and I wanted him so bad it almost hurt. I picked up a strawberry and bit into it. Juice burst out of it and dribbled down my chin. I squealed with embarrassment. Quick as a flash Dane pressed a snowy white napkin to my mouth. I froze as he dabbed at my skin with it, his eyes were locked on mine.
Suddenly, he sat back. "There, all clean."
"Umm, thank you," I mumbled. "I didn't expect it to be so juicy. “I—I love strawberries."
Dane passed me more. As I snacked on the fruit, his eyes lingered on me. They dipped down to my breasts ‒ I was one of those girls who had big breasts ‒ before they took in my lips, my eyes, and the curve of my throat. Dane looked hungry and I felt like he would devour me at any moment if I weren’t careful.
My body heated up. I felt the flush as it worked its way up my spine and stained my cheeks and neck. The cool that I'd maintained before was all but gone. The cabin of Dane's private jet was big, but not big enough to contain the two of us.
Savannah
I was thankful when the jet landed. I had to get out of what had slowly become very cramped quarters and out of Dane’s presence or I was going to go mad. The longer the flight had stretched on the more my eyes had been drawn to every inch of him until I was wired and on edge. Instead of the champagne relaxing me at some point, it started to work against me. I started contemplating how bad it could be if I slid off my jeans and panties and climbed into his lap for a little mile-high fun.
"You're really red," Dane said as he gathered the papers he had been working on. "Are you hot?"
Hot for your cock. I wanted to slap myself for that. Instead, I smiled and shook my head at him. "No, I'm okay. Just a little tipsy from the champagne. Don't worry though, I'm still fully in control of myself."
As long as myself didn't include my overactive brain…I wasn't going to tell him that though. Although the corner of his mouth quirked up and I shivered. What if he knows exactly what I'm thinking? That would be too embarrassing to ever live down. The doors opened.
"Good," he said. "Let's get going."
We walked to the waiting limo and slid inside. I was grateful for the blast of cool air from the interior. Hopefully, that would be enough to calm me down so I didn't continue to lose my mind over Dane.
"Okay," I said as I opened one of my smaller bags and pulled out my binder. "Let's go over our background story. Usually, we have a little more time to prepare, but this was fast and we were sidetracked on the jet," I said, mumbling the last part in embarrassment.
"It's not my fault you have such an interesting job." He grinned. "Or that we had catching up to do."
I waved a hand. "Well, now we have to study."
He pretended to groan. "I thought I was done with school."
"Not today." I sniffed. "You might as well call me Ms. Sands."
Dane's lip twitched. "Yes, Ms. Sands."
I shivered. "On second thought don't do that. Don't do that at all."
He laughed and I quickly flipped the pages of my binder until the profile I'd researched for his contract came up. There were names, dates, ages, and pictures even. I had to know something about what was going on in his life. Couples talked and it would look weird if I was completely clueless.
"Okay, so Robert. You met him in CAD class and you've been friends ever since. He doesn't have any siblings and he's currently working in finance."
Dane nodded. "That's right."
"His intended bride is Catherine. Heiress to a pretty large fortune and currently, is a socialite. Hang on… it doesn’t say here. What does she do for a job?”
"She goes to a lot of fundraisers and fashion events."
"That's not a job. That's just hanging out."
"I guess you're right," Dane said as he thought about it. "People do pay her though to make appearances or to wear their designs."
I blinked at him. Was he serious? I didn't understand how some people had it so easy. I wish all I had to do was smile and wear someone's clothes and they'd pay me too. I made a face and went back to reviewing the file with him.
"Okay, we met in a bar six months ago and you came onto me," I said.
"Why can't it be the other way around?" he interrupted.
I raised my eyebrows. "You really want to go there?"
Dane looked me up and down. "No. I would have gone up to you, if we’d met in a bar.”
My face flushed all over again. I'd changed on the jet before we landed so I could be presentable when we arrived. The pale pink dress clung to my curves and showed off a healthy amount of cleavage. I'd switched to heels as well and swept my hair up into a delicate bun. I looked the part of a confident woman.
"You came on to me," I continued. "And we've been dating ever since. My background is pretty vague, but parents are from Detroit and we moved over a few years ago. My parents are quite wealthy, but I don't currently work since I'm attending school. I guess that makes me a socialite too."
"See? And you made fun of it."
"I did not," I argued. "I just thought it was weird. Come on, focus."
"Yes, Ms. Sands."
"What did I say?"
Dane grinned.
Now that grin was what I was used to. Whenever it had made an appearance, when we were younger shenanigans were sure to follow. Relentlessly mischievous didn't even begin to explain the guy that I used to know and it almost made me smile to know that he was still in there. I forced myself to focus on the task in front of me. "We've been engaged for two weeks," I said before I glanced up at him. "You did remember the ring, right?"
"Oh, yeah. It's actually pretty nice." Dane dug into his pocket and pulled out the black box.
When he popped it open, I gasped so hard I coughed. I waved a hand at him as he tried to help but there was no help for what I saw. The ring was at least 3 carats and princess cut. Each side of the diamond was decorated with pink diamonds. I was in love.
"Are you okay?" Dane asked as his brows knitted in confusion.
"It just took me off guard," I said as I grabbed a bottle of water and drank some to calm down. "That's like my dream ring."
"Really?" he asked as he peered at it more closely.
"Yeah. I always wanted one just like that, but I knew it was impossible because they basically cost the earth.” I grinned. “So it’s wonderful that I get to wear one for a little while and pretend it’s mine, right?"
Dane smiled. "Maybe when this is all over, I'll let you keep it as a tip."
I shook my head so hard it hurt. "It's really super sweet of you to offer, but I know how much it must have cost and I could never take anything that expensive from you."
"Will your work not let you accept it?"
"No, it's not that. Clients are allowed to tip us however they see fit."
"Then what's the problem?" Dane genuinely looked confused.
I knew I wasn't about to bring him any kind of a relief because I couldn't tell him my reasons. How could I possibly tell him that I couldn't accept it because I still had a thing fo
r him? And that ring would mean something in my head when it shouldn't? On top of that, it blurred the lines way too much.
"Nothing," I said finally. "Let's focus, we're almost there."
Dane took the ring out of the box and slid it onto my finger.
Savannah
My body felt like it was on fire. I thought I was going to melt into the seat. Something about it felt so freakily right. I quickly removed my hand from his warm touch and tucked it back into my lap.
"Is something wrong?" he asked.
"Not a thing." I smiled. "Let's finish up."
We went over a few more minor details before we pulled up to the main manor where the wedding was going to be held. We were going to be there for several days since that's how long very rich people threw parties. The manor had cottages around it that dotted the landscape and we were going to staying there while the bride and groom stayed in the manor itself.
The place was mesmerizing. First, there was the manor all made of white stone and a thousand tall windows that glinted brilliantly in the sun. We only had a glance of it for a minute before the car headed off to our cottage. It was made of the same white stone. As we stepped inside, I was impressed by how quaint and beautiful it was.
"We should put our stuff away," Dane said.
"Good idea. Let's go find the bedrooms."
We walked through the living room with its huge fireplace. There was a kitchen tucked away with a bar. The back door led out to a garden and the woods beyond it. The bathroom was luxurious too. A glass shower stool stood beside a big, square tub and I noticed the button for the jets. Oh yeah, I could definitely get used to this after all.
The more I looked the more I liked it. Until I realized there was only one bedroom. Dane had placed his bags to the side of the door.
"I thought there were going to be two?" I asked with a frown.
He was frowning too. "So did I. I know some of the cottages have them, but they probably didn't think we needed an extra one since we're engaged and all."
Pretend You’re Mine: A curvy girl romance Page 3
