“Just adorable.” I groaned.
“Is that a yes?” he asked hopefully.
I glared at him. “Don’t change the subject. This is serious.”
He sighed.
“It’s one thing to pretend to be together for a few hours at a party, but a whole weekend?” Then another, more startling thought gripped me. My eyes widened. “Oh! My! God! We’ll have to share a room. One bedroom. Just the two of us in one bedroom. With one bed.”
A wicked gleam shone in his eyes. “I don’t think you should panic about that. Most girls enjoy their time in my bed.”
I rolled my eyes and huffed. “Really full of yourself, aren’t you?”
“You should know since by your own admission you’ve been listening from the other side of my bedroom wall.”
“God, you can be such an ass.”
His eyes crinkled at the corners. “I have been called donkey once or twice.”
I stared at him in disbelief. “How can you joke about the size of your penis when we are in this mess? How are we going to pull this off? We’ll have to act like we’re…crazy about each other for a whole weekend.”
He flicked his wrist. “It’s no problem for me.”
“Really?”
“Sure.”
“All right. We’ll just have to learn more about each other. Like in that movie Green Card.”
He looked at me without comprehension. “It was a great movie. I cried. This couple had to pretend to be in love and get married so that the guy could get a green card.” I sighed thinking of the movie. “We have to act like we’re in love too.”
He shrugged. “I think they’ll be satisfied with us being in lust.”
“What if they get us separately and grill us and our answers don’t match?”
“You have a very strange idea of what people do on weekends in the Hamptons.”
“I just want us to be convincing, is all. I would hate for them to find out we’re lying. That would be too humiliating for words.”
He nodded gravely. “Understandable.”
“Right. Let’s get to know each other better.” I turned abruptly to face him. “How do you know Alexander Fields?”
“He’s not really my friend.” He wouldn’t meet my eyes, I noticed.
I narrowed my eyes. “It sure seemed like he knew you very well. Unless strangers regularly invite you to their weekend retreats.”
“I have a very trustworthy face. It’s a real problem. I can’t get a weekend to myself.”
I stared at him. “I mean it. Why did he invite you if you don’t know each other?”
He sighed, rubbing his hand over the side of his face. “He’s friends with my parents, okay? He handles my father’s financial planning, that sort of thing. They’ve known each other for years.”
“Oh, I see. I should have known.”
“Known what?”
Mimi
“You’re old money, aren’t you?” I said almost accusingly. For Mr. Fields himself to handle his father’s financial affairs means Max’s family must be in the super wealthy category.
He frowned. “So?”
I looked out of the window. “So nothing.”
“So you make it sound like that’s a bad thing.”
“It’s not. I’m just saying, I should have known. The apartment, the limo, all that.”
He shrugged it off. “Anyway, that’s how Alex knows me. I had to call him Uncle Alex when I was a kid.”
I tried to keep my face stoic, but despite my best efforts, it was cracking up. “So he could tell me all sorts of embarrassing stories about you?”
“You already know my most embarrassing story. Or were you too hammered to remember?” he teased.
“Oh, I could never forget something like that even if you pickled my brain in industrial strength alcohol.”
“Thanks,” he said dryly.
We pulled up in front of our building, and I waited while Max walked around the car to let me out. There we were again, face to face. It was impossible to stay annoyed with him when he smiled the way he did or looked like he did, or oh, jeez, he smelled so damn good. It wasn’t fair.
After a breathless moment, when I didn’t know whether to swoon or kiss him, he murmured, “You know what?”
“No. What?”
“I think we should go out for dinner tomorrow night at seven.” He walked up the steps, leaving me standing alone. I followed him, clomping up behind him like a horse.
“You do? Why?”
He smiled as he held the door for me. “Because we need to get to know one another and I usually get hungry around seven o’clock.”
“But I get hungry at six.”
“See. That’s one more thing we know about each other.”
I grinned. “Maybe I could eat a later lunch than usual.”
“That’s so generous. Maybe I’ll pay for dinner, then.” We waited for the elevator, and I wished it would never come. I could have stood there in that moment forever. My entire body pulsed in time with my heart.
“Oh, you know you’re paying for dinner, buddy. If you can afford a limo, you can afford my dinner.”
He looked at me funny. “I should warn you of one thing.”
“What?” I asked cautiously.
“Guys expect a little something after they pay for dinner. That’s just how the world works.” He winked.
I crossed my arms over my chest. “I said friends, not friends with benefits. So you can forget any ideas of finishing the night off with a bang.”
“It was worth a try,” he mumbled glumly.
I ignored the downtrodden face and kept my voice bright. “I know let’s go somewhere I don’t have to dress up.”
“I’ll take you to the worst dive bar for the greasiest food imaginable. How’s that sound?”
“Now you’re talking.”
We laughed as we walked down the hall. I liked how he walked me to my door. I was pretty sure the night couldn’t have gone better. We made the perfect couple, even if we were a complete fake. I would never forget the looks on the faces of the other girls at the party. Envy. Straight-up ‘I want to claw your eyes out’ envy. They all wanted him.
“It’s sort of creepy up here sometimes, isn’t it?” I said.
“What do you mean?” he asked as we reached my door.
“Just the two of us, on opposites sides of the floor the way we are. The silence is spooky, almost.”
I fished in my purse for my keys. “Do you wanna come in for a minute? This conversation is fascinating, but there are Megan’s shoes and if I don’t get out of these shoes in ten seconds…”
He nodded and followed me inside. I took off the shoes before I even removed my coat, sighing in satisfaction once my bare soles hit the floor. “I swear to God, how Megan manages those medieval torture devices is beyond me.”
“You were wearing pretty dangerous shoes the night we met,” he reminded me.
“They weren’t as uncomfortable as them.” I glared at the shoes, lying on the floor. I took off my coat and invited him to take his off, too. He sat on the couch and watched as I removed my earrings and bracelet. I liked the rapport between us. It felt natural.
“Like I was saying, it’s sorta spooky sometimes. So quiet.”
He grinned. “Until I bring a girl home, that is.”
That hurt somehow. I pretended to smile carelessly. “I haven’t heard any activity for the past few days. Have you moved your bed?”
“Nope.”
My heart damn near soared out of my chest and burst into a million shining pieces of pure joy. I turned my face away so he won’t see how happy I was.
Mimi
“Actually,” he said, “I kind of like the solitude. Maybe I’m too used to it, now. I don’t know that I could go back to living in the middle of a bunch of people ever again.”
“Are you sure you’re not just telling yourself that?”
He shook his head and jerked his chin towards the window. “I
get enough noise out there. Besides, there are all those voices in my head, too.”
I laughed and sat on the piano bench, facing him. “That explains so much.”
“Seriously, though. There are more than enough people out there. This is where I get a little peace and quiet. I can hear myself think.”
I chewed on the side of my mouth and mulled over what he said. “I guess you’re right. I never thought about it that way. I’m so used to the relentless noise, the police sirens, the traffic, the sound of people’s voices, that pure silence actually feels odd.”
He stared at me. “I’ll have to take you to my ranch in Iowa, where you hear nothing, not one thing, at night. It’s the most wonderful thing.”
The hairs on my hands stood because I wanted that dream of a silent night on his ranch in Iowa so much. Then my mouth opened and I began to babble out stupid, goofy things I would never say otherwise.
“I guess you’re right. There are benefits to living on an otherwise empty floor. It’s just you, and a bunch of empty apartments so you can play your music as loudly as you want, or have a massive party without the people next door pissing and moaning about it.”
He looked around. “This apartment is too small for a massive party.”
“It’s not that small,” I said, defensive. “We can’t all have big, roomy places like you, Mr. My Parents Need a Financial Advisor.”
“Ooh, touchy.”
“No. I actually don’t mind being poor.”
“You’re not poor. You have this apartment.”
I shrugged. “It’s worth nothing to me while I live in it.”
He nodded thoughtfully. “They must have made you a crazy offer by now. Why didn’t you sell? You could buy a much better apartment somewhere else.”
“I promised my grandmother I wouldn’t sell. She was strangely insistent about it. When she was dying she actually grabbed my wrist and told me that if I sold this apartment I would live to regret it.”
He looked at me curiously. “That’s intense. Why?”
“I don’t know. I asked her once and she just said, ‘It’s your fortune. It’s my gift to you.’ It’s not even like it’s been in my family forever or anything. She bought this house with my grandfather’s life insurance and the savings he left her. She left only enough to make ends meet forever. She should have left this apartment to my Mom, but she didn’t want to.”
I leaned against the piano, my chin in my hand.
“Did she ever teach you to play that thing?” he asked, motioning to the piano.
“She tried very hard but failed,” I grinned. “I’m tone deaf. I guess I learned a few songs, but nobody would ever mistake me for a concert pianist.”
“Do you remember anything?” He stood, joining me there.
“Maybe.”
“Play me something. Please.”
“No!” I waved him off.
“Come on. Just one song.”
“I’m out of practice.”
“This isn’t a talent show. I just want to hear you play.” He sat beside me on the bench, and I wondered what it would be like to really go out with a man like him.
“All right, but...” I turned around, trying to ignore the little thrill I felt at his nearness. “Do not, under penalty of death, laugh at me when I screw up.”
“I won’t.” He looked amused.
“Swear it.”
“Oh, for fuck's sake. You want a blood oath?”
I kept my expression straight.
He chuckled. “Okay. I swear.”
I cracked my knuckles, then wiggled my fingers. “Nothing like feeling put on the spot,” I muttered, before touching the keys. I thought about Chopsticks, but for some strange reason decided to go with my grandmother’s favorite. She was a massive Sinatra fan. I haven’t played this since she died.
“Fly me to the moon,” I half-sang, half-whispered as I played slowly. Very slowly. My voice wasn’t much, but I could carry a tune. “And let me play among the stars…Let me see what spring is like on Jupiter and Mars…” I then hummed the rest as I played, concentrating on the keys instead of the lyrics as I fumbled my way through. I felt his eyes on me and struggled to focus regardless, even though color rushed to my cheeks, and I couldn’t wipe the nervous smile from my face.
I stopped after the first verse. “It’s just the same thing over and over,” I mumbled, looking down at the keys.
“I know. My mom’s a huge Sinatra fan.”
“Really? And I just slaughtered that song.”
“You didn’t. It was really nice.”
“Nice is another word for not great,” I giggled, remembering his first visit to the apartment.
“Not this time.”
I lifted my eyes from the piano keys and dared a look at him. His smile was warm and genuine. If he only knew how close I was to throwing myself at him.
“I’d better go,” he said, standing like the bench had suddenly caught fire.
“Oh, do I smell?” I forced a tiny laugh, trying to cover up my crazy thoughts.
“Not any more than usual,” he quipped with a wink. “I just remembered I have something to do early in the morning.”
“What?”
He chuckled. “I have a meeting, actually.”
“You’re just going to look at pictures of baby goats on the Internet, aren’t you?”
He gave me the side-eye. “You’re strange.”
“You don’t like baby goats?”
“They are almost as cute as you.”
God, I so wanted this man. But no. I told Megan I wouldn’t, couldn’t. It would ruin everything if we slept together. I liked him as a person, which would have to be enough.
I walked to the door and opened it for him. He lingered there for a moment, and I looked up at him in expectation. “I’m taller than you again,” he smiled. “I like it this way.”
“Oh? Why? Do you like to feel bigger than a woman? Thinly-veiled misogyny, maybe?”
He winced. “No. Because it’s easier for me to do this.” He touched the side of his finger to the underside of my chin and tilted it up, then bent slightly to kiss me. My heart skipped a beat as his lips moved slowly over mine. It was a simple, chaste kiss, but there was something so intensely sexy about it I had to hold onto the door for dear life or risk falling to the floor when my knees buckled.
“We’re supposed to be friends,” I croaked.
“I thought I should practice,” he murmured when it ended. “We have to put on a good show next weekend.”
When we share a room, I thought, and as I did I realized, it was not horror I felt but anticipation.
Mimi
Thursday was an odd day for me. Josh kept giving me strangely wounded looks which I completely ignored. I definitely did not want any office gossip to start now that our affair was actually over. Then Tracee came in for the first time since her brother’s death, but when I approached her she behaved as if the accident, or her calling me in the middle of the night had never happened. I backed off and let her get on with it.
Everybody else was meeting at a cocktail bar downtown.
“What about you, Mimi? You coming?” Josh asked.
I shook my head and took great pleasure in saying truthfully, “Got a date with Max.”
“Oh,” he said with a frown.
I left work early and was home well before six. There were so many things I could have done with my time. I could have tossed out all the expired cans from my pantry—and there were more than I felt comfortable admitting to. I could have done laundry—or should have, really. I could have cleaned under my bed. I could have taken the leftovers out of the fridge. I could have even rested so that I would look my best when I went out with Max.
Instead, I paced and tore my brain apart asking all sorts of questions. Why did he kiss me when he did? Why did he take all those opportunities to touch me—my back, my arm, my hand? Was it just to send a message to Josh and everybody else at the party?
Or
was it more?
No matter why he’d done it, I couldn’t forget how it felt. Electric. It took my breath away. I felt like a little girl with her first crush. Only I wasn’t wearing braces and a training bra anymore. Even if I was still as big a dork as I was back then. Ugh, had I really played piano for him? Why didn’t I just throw in a few card tricks and show him my rock collection as well?
But he’d asked, hadn’t he?
Then I pictured the soft smile on his face and that almost awed look in his eyes and I became confused again.
I opened the door to Max dressed in a black turtleneck sweater and black jeans. Even in a turtleneck, he looked good enough to eat. His gaze roamed over down to my flat ballet slippers, probably my most comfortable shoes besides my sneakers.
“I see you meant what you said last night about going casual.”
I motioned to his outfit. “You’re not exactly dressed for the Ritz yourself. Anyway, you said, you liked it when I’m shorter than you.”
He grimaced. “If this is what a relationship with you is like, I might have to rethink it.”
“Get used to it. You’re the one who got us into this.” I made a point of lingering behind him to get a look at his butt. Holy hell, he could wear a pair of jeans. I sketched a quick sign of the cross over myself before he could catch me.
We ended up walking a few blocks to a pizza shop with a window that faced the street so customers could order outside or inside. It wasn’t too cold out, a good night for walking, so we decided to walk while we ate.
“I can burn calories as I eat them,” I joked.
“I told you, you don’t need to worry about that,” he said, biting into his large slice with extra cheese. A man after my own heart. I could never get enough cheese in my life.
“I do. It’s all smoke and mirrors.” I grinned before taking a bite of my own slice. It was heaven on a paper plate and almost as big as my head. “I swear, in my next life I’m gonna come back as a cheese shop owner.”
He stops walking. “I’ve seen you naked.”
I nearly choke and he has to bang me on my back.
Kissing Booth Page 28
