by Locklyn Marx
His lips were perfect, and they were moving closer toward her, so close that she thought he was going to kiss her. She wanted to look away, but she felt powerless. And then at the last second, Chad shrugged. “We’ll see.”
He turned around and looked out the window. Kenley spent the rest of the ride to Brooklyn trying to calm her beating heart.
***
Chad could hardly take the ache between his legs. As soon as he’d seen Kenley there, in the airport, looking around for him, all he’d wanted to do was run up, gather her in his arms, and take her back to his bed. And then, just now, in the limo, the way her skin had felt, the way her eyes had looked — he’d wanted to kiss her so bad. But he wouldn’t let himself lose control. Getting close to her like that had been dangerous – if she’d kissed him, he didn’t know what would have happened. Luckily, he’d been able to play it off like he was the one who’d backed down, like he’d been teasing her the whole time. But it had taken every ounce of his self-control.
Damn. He’d only been around her for thirty minutes and it was already turning into a disaster. He wondered if having her stay at his apartment had really been the best decision. Putting her up in at a hotel certainly would have simplified matters. But it didn’t seem very girlfriend-like, making her stay in a hotel. A real girlfriend would stay with him.
Whatever. He just needed to keep his distance. She was a business arrangement, and that was all. Besides, he couldn’t just go sleeping with some poor girl who had no idea what she was getting herself into. She was from Connecticut for God’s sake. And the fact that he was paying her definitely complicated matters. Sleeping with her would be weird, almost like paying her for sex.
“So this is my apartment,” he said, as he slid the key in the lock and opened the door.
“Wow,” Kenley said as she looked around. “Don’t be too stereotypical bachelor or anything.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” He took in the surroundings, the dark wood, the light colored walls, the leather sofas. It was city chic, the exact look he’d been going for when he’d bought the place and hired a decorator.
She shrugged, which somehow felt insulting.
“Well, whatever,” he said. “I know it’s a lot different than what you’re used to.
You probably like to get all of your stuff from Pottery Barn, am I right?”
“Pottery Barn?” she asked, looking confused. “What’s wrong with Pottery Barn?”
“Never mind.” He shook his head. Now that she was here, in his apartment, he had no idea what to do with her. This was going to be a long couple of days. “So, listen,” he said finally. “I think we should probably go out to dinner.”
“Good,” she said. “I’m starving.”
“So there are some clothes in the bedroom,” he said. “I didn’t know your size, so I had them send over a bunch of stuff.”
“Clothes?” she asked.
“Yeah.” He looked at her. “You can’t.. I mean, we have to make it believable.”
She looked down at what she was wearing, jeans and a white t-shirt, then nodded.
“Do I have time to shower first?” she asked.
The thought of her naked, hot water pounding over her body and making her all wet was almost too much to take. “Yes. And you should probably dress up a little bit.
We, uh, we need to go somewhere where we’re going to be noticed.”
“Don’t you get noticed everywhere you go?”
He shrugged. “It depends. I mean, fans always notice me, sure – and if there happens to be some paparazzi around, they’ll take my picture. But I’m not a draw the way some people are. So we have to go where we know there will be photographers and hope someone takes our picture.”
“And where will these pictures end up?” she asked.
“Everywhere.”
She nodded, but she looked out the window. Chad had the urge to wrap his arms around her, to tell her it was going to be okay, to protect her. What was he thinking, getting her involved in something like this? She was just an innocent bystander – he’d started out using her for his own gain, and now she was about to have her picture plastered all over national magazines.
“Look,” he said. “If you’ve changed your mind – ”
“I haven’t changed my mind,” she said, cutting him off. She picked up her suitcase. “Where’s my room?”
***
Chad hadn’t been kidding when he said he’d had lots of different options sent over. The closet in the guestroom was overflowing with clothes. Long dresses, short dresses, soft skirts, beautifully made jeans and expensive-looking cashmere sweaters.
Everything was in an array of colors and sizes, and there were outfits matched up together, with tiny plastic bags of accessories attached to each hanger. The bottom of the closet was filled with shoes, with a little note in front of each pair, suggesting which outfit and colors would go best.
Whoever had done this was either extremely thorough, or figured that Kenley was some kind of fashion idiot. She ran her hands over the lush fabrics, watching them slide through her fingers like a shimmery rainbow. What had Chad told his assistant about why he needed this stuff? Obviously it was for a woman. He probably didn’t have to tell the assistant anything at all. He or she was probably used to all sorts of crazy requests from her boss. His assistant was definitely a woman, Kenley decided. Probably a cute little twenty-three-year-old, so that Chad could enjoy looking at her ass while she was doing mundane things like bringing him his coffee.
Kenley decided to take a shower first, and worry about what she was going to wear later. The closet was a bit overwhelming, and she felt a little grimy after her flight.
Airports always did that to her – the recycled, moisture-free air, the coughing passengers, the children spitting up and sneezing in the seat next to you.
When she opened the door to the guest bathroom, she almost gasped. Gleaming marble counters, a huge stand-alone shower, and a deep soaking tub filled the room.
There were crisp white cabinets lining the walls, and Kenley peeked inside to find a rack fluffy white robes and a shelf full of expensive-looking bath products. Well, as long as she was here, she might as well go all out. She filled the bathtub to the top with hot water, then dumped in half a bottle of a yummy-smelling cherry bubble bath. She undressed and dipped in a toe, testing the temperature. Perfect.
She slid her body slowly into the tub, letting the water come up over her legs and shoulders. This wasn’t too bad, she thought, getting paid to take a nice long hot bubble bath. She tried to calculate in her head how much she was making per minute being here, but the warm water and the fruity scents were making her too relaxed to concentrate on the math, and she closed her eyes, losing herself in the moment.
After another twenty minutes of soaking, she opened a new bottle of Bumble and Bumble shampoo and washed and conditioned her hair. There was a knock on the door, and she froze.
“Kenley?”
“Yeah?”
“Is everything okay in there?”
“Everything’s great.”
“Did you find everything you need?”
“Yes, thank you.”
“Okay. Well, take your time and just let me know if you need anything.”
“Thanks.” She slid back under the water and stayed there for a moment. There was something a little disconcerting about a man you hardly knew knocking on the door of the bathroom while you were taking a bath. Obviously she knew that Chad couldn’t see her, but still. It felt a little more… exposed than she would have liked.
After another few minutes, she got out of the tub, wrapping herself in a fluffy white towel. It was the softest towel she had ever felt in her life, warm and cozy and luxurious. How much did a towel like this cost? One time she’d seen an episode of Newlyweds where Jessica Simpson had spent fourteen hundred dollars on a set of sheets.
Kenley bet that those towels cost something crazy like that, too. Maybe when she left, she’d
steal a couple of them. Chad would probably never even notice. Besides, it would be like a bonus. Kenley used to always get bonuses at her old job after wrapping up a big deal. It was only fair.
After she dried off, she wrapped herself in a sheer light blue robe that was hanging on the back of the door. She blow-dried her hair until it was soft and straight, then carefully applied her make up, giving herself smoky eyes and lightly lined lips.
Then she returned to the bedroom. It was time to pick out something to wear.
“Chad!” she yelled.
He poked his head into the room. “Yes?”
She pulled the robe she was wearing tighter around herself, realizing it was practically see-through. “Um, where are we going?”
“I don’t know, I haven’t really decided that yet. I was thinking maybe we’d meet my friends Jay and Alyssa for dinner. Maybe Nobu?” His eyes were wandering up and down her body, and she crossed her arms over her chest.
“So I should dress up?”
“You should dress up,” he said. “But don’t go too crazy.”
“Okay.” He turned around and left, and Kenley turned back to the closet. She had no idea what ‘don’t go too crazy’ meant. She picked up her phone and dialed her sister.
“Melissa,” she whispered. “What am I supposed to wear to Nobu?”
“How the hell am I supposed to know?” Melissa asked.
“Because! You’re the one who’s always taking off and having adventures.
Haven’t you been out to a fancy dinner before?” Kenley flicked through the clothes in front of her. Jeans were definitely out, so maybe she should wear a skirt with a cute top.
Or a dress?
“Of course I’ve been to fancy dinners before,” Melissa sounded offended. “But not with famous people. Hold on, I’ll google it.” The sound of keystrokes came through the phone. “Wow,” Melissa said. “Did you know that Chad used to date Jessica Alba?”
“What?” Kenley asked, her hand stopping in the closet mid-flick. “How do you know that?”
“Google.”
“Melissa! Don’t google him!”
“Why not?”
“Because if you google him you’re going to find out all kinds of horrible things, and then you’re going to feel like you have an obligation to tell me, and it’s too late for that.” Of course Kenley had considered googling Chad herself. Today, at her apartment in Connecticut, when she’d almost been done packing and was sliding her laptop into her bag, she’d paused for a moment, running her fingers over the keyboard. But she’d finally decided that she didn’t want to know bad things about Chad. She was here, for better or for worse. She just had to get through the next two weeks, collect her money, and then she could google to her heart’s content. And if she found out anything bad, at least then she could feel smug, knowing that she’d took the bastard for a one hundred thousand dollar ride.
“Whatever,” Melissa grumbled. “Okay, so it looks like you have to kind of dress up for Nobu, but you don’t have to go too crazy. Maybe a skirt and a top? Or a dress?”
“Thanks,” Kenley sighed, and hung up the phone. Whatever. If her outfit was horribly wrong, it wasn’t going to matter. What was the worse that could happen? She’d end up in some magazine saying that she was horribly dressed? Actually, that would be pretty bad. Everyone knew people loved to read those worst dressed lists and mercilessly mock whoever had the misfortune to end up on them.
She stood in front of the closet for another moment, before finally picking out a silver shift dress with a sparkly belt. She paired it with a pair of high silver shoes and a black clutch bag. She doubled checked that the note on the shoes matched up with the dress she’d picked, then slid a pair of chunky silver hoops through her ears, and spritzed herself with the perfume she’d brought from home. She surveyed herself in the mirror.
Not too bad, she thought. Then she took a deep breath and went to go join Chad in the living room.
Chapter Seven
“So do these people know the deal?” Kenley asked.
“What do you mean?” Chad replied. They were on the sidewalk in Manhattan, walking toward midtown. They’d taken a car into the city from Brooklyn, but had been dropped off a few blocks away from Broadway. At the last minute, Chad had decided it would be best not to go to Nobu, instead opting for a restaurant in the middle of Times Square. He figured it would be better – less chance of paparazzi, but the city would be busy, and hopefully some fans would be there, snapping pics to post all over facebook and twitter.
“I mean do Jay and Alyssa know that you’re paying me to be your girlfriend?”
Kenley asked.
“Yes.”
“They do?” She stopped in the middle of the street, looking shocked.
“Yeah,” he said. “Why?”
“Because you told me not to tell anyone!”
“So?”
“So how come you got to tell people?”
“Jay’s one of my best friends,” Chad said. “And he can keep a secret.”
“How am I supposed to know that? I’ve never met this Jay person.”
“Look, if this gets out, I’m the one who stands to lose something,” Chad said.
“Not you.” They were walking again, getting into the heart of Times Square, and he moved through the crowd expertly, dodging the tourists and the vendors, making sure to stay with the flow of foot traffic. Kenley, surprisingly, was having no trouble keeping up with him.
“Ha!” Kenley said. “You might lose some stupid endorsement deal, but I’m going to lose my dignity.”
“Your dignity?”
“Yeah. People will know that I consented to be your fake girlfriend.”
“No one’s going to find out.” He rolled his eyes and tried to sound reassuring, but the truth was that there was always a chance someone could find out. It was the information age. Rumors and gossip moved at the speed of light. All it took was one person, one conversation, one text to the wrong person and it was all over.
“Whatever,” Kenley grumbled. Chad glanced at her out of the corner of his eye.
She looked absolutely fantastic. Her hair was loose and flowing around her shoulders, and her skin had just the right amount of tan after her time in Florida. She was wearing a tight gray dress that was short enough that it showed off her legs, but sophisticated enough so that she looked put together and stylish. He’d almost been rendered speechless when she’d come out of the guestroom. It was a new, weird feeling for him.
He’d dated some of the most beautiful women in the world, and here was this woman that he’d just met randomly, and he was more attracted to her than he’d ever been to anyone in his life.
He had the sudden urge to touch her, and so he reached out and took her hand.
She looked up at him in surprise.
“We have to make sure we look like we’re together,” he explained. “You know, so that it’s believable.”
“Whatever.”
It was a warm evening with just a bit of a breeze, and they walked slowly through Times Square toward the restaurant. When they got there, Jay was waiting outside with his fiancé Alyssa. There was a bunch of people around them taking pictures with their cell phones.
“I tried to get a crowd going,” Jay whispered to Chad as he greeted him. “So that it wouldn’t be so hard to get some pictures going.”
“Thanks,” Chad said. “I appreciate that.”
He introduced Kenley to Jay and Alyssa, and the two women started talking while Jay and Chad started signing autographs for the fans.
“You didn’t tell me she was hot,” Jay said as he signed a woman’s I HEART NY
t-shirt.
“Yes, I did,” Chad said. “You just weren’t listening.”
“You have to be careful,” Jay said, shaking his head. “She looks way too nice for you.”
“She can handle herself,” Chad said. “Trust me.”
Jay shrugged. “Well, whatever.” He handed the t-shi
rt back to the woman in front of him. “Hey,” he said to the crowd. “Anyone want to get pictures with me and my fiancé?”
There was a flurry of activity as Alyssa stepped up next to him. People loved getting pictures of Jay and Alyssa together. Alyssa was a journalist that had been assigned to cover the Brooklyn Heat, and her and Jay had fallen in love while she was writing about the team. He’d proposed to her at one of their games, and since then, America had been enthralled with their romance.
Chad watched the two of them posing. It was so natural, so right. They were smiling, looking very much in love. He glanced behind him and saw Kenley standing against the side of the building. She looked a little lose and uncomfortable.
“Anyone want to get pictures of me and my girlfriend?” he asked. He pulled Kenley toward him. And then he realized he had the perfect opportunity to get what he wanted. So as people started snapping pictures, Chad pulled Kenley into his arms and kissed her.
***
Kenley hardly had time to react to the kiss before it was over. All she knew was that suddenly her knees were weak and her heart was racing. Chad’s lips were warm and soft, and she wanted him so badly she could hardly take it. But then, just like that, it was over.
She forced a smile on her face as she posed for the cameras, thankful that Chad was holding her close. She didn’t trust herself to stay standing up. What the hell was wrong with her? The guy was a total jerk. Just because he was hot didn’t mean he should be having this effect on her, making her get all swoony like some crazy high schooler.
“What was the point of that?” she asked as Chad led her into the restaurant. He was still holding her close, and warmth was spreading through her body. “None of those people were paparazzi.”
“No, but they all have facebook and twitter,” he said. “Those pictures will be all over the internet before we’re done with our appetizers.”
“Good,” she said, not sure if she really meant it. It was a little unsettling, thinking about her picture being all over the internet. She didn’t even like when other people tagged her on facebook without her permission.
