After All

Ouch. “I’m working on it but this will help. And what will it hurt?”

“You? Nothing. It won’t hurt at all. But what about me? Name a single fucking thing I would have to gain by pretending to be your girlfriend? I’m not a famewhore. I like my privacy. I like being anonymous. This sounds like absolute hell.”

I frown. “I’m not that bad.”

“I think you might just be.”

I didn’t want to bring up this next part. The part that makes it seem a bit sketchy. But here it goes.

“I would make it worth your while.”

She laughs bitterly. “Oh my god. You think fucking me is a selling point?”

“This has nothing to do with sex,” I tell her quickly. “You don’t have to touch me ever again.”

“Good.”

“Great,” I fire back, eyes narrowing. “This is just for show. We do it for the photos, for the publicity. You’ll just be arm candy, someone who’s with me in public. You don’t need to sleep with me, or sleep over or visa versa or anything like that.” I pause. “And I would make it worth your while because I’ll be paying you.”

Her head jerks back. “You’d pay me to be your fake girlfriend?”

Man, it sounds asinine when she puts it that way. “Yes.”

Heavy silence looms over us like a cloud.

Then.

“How much?”

I tilt my head at her curiously. I’m actually surprised she asked. “Whatever you want.”

She watches me carefully and comes away from the door, slowly walking toward me. I keep my eyes trained to her face and not her breasts which are swaying seductively under her thin t-shirt. “You’re telling me that you’ll give me however much I want for this?”

I nod, wondering just how crazy negotiations might get. “Money, privilege, access. However much you want, whatever you want.”

“You know I want this in writing, in an actual contract,” she says cautiously.

“Of course. Autumn can have the lawyers draw one up tomorrow. So wait, are you actually seriously considering it?”

“I’m considering it,” she says. “I’m not saying yes.”

“But you’re not saying no.”

A wry smile plays across her lips as she appraises me coolly. “I wonder how many times you’ve had to say that.”

“You know I’m persistent.”

“Like a fucking mosquito.”

It’s in this moment that I have to take a minute and wonder if this really is the right thing. Because as hot as I find her, as much as she turns me on, I know that being around Alyssa might not always be a pleasant thing. There’s a chance I can win her over but there’s also the chance that…well, it’s the chance I face with most women when they get to know me. If she gets to know me, the real me, she’ll run for the fucking hills.

If Alyssa does agree to be my fake girlfriend, she might just make my life a living hell.

“Look,” I tell her. “Have dinner with me tonight, with Autumn. You can hear the whole thing from someone else. We’ll talk about the contract, about everything. You can just do this for three months, tops.”

“That’s still a long time,” she says. “And it means I can’t date during that time. And neither can you.”

I hadn’t thought about that. “Well, I’ll manage,” I tell her.

“Whatever you need managing, it won’t be me doing it.”

I come closer, feeling a flame in my chest. “Did I do something to you to make you hate me this much? You seemed to like me a lot better last night. Don’t pretend you didn’t, there’s photographic proof now.”

Her eyes go up to the ceiling. “Just because I let you fuck me, doesn’t mean I like you.”

“Let me?” I reply, aghast. Fuck that. “You didn’t let me. You wanted me just as badly as I wanted you. Explain how your pussy got so fucking wet from just my kiss.”

Her nostrils flare and she looks away and I can tell, somewhere inside her, she wants it all over again.

I can’t pretend I don’t either.

I take another step toward her. With Alyssa, I just need to push. I need to piss her off. I’m starting to think it’s what really gets her going. “You fucking want me right now. You want me to strip you naked, throw you on the bed, lick up between your thighs until you’re screaming my name again.” I lean in close, daring her to meet my eyes. Pure heat thrums through my veins. “You’ve been dreaming about it all morning. I bet you can still feel my cock inside you. That you’re a little raw from being fucked so thoroughly.”

She slowly meets my eyes, swallowing audibly. “If I sign this contract,” she says, her voice husky. “That means this can’t happen.”

“What is this?” There’s barely any space between us now.

She puts her hand on my chest, holding me back. “You coming on to me. If you’re going to pay me to be your girlfriend, I can’t sleep with you. I’ll feel like a whore.”

I didn’t think about that. “So let’s pretend you don’t sign the contract. Would you fuck me anyway?”

“If I didn’t sign the contract, I’d have no reason to see you again. So no.” She closes her eyes. “I just…I made a mistake last night with you. I can’t do it again.”

Fuck. A mistake. That’s not at all what I’ve been considering it. And yet I can’t blame her for feeling that way, even if it makes me feel a bit fragile.

“Are you saying there’s no way you can resist my advances?” I ask her with a grin.

Her lips press together in a thin line as she stares right into my eyes. “The last thing I want in this world is to add to your ridiculous ego but…you make it very, very hard.” Pause. Hint of a smile. “Pun intended.”

Smarten up, I tell myself quickly. This might work if you can just back off.

I nod and straighten, creating distance between us. I need to put on the gentleman act and just fucking behave for once.

“Okay,” I tell her, trying to seem as harmless as possible. “I’ll keep that in mind. So what do you say? Dinner tonight? If you don’t want to do it, then fine. No harm, no foul. But if you do…I promise your life will change. For the better.”

“Right. Because being Emmett Hill’s girlfriend is that amazing.”

“No. Because I’ll treat you like a fucking queen, the way no one else has, the way you deserve to be treated. I’ll take you to every fine restaurant you want, I’ll shower you with gifts and jewels, I’ll pay your rent, I’ll take you anywhere in the world. And you’ll be living a life you’ve only dreamed of for three months. I promise you I’ll make them the best months of your life.”

She doesn’t believe me. I can tell.

But I can also tell she’s up for the challenge.

Just like I am.

“Okay,” she says. Reluctant. “Dinner. But this better just be a dinner. I’m not down for threesomes unless they’re the male male variety.” She taps her fingers along her chin. “Then again, you did say I could have whatever I wanted.”