I grin. Relief is washing over me. “If you think about it, Tess, wouldn’t moving in with me be the ultimate fuck-you to your ex?” She gives a little chuckle and my heart leaps. She’s forgiven me and we have a good shot at making everyone believe this is real: that smile of hers…no actor could fake the way it makes her face light up. I go over and give her a hug.
“But I don’t want your money, Roscoe,” she says, patting the side of the bed next to her. I’m intrigued so I sit down. “You lay out the terms and I’ll say yes to anything.” She gives me one of those looks I’m coming to recognize: half speculative, half teasing. “You should never say such a thing to a designer, you know? We can be a grasping bunch of cutthroats when it comes down to it.”
That makes me laugh and I lean back against one of the larger soft toys pushed against the side of the bed. “Alright, shoot. What are your terms?”
She takes a deep breath. “I’ll move into your building, but I want you to make Charlie comfortable too. We share the rent in Washington Heights and I want to be able to continue doing so, that means I have to keep working.”
“You’ll be working on your collection, Tess. You can turn part of the apartment at the NoHo building into a studio. I’ll pay Charlie’s rent up until the end of the year—six months—so she will have nothing to stress about.”
Tess leans back on the bed next to me, a lilting smile on her face. “You just can’t help it, can you, Roscoe? The minute you get your own way, you go back to bossing and ordering people around.”
I turn on my side so I can look at her straight on. “I’m not ordering, Tess, I-” She pushes her face so close to mine I can smell sweet lemonade and mint on her breath. “Roscoe. You must learn tosuggestthings.”
I think a bit before trying again. “Isuggestyou work on your collection, Tess. If you won’t take my money, at least use this time as a chance to kickstart your fashion career. You can’t…er…I don’t think you can-shouldgo back to working on brochures.MaybeI can act as your backer, like you told Charlie. That means I can give you an advance, which you can pay back at a later date.Perhapsyou can pay your half of the rent with some of the advance money?”
She leans forward and gives me a kiss on the cheek. “You learn fast, Roscoe Bridges.”
CHAPTER10
TESS
Things are happening so fast, I hardly have time to think about what I have done. The man from Sergio’s, the man I told myself I hated so much even while the thought of him thrilled me to my core, is my fake fiancé. Shoot.
I suggested, and he agreed, that if anyone asks, we don’t tell them if we have slept together. We leave them guessing.
And he suggested, and I agreed, that only close friends and family know about our relationship; only parents and Ishida Holdings know about our engagement; no one else can be told outside of that small circle.
He tells the Uber driver to take us to the NoHo penthouse, and I blush when the driver looks impressed as he parks outside the building. I don’t even know how much the people who live in luxury buildings tip. I hazard a guess and hope the driver is satisfied. Roscoe has a smile a mile wide on his face when I join him under the sidewalk canopy. “What?” I hope he’s not remembering the way I flounced out of here this morning.
“Nothing,” he says, “I just find some of the things you do very charming, Tess.” I decide that Roscoe can be very charming himself when he’s getting his own way. The elevator stops at the mezzanine level under the penthouse. When the doors slide open, the apartment is a carbon copy of the one above it, only without the artwork and personal items.
Roscoe leaves me there after saying, “I’m going upstairs to get my laptop.” I’m left to wander around my new home. In the master suite, it takes me about one minute to crawl from one side of the bed to the other. As an artist, I have an editing eye when it comes to spaces and structure, and there’s not a single thing I would change. I even love the fragrance coming from the hidden scent diffuser, it’s a bit floral with a touch of spice.
He comes into the bedroom and joins me on the bed, lying on his stomach and typing on the laptop, his fingers moving over the keys lightning quick. “If you go outside, you’ll see the spiral staircase that takes you to the pool at the top. I do laps there early in the mornings as you know, but you’re welcome to use it afterward,” he says without looking up from the keyboard. I can’t resist walking outside to see the view. Somehow, the air seems to be clearer and cleaner up here. The light seems brighter. I decide to set up my studio in the living area. Wait. The smell from the food cooking in the kitchen will taint the materials. I move to the room similar to the one where Roscoe keeps his books. It’s east-facing and will be too dark in the afternoon. The guest room! Feeling like Goldilocks, I say out loud, “It’s perfect.” I make a mental note to ask for the bed and other furniture to be moved out.
In my mind, I’m already setting up my sewing machine and cutting table when I go back to the master suite. He’s still on the bed, now reading an A4 paper, but when I come in, he turns onto his side and grins at me, patting the bed. He’s already linked his laptop to the printer in the study. “I’ve finished the contract. Come and read it.”
It seems pretty straight forward. I say in an amused tone, “Just don’t ask me to sign it in blood, followed by a devilish laugh and you disappearing in a puff of smoke.”
He looks at me from under those dark eyebrows of his as he hands me a pen. “Trust me, Tess, we are never going to regret doing this. It’s a win-win.”
After I sign, I feel him shift closer to me. It’s strange, but I’m suddenly so relaxed. It’s one of those hot and sultry Manhattan days and the AC hasn’t been switched on in the apartment yet. A heavy, languorous sensation floods my body, and when the mattress sinks slightly under his body weight, all it makes me want to do is turn onto my back and stare at the ceiling. “It was a crazy night, Roscoe…and it’s been an even crazier day.” I really like the way his body presses against mine. He’s rolled onto his stomach, pillowing his head on his arms, his head turned to the side so he can watch me. I can see his arm muscles stretching out the sleeves of that light summer sweater he’s wearing. We lie like that for a long beat. There’s nothing more to say: for better or worse, I’m Roscoe’s fiancée now. It’s official… on paper.
He hoists himself up onto his elbows, propping his jaw on the palm of his hands. “We should celebrate. Do something special. What do you want to do?”
I want to lay here on the bed with him and feel his hard body press against me. I want him to kiss me until I forget to breathe for a little while. The memory of the way his body looked in the pool is etched in my mind. What I wouldn’t do to be able to run my hands over those rock-hard abs and not stop until I feel his reaction to the way I wrap my mouth around him…I desperately want to have him thrusting between my legs, grinding and pounding me sore, ramming himself into me until I scream and shudder with ecstasy.
As if he can read my thoughts, he moves to kiss me. It’s just a light brushing of his mouth against my lips, but the zing I feel makes me jump off the bed because I’m don’t feel in control.
“Isn’t that better than me laughing and disappearing in a puff of smoke, Tess?” His expression is hard to read, then I realize he’s trying to read me, to see if my reaction is a positive or negative one. He mustn’t do that! I’m on the edge of excitement, I’m wet and engorged and he hasn’t even touched me. I won’t hand over power to him just like that. That would be so cliché and predictable. I steel myself to keep things on an even keel, because this man has the ability to rock my boat.
“I-I think we should keep this strictly business, Roscoe,” I stutter, “because I don’t want our wires to get crossed.”
He looks down, so I can’t read the emotion in his eyes. “We live right next door to one another, Tessa. Are you saying that you won’t feel like fucking for the next three to six months, or however long it takes to wrap this deal up?”
He’s got me there, because I want him to fuck me right now. He’s crazy attractive, gorgeous, handsome…but he’s also obscenely rich, capricious, and fickle.
“Let’s cross that bridge when we come to it, Roscoe.” And it takes every last ounce of my willpower to step down from the bed dais and walk back to the living room.