But she did care and would be lying to herself to think otherwise. What she didn’t know waswhyshe cared. Was it a pride thing? That had to be it. The only other option would be that she liked him. And she didn’t. She didn’t think.
No, it wasn’t that she liked him, but rather she liked the way he had made her feel that one night five years ago.
Yes. She could live with that.
“It looks like you’re having an entire conversation inside your head,” Terrence said, drawing her back from inside her mind.
“I was,” she said, seeing no reason to deny it. “Haven’t you ever had one in your head?”
“I plead the fifth,” he said. “Actually, I was thinking about your idea on getting Andie off our case.”
“And?”
He sighed. “I think you’re right.”
“You don’t sound very happy,” she said. “But I can’t tell if it’s because I was right or because you hate my idea.”
“I’m surprised you suggested it is all. I was under the impression the less you saw of me the better.” When she didn’t reply to that, he added. “Unless you’re spying on me in the dungeon, in which case you want to see all of me.”
Her face heated, but even though he saw it, she appreciated the fact that he didn’t mention it.
“It really comes down to which is the lesser of two evils here,” she said, not sure if she was trying to convince him or herself. “If we have to tell a little story about us being attracted to each other, then I think that’s better than the alternative. At least this way we can play on our own terms. Besides,” she turned and flashed a smile in his direction. “You are relatively good-looking.”
“I’m not sure if I should be insulted you just called me evil in a roundabout way or if I should be happy you find me not repulsive to look at,” he said in a deadpan tone.
“You should be both. Since they’re kind of like opposites, they’ll cancel each other out and you’ll be in the same spot you are now.”
He chuckled. “That’s some impressive reasoning.”
“Nah. It’s a side benefit of having a family in politics.”
“I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing,” he said, and she couldn’t help but notice how serious he sounded.
“It’s neither. It’s just how it is.”
Neither of them spoke again until they were about ten miles from the children’s home.
“I propose we move forward with your plan,” Terrence said, looking at the road in front of them and not glancing her way the tiniest bit. “We’ll arrive back on the island tonight claiming how much we enjoyed being together and working side-by-side today. That we saw each other in a different light and something just clicked.”
She supposed it would be nothing for him to play his part. He was an actor after all. He did stuff like this for a living. She only hoped she could pull it off as well.
Chapter 13
TERRENCE
He was a manipulating asshole and he knew it. He just didn’t care.
Terrence couldn’t believe how easy it had been for Ronnie to come up with her plan and claim it as her own. He’d been worried that he’d have to leave such a long trail of breadcrumbs there would be no denying the fact that acting as if they were seeing each other was his idea.
They’d had a productive day at the children’s home. Ronnie confessed during a quick break they managed that she’d feared the day would be chaotic since he was a celebrity. Fortunately, the young couple, the Burkes, who had taken over from Fulton’s grandparents had everything under control.
Terrence discovered he remembered a lot more about piano than he’d expected and had no trouble keeping up with the handful of middle and high school students who requested accompaniment for the talent show.
After everyone felt comfortable with their routine and while he waited for Ronnie to finish up with the dancers, he started playing random song snippets that came to his head. Pretty soon, he’d shocked everyone with his ability to sing.
“I thought you only acted,” one of the younger boys, Jax, said. Terrence put him at around eight years old.
“I can do a lot of different things, just like you and anyone else,” Terrence replied. “Acting is only one of them.”