Drake ran a hand over his face and then loosened his tie even further. His frown was more of a scowl and his mouth was set in a firm line. ‘I thought you said it was a weekend thing?’
‘It is but I would only need you to be there for the drinks and dinner thing on the Friday night. I’ll tell them you had to fly back for work or something.’
He continued to hold her gaze with unwavering intensity. ‘So, what’s the story you’re going to spin to them about our...relationship?’
‘I’ll tell them we’ve fallen madly in love and—’
He held up his right hand like a stop sign and his features screwed up in distaste. ‘Whoa there, Goldilocks. No offence but I’m not the type of guy to fall head over heels in love. Why can’t we say we’re having a fling?’
Aerin shifted her lips from side to side. ‘Because I’m not the type of girl to have a fling.’
‘You must have had plenty of flings, you’re almost thirty.’
There was a silence so intense Aerin could hear the creak of her chair when she shifted position. She slowly lifted her gaze to his and saw the dawning shock and surprise.
‘Are you telling me you’re avirgin?’
The word seemed to bounce off the four walls of the room. Did he have to make it sound so...so shocking? Plenty of people were celibate for various reasons. Aerin let her bag slip to the floor as she stood. ‘I know it’s a little unusual but that’s why I need a date this weekend. I’ve been teased about my virginal status for years.’
‘Is there some reason you haven’t...?’
‘Done the deed?’ Aerin sighed. ‘Yes. I’m waiting for my soulmate to show up. I don’t want to waste myself on someone who doesn’t get the importance of what this means to me. I want everything about my first time to be perfect.’
Drake walked over to the windows of his office, and, placing his hands on his lean hips, looked out at the view below. She hadn’t noticed before how broad his back and shoulders were from behind. They tapered down to trim hips and a taut bottom and long lean legs. Her mind began to undress him and her heart rate picked up again. She could imagine he would look wonderfully sexy in nothing but his olive-toned skin. What would it feel like to run her hands over his naked flesh? She was shocked at her wayward thoughts, wondering why they were entering her mind now. She was only interested in him as a stand-in date, not as a real date.
It was a moment or two before Drake turned around to look at her, his hands going back down by his sides. The afternoon sun coming in from behind him cast his features into shadow, giving him an even more rakish look.
‘Look, I’m flattered you asked me, but—’
‘Please don’t say no, Drake. I’m desperate. I can’t go alone, not this year because it’s the last year we will all be together because one of the girls is moving to Australia with her husband.’ Aerin didn’t care that she was at the begging stage. ‘We don’t have to mention it to anyone. Even Tom doesn’t have to know or my parents. In fact, it’s probably best if they don’t hear about it.’
Drake moved back behind his desk but didn’t sit in his chair. He stood grasping the back of it instead, his fingers white-knuckled against the leather. ‘Will the press be there?’
‘No, it’s a private event.’
‘But no doubt you and your friends will post photos on social media.’
Aerin tried not to think of how many followers some of her so-called influencer friends had. At last count it was in the hundreds of thousands. ‘I’ll tell them not to post any photos of us. I’ll tell them we’re keeping our relationship a secret from my family for a little while longer. I’m sure they’ll go along with it. They know how full-on my dad can be.’
Drake let out a long sigh and removed his hands from the back of his chair. ‘I’m not sure I’m the right guy for the job.’ He shook his head as if he still couldn’t believe she had asked him. ‘It’s got all sorts of wrong about it.’
Disappointment swept through her and she caught her lip between her teeth. ‘It’s just one night. You don’t have to do anything but pretend to be my partner. I’m not asking you to actuallybemy partner.’
‘I’m not planning on being anyone’s partner.’
Drake resumed his seat but didn’t roll the chair close to the desk, sitting with one leg casually crossed over his other knee, the fingers of his right hand lightly drumming against his thigh. His eyes didn’t leave hers and she fought against the desire to squirm in her seat. He had his lawyer face on, the stillness of his features revealing nothing of the razor-sharp inner workings of his mind.
‘Because you’re afraid to love someone in case they hurt you?’ she ventured.
His fingers stopped drumming against his leg and there was a sudden movement in the back of his gaze—a movement as quick as a camera shutter click. But then his lips twisted in a sardonic smile. ‘People can hurt you whether you love them or not.’
‘I guess...’
He uncrossed his leg and rolled the chair back to the desk. ‘Okay. I’ll do it. But only because I don’t want you to get in over your head with someone who might do the wrong thing by you.’
Aerin breathed out a gusty sigh of relief. ‘Oh, thank you so much. I was working myself into such a state at the thought of hiring someone or taking a stranger and having to share a room with them.’
There was a long beat of silence.