Total pages in book: 136
Estimated words: 135847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 679(@200wpm)___ 543(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 679(@200wpm)___ 543(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
And she’d definitely take Hale.
“Well then, it’s good the interview will air after I spend a couple of hours pretending you’re the love of my life,” Hale returned.
There went my breath. Poof! Gone.
He watched me carefully before he asked, “Do you ever have any fun?”
I tried to remember the last time I had any fun.
As I was still trying to do that, Hale bit off, “Jesus. I’m picking you up tonight. We’re doing this. I’m not taking no for an answer.”
“You’re not good at taking no for an answer, are you?’ I sniped.
“Who is?” he asked.
Touché again, dammit.
It was me watching him carefully this time, before I said, “If we do this, there’s nothing to it. No favor to be paid back later. No marker to be called. This is just you being a decent person and helping me get though a family dinner. Because Fliss didn’t lie. They’re a tough go.”
He held up his hand, palm toward me. “No favor. No marker.” He dropped his hand. “And just to say, I’m normally a decent guy so I got you.”
We’d see about that.
I gave in. “Fine.”
He smiled.
Damn.
“What time should I come get you?” he asked.
“I’m supposed to be there at six thirty, so…six forty-five?”
He started laughing. It looked good on him and sounded better.
But he shook his head. “No, sweetheart. You don’t understand how this goes. We’re gonna show at six thirty on the dot. The more time we have to rub their noses in our budding love, the better. Trust me.”
His words gave me a shiver.
“So, again, what time?” he prompted.
“Six fifteen. They live close.”
“Great.”
“Great,” I parroted.
He meant his, I didn’t mean mine.
“It’s gonna be fantastic,” he promised.
I didn’t believe him for a second.
Don’t get me wrong, it was going to be magnificent, pitching up to my childhood home on the arm of Hale Wheeler.
It was just that Hale Wheeler was proving to be a wildcard.
And I might be a risktaker.
But there were some risks every sane girl knew to avoid.
And if she was smart, a man like Hale always took the number one spot on that list.
CHAPTER 5
JUST THE RIGHT THING
Elsa
Hale’s car took me home, whereupon I ran up the stairs, changed clothes, then ran down them and walked quickly to the studio.
While there, I downloaded Hale’s interview from the cloud and watched it in its entirety, marking segments I wanted to cut to my reaction, a long shot, or where I wanted to look for some photo I owned of him or some member of his family that we could run over him speaking about them.
I then spent a good deal of time packing stuff to be ready for when Chuck, Zoey, Fliss and Carole showed the next morning to help move us to our new space. It was a lot to ask of them on a Sunday, and I didn’t want them to have to fill boxes, just lug them.
I did all of this while fielding texts and emails from informers and drafting an outline of a report we’d film on Monday.
I lost track of time, which meant I had to race back to my place, take a quick shower and engage in the ubiquitous conundrum of trying to figure out what to wear that my mother would have the least comments about.
I hadn’t come up with anything, was still engaged in that at the same time putting the finishing touches on my makeup—multitasking because Hale was going to be there in fifteen minutes—when I took the call I’d rejected ten times since she got in the elevator that morning.
“I’m only answering to give you the opportunity to share your profound and heartfelt apology for being unprofessional and a friend traitor,” I said to Fliss after I took the call.
“Babe, you need to get laid.”
At her words, I stopped inspecting an off-the-shoulder sweater for snags.
“It’s a fake date,” I returned.
“And you need to get a life,” she went on like I hadn’t said anything.
“I have a life,” I retorted, found no snags on the front, so I turned the sweater over to scrutinize its back.
“Okay, listen to me,” Felicity urged. “While he was sitting for me, he couldn’t take his eyes off you. I constantly had to tell him to look at me, and in the end, just gave up and moved around him so he could watch you. And, girl, you were doing nothing but sitting so Chuck could check your lighting. It wasn’t like he didn’t want to miss witnessing you paint a masterpiece.”
I again ceased my sweater inspection to stand straight and blink at my bedroom while I tried to moderate my suddenly erratic heartbeat.
“What?” I asked.
She didn’t repeat herself.
She said, “I don’t know what all that was about when you told us he was an asshole, he seemed super cool to me. And I heard his interview. He’s not looking for anything serious. You’re deeply involved in your career, you’re not looking for anything serious. It’s perfect. But, E, you can’t work all the time. I’m not going to get into sex because I know it’s been a huge dry spell for you. But when even was the last time you went out on a date?”