Heat rushed into Ellie’s cheeks and her mouth fell open. Of course, the moment they started talking about him, he’d end up right behind her.
“How long have you been there?” she asked, sitting back in her seat and tossing her hair.
“Since around the time you started talking about using me for my money and good looks.” James indicated an empty chair at their table. “May I?”
Tessa snorted, her wild eyes bouncing between James and Ellie.
“By all means.” Ellie gestured to the chair. “Have a seat. Join us. Maybe actually participate in the conversation instead of creeping around like some…creep.”
Tessa giggled again and took a nervous drink of her margarita. Ellie’s sweet friend would be useless from that point forward. Tess was great when it was just the two of them, but she fell to pieces as soon as someone else—anyone else—entered the mix.
James wobbled on his feet and his descent into the chair was less than graceful. How much alcohol was in his system?
“I take it you’re considering my proposition?” He leaned forward and crossed his arms on the table. His eyes met Ellie’s and sent a jolt of electricity through her body.
“I’m considering it. Weighing the pros and cons.” She made a serious face and shrugged, hoping to pull off nonchalant while she figured out how to stop her heart from leaping out of her chest and tap dancing on the table.
“Pros and cons, huh? How’s that going?”
Ellie caught Tessa’s eye and tried to ask her a question through eye contact alone. Should I do it?
Tessa widened her eyes and shrugged, nodding slightly. Message received and returned. Yes. Do it.
Ellie’s mouth went dry and she took a drink before answering. “I think you heard a good portion of the pros.”
“I’m hot. I’m rich. A little dangerous.” James counted off the list on his fingers, letting his gaze smolder into Ellie’s. She had to take another drink to cover up the flare of heat across her cheeks.
“Yep. All great reasons to fake date you.” She pretended to consider some more. “But is it enough?” Using her thumb and forefinger, she pinched her chin as if she was a wise old man stroking a beard.
James feigned surprise. “Wow. Who’d have thought getting propositioned by your eighth-grade crush would be such a hard sell.” He gave her a wicked smile.
Ellie could have just about died then and there. She dropped her head to the table and groaned while Tessa shrieked then covered her mouth, giggling into her hand.
Ellie turned; her forehead still pressed to the table as she peeked up at him. “You heard that part too, huh?” She sat up with a chuckle, shaking her head. “I’m not sure if that goes in the pros or cons column, but there it is. Out in the open.”
“I say put it in with the pros.”
“Of course you do. I say we take this to a third party. Tess? Is this a pro or con?”
“Me? You want me to decide?” Tess dissolved into a mess of embarrassed blushing and hit Ellie with her best please don’t put me on the spot look. “You know what I think,” she finally murmured before she excused herself and bolted for the restroom, leaving Ellie alone with a baffled James.
Chapter Nine
Ellie
“And what does your friend think about you fake dating me?” James watched Tessa scurry off to the bathroom, then turned an inquisitive eye to Ellie.
“It doesn’t matter what she thinks. It matters what I think.”
“Okay. What do you think?”
I think my best friend is a traitor, is what I think. Ellie glanced after Tessa, then turned her attention back to the hunk at her table. She leaned forward and tried not to lose herself in James' dark eyes. How was it even close to fair that he had such luscious eyelashes? “I think you need to do a little more convincing.”
“Ask me how many times I’ve had to convince women to go out with me in the last few months.”
“The first thing you need to learn is that I’m not like most women.”
James gave her a wry smile. “That’s growing more clear by the minute.”
He sat back in his chair and broke eye contact while he took a drink, licking his lips afterwards. Ellie’s stomach did a couple back handsprings while worry flooded her thoughts. Had she played too hard to get? Did it matter? Did she even want to get got? She stared into her margarita and picked a piece of salt off the rim, crunching it between her teeth. When she looked up, James was watching, a smile playing across his face and lust burning in his eyes.
“I’d get to kiss you again,” he said.
“Well that’s definitely a pro,” she answered without thinking.
His smile blazed into a wide grin. “Yeah? You think so?”
Ellie nodded. She enjoyed kissing James too much. Way too much. Because she liked it so much, she had no doubt she’d end up attached if they went through with the whole fake relationship thing. That sounded like a whole lot of trouble she didn’t need. She studied him. His handsome face. His sexy mouth. The bulge of his muscles and the fine lines of his tattoos. The whole predatory, razor-sharp focus he had trained on her.
“What exactly do you have in mind?” she asked, thinking of how tired she was of working and sleeping and doing nothing but worrying about money in between.
James smiled triumphantly. “I thought we’d go out a couple times a week. Make sure we hit all the public places. Let people see us being lovey-dovey together. Hold hands. Kiss. Whisper sweet nothings. All that stuff.”
“That doesn’t sound too bad.”
“It won’t be. I promise.”
Ellie swirled her glass, fighting back a laugh. His confidence was refreshing. Hilarious, but refreshing. “Easy, tiger. A little ego goes a long way.”
“I like that about you. You just say what’s in your head, don’t you?”
“Gets me into more trouble than you’d think.” Ellie
