Page 50 of Reputation (Tempt)
When I turned back to look at him, his eyes were full of an emotion I couldn’t name. “Sit down. We’re not done discussing this.”
I yanked my arm out of his grasp, my earlier sympathy forgotten. “If you want my help, you better start treating me with more respect. I’m not a child. And you can’t just take my phone away.”
“I’ll treat you like an adult when you stop throwing a tantrum.”
Unbelievable.“And you think we could make people believe we’re in love?” I scoffed. “No one would buy it.”
“You’re wrong.” He rocked on his heels. “They already are.”
“Who?” I asked, throwing up my hands in frustration. “Strangers on the internet?” I scoffed. “People who don’t know us? What about our friends? Our families?” I swallowed hard at that thought.
“I can be convincing,” he said, his voice a low rumble of dark promise. “Trust me.” He inched closer, but I refused to budge. Despite my bravado, my heart started pounding faster and then faster still.
He wrapped my hair around his finger then tucked it behind my ear. He leaned in, our breath mingling, and I forgot about everything else. Everything but him. “Can you?”
CHAPTERELEVEN
“Can I?” I whispered, feeling as if I’d been sucked into a vortex where only Nate existed. “What?”
He held my gaze, grazing my cheek with his nose. It didn’t matter that I was wearing yesterday’s clothes or that my face was still swollen. Nate looked at me as if I was the most beautiful woman in the world. He looked at me as if…
Oh my god. Nate Crawford is going to kiss me.
His lips brushed my cheek, and I shivered. Holy fuck. Holy?—
But then he backed away. Everything else came rushing into focus once more, but my body was still buzzing from his touch. From the reminder of what we’d started the night of Brooklyn’s slumber party and what I’d spent weeks trying to forget. What we could finish now that people thought we were engaged.
“Not bad,” he said in a haughty tone. It felt as if he’d doused me with a bucket of ice water. “We can work on it.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. I wasn’t sure what bothered me more. The fact that he could be so convincing and I’d fallen for it. Or that he seemed completely unfazed, when I was a combination of annoyed and turned on. “Work on what exactly?”
“Being convincing. Think of this as an acting job. You’d be playing the part of my fiancée,” he said, ignoring the fact that I lacked acting experience.
“And how long would this ‘acting job’ last?” I asked, complete with air quotes. I wasn’t seriously considering this, was I?
He contemplated it a moment then said, “One year.”
My eyes went comically wide. At least, that was how they felt. As if they might actually pop out of my skull. After the events of this morning, it didn’t seem as unrealistic as one might think.
“One—” I coughed. Sputtered. “Year?” I croaked.
That was a long time to pretend to be in love with someone, no matter how much money was on the table.
“Five million up front. Five million at the end of the year. Hell, consider it an investment in your athleisure line.”
“Why a year?” I asked, thinking of the life-span of most Hollywood relationships. A housefly had better longevity.
He lifted a shoulder, the picture of nonchalance. As if this weren’t the most bizarre conversation we’d ever had. “It would give me enough time to campaign for the Meghan Hart adaptation, and the breakup would give me a publicity boost right before awards season. Plus, by that point, no one would suspect it was fabricated.”
“And so as not to steal your spotlight,” I said, needing to lighten the mood. Ten million dollars was no joke, but the idea of accepting it felt wrong.
His cocky grin was sexy, even though I didn’t want it to be. “It’s like you know me.”
I honestly wasn’t sure I did. The more time I spent with Nate, the more I learned about him. But then he went and did something like this, and it felt as if I didn’t know him at all.
I mean…a fake engagement? I still couldn’t believe he’d be in favor of this, let alone advocating for it.
“And having me on your arm would help you how?” I asked.