Page 22 of A Billion Dollar Romance

I signed the receipt, unthinking. Edie’s small hand wrapped around my arm.

“Wait–James,” she said, “I didn’t think–”

“Don’t, Edie.”

“It’s so much,” she protested. “I can’t–”

I froze for a moment. Was this about the ring, or…?

“You don’t have to,” I said, hoping she understood that I wasn’t just talking about the ring. “Remember, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. But if this is just about the expense, then…” I reached out for her hand, taking it in both of mine. We were in public, were we not? A man would be expected to hold the hand of his fiancée, to rub his thumb across her knuckles, to look from her eyes to his ring on her finger and back again. “Don’t think of it. It’s nothing.”

Her eyes widened, her fingers tightening around mine, and she nodded. “Yes,” she breathed. “Of course, yes.”

Blood rushed to my cock.

Yes, she’d sighed, as I dragged her plain black thong down her legs, then again as I touched my tongue to her hot center, already sweet and wet for me.

I stood, pulling her with me. The room was stuffy, I needed fresh air to clear my head of the memories of her.

“Thank you for your assistance,” I managed, and the shop owner nodded as I dragged the both of us from the shop and onto the street.

CHAPTER12

Edie

“Dinner tonight,”James said, as we landed back in the bright late-morning sunshine of the sidewalk. My hand felt heavy, and I looked down to see the ring glittering brightly.

I shook my head. “I can’t,” I said. “I have plans.” Flora and I were going to get take-out Chinese and watch trash tv, but he didn’t need to know that. A man who dropped that many zeros on a ring didn’t care about my budget girls-night-ins.

I didn’t expect the way his eyes darkened. “Edie,” he said, “while you’re wearing my ring, I expect you to be… faithful.”

My breathing quickened, warmth pooling in my belly.

“It’s not a date,” I told him. “Just dinner with a friend. Afemalefriend.”

“Good,” he said.

I stood taller, forcing myself to meet his gaze. “And you?”

“And me, what?” he asked, inclining his head. I clenched my hands tight to keep from fidgeting.

“You’ll be… faithful?”

It was a silly word to use, when this whole arrangement was one based on lies, on a one-night stand, on desire and temptation, but–

“Yes,” he said, reaching out and taking my left hand, uncurling my fingers, staring at the ring–hisring–again. “Edie…” He looked up at me. “The story you told the shop owner…”

“Was there something you needed to discuss,” I blurted, “over dinner?”

He blinked.

I couldn’t admit to my crush on him, and have him let me down gently. I didn’t need reminding that this wasn’t real; I knew that it was pathetic, what I was doing. Agreeing to this sham, all for a little bit of time for myself to write.

And a few more months with him.

“Because we could–we could take a walk, or something. There’s a park–” I gestured across the street, stopping myself abruptly when I realized I was using my left hand, seized by the momentary panic that the ring would fly off my hand and into the busy street.

James paused, an unreadable expression on his handsome face, then nodded.