The Playboy's Princess (7 page)

“Pretty good. You?”

“All right,” he replied with a shrug.

Jade cringed. Small talk had never been her strong suit. She hated feeling awkward and was more comfortable just sitting in silence than trying to fill the space with pointless words.

“I thought we should talk about some of the details,” Drew stated.

Jade nodded, not sure what to say. The waitress brought over her iced tea, and she gulped down half the glass quickly.

“I actually had a contract made up. I hope that doesn’t offend you, but it’s just a general thing that says that I will pay you for services rendered. Services being that you become my wife.”

“I don’t mind signing a contract. What are the details?” When she thought about it, it seemed like a really good idea.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“Well, what will we tell our family and friends? Where will we live? Can we still see other people romantically?” Jade listed off from the top of her head.

Drew shifted in his seat and leaned forward. “What do you think would be appropriate?”

“Well, I think if people are going to believe it’s a real wedding, we’ll need to appear to be dating.”

“I agree,” he said with a nod.

“So, will we have official dates or just tell people that we’re dating?” she clarified.

Drew thought for a moment. “I think it would be good if we could go on two or three dates a week. I know my parents will expect to meet you soon, so I think we would need to do anything that a normal couple would do. We’ll need to know each other well to be able to convince people that we’re in love.”

“That’s what I was thinking too,” she agreed. Suddenly a thought popped into her head—
anything a normal couple should do.
Was he expecting her to kiss him in public? “How…affectionate should we be?”

A slight blush rose up Drew’s neck, and he gave her the crooked smile that she remembered from their first meeting. It was something that she’d missed during their phone conversations.

“What would you be comfortable with?” he asked.

“I don’t know.”

“Are you comfortable with this?” he asked, reaching his hand across the table and trailing his fingertips lightly over the back of her hand.

She stared at their hands and nodded. Her heart thudded in her chest, and she wondered if he could hear it.

“How about this?” His hand clasped hers, and their fingers intertwined.

She nodded again, admiring how the milky colors of their skin almost matched. His skin was smooth and slightly warmer than hers, and she shivered slightly as she imagined what it would be like to have more of his skin touching her. All too soon, his hand broke free and disappeared back under the table.

“Well, I think that’s all we’ll need for now. As we start to see each other longer, we’ll negotiate more affection as it becomes necessary,” he said.

The cold, businesslike words and tone of his voice snapped her back to reality, and she looked down at her hand sadly. She would just have to keep reminding herself that this was
not
a real relationship.

“I’ve also been thinking about your last question,” he said.

“Huh?” Jade asked, shaking her head to bring her back from her thought process.

“About us being able to see other people. Obviously, a year is a long time for either of us to be celibate. We could always help each other out with that, but I think that could become very messy, and I would like to try and keep this relationship as professional as possible.” He kept his eyes glued on the table and tapped the wooden surface with his fingertips as he spoke.

Jade nodded. She knew he was right, and she wanted to keep it professional too, but it was hard not to think romantic thoughts while staring into his eyes.

“So, I think that as long as we can be discreet and not get caught, then we should be free to live our lives. Obviously, none of our family or friends can know if we’re seeing other people, but a one-night stand in secret every now and then would be acceptable,” he posed.

Again, she nodded. She actually didn’t think that being sex-free for a year was that big of a deal, but Drew had a very different lifestyle. She looked at him and wondered if he’d recently had sex…Probably.

“You mentioned being celibate for a year. What kind of time frames are we looking at for this arrangement?” Jade said, sitting up straighter and trying to make sure she kept her words as formal and businesslike as his.

“I’ve actually put a lot of thought into this. I was thinking that we could date for a month before getting engaged. It’s a short period of time, but it’s not unheard of to commit quickly. People do it all the time. Then I would give my mother two months to plan the wedding. She’ll say it’s impossible and beg for more time, but I’ll be adamant that we want to be married sooner rather than later. If she can see that I’m happy, then she’ll agree. We would marry and appear to be in love for a few months, fulfilling the fine print of my grandmother’s will. Then, over a six-month period, our relationship could appear to be breaking down before we finally separate. California divorce law states that both parties have to agree that the relationship has been broken for a period of six months to allow a divorce. Are you willing to put a year into this?” he asked. “I think that’s the quickest we can pull it off.”

Jade thought about the timeline he was proposing. One year of her life would be wasted on this. One year of celibacy or one-night stands. One year she would never get back. What if she met the man of her dreams during that time? Could she say to him, “Sorry, I’m married to a guy I don’t love, but I’m going to divorce him in a few months. Will you wait for me?” He would think she was crazy.

On the other hand, the million dollars Drew was promising was very enticing. So enticing that twelve months didn’t seem like such a long time. What was one year, really? Twelve months, fifty-two weeks, three hundred and sixty-five days. A million dollars over one year; that worked out to be over eighty thousand dollars a month. Surely she could give up just one tiny year of her life for that kind of money. And it wasn’t as if she had a guy—or even the prospect of a guy—that would be put out by the arrangement. She might not even meet anyone in the next year that she was interested in.

“A year is doable,” she said.

Drew gave her a toothy grin. “Great!”

“Where would I live?” she asked, wondering if he was going to ask her to move in with him.

“Well, when we’re married, we’ll have to live together. After the wedding, when I get my inheritance and the house can be fixed up, we can live there until we separate. Until then, you can stay in your apartment. Is that okay?” He chewed his lip as he waited for her response.

“That sounds fine,” she replied. A part of her had hoped he would ask her to move in sooner than the wedding; it was still three months away. Her apartment was barely habitable, but she would just have to make do.

“I really think this is going to work,” Drew said with a smile.

“What do we do if someone suspects us?”

“Nothing. We deny it. No one can prove that we’re not in love. It’ll be our word against theirs. Don’t worry. We’re going to pull this off,” he assured her. He handed her an envelope. “Here, why don’t you read this over? Give it back to me once you’ve signed it. If there’s anything in there you think we should change, we can talk about it.”

She opened it and peeked inside; it was the contract.

“What are you going to tell people about me?” he asked curiously.

“I’ve already told my two best friends that I met someone. I thought it would be better to tell them as soon as possible so it appeared we had been dating longer,” she said. “Was that okay?”

Drew stood up and dropped some money on the table to pay for their drinks.

“You don’t have to do that,” Jade said, putting her hand out to give the money back to him.

“That’s what boyfriends do,” he replied, giving a wink.

They walked out of the café together and down toward her car. Jade would be heading south, and Drew was going to Beverly Hills, so it was time to say good-bye. She felt her chest tighten slightly as they both came to a stop next to her car.

She felt the urge to kiss him as he stared into her eyes.

“You have really pretty eyes,” he said.

“Thanks.”

“I’ve never seen eyes that green.”

Jade blushed. “That’s how I got my name. Mom was going to call me Emma, but when she held me in the hospital, she said my eyes were so green she had to call me Jade.”

“It suits you.”

Jade blushed even further, looking down at the ground.

“I’ll be in touch,” Drew said before reaching up and brushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

She shied away, and he chuckled softly.

“You might want to work on that flinch, Ariel,” he told her. “You should look like you enjoy me touching you.”

“Sorry. I wasn’t expecting it,” she lied.

He leaned forward, pressed his cheek against hers and whispered, “We need to appear comfortable around each other, so I might touch you even when we’re alone, just to help us get used to it. Is that okay?”

Jade’s chest started thudding again, and she gulped before nodding her head. Surely he could hear the pounding in her chest and see how nervous he made her. Her eyes closed involuntarily as a spicy scent wafted around them and she breathed him deeply; damn, he smelled good. His warm cheek pressed against hers for a second longer before he pulled back slightly and pressed his lips to where his cheek had just rested.

“I’ll see you soon,” he said softly after he kissed her cheek, and then he was gone.

The wind whipped her hair around her face as she stood on the street and continued to breathe in the delicious scent that lingered after he walked away. She raised her hand up and lightly touched her cheek in the spot where his lips had been just a moment ago, smiling.

“Shit!” she said loudly, annoyed with herself for allowing Drew to affect her so much.

Just in that moment, an old man walked past and mumbled something about the youth of today being riffraff and using foul language. Jade didn’t pay any attention to him, though, because she’d just realized she was starting to get a crush on her future husband. That was
not
good.

Chapter Five

Slam Dunk

J
ADE
W
AS
P
RETTY
. Drew wasn’t blind. He was well aware of how attractive she was. From their first meeting, he remembered her moss-green eyes and her strawberry curls, but what he hadn’t remembered was the way her whole face lit up when she smiled, or how fucking amazing she smelled.

As he walked away from her on the street and headed home, he thought about the fact he would get to kiss her and touch her whenever he wanted with no strings attached. Well, he supposed being married was the biggest string of all; it was a fucking steel cable. But they weren’t tied to each other; they had a clear plan that would allow them to part easily.

There was no doubt he was attracted to her, but that was a good thing. His parents and friends would never believe he was attracted to an ugly girl. As shallow as that sounded, it was the truth. He hoped his attraction would make things easier for them. He was drawn to her, which he prayed would make it easier for people to believe they were falling in love. He already wanted to touch her, so hopefully their affection would look natural—if she could hold back her flinching. Drew smiled; it really was adorable how nervous she was around him.

Jade never left Drew’s thoughts as he walked, even as he entered the large foyer of his parents’ house. He must have had a huge smile on his face, because his mom gave him a strange look.

“What’s made you so happy?” she asked.

“I met a girl.”

His mom’s face lit up, and she leaned forward in her seat. She patted the cushion next to her on the couch, inviting him to sit down.

“Tell me,” she said quietly.

Drew’s mother had never really been the hands-on type, but they had a good relationship and talked about the things that mattered. Unlike his father, who he barely had anything to talk about with.

“Her name is Jade,” Drew said, sitting down next to her.

He wasn’t sure how much he should play it up. He wanted her to think that he was dating Jade, but he didn’t want to be a gushing, sissy fool.

“Do we know her family?” Laura asked.

Typical. Of course his mother’s first question would be about her social standing. To be honest, Drew had no idea about Jade’s background. He made a mental note to ask her some questions next time they spoke.

“No, I don’t think so. I met her last week, and I just saw her again. I gave her my number, and we’ll probably meet up again soon.”

There, that sounded realistic…he hoped.

“Is she in the business?”

“In a way.” She wasn’t a film actor, but she was a character actor. Drew thought he could stretch it to say she was.