“Not terribly conservative, but they worry.”
“I’m sorry,” he repeated. “I am usually careful about paparazzi. I became too relaxed here.”
She nodded. “What’s the reaction been like for you?”
“My agent is delighted. I have never been the one the media gossips about in my family.”
“How do you feel about it?”
He lifted his shoulder. “I suppose I’m mostly worried about how it may affect you.”
Her eyes softened. “That’s kind of you.”
“It’s not kind. I owe you, as it is.”
Her lip curled up in the corner. “Please don’t offer me money again.”
“I wouldn’t, now that I know how you feel about it.” He’d had to scrape his account to put that check together, so a part of him was glad she hadn’t taken it. He still didn’t see anything wrong with compensating her and soothing his guilty conscience, but he could see how it could be misconstrued as hush money.
She traced the water ring the iced tea bottle had left. “I don’t need money.”
“Understood.”
“But there’s something else you could do for me.”
He leaned forward. “Anything.”
She looked up, and he was so captured by her pretty light eyes and the long lashes she’d artfully curled, that he almost missed her next words.
“I’d like you to date me.”
JIA WONDERED IF she’d shocked proper Dev into silence. He’d gone still and stared at her like she’d grown two heads.
He finally adjusted his glasses, as if to see her two heads better. “You want to date me?”
“Oh no.” She didn’t want him to get some foolish idea that she was still pining for him, because she was not. This was a business arrangement that would benefit them both. “I want to pretend to date you.”
Dev leaned back in his seat and tapped his fingers on the table. It was hard to breathe in this little trailer, and that was most definitely because he was taking up far too much space. She’d seen him only in suits before, but this one was more relaxed, the tie pulled loose and slightly askew. She was going to assume that was for the role he was playing, and not of his own volition. His hair was ruffled up, and there was a trace of eyeliner on his eyes, which told her hair and makeup had prepped him already.
They’d done a bad job of blending, though. She ripped her gaze away from the line of foundation at his collarbone. It wasn’t her problem, that foundation line.
“I do not think that sentence is as explanatory as you believe it is.”
“Okay. Here’s the deal.” She steepled her fingers in front of her face. She’d rehearsed this on the drive over. She knew exactly what to say, and she wouldn’t have her brain turned to mush because she was in front of an attractive man, damn it. “It sounds like this publicity helped you, right?” That was what she’d been banking on. The tabloid articles had been gleeful, not condemning, and she knew how much actors loved their attention.
He shrugged. “Sure.”
“So now you owe me twofold?”
“Ah . . .”
“Because you could help me out. By meeting my parents in a few weeks and posing as my boyfriend. Did I mention that you owe me?”
Dev blinked at her, his glasses magnifying his eyes. “Uh.”
Dev’s shock wasn’t entirely unexpected. This sounded like something out of a zany comedy. She backed up. “I may have allowed my family to believe that I was dating you.”
“Why would you do that?” he asked slowly.
“They saw the picture,” she reminded him.
“You could have explained it was a misunderstanding.”
“I know. I tried to tell them that. But you see . . . one of them overheard me talking to my sister about you. Or the man I thought was you.” She scrunched up her face. “You know what I mean. Anyway, this confirmed things for them, and I didn’t know what to say. I either had to confess that I had lied about ever talking to you and knowing you, or I had to say that I was catfished, and I couldn’t do that without them getting mad, and the next thing I knew I was saying that, yeah, we were totally dating, and then my mom said they’d come here and meet you and—”
She was shocked when he lightly placed his hand on her arm. “Hey, hey,” he said, and his voice was so low and soothing it almost brought a tear to her eye. She hadn’t realized how worked up she was. “It’s okay. That makes sense.”
“Does it?” She blinked rapidly to control potential leaking. Stupid emotions.
“Absolutely.” He patted her arm and withdrew his touch, which made her slightly sad. “What will you do in the long-term? Your parents will be disappointed if it doesn’t work out, yes?”
As disappointed as I was when you turned out to be fake. “They’d be more disappointed at the alternative explanations. You’re authentic and a good guy. They’ll approve.”
“You want their approval?”
“Of course.”
Dev rubbed his hand over his jaw. It was a nice jawline. She’d seen photos of him without the beard. The facial hair made him look older and slightly nefarious, though now she knew he would be careful to not touch her in an untoward manner even when they were hiding from discovery.
Which was good, she totally didn’t want him to touch her. She discreetly brushed her fingers over the still warm spot where he’d patted her on her forearm. No touches wanted at all.
“How do you know I’m a good guy?”
She cocked her head. “You could have lied to me about your cousin being the one to send those messages. You didn’t have to apologize.”
“That is what any decent person would have done.”
“Sadly, the bar is on the floor when it comes to decency these days.”
“You know, my sister on Kyunki Mere Sanam Ke Liye Kuch Bhi had a similar storyline once. She pretended to have a fiancé from Canada, and hired an actor. The problem was when he met our parents on the show, the lie fell apart because they were clearly strangers to one another.” He paused, and his tone gentled. “I am an actor, Jia, but your parents know you well, and I do not think they will be fooled by someone who does not. Or suppose they ask us simple questions, such as how we met, or what our first words to each other were?”
“We have time before they get here, like a month at least. We can learn everything we need to know about each other by then, and we can get our stories straight. We can even get together in advance. Have some study sessions.”
“It wouldn’t be proper for us to meet in private like this too much.” He gestured around them at the otherwise empty trailer.
His concern over impropriety was an ingrained, earnest part of his personality, it seemed. “Can I ask you something? How are you like this? Not to stereotype, but I wouldn’t think anyone raised in the movie industry would be so concerned about what’s proper.”
“I wasn’t in the industry for my formative years.” His small smile encouraged hers. “I don’t judge anyone else for what they do, but I am conscious of my own behavior. It was how I was raised, but perhaps at some point it became a rebellion against the excesses of the industry. I understand if that seems boring.”