“Definitely the point.” Fingers circled her wrist, and Jasper tugged her hand away from her face. He kissed her knuckles. “Don’t stress about it. Andi’s not going to tell on us. No one is going to find out. The video will be deleted. And who you are is a woman who might possibly get off on a little risk. Nothing wrong with that.” He pulled her against him. “In fact, it’s quite a winning quality.”
She huffed. “I’m literally the opposite of a risk taker. Sheltered homeschool kid remember?”
He gave her a look. “I call bullshit on that, Hollyn Darling.”
She frowned.
“I know we’re new to each other, but here’s what I do know. You’re a woman from a small town who grew up in a protective shell and broke out of it as soon as she could. Despite being on her own, despite having anxiety and a neurological disorder to contend with, she came to the city and made a name for herself. A woman who literally goes undercover like a superhero to do what she loves. A woman who, no matter how terrified she is, is pushing herself to do what it takes to get over her fears and get the job she wants. A woman who straight-up, no bullshit asked a guy to help her get more comfortable dating. You, Hollyn Darling,” he said, touching his forehead to hers, “are a motherfucking, risk-taking badass.”
She laughed at the final declaration, but a pool of warmth spread through her chest, making her limbs tingle and her eyes get watery. “Jasper.”
He lifted his head, giving her a gentle look. “I had a counselor once tell me that we need to be careful with the stories we tell ourselves because our brains believe them. Maybe it’s time you start telling yourself a different story. You’re not that little girl under the tree, unable to stand up to the bully. Not anymore.”
She swallowed hard. “You and my therapist been having drinks behind my back?”
He laughed. “All I’m saying is that this Hollyn would kick that kid in the balls.”
“Hell yes I would.”
He smirked. “And this Hollyn would totally sneak away into the video room and get off with her practice boyfriend.”
Her brows lifted. “Is that what we’re calling it?”
He stepped back and shrugged. “I don’t know what to call it, but people here are going to figure out something’s going on between us. I mean, I kissed you in front of Emily. Andi apparently knows something’s up.”
“The Andi thing may be my fault.”
“Ah, so you talked about me?” he asked, looking enormously pleased.
She rolled her eyes. “Narcissist.”
“All I’m saying is that we probably should get on the same page about how we’re going to interact here. We don’t owe anyone any explanation, but if you’re planning on keeping this a secret, I need to know. I’ll also need to ask Emily to keep what she saw to herself.”
Hollyn rolled her lips together, pondering. On one hand, not having to hide it would be easier, but on the other hand, she needed to be careful. This wasn’t a real dating relationship. She’d seen those rom-coms. People got hurt when they pretended to be together and one got attached. She didn’t want to be the unlucky one who caught feelings and had her heart broken. Could she handle this? Was she really the tough person Jasper saw her as? Not the desperate girl just looking for a guy to like her?
Ugh. She really, really hoped she wasn’t the latter anymore.
“So we would just tell people we’re seeing each other if they ask?”
He nodded. “Works for me.”
She tipped up her chin, trying to write her new story. “Okay, I’m cool with that. But you better not fall in love with me. You know how those fake relationship movies can turn out.”
A flicker of something unreadable flashed across his face but then that winning smile returned. “Now who’s the narcissist?”
She tilted her head. “I’ve got to keep up with you, right?”
He reached out and took her hand. “You’re keeping up just fine, darling. And this isn’t a fake relationship. It’s just a unique friendship. One with lots of orgasms.”
“Those definitely weren’t fake.” She gave him a pointed look. “Now, go delete the video evidence because I’ve seen that movie, too. And I don’t wanna be in that kind. That kind ends with jail or murder.”
He laughed. “Done.”
A few minutes later, they headed out, back among coworkers and the noise of the office, the real world a harsh contrast to the quiet video room. Rodrigo was coming down the hall toward them. Hollyn stiffened and shifted a little further from Jasper, hoping she didn’t have I just had sex with this guy in the video room written all over her face, but before she could process what was happening, Jasper reached out and grabbed her hand, keeping her close.
She watched as Rodrigo’s eyes went from Hollyn’s face to her and Jasper’s clasped hands. His eyebrows arched as he stopped in front of them. “Hey, guys.”
“Hey, man,” Jasper said genially. “Ready for your afternoon green juice?”
“Yeah, I was just headed that way,” he said, glancing at Hollyn and then back to Jasper.
“Just wrapped up my lunch break. I’ll walk down with you,” Jasper said. He lifted his and Hollyn’s joined hands and kissed her knuckles. “I’ll see you tonight.”
Hollyn’s belly flipped over, some weird combination of emotion going through her, the publicness of all this both exciting and a little terrifying. “Yeah. Sounds good.”
Jasper gave her a little wink and then turned to walk downstairs with Rodrigo.
She stood for too long in the hallway, watching Jasper go and trying to ignore the fluttery feeling inside her chest.
No, girl. Not yours. Not really.
Maybe she had been telling herself a lie about not being a risk-taker because, suddenly, this arrangement with Jasper felt like the biggest risk of her life.
Chapter Nineteen
Jasper frowned down at his laptop, the words of his half-finished business plan blurring together into a bunch of meaningless letters. Maybe he shouldn’t have had that third coffee. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and tried to come up with the names of similar businesses.
Fitz had gone over the basics of a business plan with Jasper two nights ago and had sent him a shit ton of links to examples, but trying to keep his mind focused was like trying to herd cats hyped up on catnip. Numbers and graphs and analyses. How was he supposed to sound like he knew what he was talking about? He was in over his head with this. He wasn’t some MBA grad. He was just an actor who liked to make people laugh. Maybe his sister had been right. This was just another doomed-to-fail, harebrained scheme. Another useless whim he’d chased.