"I'll order takeaway and bring it to your flat. It would be, ah, good for us to get it on---Uh, get in the habit of, you know, doing things together."
The Lexus is pulling into the driveway of a large house.
"Okay," I tell Dane, "we can meet at my place. Not sure what time I'll be home."
"Call me when you get off the train."
"It's a date." I decide I really ought to go all in on playing the part of Dane Dixon's love interest, so I add, "See you tonight, honey. Can't wait to snuggle with you."
Dane sputters, and I bet there's spittle flying. "Y-yes. God---Goodbye."
Click. Call ended.
The driver opens my door for me. Wow, another gentleman in the modern world. Of course, this guy gets paid to be polite to his passengers. I walk up concrete steps to the front door of a big, beautiful stone house that must have cost a fortune.
Seconds tick by after I hit the buzzer, then the door swings open. And I get my first look at my new boss.
The guy works out for a living, so I shouldn't be surprised by his ripped physique. But damn, he knows how to flaunt it. Eddie wears skintight blue shorts and a gray tank top, showing off his bulging biceps. His eyes are the color of coffee, his lips are thick and wide, and his face is angular. All of that gives him a ruggedly sexy look.
I should be hot for this guy, but all I can think about is Dane. What does he look like in workout clothes? Or buck naked?
"You must be Rika Solberg," my new boss says. While we shake hands, he keeps talking. "I'm Eddie Masters. So glad to have you here. I've needed a PA for a while, but it's hard to find someone who knows what they're doing. If Chance Dixon recommends you, I know you'll be top-notch."
"Thank you. You're very kind."
Eddie moves aside, gesturing for me to enter his house.
It's gorgeous, but I have trouble focusing on the interior design or on his explanations of the architecture. My mind keeps wandering back to my former boss, the one who kisses me like he means it, like he's not pretending, like we're dating for real. But we're not.
Maybe tonight, he'll change his mind about that.
I won't hold my breath.
Chapter Eight
Dane
I shouldn't have pushed Rika to let me go to her flat tonight. We could've waited until tomorrow for our next date, but I had an overpowering urge to see her. Knowing she's out there in Connecticut all day, every day, from now on... It makes me uncomfortable. I've gotten used to being welcomed by her smile and her cheerful greetings every morning. From this day forward, I'll hear "good morning, Mr. Dixon, sir" instead of Rika's lovely voice.
Why does Noah insist on calling me "Mr. Dixon, sir"? It's overkill. Either "Mr. Dixon" or "sir" would be more than enough deference, but he stacks on layers of it. Noah seems like a nice enough bloke, but his face is not the one I want to look at every morning.
After an entire day with my new PA, I need to see Rika again.
But she's exhausted. I can tell that the second she opens her door. Especially when she yawns.
"Hey," she says. "What's for dinner?"
I hold up a takeaway bag. "Chinese. I hope you like that."
"Sure." Rika yawns again. "Sounds good. Come on in."
"Maybe I should leave the food and go. You look knackered."
"Yeah, I am. But it'll be nice to have dinner with you." She moves to the side so I can walk into her flat. "I don't know how Eddie has the energy to teach all those classes. I got wiped out just watching him."
She leads me to the sofa, where we sit down with the takeaway bag between us.
I bring out the cardboard containers that hold our food, along with plastic forks and plastic knives. "I hope you like sesame chicken. I also have Szechuan pork, kung pao chicken, dumplings, wontons, chow mein, and egg rolls."
Rika laughs while she opens the box of egg rolls. "You brought enough food for five people."
"You need nourishment after a long day at your new job."
She smiles. "You're so sweet, Dane. Thank you for bringing all this yummy food."
Her compliment makes me uncomfortable because I'm the reason she's so exhausted. I insisted she had to take another job, one that's in Connecticut. "I should've brought wine. Sorry."
"You don't have to apologize for not bringing wine." She plucks an egg roll out of the box. "Besides, if I drink wine tonight, I'll be asleep in five minutes flat."
"What's wrong with that? You need rest."
She bites off a chunk of her egg roll and chews it slowly, then she gestures at the many boxes of food. "Aren't you going to eat?"
"Yes, of course. But I think we need plates." I get up, glancing around. "Ah, where's the kitchen?"
"I'll get the plates."
"No, you will not. Point me in the right direction."
She waves toward a door on the other side of the living room. "In there. Plates are in the cabinet right next to the sink. So are the glasses."
I hurry into the kitchen and get two plates plus two glasses of water. When I return to the sofa, Rika is still working on her egg roll, biting off small chunks of it and chewing them like she's in no hurry to finish.
"Here," I say offering her a plate and a glass.
"Thank you." She sets the plate on her lap and the glass on the table. But when I try to move away, she grasps my hand. Her pale-brown eyes focus on me. "You really are so sweet. That's why I can't understand this fake dating thing. Why don't you get a real girlfriend?"
"Well, I---uh---" Fuck, I'm tongue-tied again. I use sitting down and putting food on my plate as an excuse to take a moment to get hold of myself. Not that I ever have much luck with that. Not when I'm in the same room with Rika. Or the same building. Or the same world. "Does it really matter why?"
There. I spoke five unbroken words.
Rika studies me for a moment while she finishes off her egg roll. "I can't believe you have trouble getting dates. I mean, you're gorgeous, smart, sexy, and super nice."
She thinks I'm sexy? Of course, she's not saying she wants to have sex with me. Or have a normal relationship with me. A woman of her caliber deserves better than a man who talked her into engaging in a fraud.
"I don't have room in my life for a real relationship," I say. "The re-launch is...complicated and time-consuming."
"You do seem stressed."
"There's a lot to do. Frankly, I have no bloody idea how to do most of it."
"But you ran your own company before signing with Bonsoir."
"That's true, but..." I focus on my plate and shift food around on it with my fork. "I had one small factory with twenty employees, and I was in charge. I hired Reese to do a single marketing campaign with online advertising. It was Chance's girlfriend who made my business a success by talking about it on her blog. Now I work for the second-largest cosmetics company in the world and have to do whatever Celeste tells me to do."