“And what is ‘this’, exactly? This thing we’re going to do?”
Jett and I are in the back of what I’m assuming is the same car that picked me up from the coffee shop yesterday.
Was it seriously just yesterday? Because I think I might be in danger of getting whiplash from how quickly my life has turned itself around here…
Leroy is in the front seat, next to the driver. I’m in the back with a bad attack of nerves and the start of a stress headache. Jett’s sitting next to me with his phone, which appears to be thereallove of his life, given how much time he spends gazing at the thing.
If I thought I had even half a chance with him, I’d be jealous.
“What? Oh, it’s our first date,” he says, barely even looking up at me. “Asher arranged it. He’s had someone put in a call to some of the tame paps he knows, to tip them off. For the photos, you know?”
I nod, as if this is all totally normal to me, but my stomach feels like it’s trying to leave my body, and my headache’s just kicked it up a notch in response to the words “photos” and “paps”.
I knew this was part of the deal, of course. It was all right there in the contract I signed. Jett and I would go out a few times on “dates”, so the paps could get some photos of us and everyone would think our relationship was legit. Fine. It’s just… I didn’t think the first one would happen sosoon, is all.
“I thought we’d maybe spend a bit of time getting to know each other first,” I blurt out, sneaking a sidelong glance at the man next to me, whose profile is so startlingly familiar from all the movies I’ve seen him in that I still can’t quite believe he’s sitting here next to me. Or that it took me so long to realize who he was.
Who knew a beard could be such a good disguise?
Jett’s eyes flick up to meet mine, and I’m suddenly intensely aware of how incredibly small the back seat of an insanely huge car can feel when there’s a movie star sitting on it.
“That’s what dates are for, Alexandra,” he says matter-of-factly. “For getting to know each other. Is this your first time on a date?”
“It’s the first time I’ve been on afakedate, yeah,” I shoot back. “So forgive me for not knowing exactly how it’s supposed to work. And it’s Lexie, by the way. Only my mother calls me Alexandra.”
“That was the name on the paperwork Asher had pulled together on you,” Jett replies, shrugging. “It’s nice. I like it.”
He’s already looking at his phone again, his limited interest in me and my name completely used up. I’m not done with him yet, though.
“What else did it say?” I ask nonchalantly. “The paperwork, I mean? What did Asher manage to dig up about me?”
I twirl a lock of hair around my finger, doing my best to look like I couldn’t care less what Asher has up his sleeve. I do, though. Oh, you better believe I do. Because the issue with me overstaying my work visa might be the worst thing I’ve worked in the eyes of thelaw, but it’s not the worst thing I’ve doneever. And that’s what’s worrying me.
There’s no way a P.I. could find out about that whole business with the distillery, back in Heather Bay, though, could they? Especially not in the few hours they had to do it. And anyway, that was Mum’s fault, not mine. I was just an accomplice after the fact. They didn’t even press charges in the end, so Jett can’t possibly know about it.
Can he?
“Nothing much, as far as I know,” he says, without looking up. “Just that you had the wrong visa or something. Why do you ask?”
“Oh, no reason.”
I smooth down my hair and try to relax. Then another thought occurs to me.
“Hey,” I say, ignoring the exasperated eye-roll I get for interrupting his precious phone time yet again. “Where are we going, anyway? Where does Jett Carter take someone on a first date?”
I feel my mood lift slightly as I wait for his answer. Maybe it’ll be somewhere nice. Maybe I’ll actually be able to enjoy this?
Then, just as easily as it arrived, my hopeful mood is shattered.
“The Crab Shack,” Jett says, finally putting his phone away as the car draws to a halt. “You like seafood, right?”
* * *
It’s not that Idon’tlike seafood.
Notexactly.
I mean, I come from a fishing village in the Highlands of Scotland. If you don’t like fish, you starve, basically.
