“I can get a handle on the story today, but you should probably be seen in public together tonight,” Cedric suggests. “It will sell the story and get the reporters off your back quicker. If you try to hide, they’ll only think you have a reason to, and they’ll hound you more. Throw them a bone.”
The other end of the line is silent.
“Are you free tonight, Gray?” I ask. “I can take you to dinner.”
More silence before she finally says, “Just tell me where and when.”
“It would be better if you pick her up,” Cedric says.
“I’ll pick you up at your place at six thirty,” I tell Gray. “Until then, just lay low. Cedric will get the reporters off your back.”
Cedric gives me a look that says I shouldn’t have promised her that,but I ignore him.
“I’ll see you tonight,” I tell Gray. She confirms, and we both hang up.
“See. No problem,” I say.
Cedric rolls his eyes and looks at Kaladin. “I should get going on this.”
“Go,” Kaladin says, waving him off, and Cedric hurries out of the office to work his PR magic.
“Sorry,” I say to Kaladin. “I was just trying to help the doc out.”
I turn to go, but Kaladin calls me back. He stands with his arms crossed, the biceps straining against his Armani suit jacket confirming he must work out.
“Yes, sir?” I ask.
He picks up the picture of me and Gray from his desk, looks at it, then turns it to show me. “Are you sure this will be ‘fake’ dating?” he asks.
Something flips in my stomach, and I look at the picture.
I was definitely buzzed at the time it was taken, but I remember exactly how Gray smelled when I had my face buried in her hair. I remember the feel of her body pressed against mine and how hard my cock was as she rubbed against it on the dancefloor. I ached to slip my fingers between her thighs to see if she was as wet for me as I hoped.
If the entranced expression on Gray’s face in that picture is any indication, she wanted me as much as I wanted her.
“We both had a little too much to drink,” I tell Kaladin. “I’m sure you know what alcohol does to inhibitions.”
He nods slowly, then turns to run the picture through the shredder behind his desk. “Fair enough,” he says before turning back to me. “Just be sure to make it look real tonight.”
“Yes, sir,” I say and head for the door.
Make no mistake, for the next few weeks, I intend to convince everyone – including Gray herself – that we’re a happily dating couple.
Chapter 16
Gray
“Can you put the other dress back on?” Celena asks as I twirl around in front of the laptop sitting on my bed.
I look down at the red dress I’m modeling for her through our Zoom call. “Not feeling this one?” I ask. “Too…red?”
“Too red,” she says. “That’s more for a third date when the paparazzi have lost interest, but you need to tell him you’re ready to be fucked.”
I roll my eyes hard at the camera. “There’s not going to be a third date,” I tell her. “This one’s only for show to save both our careers, and then we’ll quietly ‘break up.’”
“Gray,” she says, her tone dripping disappointment. “You have to fake date one of the hottest pro hockey players – no, hottest proathletes– in the world right now. You need to milk this situation for all it’s worth, if only so I can live vicariously through you.”
I shake my head. “Not a good idea. You know my track record with men. Today we’re only fake dating, but by next week I’ll be checking my phone every few minutes, wondering why he hasn’t texted, or checking his social media to see if he’s posted anything lately. I’ll drive by his office to see if his car is really still there when he says he has to work late-”
