“Don’t touch that. Please,” I added, trying to take some of the edge off the command.
She jumped and almost dropped the award. My insides tensed up and I held my breath. Clara managed to keep hold of it, though, and she placed it back where she got it from.
“I wasn’t going to break it,” she said, shrinking in on herself.
I felt like an ogre, but that trophy meant a lot to me. “Ground rule number one,” I said. “Don’t touch anything that looks irreplaceable, okay?”
“How will I know what’s irreplaceable or not?” she asked, eyes narrowed at me.
“If it’s not something you can buy at the store, maybe leave it alone. As for the rest?” I shrugged and shot her a smirk. “Feel free to do whatever you want? Use it. Break it. Throw it out the damn window for all I care. Actually, don’t throw anything from this high up. But you get what I’m saying.”
Clara nodded. “I think I can live with that.” She walked over to the window and pressed her face up against the glass. “Any other rules you want to make up on the fly?”
“I don’t want to ruin the moment but you’re leaving a giant face print on the window.”
She looked at me and made an offended sound. “What do you care? There’s no way you’re the one cleaning this place.”
“Okay, you’ve got me there.” I chuckled and scrubbed a hand over the back of my neck. “Just use your best judgment. I have to go.”
“I just got here,” Clara protested.
“I know and I left the office to come meet you, but I have to get back. I’m going on the air in a couple of hours.” I pulled out my wallet and threw my black card at her.
She sidestepped it and the card landed on the polished hardwood floor. “What is that?”
“You need clothes. A proper winter coat for sure. But we’ll be going to a few parties together, so you’ll need something designer, expensive, anything to make you look the part.”
“Yeah, sure, I’ll get right on that,” she said, looking back out the windows, walking along them without touching them anymore. “I just can’t get enough of this view. The city is so alive.”
“Clara,” I said her name sternly, and it snapped through the air like a whipcrack.
She jumped again and looked at me, blushing. “Yes?”
“This is serious.” I had asked her to be my fake girlfriend for the bet with Troy, but I wasn’t going to tell her about that. She didn’t need to know about it yet. For now, her job was to make me look less flaky with the executives. She needed to look like she fit into their world.
“Finding the right clothes is important,” I continued. “I’m vying for a bigger role behind the scenes, and several of partiesand events I need to go to this season will be drowning in big names and connections. You need to act the part of my girlfriend like it’s real.”
She pursed her lips and nodded. “What kind of woman would you normally be with?”
That stumped me. I didn’t bring women to work functions. One-night stands and the occasional fuck-buddy didn’t get involved in my life beyond our time together in bed. I shook my head.
“Oh, so silent?” she asked.
“I’ve never really thought about what would make the perfect girlfriend,” I said. “But for the record, you’re allowed to speak when we go out together.”
“Gee, thanks.” She rolled her eyes and looked around my penthouse like she was just now seeing it. Her nose crinkled in distaste. “Do you plan on decorating for Christmas?”
“No, probably not. I never have before.” I shrugged and grabbed my bag. “No more time for conversation. I promise we’ll talk more later.”
“Okay,” she said quietly.
I motioned to the card. “Don’t forget to look something to wear. No limit. Go as nuts as you want.”
She nodded but looked a little lost all of a sudden. “Okay,” she said again.
Seeing her sad made my heart cramp in my chest, and I didn’t like it. I softened my tone and put my hand gently on her shoulder, trying to ignore the electricity I felt. “You’re doing me a massive favor. It’s overwhelming, I get it. Tomorrow I have some time in the morning and I can take you out, we can shop for the upcoming events, and if you want, we can see whatever you’d like before I have to be at work again. There’s food in the fridge and the guestroom is all yours.”
I felt her eyes on me while I waited for the elevator to arrive again. She wasn’t a stranger exactly, but it would certainly take some time to get used to having her in my private space. People rarely ever came here; I didn’t let them. It was my private sanctuary.
