Why indeed? This wasn’t her plan at all. “Because I like you?”
He gave an exasperated laugh and shook his head. “You’re not selling this very well, Brevard.”
She shrugged. “Hey, I’m a bit rusty. Normally, I just hang outwith my dog. He doesn’t care what I say as long as I feed him.”
“You have a dog?” A full-on smile lit Kurt’s handsome face, and something in her chest fluttered.
She ruthlessly crushed it.We’re friends.Or they might be again, eventually. Anything more was out of the question. He could so easily hold all the power in the relationship if she gave in to her inconveniently alert libido. Her aversionto that wouldn’t change, and she didn’t want to hurt him again. “Yep.”
“Me too. A German Shepherd. In fact, I need to get home to feed Max and let him out.” Kurt laid his big, strong hands on the desk, his smile slipping away. “So tell me this. If we ‘break up,’ what happens with Glenn and his father? And Rose.”
She sighed. “I don’t know. I’ll think of something. It’s not so far-fetched thatwe might end things. If you and I were actually engaged, I can’t imagine trying to decide who’d give up their business to live with the other. After three years, it’s the perfect excuse to call it quits.”
“As long as you don’t say I cheated.”
Her heart sank. He was going to beg off. “I would never impugn your character that way,” she said. That was one thing his future wife wouldn’t have toworry about. Kurt was a man of honor to his core.
He rubbed his forehead. “You figured I wouldn’t be able to turn you down, didn’t you?”
Damn. She’d totally miscalculated. “I’ll admit, I hoped your savior complex might work in my favor.” She sent him an apologetic smile. Suddenly it was vital that he not feel coerced into helping her. “But you owe me nothing. We were friends once, I was stupid,maybe we can be friends again. If you agree to do this and resent me later, it’s not worth it.”
The sentiment surprised her as much as it seemed to shock him. She’d flown to DC determined to convince Kurt any way she could, but with him sitting right in front of her, she couldn’t bring herself to guilt him into helping her with a problem she alone had created.
“Just how far would we have totake this ruse?” he asked, his dark eyes probing.
Heat rose up her neck and warmed her face, even as her heart kicked with hope. “Some light PDA for authenticity, like holding hands, maybe a quick kiss here and there.” Her stomach flipped at the last thought. Jesus. Would she be able to keep the public displays of affection under control? She unconsciously licked her lips and his eyes followedthe motion. Her body tingled in anticipation. Maybe this was a horrible idea. “You okay with that?”
One side of his mouth kicked up. “I think I can handle it.”
But could she? “Does that mean you’re on board?”
He sighed. “I’ll have to check my calendar, but yeah. When do you need me?”
Right now.Given her way, she’d straddle him on the chair and kiss him blind. Or at least pump her fist intriumph. She refrained from both. “In two weeks. The party’s on Saturday, the twenty-first.”
The wait to get to Rose was going to be excruciating, but she didn’t see another way to save her without causing a political shit storm and getting a lot of people hurt or killed, possibly innocents.
He donned a pair of reading glasses that somehow made him even sexier, and clicked his computer mouseseveral times, his expression inscrutable. “Fine. I’ll do it.”
