Even then, a nice guy like Rowe would probably bail before he got paid. I just had to hope he could tolerate it if it was only pretend.
Rowe chewed his lip for a minute, thinking. The way his eyes roved over my face made me uncomfortable. It was like he was looking right into my soul, and I didn’t think he would like what he saw. The longer he looked for, the more sure I was that he was going to say no.
“That’s a lot of money to offer,” he said softly. “How can you afford that, on the salary we get paid here?”
“I can’t,” I admitted. It was true that after paying rent and utilities, there was nowhere near enough cash left to cover this. Especially not with how many times a week I went out, either seeing those friends of mine or going to a bar for a casual hookup. “I can get the cash, though. I can borrow it from family.”
Rowe looked even more uncomfortable at those last words. I regretted saying them, but I didn’t think he would believe I had savings. “You’re going to put yourself in debt for this?”
I swallowed. “It’s important,” I said. I swallowed again, trying to get rid of the annoying lump that had risen in my throat. “I… I don’t want to have another big event with all my friends there, watching them all swan around with their boyfriends and fiancés and husbands, and have to face them laughing at me for being single. Rejecting me. At least this way, if I take someone, I don’t have to put so much effort in trying to find someone there and getting knocked back because all the hot ones are taken, anyway.”
I was looking at the floor, but from the corner of my eye, I saw Rowe’s posture relax. I knew he needed the money, too. I’d overheard him talking about his sister, about how he visited her in the hospital every weekend and whenever he could. She’d been in there for a while. It couldn’t be cheap.
Belatedly, I hoped he hadn’t thought I was saying he wasn’t hot. Truth be told, I didn’t even know if he was single – I’d just assumed because he never talked about his love life at work.
“You said the weekend?” Rowe asked.
I nodded eagerly. Was he coming around to the idea? “We head to the hotel Friday night – tomorrow – for the rehearsal dinner, stay for the wedding on Saturday, and leave Sunday evening after seeing everyone in the day again. That’s all. And it’s not that far away – they’re putting everyone up at the Crowhill Cove Hotel on the edge of town. They’re getting married right there in the event rooms. If there’s an emergency here, you’ll be able to rush back.” I didn’t want to point out too hard what kind of an emergency there might be – I didn’t know how serious his sister’s condition was – but I was trying to counter any of the objections he might have. I was good at that.
I was good at making people think what I wanted them to think. Getting them to like me for a night or a day. Just long enough to get them into bed.
But the one thing I wasn’t trying to do to Rowe was seduce him. It was my go-to method, but something held me back with him. I had a feeling it just wasn’t going to work. Or maybe it was too complicated to fuck him and make him mine just for a weekend when we had to work together on Monday. Whatever it was, I was surprising myself by how even-headed I was being. I hadn’t tried to squeeze his biceps or find an excuse to run my hands through his dark, gorgeous hair even once.
I needed to wrap this up fast because I had no idea how long I could keep it up.
“We need to agree terms,” Rowe said, folding his arms over the top of his cane, half-leaning on it.
“Okay,” I nodded. “We have to convince everyone. We might have to kiss to sell it.”
Rowe’s lips quirked in response. “I can see why you chose to ask the only other gay man in the office,” he said. I wanted to protest – to tell him it was more than that, that he was attractive and fit and intelligent and would impress my friends – but I didn’t want to push it too far and make him nervous. Besides, compliments were too close to seduction, and I didn’t just hand them out like candy to everyone around me unless I had something to gain from it. “Kissing is okay. No groping or inappropriate sexual talk. And I don’t dance.”
I glanced at his cane. “I think we can get away with that one. We’ll have to share a room in the hotel.”
“Two beds?” Rowe asked.
I made a face, baring my gritted teeth in a momentary wince.
“One bed,” Rowe sighed. “Fine. I have to make some calls and rearrange some things I had organized for this weekend. You haven’t given me much notice.”
I looked down. I had been too nervous to ask him all week. Actually, I’d first had the idea when the invite came in, months ago – but I’d been hoping I could actually find a real date before now. That had been fantasy talk. Obviously, no one would seriously want to be my date anywhere, let alone somewhere as emotionally charged as a wedding. “Sorry,” I said. I shrugged, offering no more than that. What else could I say?
He sighed and looked off into the distance. I waited.
“Fine,” he said, and only when I gasped for oxygen did I realize I’d been holding my breath. “One thousand when we arrive and one thousand when we leave. All in cash. And now I really have to go.”
“It’s a deal,” I grinned. I hoped my bank would let me take out that much in one transaction, but if they didn’t, I had options. “By the way – your boyfriend won’t mind, will he?”
Rowe snorted, waving a hand over his shoulder as he walked. “You know I don’t have a boyfriend,” he retorted.
I stood there watching him get into his car, wandering over to mine as he pulled out of the parking lot.
Only when I was sure he was gone did I shout “YES!” to the sky, erupting in a dance of victory and whipping out my phone to make sure the wedding planner had the right name to put on the seating chart.
Rowe
“Hey,” I said softly, poking my head around the door and checking that Daisy wasn’t asleep.
“Hey,” she said back, sitting up slightly in the hospital bed, pushing against the pale green blankets and settling herself more into the cushions.
