“You can be my distraction, and I’ll help you with your book. It sounds like you need someone to help you brainstorm and I need something to help me keep my head out of my ass.”
“Hmm,” she murmurs, her eyes glued to mine as she lifts her mug to her lips and takes another sip. “A deal we can both benefit from.” She pauses, tilting her head to the side. “What kind of a distraction do you need me to be?”
“Anything, honestly.” I shrug my shoulders. “Obviously, the other day was all it took for me to have something else to think about.”
She levels her gaze on mine. “Are you—” She purses her lips. “I’m not exchanging sexual favors for your help.”
My eyes widen, and I shake my head immediately. “No, no, that’s not what this is. I just like the chase. I perform better under the pressure of impressing someone.”
“Sounds like you just like to show off.”
“Well...” I smirk. “I’d hate to waste those many skills I have that you referred to earlier.”
She snorts, rolling her eyes. “So, you’ll be my muse? Let me draw inspiration from you and your cocky attitude and I just have to talk to you, hang out with you?”
“Basically.” I shrug again, laughing at how ridiculous it sounds. “We’re both in a bind and desperate times call for desperate measures, don’t they?”
“You do have a lot of qualities I look for in a character…” She cocks her head. “Why don’t you just find someone else to distract yourself with?”
My eyes roam across her face, over her freckles and back to her blue eyes. “I’m not interested in anyone else being my distraction.”
She’s quiet again. Assessing, studying. “Okay,” she says after a moment. “Fuck it. I’m out of options, so why not?” She runsher tongue over her top row of teeth. “Just until we don’t need each other anymore?”
A smile tugs on my lips. “Exactly.”
Her expression is unreadable. “I have one rule.”
I tilt my head to the side, my eyes scanning her face. “What’s that?”
“No catching feelings.”
A chuckle rumbles in my chest. “I don’t catch feelings, Sunny. That won’t be a problem.” I extend my arm, holding out my hand to her. “So, do we have a deal?”
Her eyes don’t leave mine as she slides her palm against my waiting hand, giving me a swift shake.
“Deal.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
JADE
“Julian pushed the limits of my patience. I was not above throwing a palette of paint at him.” - Clara Foss, Painted Inferno
Why do I feel like I made a deal with the devil?
I stare down at the entire thread Nicole sent to me with people talking about Matteo and the women he’s dated. It doesn’t look like he’s ever been in a confirmed relationship, although it’s not unusual for him to be seen in public with different women.
Maybe he’s just the devil disguised as a hot hockey player with a known playboy reputation. The one who has enough confidence for his entire team.
Regardless of who he is, I woke up yesterday morning with a massive hangover and a brain brimming with inspiration. I filled a few pages of my notebook with random thoughts and ideas.
“So, let me get this straight,” Ellie starts after she finishes chewing a piece of her sushi roll. I lock my screen, not needing to see anymore. I’ve already done enough of my own research too. “You left us Friday to go to a diner with Matteo fucking Ford and ended the night by making a deal with him?”
Chewing my own food, I slowly nod my head. “Yeah. Pretty much.”
“I don’t understand his side of the deal,” Nicole chimes in from across the table. “There has to be something more than just talking and hanging out with him, right?”
“I don’t know,” I shrug, shaking my head as I set my chopsticks down on my now empty plate. “I told him I won’t be exchanging any sexual favors.”
