Oh my God, this woman. I press my hand over her mouth to silence that non-stop stream of sass. “Date me. Tell everyone I’mreformed. Other women are dead to me. You’re the only one I want.”
Her eyes have grown very wide. I lower my hand and watch her tongue dart out against her bottom lip.
“Um. No, Rowan. That’s insane.”
“In exchange, you can stay here for free. You'll be right next door while your house is getting repaired. And I’ll—“ I bite my tongue. No, I can’t tell her about the renovations yet. It would be too much, and she’d get uncomfortable again.
“And you’ll…”
“And I’ll cook for you.” My lips quirk up. “I’m a great cook. Italian roots and all.”
She’s looking at me like I'm an alley cat that might have contagious diseases.
“What do you think?”
She swallows. “Rowan, I don’t know what to say. Do you really need to clean up your reputation this badly?”
“I do. You know Abigail MacDonald?”
She pales. “Yes.”
I shrug. “Well…I didn’t know she was married.”
The flicker of repulsion in her eyes cuts me deeper than it should. “How is that possible? Everyone knows she’s married to Wayne MacDonald!”
“Not me!” I insist. “I told you, I don’t pay as much attention to other people and their business as the rest of this town does. Iswear, I didn’t know. But the court of public opinion is turning against me and I need to change that. It’s affecting the business. I can’t have that.”
She stares at me intently for a while, like she’s trying to decide if she believes me or not. Finally, she huffs. “So you want a pretend girlfriend to make people think you’ve settled down and won’t steal their wives. And in exchange, I get to live here.”
“Exactly.” If Blake agrees, I’ll kill three birds with one stone. She’ll be taken care of while her house gets fixed. I’ll be able to smooth things out with Sandro and work. And she’ll have to spend time with me.
Lots of it.
She rubs her cheek and sighs. “Am I to believe you’re going to keep your hands off other women while we’re playing this charade?”
I don’t miss the small flash of vulnerability in her gaze.
Her ex cheated on her, and the whole town knows about it. She doesn’t want a repeat of that, even if our relationship is pretend. “Of course. The whole point is that I’m a reformed man, remember?”
Her teeth sink into her bottom lip. ”I don’t know…”
My heart pounds as I wait for her to make her decision.C’mon, Sunshine, give it a chance.
“Blake!”
She jumps to her feet at the sound of someone calling her from outside.
“Who is that?” I ask.
She swallows. “Brett.”
CHAPTER 15
BLAKE
It’s official. Rowan Miller is insane. How else would you describe a man who wants me to pretend to be his girlfriend so that he can fix his reputation as a womanizer?
A huff escapes my lips as I walk onto his porch.
