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Ashley
Carter watches me over the rim of his champagne glass, and his gaze makes me feel totally exposed. Like he’s trying to see right through me and find out every last one of my secrets. And I have a lot.
I think back to Michelle’s advice. How I should just be myself. The idea sounds really perfect. There?
?s nothing more I’d like to do right now than enjoy this dream date with Carter Blaine. For there to be no pretense. No acting. No job to perform. I would love for it to be a real date.
And that’s so dangerous. It’s exactly why I worry about my ability to do this job. And being here with him right now, with him so sexy and charming, makes me question it all. Am I even doing the right thing?
“So,” he finally says, still watching me intently. “How long have you been a stripper?”
I swallow. There it is. I can keep up with my story that I concocted after Lola Anders said she wanted me to seduce Carter at the strip club. Or I can be honest.
Just be yourself. Michelle’s words echo in my head.
I stare into Carter’s piercing blue gaze, thinking about all the inside info I have on him. How I want to get to know him beyond the public persona he puts on for the sake of the cameras and the media. And that’s when I decide. If I want to get to know the real him, then it’s only fair that I should let him know the real me. This doesn’t feel like a job anymore. I‘m not even sure if I want it to be. So I’m going to do it. I’m just going to be me.
“I’m not really a stripper,” I admit, watching his face for his reaction.
He sits back and sets his glass down, resting his hands on the table, not saying anything at first as he continues to study me.
After a minute, he smiles and nods, leaning forward again. “So what do you do…Destiny?”
I cringe. “Yeah, about that. My name isn’t Destiny.”
He laughs. “I figured as much, whether you were a stripper or not.”
I smirk. “Yeah, well, I’m not. My name is Ashley.”
“Ashley,” he says in that deep growl of his, and I feel that same familiar tug at my core. God, if he keeps looking at me like that and saying my name in that voice, I’m going to have to stop somewhere for a new pair of panties because these are going to be totally soaked.
“So, tell me, Ashley, if you aren’t a stripper, what were you doing in the club last night?”
Here goes nothing. This could be it. I might tell him, and he might be furious. But I’ll never know if I don’t tell him. And I really want to know what could happen if I can just be myself.
I blow out a deep breath and look him straight in the eyes. “I was hired by the network to seduce you at the strip club. And I failed.”
“Wow. Okay.” Carter runs a hand through his hair, and I want desperately to do that myself. Just to touch him. And I’m totally afraid I may have just blown all my chances at getting close to him.
He squints at me. “What are you still doing here then? Why did you agree to go out with me?” He sets his jaw. “Are you still trying to seduce me?”
I swallow hard, thinking about how I should answer this. I mean, yeah, I was hired to seduce him. Lola doesn’t want to pay out the money he can get if he makes it through the next couple months with his virginity intact. But that’s not why I’m here right now, is it? I know it’s not. I’m here right now because I’m totally infatuated with Carter Blaine. Beyond reason. I want to get to know him for real. So I answer him with the only thing that I know is the truth.
“Carter, the truth is, I’m here right now for one reason. For you. I want to get to know you because, well, I really like you.”
Carter
I’m floored. I can feel the blood pounding in my head, my heart racing from what Ashley just said.
I don’t know what to make of it. I’ve never met anyone like her. Ever. Not out of the hundreds of women over the years. She’s completely different. She’s real. She’s honest. I can tell she doesn’t care in the least about who I am or about getting a piece of me. Not about being on television or being infamous for bringing down the notorious Head Hunter.
“Wait,” I say, holding my hand up, my palm flat. “Hang on just a second. You like me?”
Ashley squirms in her seat, dropping her gaze in a way that’s both a little shy, and uncomfortable. It’s so fucking cute that I just want to pull her into my lap and kiss her stupid, restaurant and manners be damned.
Finally, she lifts her eyes back to me and shrugs. “Maybe.”
I grin. “Maybe?”
