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He really did want to treat this as a business arrangement.
“You have to tell me why you need a date.”
“It’s not important.”
“It is to your potential weekend girlfriend.”
He opened his mouth but before he could speak she corrected herself.
“Your potentialpretendweekend girlfriend. You asked what my terms were and now I’m telling you.” She arched a brow at him. “I’ll walk.”
She had him. He’d already stated he didn’t have time. He must have been pretty desperate to seek out a waitress from Brooklyn.
He stared her down for a few moments with that intimating glare of his but what did she have to lose? If he really needed her, he’d have to answer her question.
“You’re a bit of a negotiator yourself, I see.”
“The ball’s in your court.”
“My ex-girlfriend is in the wedding party. We had a messy breakup but I thought she’d moved on. Apparently, she’s looking to rekindle our relationship this weekend.” He sighed. “I have no interest in that. However, her family owns half of my company so there’s a lot of pressure for us to get together. It’s a delicate situation.”
“Ava Carrington?” She blurted out.
“How did you know that?”
“I follow the tabloids and the social magazines. I’ve seen the two of you in there.”
Coda had also had the pleasure of meeting the stuck-up woman one night when she was in the art department at Cannon and Carrington Advertising. Coda hung around some of the graphic artists who worked late meeting deadlines. A few of them helped her with her portfolio and taught her some new computer programs. Ava had cracked some snide comment about them fraternizing with the housekeeper. There was no way a woman like Ava Carrington would remember someone like Coda but Coda never forgot her.
“If Ava and I were to get married, it would be beneficial to both families. I do not want to marry this woman, and I don’t want to lead her on. Most importantly, I want my family, especially my grandfather, to see that my bachelorhood is not on the auction block. I need you to convince them of that.”
His gaze softened, making him appear genuine and not as scary as he first seemed. How bad could a man who didn’t want to hurt an ex-girlfriend be?
“I’ll do it.”
“You will?”
“Like you said, we both need something. You’re willing to compensate me for my time and I’ll do whatever it takes to make your ex see you’ve moved on.” Coda thought it might be interesting to see that snob’s reaction at Spencer walking in with a date. “With me.”
“Good.” He rested his chin on his fingers, appearing more relaxed than a few moments ago. “I’m hoping this will be the motivation everyone needs to see I’m not marrying her.”
“I can be a pretty good actress.” She held up the check. “You’ve given me my inspiration.”
“I’ll speak with your boss about you needing some days off.”
“That won’t be necessary. The girls around here owe me for picking up shifts for them. I’ll take care of it. I’ll have to call out from the cleaning service the next few days though.”
“Consider it done.” He extended his hand. “I take it we have a deal?”
“We do, Spencer.” She shook his strong hand but when she went to pull away he didn’t let go.
“Thank you. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He brought her knuckles to his mouth and brushed his lips across them.
“Yeah, tomorrow.” She watched his lips graze along her hand. She could feel his hot breath on her fingers.
Shit!
“Bye, Coda.” He stood, put his jacket on, grabbed his briefcase, and strolled out of the restaurant as if this were some ordinary business transaction.
