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“Oh. Well. Thanks, that’s, ah...encouraging.” Jenna twisted her hands together, wrapping the strap of her purse around them. Twirling the engagement ring.
“You don’t need to be nervous tonight,” he said.
She let out an ironic snort. “Are you kidding? How can I not be?”
“After watching those speeches, I think you’ll be great.”
“At what? Presenting myself as something I’m not?”
“That’s not what you’re doing. You just need to be yourself. That’s why we asked you to do this.”
“Oh, yeah. Just act like a woman who’s gotten herself engaged to a guy like you. No biggie.” She laughed under her breath. “The more I think about it, the less credible it seems.”
“Why?” Drew was genuinely baffled. “What do you mean by a guy like me?”
“Please,” she scoffed. “Give me a break. You’re a world-renowned architect. You run in exalted social circles. You’re American royalty. You went out with Bonita Ramon, for God’s sake, and then for your next relationship, you hook up with me? Jenna Somers, Super-Nerd? Anything sound weird about that?”
“I don’t see anything,” he said. “What does Bonita have to do with it? That’s over.” Not that it ever really began.
Jenna snorted. “If you have to ask, I don’t know how to begin to explain it to you.”
Drew blew out a frustrated breath. “I met Bonita at a yacht party in Greece. She was on the rebound from some asshat producer. We hung out for a couple of days, and found out fast that we didn’t have much to talk about.”
Bonita was also a self-absorbed whiner with a huge personality disorder, and she’d bored him practically into a coma by the end of the second day, but he would never say that to anyone. Kissing-and-telling was for losers with no self-discipline or class.
“Wow,” she said. “So. Do you often party with movie stars on yachts in Greece?”
He felt defensive. “I was in Crete for work. I got a call from some friends who were vacationing there. I’m not a coked-out party animal stumbling from orgy to orgy.”
“Not at all,” she soothed. “I didn’t mean to offend you.”
“No offense taken. But after the past few days...aw, hell. Sorry to bark at you.”
“Don’t mention it,” she said. “Relax. We’ll just play our parts and hope for the best. Can’t ask for more than that.”
He pulled to a stop in front of the hotel that housed the restaurant and got out, giving his keys to the parking attendant. Jenna got out herself before he had a chance to open the door for her. He took her arm, and the light weight of it felt good. Mom’s ring glittered on her slender, capable-looking hand. It looked like she’d been born to wear it.
Out of nowhere, he felt irrationally angry. It was humiliating that he had to hustle and con and play games to protect his professional position. To beg and plead for the help of a woman like Jenna to lend him some goddamn credibility, instead of being taken seriously by her. Courting her with class. Blowing her mind properly.
Jenna must have felt his frustration, sensitive as she was, because she shot him a troubled glance. He manufactured a reassuring smile, but she didn’t look convinced.
Jenna was playing along with this scheme out of loyalty to Ava. She was sorry for her friend’s screwup brother. That poor sorry bastard who couldn’t keep his act together.
Play our parts and hope for the best. Can’t ask for more than that,she’d said.
Like hell. He did want more than that. He didn’t want to make do with crumbs.
He wanted it all, whether he deserved it or not.
