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London winces as my words land between us, much harsher than I intended.
“You know what, forget it. I don’t want to inconvenience you.” She stands up.
I shouldn’t have agreed to this. Why do I keep blurting out these weird commitments?
“Sit back down,” I growl. I don’t expect her to oblige, but she does, glaring at me. “I didn’t mean it that way, but we will eventually break up. I’m moving back to Chicago in six months, hopefully sooner.”
She cackles. “God, Dominic, I don’t want to date you for that long. Three months. A decent time to make my father believe I fell in love and for us to break up.”
“What would be the reason for the breakup?” Why do I even care?
She huffs. “We’ll come up with something.”
“As long as I’m not the villain in that story.” This might be the most ridiculous scheme ever to get into a woman’s pants. I can’t believe I’m even contemplating it.
But then, perhaps the seemingly unattainable is what I need to snap me out of my lethargy. The challenge. The fight. The race.
“Okay, Dominic, your reputation as Prince Charming will stay intact. Anything else?” London cocks her head, unimpressed.
“Should I have a pet name for you?” I just want to see her roll her eyes again.
And she does. “Sure, call me ‘honey.’” She shrugs.
I raise my eyebrow. “More like chili.”
She glares at me, shaking her head, and I must say her annoyed and pissed off is so much better than me feeling the same.
“What?” This time I shrug and shoot her an innocent smile. “You’re hot, and definitely not sweet.”
She exhales an exasperated breath. “Again, as I said, I’m regretting coming here tonight. I’ll claim temporary insanity.”
“Should we practice kissing now?” I ask, because why not, but also because I enjoy way too much the mixture of frustration and disdain on her face.
“We’re done here. I’ll tell Dad about our relationship tomorrow morning, and stay home for your chess match so we can pretend to like each other, and maybe we can have our first date tomorrow. I’ll sneak my laptop in here, so we can both work while they think we’re out together.” She stands up and I follow, walking her to the door.
“Well,Chils, not only have I helped you with your legal case, but now I’m going to lie to your father, who is a great guy. You owe me big time.” I put my hands into my pockets and hover on the last step, not making the move to unlock my door.
“Why am I sure I won’t like the payback?” She drums her nails on the banister. Her polish is bright red, the only real color on her, shining against her black clothes and dark hair. How I want to fist that mane and make her scream my name.
“Chils, no worries, by the time we’re done, you will have paid me back with interest. I’ll think of my price overnight. See you tomorrow, sweetheart.”
I hoist myself up to reach her at the landing and kiss her forehead. She smells so good I almost lick her.
She jumps back like my lips stung her. I chuckle and unlock the door.
As I watch her ass moving across the hall between us, I smile to myself. This is going to be a lot of fun. Or an absolute headache.
Chapter11
London
Dad was entirely too excited to hear that I’m dating Dominic. Obviously more than me, or Dominic for that matter, but still a bit too much. He likes the man, and I don’t like that he likes him. Frankly, now that last night’s cocktails are out of my system, I’m regretting the entire idea.
Seeing Dad gush about how wonderful Dom is—has he even met the guy?—laced my nerves with guilt. I’m lying to my father. But it will make him happy. It already has. Damn it.
In the light of a new day, I hate this scheme that was induced by alcohol and desperation. Another unnervingly persistent question remains: why did Dominic agree?
He helped me with the developer issue and now he is helping me give my dad something I’m not really capable of offering.
