Page 30 of Fake Dating the Silver Fox

“Graham!” I say it louder, and every head in the restaurant swivels to check out the commotion. “See! There he is.” I point at Graham, whose head and shoulders pop out from behind the tall, wooden booth. “There’s my date.”

The hostess looks doubtful. She’s still not letting me pass.

I wave at Graham. “They won’t let me in. They think I’m a hooker.”

Graham looks confused, then mortified as people turn to stare. He gets up from the table and strides toward me. His face closed and as dark as a thundercloud.

ChapterEleven

Graham

I’d just ordereda second bottle of wine, and I was planning on asking Mara to join me in the penthouse suite of the hotel for the night. I’d even gone as far as to text my neighbor asking her to keep Cupid for the night, when all the commotion at the hostess stand happened.

My heart jumps to my throat at the sight of tears glistening on Mara’s cheeks. I reach for her hand, but she slips it behind her back, her chin inching up in defiance.

“They think I’m a call girl.” Her voice falters, and a fat tear tracks down the slope of her cheek.

“Ridiculous.” I march up to the hostess stand, barely controlling the anger swirling in the pit of my stomach. “Explain. Now.”

The hostess glances from me to Mara and back. “This woman is with you?”

The disapproval in her voice has the hairs rising on the back of my neck.

“Yes.” I grab Mara’s hand. “Of course.”

“We’ve had some trouble lately,” the hostess says. “I’m sorry for the misunderstanding.”

“She thought I was a hooker.” Mara’s voice warbles. “She didn’t believe I was your date.”

Heat rises my collar as I transfer my gaze from Mara’s stricken face to the pinch-lipped hostess. “You owe my date an apology, or I’m going to have you fired.”

The hostess blinks, processing my threat. She doesn’t want to lose her job, but neither does she want to apologize. Her need for employment wins, and she smiles faintly.

“Sorry for the confusion,” she says, still managing to look down her nose at Mara. “Like I said, we’ve had some issues lately.”

The other guests stare openly as I lead Mara back to our private booth. Some of them even have their phones out, recording us. I ignore them, focusing instead on Mara.

“Want to get drunk and spend the night with me?” I try to lighten the mood.

“Not funny.”

“I’m being serious.” I pour myself a glass, then offer to top her off.

She nods, lifting her glass. “I’m so embarrassed.”

“Don’t be.” I fill her glass to the brim. “It just shows you look good enough to be paid for it.”

Mara’s smile peeks out from the gloom of her face. “My ass is that nice, huh?”

“Your ass is out of my price range.”

Her smile slips, and she reaches out to take my hand. “I’m sorry that happened.”

“Why?” I squeeze her fingers. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“It was embarrassing.”

“Let’s get drunk and forget about it. I booked us a suite.”

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