Page 37 of Faking Romance

“I’ll try,” I say with a grin, shutting her door and walking around to the driver’s side.

I slide into my seat and pull out onto Hearts Lane. I put on some classical music.

“How far is it?” she asks.

I glance over and see her hands fidgeting with the strap of a small purse. She’s nervous. That surprises me a little. Roxy is an outgoing woman. I would have expected this to be an easy thing, dinner with some people, but maybe I’ve misjudged her.

“So…” I trail off as I choose my words carefully. “I may have told some people about our…agreement.”

Her whole head swivels when she looks at me. “You what? Who?”

I glance her way. “Hutch and Bray know.”

“Jocelyn knows too,” she says on a sigh.

“OK, so do we tell anyone else? Because those two won’t talk unless I tell them otherwise.”

Shrugging, she stares at me for a long moment. “Let’s just get through this dinner and we can decide after that.”

“Fair enough. We need to go over some basics,” I start.

“OK, like where and when we met?” she suggests.

Nodding, I contemplate the answer. “Let’s say we met when you started leasing the property. We can keep it simple and like how we actually met and just bump it back a few months,” I suggest.

“Oh, so when you came pounding on my door saying I was noisy?” she asks. I steal another glance and find her smirking.

“Yep. Just like that,” I manage as I fight a smile. Damn, she’s sassy.

“OK, so we met three months ago, the same way we actually met. When did you ask me out or did I ask you out?” she asks.

“I asked you out,” I state.

She crosses her arms, which only makes my eyes focus on her pert breasts.

“Eyes up here,hubby,” she says with a sarcasm-laced voice.

I chuckle. “I can’t help it. That dress is…anyhow, let’s just keep it similar to what happened.”

“You mean we went on a blind date?” she asks with a raised eyebrow.

“Let’s say we each confided crushes with Al and he set us up and we hit it off,” I suggest.

“Or I could have asked you out?” she offers.

“Let’s stick with the real story, Roxy,” I growl.

Sighing again, she pushes some hair away from her cheek. “Fine,” she mutters. “What else do I need to know about you?”

I feel my heart pick up speed. Shit. How much do I tell her?

“Well, uh, my parents own an investment firm and live just outside of the city. I have a younger sister, Adriana. She works with my parents, doing communications for the company. I double majored in finance and music studies at Princeton. Worked for my parents’ company for a few years, and then decided to pursue music full-time. I felt like working in finance was slowly killing me. I hated everything about it and I hated working for my parents. I currently play as a guest musician in the local orchestra. I do some recording stuff with a friend who has a recording studio near our building. And I’ve been trying to break into film…” I pause and look at her. “I want to be like John Williams.”

She smiles. “Good aspiration. What about your dating life?”

I swallow. Keep it short, Gray. “I had a long-term high school girlfriend, another in college, and a third later. I broke up with her a little less than a year ago.”

“Oh, how come?” she asks.

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