Page 26 of Love is Fake

“Sure.” Lennox’s response is tight-lipped and I know I’ve disappointed him in some way, I’m just not sure exactly how.

Working with Lennox isn’t anything like being with any other client. Every interaction we have feels more intense, more charged. It leaves me hopped up on adrenaline before the inevitable crash. Then the process repeats.

Being around him is similar to how I’ve always imagined skydiving would feel, and Kiara’s warning comes back to me.Careful around him.

I shake my head, clearing that heavy thought away. A lot has happened and it’s not even noon. I look longingly at the coffee thermos poking out of my bag, even though I know it’s empty. I could really go for that bucket of caffeine Lennox mentioned earlier.

“And, Isabella?” Lennox interrupts my java dreams. My head lifts to meet his eyes and I’m struck all over again by how unfair it is for someone to be that damn attractive. It’s not natural. “For what it’s worth,somemen areveryinterested in a woman who speaks her mind.” His tone is heavy with meaning, but I’m so caught off-guard it barely registers.

I’m grateful when he turns around to hit the weights without waiting for me to reply because it gives me a moment to remind myself to take a breath. A blush reddens my cheeks as I pick up my notes if only to have something to do with my hands.

Like always, I wonder if Lennox is making fun of me a little. His expression is so damn inscrutable sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between teasing and truth. It’s easier to decide it’s just friendly banter, that there’s nothing hidden beneath his words, because that’s what makes the most sense anyway. After all, men like Lennox have their pick of women, there’s no way he’d be interested in someone like me.

I file away the disappointment my logical thought has caused along with my pathetic teenage angst and get back to what I’m here for: to work.

Chapter

Eight

“Do you know how many trips this is going to take?” Kiara turns in a circle in my apartment, surveying the boxes I’ve packed up full of books and a few trinkets to make the pool-house a little more homely. She eyes my suitcases, smirking before turning her gaze back to me. “And how long exactly are you leaving for?”

So, I may have overpacked a little. “Just a couple months, or maybe less if it doesn’t work out,” I shrug. “I just like to have my things around me.”

Kiara raises an eyebrow at me. I shake my head, telling her with my expression that I can do without the psychological assessment of what that means. I don’t need her to tell me how many issues I have.

“I’m gonna miss you,” she admits, poking at a box with her sandaled foot. “I can’t just drop by when you’re all the way out in the Hamptons.”

“I know, I’m really gonna miss those baked goods deliveries,” I joke. “But you’re the one who stuck this job on me.” There’s a small pause as we kinda just let the silence linger between us. “You don’t think I’m doing the wrong thing, do you?” I chew mybottom lip, voicing the anxiety which has kept me up most of the night before.

After another day of Lennox lobbying me over moving into his compound, it became harder and harder to come up with valid arguments. At face-value, it made complete sense, it was a win-win for all involved. So why do I still feel so damn nervous about it?

“I think you’re smart and I trust your decisions,” Kiara answers evasively. “As long as you’re doing it because it’s the best thing foryouinstead of forhim.”

There’s no question who thehimis she’s talking about. Kiara’s concern over me working with Lennox hasn’t eased since her croissant delivery a few days ago.

“Heis a big client. I thought you’d be happy I’m keeping him sweet.”

“You know he has a girlfriend,” Kiara drops breezily as if this were just a casual conversation.

“They broke up, didn’t they?” I frown over at her as she re-packs one of my boxes like the control freak she is.

Kiara shrugs. “Who knows? Celebrities are a breed all by themselves.”

“It doesn’t matter whether he’s single, married or has a harem full of women hidden in his mansion somewhere. I’m moving into the pool house, Ki, not the master suite.”

“Uh-huh.” It’s amazing how she manages to say so much in only two syllables.

“I know what I’m doing, Ki,” I tell her, projecting confidence, even though there’s a nagging voice in the back of my head asking if I really do.

Kiara gives me one last, searching look and then picks up one of the lighter – but still not light - boxes.

“Alright then, let’s start moving this stuff downstairs.”

I breathe a sigh of relief at her words, hoping to chart this conversation off as a win in my direction. We maneuver ourselves and as many boxes as we can into the tiny elevator, laughing as we’re plastered to the walls by so much cardboard.

Kiara looks up at the mountain we’ve created in this small space. “I never imagined I’d die from a box of anatomy books falling on top of me.”

” I roll my eyes. “The worst you’d get is a black eye.”

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