Page 5 of Brazen
“Oh God.” I glanced at his profile. He was still the sexiest man I’d ever seen. With his broad shoulders and muscular frame, he was clearly a heartbreaker. My heart thumped as I asked, “How did you find me?”
He reached into his back pocket. “Tracker app on my phone, and I was two blocks away. Usually, my family used it to find me, but today, I had need of it.”
“Don’t you need my permission for that?”
“My family helped fund the app. I have privileges.”
Part of me knew I should be annoyed, but I was still on a Paris high of being his. Then he slipped into the seat beside me.
Britney reached over me and offered her hand to shake. “Hi. Are you Charlie?”
He nodded. “Yeah.”
“You’re cute.” Britney stood. “I can see why you were tempted. I’ll go to the ladies' room.” She winked at Charlie. “Keep her company.”
“Of course.” He sat straighter.
I tilted my head; the suit and tie look, which fit him perfectly, still seemed odd. He was more the wild-and-free type. I blinked.
He said, “Hope, I have a plan.”
I laughed, shook my head, and finished my drink. “You have a plan? Just like that?”
He nodded and took my hands. The spark of electricity that bolted through me forced me to take my hand back. I knew where touching him led me.
He apparently had no idea of my thoughts, though. “From the rundown I just had—and I might have missed a few details from the sixty-second investigation I put my brother on—you worked at Horner and Wallace Advertising.”
I rubbed my temples and tried to focus on him. “I didn’t tell you in Paris?”
He shrugged. “Well, I didn’t tell you about my last name in Paris, so we’re even there.”
Honestly, his being with the designer the night I went to meet her had gotten me the one-on-one time with her. Maybe I should have asked him more questions about himself. I hadn’t asked why he was there because I was more interested in discovering what he tasted like.
Now I knew I’d thrown myself in this fire and only nodded. “Right.”
He brushed against my shoulder. “So my plan is pretty simple. You pretend to be my fiancée for a few weeks, and you take a temporary job of transforming my public image from playboy to stable.”
“That sounds more like publicity, and I’m more advertising.”
“We both know you can pull it off.”
True. My mind cleared. He was here because he wanted something. I should have guessed. No guy I liked had ever only wanted me for me. I sat straighter. “You need to fool someone?”
He shrugged, but I saw a flash of pain in his expression as he said, “My brother, Kir. I was at my new job when we texted, and he keeps telling me to get out of the building and do my own thing. I think he doesn’t trust me to handle any of Father’s work.”
That explained the clothes, which were perfectly tailored and probably cost more than my entire wardrobe, including my splurge office shoes. I raised an eyebrow. “Why?”
He whispered like he was lost in a fantasy. “He’s traditional, like many of the people in the office, and since people already know we met in Paris, we have a gateway to a fast romance.”
Maybe I was the one lost in a fantasy. I sighed, wishing I believed him. “How long is the job?”
He nodded. “Six months, maximum. And I’ll get you a reference from my dad, since his name is much more influential than mine.”
His last name was currently the reason I was jobless, but he would have way more pull everywhere in Manhattan than my horrible ex-boss. I crossed my arms and stared at him. “You know you’re asking for the impossible. I read the blog, and it said you usually had a different woman every night, sometimes more.”
“That was the old me. The one who didn’t know you.” He took my hand. “You can pull off anything. I know it.”
I half wanted to throw myself in his arms and kiss him senseless, but that was how I'd gotten here now. I slipped out of his gentle grip and ignored how my body was pulsating. “Playboys are known for womanizing. There is no way you can swear you’ll keep Big Charlie there in your pants near any other female, and we both know we’d never work out.”
