Page 55 of Kiss & Collide
When she glanced down at her phone, Ian was still at it and had broken out a thesaurus.
I miss your incendiary passion.
I miss your cloistered sadness.
That didn’t even make any sense. Then again, songwriting had never been his strength.
She’d planned to give Chase a once-over before he headed downstairs to make sure he was dream-date ready, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to face him when he came out of the bathroom. So instead she forwarded Cam’s text explaining where to meet Madison and she left.
The door of his suite closed behind her. That might possibly be the last time she was alone with him in that way.
As she headed back to her own room, on a different floor, she told herself over and over that it would be a good thing.
23
When Chase got downstairs to the restaurant, Madison was waiting for him just inside the door, half concealed by the shadows, right where Cam had said she would be.
“Hi, Chase.” She stepped into the soft light by the hostess stand. She looked amazing in a tight gold dress, with her blond hair down.
“Hey. Nice to see you again.” He hesitated for a moment, not really sure how to greet her. Then, remembering this was all for show and someone might be watching, he leaned in and kissed her cheek, setting a hand on her waist as he did it. It felt weird and too forward, but she gave his arm a squeeze as he did it, so he figured he’d judged correctly.
“So.” He rocked back on his heels and stuffed his hands in his pockets. “How does this kind of thing go?”
He was pretty adept at charming women when he put his mind to it. But that was always real … at least real in the sense that he’d been interested in the woman. This … pretending … was a different ball game, and suddenly he didn’t know what to say, or how to stand, or where to put his hands. He’d never felt so awkward in his life.
Madison seemed to pick up on that and smiled. “I’m an actor, remember? Just follow my lead. I got you.”
He smiled back and relaxed a little, remembering how chill she was, and how easy it had been to talk to her at the photo shoot. “Okay, let’s do this.”
She held her hand out to him and he took it. Like a boyfriend would.
The hostess led them through the dining room and out to a small terrace overlooking the Bellagio fountains. The low lighting and intimate tables inside were probably better for a date, but that would have defeated the purpose of this event—to be seen. Out here, the eyes of thousands were on them.
He helped her into her chair before settling into his, across from her.
“The flowers,” Madison murmured under her breath.
“What?”
She threw a significant glance at the glass vase of peach rosebuds on the table. “Offer me one.”
“Oh. Right. Got it.”
With a flourish, he took a rose from the bowl, leaned across the table, and held it out to her. Madison looked adorably flustered as she smiled and took it. She was a good actor. Then she laid her free hand across his palm. His fingers curled around hers.
“Well done,” she said under her breath. “It’s on.”
For all of his resisting, dinner was actually fine. The prices were eye-watering, but the food was amazing, the setting was beautiful, and Madison was fun. The conversation hadn’t dragged once all night.
They’d talked about growing up in Chicago, about her family, about his family. She’d told him stories from her tough start in LA, sleeping on friends’ couches for months, running from one audition to another, taking every small role that came her way, trying to break in. He told her about his early days in racing, pretty much doing the same thing, hustling, just trying to stay afloat in a tough sport. They had a lot in common that way.
She was savvy and a little bit cutthroat in a way he’d never quite managed though. She cared about her work, but she was also aware of all the compromises her industry required of her for success, and she was willing to do whatever it took. He supposed that’s why she’d just taken this arrangement in stride. His career might have had a different trajectory if he’d had half her street sense.
As they lingered over dessert, which Madison barely touched, she smiled across the table at him. “I think this was a huge success.”
“I guess we’ll see.”
“Oh, I know. Have you really not clocked how many times we’ve been photographed tonight? We’re blowing up the internet as we speak. We’re going to be viral by midnight. So, well done.”
