Page 407 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 5
“So now you care what you look like?” She leaned in to whisper. “This wasn’t part of the deal. You’re embarrassing me.”
“I don’t actually remember impeccable dress being part of the deal.”
“New amendment. Dress better.”
I looked fine. Why did people always diss my clothes? “If I’m embarrassing you, I’m happy to leave.”
“Not until Uncle Richard sees us being a happy couple. Come on, let’s find him.” She grabbed my hand, her nails digging into my palm. She probably didn’t even realize her fake nails were stabbing me.
I wasn’t sure what was worse…being clawed to death by Poppy or having to see Mr. Pruitt. The last time I’d seen him, I’d said a lot of nasty, albeit true, things. He brought out the worst in me. But tonight I had to be on my best behavior. Angering him wasn’t going to help matters. It would probably just lead to Poppy realizing a relationship with me was useless and offing Scarlett without any kind of deal. That couldn’t happen.
“Where did he go?” Poppy asked. “I swear he was just here.” She froze. “You know what? I have a great idea to pass the time while we wait for him. Let’s dance.” She pulled me to the dance floor, moved my hands to her hips, and laced her fingers behind my neck. Her eyes darted around, searching for her uncle.
But when she led us over to a table of men much younger than Mr. Pruitt, I had a sickening feeling this had nothing to do with her uncle. “Is he even here?”
“Who?” Poppy asked.
“Mr. Pruitt.”
She looked up at me. “Yeah. Of course. He probably just went to the bathroom or something. Dip me.”
“What?”
“Dip. Me.” She started leaning backward.
Fuck.I caught her before she fell onto the dance floor. “What are you doing right now?”
She pulled back up and started laughing. “You’re so funny, Matthew. You always make me laugh,” she said way too loudly for polite conversation.
“Poppy, what the hell is going on?”
She leaned forward and whispered in my ear. “Be cool. My ex is here. And now he’s staring at us and just…just be cool, Matthew.” She moved in a little closer to me, pressing her hips to mine.
For fuck’s sake.It was one thing to pretend for Mr. Pruitt. But making her ex jealous? Now I understood why she was so insistent on tonight. Definitely not part of the deal. “Poppy…”
She grabbed both sides of my face and kissed me.
Gag.I was pretty sure I threw up in my mouth a little.I turned my head away from her. “Cut it out. I’m not here to make your exjealous. I’m here to convince your uncle that you’re ready to take over the company. Period.”
“Two birds, one stone.” She leaned in for another kiss.
I turned it into an awkward hug in the middle of the dance floor.
She started swaying to make it look like we were just a couple in love instead of strangers arguing. “Just kiss me,” she hissed.
“No.”
“Fine. Deal off.” She shoved my chest in a playful way like I’d just made another pretend joke. All just a show for her ex apparently. But her eyes were deadly serious.
Damn it.I caught her hand and pulled her to my chest. I could still taste Kennedy on my lips. I didn’t want to kiss Poppy again. I’d literally rather be doing anything else. A bath and chat with Nigel included. “Deal not off,” I said.Yet.“But you got it all wrong. You don’t make an ex jealous with sloppy kisses with someone new. You do it with dance moves. And it just so happens I’m a pretty great dancer. So let’s make him jealous of our sick moves.” I backed up, spun around, and pointed at her.
“What are you doing?” she said. “Don’t draw attention to yourself.”
“Don’t leave me hanging here,” I said and shimmied my shoulders.
She actually laughed. “You’re an idiot.”
I wasn’t going to stop until she joined in. I started doing the robot.
