Page 56 of Faking the Pass
“No, of course not. You’ve just thrown yourself under the bus for me and offered to save my finances—possibly saved my life. It’s just, I have nothing to give you in return except for my services.”
Her head popped up, and her expression was horrified. “I mean mycleaningservices.”
I watched for another minute, trying to figure out the source of her terror. Then it dawned on me.
“If you’re worried I’m going to demand you sleep with me or something as repayment, don’t be,” I said. “Believe it or not, I can get sex anytime I want it—without coercion. And I don’t think we have to gothatfar to complete the illusion. Unless youwantedto release a sex tape to the media to support our story?”
“No, I didn’t think—don’tthink—that’s the kind of arrangement you were expecting. I know you’re not interested in me that way.”
There it was again, the insinuation that there was no attraction between us.
I wasn’t sure where she’d gotten that idea, but at the moment, telling her how hot I thought she was didn’t seem like the right play.
Rosie was now going for a blushing world record. She gathered the used sheets in her arms and breezed past me to the doorway.
“Where’s your laundry room?”
“Straight down the hallway.”
She stuffed the sheets into the washer, added detergent, and started a load. Then she turned around and put her hands on her hips.
“Okay, what else? I know. I can vacuum, then I’ll mop. I can cook. And since you haven’t been here for about a week, the furniture probably needs dusting. After that I can—”
“Hold on.”
I walked down the short hallway, stopping right in front of her. She stopped babbling, but she was staring straight ahead at my chest instead of my face.
“Rosie,” I said. “Look at me.”
It took her a while, but finally she did. Her eyes were guarded when she lifted them to meet my gaze.
“What’s wrong?”
She shook her head, but I was not going anywhere until I got an answer. I was fine with standing here all day if that was what it took.
Apparently sensing my resolve, Rosie finally answered me.
“It’s just… I’m not sure how all this is supposed to work,” she said. “I may not have a life to get back to, but you do. And there’s no place for me in your world. I mean… what am I going to do with myself for the next few months? I have no job. I have no friends left here. I have no…”
Her voice choked off, and I rested my hands on her shoulders.
“You’re going to do anything you damn well please,” I said. “You’re going to rest and read and sunbathe out on the rocks behind my house. You’ll reconnect with your old friends—or make some new ones. And youwillbe acting, in a way. We’ve got to go out and be seen together in public, and you’ll have to act like you can stand the sight of me.”
She gave an unwilling chuckle. “Yeah, that’s going to be a real hardship.”
“You don’t know,” I said. “You haven’t smelled my sweaty workout gear yet.”
Rosie shook her head, looking at her feet again.
“Why are you being so nice to me, Presley? I mean, we barely knew each other in high school. After we broke up, you never even spoke to me again. You didn’t like me enough to even remember we took pictures together.”
Stifling a groan, I spoke through a throat that had gone thick and sore.
“I liked you,” I admitted. “A lot. What can I say? Teenage boys are idiots. The only pictures I cared about back then were of me throwing touchdowns.”
She snorted a laugh.
Encouraged, I went on. “I told you back at the mansion, and I meant it… you’re doing me a favor too, just by being here, okay? Consider your job title…”
