Page 42 of Away With You
His lips tilt, like he’s amused by me. “First, eat.” He pushes the takeout bag towards me and, after several seconds ofdeliberation, I give up and dig in.Who am I kidding? I was always going to eat the food.
“Dumplings? My favourite.”
His smile is wide and indulgent. “You have lots of favourites. Makes you easy to please.”
I bite into a pork dumpling and ponder this.Is it a bad thing? Should I try to be more difficult?
“These are amazing,” I groan, giving up overthinking this. “Thank you, Nathan.”
He reaches over and grabs a container. There are at least a dozen varieties of dumplings, and once again, he’s ordered enough to feed an army. And not a small one.
“You’ll have to show me around,” he says, dunking his dumpling into the soy and vinegar combination dipping sauce. “I’m dying to see where all the Western Blotting magic happens.”
Once again, this man using science terms, meaning he listens when I speak about it, has my heart swooning. It’s such a little thing, but it makes me feel important. Like he wants to know me, everything about me.
Nathan is proving to be the perfect fake boyfriend.
“No magic happening,” I sigh. “That’s why I’m here on a Sunday. Fingers crossed it works this time.”
He looks around the tearoom, his keen eyes scanning the walls. “Is that yours?”
I follow his gaze. He’s looking at a poster I presented at a recent European Society for Medical Oncology conference. It gained a bit of traction as oncologists around the world are clamouring for any positive research on early detection markers.
“Yeah. That was some research I did back when my experiments actually worked.” I push away my food and grab a cup from the takeaway tray.Ah, a chai latte. Again, the perfect choice.“But enough about me. Let’s talk about the reason you’re here.”
He examines my face. “I thought we were already doing that.”
My cheeks heat under his gaze, and I shift in my chair. “I mean, let’s talk about the articles. We’ve been outed.”
“Yeah, I saw. It’s good.”
It is?
I frown. “I thought you wanted to control the narrative. The stories out there now aren’t all feel-good stories. Are you alright with that?”
He stands up and roams around the small space, restless energy pouring off him. “It’s fine. Most of the stuff is positive. You know?Nathan Jackson Has Finally Moved On?That kind of thing. My publicist says the media is eating it up. Doesn’t hurt that you are supremely photogenic. The camera loves you.”
I choke on my drink at this casual compliment. “Nonsense,” I splutter, wiping the dribble from my chin. Jade and I had spent a lot of time looking through all the posts about ‘us’ this morning, and I wasn’t a fan of any of the images captured of me.
He fishes his phone from his pocket, humming while he scrolls. “Tell me you don’t look like a model in this shot?”
I take the phone from him, shooting an incredulous look in his direction. The photo in question is of the two of us, walking from the restaurant to Nathan’s car. We’re under the spotlight of the streetlamp above us; I’m looking up at him and smiling. His head is tilted down towards mine. With a flurry of snowflakes swirling around us, the photo itself is magical. But in no world do I look anything more than an ordinary woman walking next to a gorgeous, rich-looking man.
“AreRedline Racingaware that you need glasses?” I ask, handing him back his phone before rising to stand.
He laughs long and hard before drawing in a deep breath, his face turning serious. “So, I, um, have another favour to ask.”
I gather up the leftover lunch (so much leftover lunch) and put it in the fridge. It’s busy work to keep my nerves in checkbecause, well, I’m still in the middle of the favour I’m already doing him; what’s he going to ask for next?
“Ah, another bribery meal?”
He flashes a grin, winking a small dimple at me I’ve never seen before. Because he’s not cute enough as it is, he’s also been gifted with a dimple.
“You’re onto me.” He rocks on his toes, his eyes darting around the room. “It’s actually all part of the same favour.”
“The fake girlfriend thing?”
“Yes.” He nods. “I need to…ramp it up a notch.”
