Page 59 of Tuxedos and Tinsel
“Absolutely. We’ve got to keep up appearances, don’t we? However, the front door has a keypad. The lock is for my apartment door.”
There it was again, that distance, and he couldn’t figure out why. Nothing he had said seemed inappropriate. “All right then, why don’t you give me the key code.”
“Fine,” she said with a sigh.
As he punched in the numbers, Lewis fought the urge to turn around and check on the driver who might or might not be paying attention.
No sooner had he opened the door, than Susan started over the threshold.
“Wait.” He grabbed her wrist to keep her from disappearing. “I need to kiss you goodnight. The driver might be watching. We want to give him something he can peddle to Lorianne or another columnist.”
“Right,” she replied. “We want to give the right impression.”
Lewis couldn’t tell if the sarcasm in her voice was meant to be humorous or not. With the shadows obscuring her expression, it was impossible to tell. It didn’t matter though. Appearances needed to be maintained. Slipping his arm around her waist, he closed the space between them and kissed her. Just as he had at the game, he only intended a brief, chaste peck. The moment his lips touched hers, however, any thought of chaste flew out the window.
Her mouth was made for kissing. Their lips slanted together like links in a chain, Susan’s mouth yielding without urging. Her head fell back and her body arched against him. Lewis’s body, still humming with awareness from earlier, reacted immediately. Pulling her close, he pressed his hips to hers, delivering a deep, soulful kiss while his free hand tangled in her curls.
Susan’s eyes were glazed when they finally broke apart, or so he told himself. Again, he couldn’t see her expression, but sincehewas dazed, he hoped she was, as well. From one kiss. His body was on full alert now, wanting nothing more than to take her upstairs and continue.
Fortunately common sense had maintained a tenuous grip, and he was able to step back. “Continuing” wasn’t part of their deal.
Taking a breath, he stepped backward again, down to the step below. “Well, that should give the driver some gossip to peddle,” he said.
Hopefully his grin didn’t look as shaky as it felt.
“I think it’s time we slept together.”
Susan tripped over a crack in the sidewalk and nearly dropped her coffee. It was three weeks into their “relationship,” and they were spending the weekend afternoon Christmas shopping. Until now, they’d stuck to highly visible social events where their status as a couple was documented by official photographers and social reporters. Lewis felt the timing was such that they should embark on Step Three of his plan, or what he called “doing coupley things.” His agent said he would tip off the tabloids that the two of them would be spending the day on Regent Street on the off chance they wanted to snag a photo of the budding romance.
At the moment, the only thing they’d snag would be a shot of her staring at him bug-eyed.
“Not literally, obviously,” Lewis said catching her elbow.
No, of course not. Susan focused on adjusting her jacket so he wouldn’t see her disappointment. Sleeping together didn’t involve an audience, and Lewis didn’t initiate any displays of affection unless someone was watching.
How could he turn his emotions on and off like that? All gentle touches and intimate glances in public only to back away the moment they were alone. They’d even taken to stepping inside the doorway of her building to say goodbye so he wouldn’t have to kiss her goodnight.
Clearly she’d been a little too enthusiastic in her response the other night. Honestly, what did he expect though after essentially telling her she was special on the drive home?
Then again, maybe the admission had been for show too. They hadn’t been alone.
Recovering herself, she made a show of taking a sip of coffee. “What would be the point of pretending we’re sleeping together?” she asked. Besides frustrating her.
“Because people expect to see a real relationship move forward. It’s the twenty-first century. People in serious relationships sleep together.”
“I know that.” She may not have had a serious love affair in her lifetime, but she had dated people for more than a few months. “I mean, what would be the overall goal? We’d get a blind item saying you spent the night or a pic in theLooking Glassof us heading out to breakfast?”
“You got a better idea?”
“Not really, but…”
She’d been thinking about this a lot the past few days. There was a hole in Lewis’s plan. “Blind items aren’t read by everyone. There’s no guarantee your message is going to reach the people you need to influence. Same with attending a few social events.” The more she thought, the more she wondered if their plan was a waste of time.
Or maybe it was that the phoniness of it all was beginning to chafe. Tipping off photographers, pretending for witnesses. Every gimmick was a reminder that she wasn’t good enough to be a real girlfriend.
It wouldn’t be so bad if he weren’t so damn amazing when they were together. Like today when he’d shown up on her doorstep bearing coffee for their shopping adventure. He even tucked in her scarf under the guise of keeping her warm while they walked. All for the benefit of anyone who might be watching.
Why wasn’t she worthy of such treatment in private? Susan sighed. When she agreed to play along, it was so people like Courtney and Ginger would stop calling her pathetic. Now she wondered if she was merely proving them right.
