“I didn’t say that—”
“Don’t you have a girlfriend?” I interrupted him, the question bursting out of me.
“No, I don’t.”
I watched his eyes close for a heartbeat, his head shaking once.
“Not even a casual someone you are seeing?”
He gave me another shake.
“A fling?”
He sighed. “No.”
“Let me guess. No time for that?” I regretted it as soon as it had left my lips. But frankly, I was curious. So, perhaps, if he answered, I wouldn’t regret the question completely.
His shoulders shrugged lightly, his back relaxing slightly. Just as if he had accepted that he’d have to give me an answer or I’d press for one. “I have time, Catalina. Plenty of time in fact.” Even in the darkness of the car, I saw those ocean-blue eyes of his pin me down with an honesty I hadn’t been prepared for. “I’m simply saving it for someone who’s worth it.”
Well, that was incredibly smug. Sort of conceited too. And shockingly, kind of … sexy.
Whoa. I shook my head. Nope. The only S-word Aaron Blackford could ever be thought of was … sarcastic. Scornful. Secretive. Stoic. Maybe even sour. But not sexy. Nope.
“Is that why you don’t have a date already?” I managed to ask him next, feeling the need to sound indifferent and cold. “Because your standards are as high as the sky?”
Aaron didn’t miss a beat. “Is that why you have no one to take to that wedding?”
“I …” I wished that were the reason instead of plain stupidity and being a compulsive liar with no instinct of self-preservation. “It’s complicated. I have reasons.” I let my hands drop in my lap, keeping my eyes on the section of the console in front of me.
“Whoever claims to act without having a reason pushing them to do so is lying.”
“So, what’s pushing you to do this?” I asked him with my eyes still on the dark and smooth material that adorned the interior of the car. “What pushed you to ask me, out of all people, to pretend to be your date?”
“It’s a long story.” Even if I wasn’t looking at him, I heard his exhale. It sounded as tired as I felt. “It’s a social commitment. I can’t promise you it will be fun, but it’s for a good cause.” He paused for moment, in which I didn’t speak and I limited myself to take in the scarce details he had given me. “I’ll tell you everything—if you accept, of course.”
My head shot in his direction, and I found Aaron’s blue eyes already on me. They were filled with a little challenge. And a little expectation.
He was baiting me. Offering me an insight into Aaron Blackford’s unknown—and presumed to be nonexistent—personal life. He knew I’d want to know.
Well played, Blackford.
“Why me?” I asked him, being drawn to the light like a stupid fly. “Why not anyone else?”
His gaze didn’t waver when he answered, “Because if all these months we have worked together have taught me anything, it’s that you are the only woman I know crazy enough to do something like this. You might be my only option too.”
I wouldn’t take that as a compliment because it hadn’t been one. He had just called me crazy. But shit. Something about it—about the way he had said it, about this bizarre day and this unexpected turn of events in which I had found out he also needed someone, just like I did—seemed to wear me down.
“You do know that you’ll have to fly to Spain with me for a whole weekend, right?”
A simple nod. “Yes.”
“And in exchange, you want just one night? One single night of me pretending to be your date?”
He nodded again, and this time, something solidified in his stare. In the way his jaw was clamped and his lips formed a flat line. Determination. I knew that look. I had argued against that look on many occasions.
Then, he spoke, “Do we have a deal?”
Have we really lost our minds?