From Fake to Forever (Newlywed Games 2)

He turned the corner and lucked into a small alcove with a plush bench and side table. It was empty. Meredith’s exotic perfume hit him a moment before the most striking woman in attendance appeared. The one-two punch put him on edge.

“What’s up?” she asked. “Isn’t meeting like this a little risky?”

He conceded the point with a small nod. “Yeah. So talk fast. What did Avery say?”

“Maybe you should learn the art of patience, hmm?” She perched on the edge of the bench and made a big show of fixing a buckle on her shoe.

“Don’t be difficult. You talked to her for a long time. Avery doesn’t chat. She strategizes. What angle did she play?”

Meredith flipped her hair behind her back and stole Jason’s martini, which she downed in one gulp. “Pot, meet kettle.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

She arched a brow. “It means you two are cut from the same cloth, no pun intended. Maybe you should stop thinking about the angles once in a while.”

With a growl, he snatched the empty glass from his wife’s hand and checked his temper before he slammed it down on the side table and shattered it into a million pieces. Which might ease his frustration but wouldn’t get the answers out of Meredith any faster. “What is your problem? I’m asking you to give me information. That’s why you’re here, Meredith.”

“No, that’s why you’re here, darling.” She raked him with a smoldering once-over that lit him up instantly. “I have my own reasons for agreeing to this stupid plan of yours.”

His scowl didn’t faze her and her calm rattled his cage even further. “Is this another cheap ploy to get me to hop into bed with you? Because it’s getting a little old. Why can’t you get it through your head that I’m not interested?”

Quickly, she smoothed the hurt from her expression. If he hadn’t been so focused on her face, he would have missed it. Instantly, his ire drained away. “I’m sorry. That was uncalled for. Avery drives me mental.”

It was a poor excuse and not fully accurate. Oh, his sister had her moments, but he’d never had any problem keeping his cool around her. It was his wife who altered his brain waves with merely a glance.

“It’s fine.” She waved it away dismissively, but her tone said it was anything but fine. “I decided you’re right. Sleeping together would be a mistake. Much cleaner to stay out of bed and get through this as quickly as possible. No reason to complicate something that’s already complicated enough.”

Well, well. He was finally getting through to her. “Glad you see the wisdom.”

He waited for a sense of relief. And kept waiting.

What had prompted this turnabout anyway? He didn’t understand her motivation for her invitation to pick up where they’d left off in the first place, and he really didn’t understand her motivation for backing off now. He had to know why.

Right after she spilled about Avery.

“Is there more you can get out of Avery tonight? If no, maybe we should go,” Jason suggested.

Once they got back to her hotel, the stress of being caught together would be off and then he could pick through her strange mood until she told him what he wanted to know.

“No, my work here is done,” she said flatly and stood. “I’ll catch a cab back to my hotel. No need to see me out since this isn’t a date. Later, Tater.”

With the sarcasm of her parting comment still echoing through the alcove, she sailed down the hall without a backward glance. Jason barely got his mouth closed fast enough to scramble after her.

But not too closely. He slowed a bit as he passed the ballroom full of his colleagues and nodded to his father without stopping. Nobody would think it was strange they didn’t exchange a word. Jason hadn’t spoken to Paul in about six months and they both preferred it that way.

By the time he reached the sidewalk outside the hotel, Meredith had disappeared into a cab. He swore and signaled to his driver to get the car.

Where did she think she was going? She couldn’t hide from him—he had a key to her room.

“Now this seems familiar,” he muttered as he pounded on Meredith’s hotel-room door for the second time that evening.

“What?” she called from inside the room.

“Candygram.”

“Go away. I’m about Lynhursted out for the day.”

“Come on, let me in so we can have a rational discussion like adults. If that’s even possible.”

The door flew open. “What kind of a crack is that? You think I can’t act like an adult?”

At least she was still dressed. A small blessing, though that glittery dress with the tiny spaghetti straps and deep V over her cleavage had made him fantasize about unzipping it all night.