Facade

What the hell was she so pissed about?

“Are you really upset at playing my girlfriend?” I asked.

“No, I’m upset you caved so easily to a little bit of digging from your friend.”

“Who’s fine, by the way. Thanks for asking.”

“He was undressing me with his eyes all night. I don’t care about him,” Sam said.

“He was what?”

“Oh, does it make you angry someone was staring at your fake girlfriend?”

“It does if I’m supposed to pretend to be your lover.”

“Boyfriend. Not lover. You’re really milking that kiss back there, which served its purpose, by the way.”

“You’re going to try and convince me that pulling my body into yours, touching your soft lips to mine, and allowing me to push you into the door was all to get me to calm down?”

“Better than you being drunk and me having to kick you down some stairs,” she said. “How do you even treat your girlfriends anyway? You buy them some jewelry, bring them back here for a half-decent night, then send them off with a kiss and a tap of the ass?”

“Hardly. I relish them with attention, open their doors, pick them up for dates, pay for everything, and romance them before I take their body on every surface I can put them on.”

“I wonder how that looks to your employees,” I said.

“What I do with my personal life is none of my employees’ business.”

“I meant more along the lines of us. We’ve already announced to people that I was your PA. Are we really flying with the fact that it was a cover because we didn’t want people to know we were dating? You’ve never been ashamed of who you date.”

“And you know this from your research?” I asked.

“From the pictures of you plastered all over the papers kissing random women every week, yes,” Sam said.

“Admit it. You’re curious as to how I treat my girlfriends.”

“Not even a little bit.”

“I know you are. All women are. And that soft little kiss in the closet? Very telling of your true nature in more intimate circumstances.”

I could see her jaw clenching as she sat at my kitchen table, and I knew I had hit a nerve.

“Maybe you are a pillow princess after all,” I said with a murmur.

“What?” Sam asked.

“Nothing.”

“So. You’ve exposed this ‘lie’ to your COO. But what about everyone else? Even Miss Emma? She won’t be happy you lied to her.”

“No, she probably won’t be. She’s jealous of you for some reason,” I said.

“Because she had a crush on you.”

“I’ve made it very clear to Miss Emma in the past that our relationship is professional.”

“Doesn’t mean she dropped her fun little crush. It only means she’s keeping her hands to herself. But she’s very protective of you. It’s obvious she still harbors feelings. And me coming out as your girlfriend is going to stoke that fire.”

“I can handle a twenty-eight-year-old with a crush. If that’s even where this jealousy’s coming from,” I said.

“Idiot.”

“Soft kisser.”

“Seriously, get the hell off it.”

“Then stop getting so pained over it,” I said with a grin. “Such a sore spot. Do you not like the fact that something is soft about you?”

Sam fell silent, her eyes cast out the window toward the edge of my property. She slid her hands behind her back, grabbing them to keep their shaking at bay. It was interesting to see this side of her, this human side behind the maniacal robot with a mind that worked a lightning speed.

“If Jacob isn’t coming on the trip, there’s no need for me to go as your girlfriend. I can still pull off being your PA until we get back. You’ve labeled me as an outside personal assistant, right?” Sam asked.

“Technically, yes, but you were rattling off facts about my company at the venue. And I did tell the partygoers that you would be helping on projects,” I said.

“We can get around that easier than the ‘PA to girlfriend’ thing. With me interacting in your personal world, I’m bound to pick up some things about your company. We’ll stick with the PA story for now.”