“No one’s going to believe that,” Mia told him. “I’m so not the type of woman a man like you would go nuts for.”
He studied her for a long minute and had to admit that she had a point. If he’d noticed her at all over the past couple of years, it was only as Alex’s housekeeper. He’d never looked beyond her quiet demeanor or the plain way she dressed and fixed her hair. His mistake, he thought now, looking into blue eyes that were the color of a Texas summer sky. He’d never noticed her full lower lip, the dimple in her right cheek or her quick wit. Mainly because he’d never bothered.
He was bothering now, though, and he sort of wished he wasn’t.
“Okay, you have a point.”
“Thanks very much.”
He ignored the sting in her words and said, “Mainly it’s the clothes. You need to go shopping.”
She laughed again and that dimple winked at him. “With what? If you think I’m going to spend my ten thousand dollars on dressy clothes I won’t need when the month is over, you’re crazy.”
“Fine.” He nodded sharply. He could see her side of this. He took the paper from her, made a quick note and initialed it. “We’ll make it ten thousand for you, five thousand for shopping expenses—”
“Five—”
“And your school loans. Deal?”
“Of course not! I’m not letting you buy me clothes.”
“It’s an act, Mia,” he told her, voice firm and unyielding. “I’m paying you to play a part. I’m only giving you the props you need to make it real.”
She shook her head and he sensed her pulling away. She might be sitting right beside him, but mentally she was out on the road, driving home and putting all of this behind her. So he put a stop to it.
“We agreed on this deal. This is just another facet of it. Nothing’s changed but your wardrobe.” He looked her over again and said, “You should go into Houston. They’ll have more to offer.”
“Any suggestions on what you’d like me to wear?”
He heard the sarcasm and again, he ignored it. “Tailored clothes would be best, I think. Get a couple of cocktail dresses while you’re at it.”
She huffed out a breath and stared at the agreement in her hand. “I don’t know.”
“Sign it, Mia,” he said, holding out a pen. “One month and your loans are paid off and you and I go our separate ways. You know you want to, so just do it and get it over with.”
She nibbled at her lower lip long enough to have Dave want to squirm just to relieve the pressure in his jeans. He’d thought the coming month would be a breeze. Now he had to wonder if maybe he wasn’t signing up for a month of misery.
Although, he thought, maybe not.
Yeah, he’d told her that sex wasn’t part of their deal, and it wasn’t. But that didn’t mean it had to stay that way. They were going to be spending a lot of time together. Giving him plenty of opportunities to seduce her and get her into his bed.
Damn, the thought of that had him getting even harder. Odd that Mia Hughes was hitting him so hard. Probably because she wasn’t even trying. Had made a point of saying she didn’t want to have sex with him.
Nothing more intriguing than a challenge.
“I really hate doing this,” she muttered, then signed her name on the dotted line.
They were both committed to this path now, and there was no turning back.
* * *
Mia had no idea where to shop for the kind of clothes she needed. She’d never had enough money to worry about it before and even if she had, she didn’t think she’d be comfortable paying several hundred dollars for one dress. Jeans, T-shirts and sweatshirts were her usual wardrobe, along with sneakers and sandals. The thought of her joining, even briefly, the kind of society that only the rich experienced would have been laughable if it wasn’t so terrifying.
She was so not a part of the world Dave Firestone belonged to. How was she supposed to fool anyone into thinking any different? Not only did she not have the clothes for the part, she didn’t have the attitude. She needed help and, thankfully, she knew just the place to find it.
Which was why Mia had come here, to the Royal Diner.
In June, Amanda Altman—now Battle—had come home to Royal and taken over the day-to-day running of the family diner with her sister, Pam. It hadn’t been easy for the Altman sisters to get over their past and build a bridge to the future, but they’d managed it. And it hadn’t taken Amanda and Nathan Battle long to rekindle their romance. Now they were married and Amanda was pregnant and driving everyone in town crazy with her decorating and shopping plans.