2. Max
2
MAX
“ U mm …”
I tried to come up with a response, but frankly, I was drawing a blank. Also, it was really, really distracting to have his arm wrapped around my shoulders.
I had no idea who this angry-looking woman was, or what her connection was to Theo Barnes, but it was very obvious that she didn’t like seeing him standing so close to me.
Lady, if you want this asshole that badly, have at him, I wanted to say—but I bit the words back.
Yeah, he was a grade-A jerk, but apparently, he was also my boss. At least until we hit land. He’d contracted to pay me really well for this job, and I couldn’t afford to blow it before the check was cut. Not to mention, he was a bigshot. The kind of guy who could easily get me blacklisted out of future jobs if he decided to be petty. My career was only just starting to get on solid footing—I couldn’t afford to alienate anyone with deep pockets and high-class connections.
I’d already tempted fate by yelling at him before I knew who he was. If all I had to do to get back in his good graces was play along and follow Theo’s lead, then that was exactly what I’d do.
“Pam, I’d like you to meet my girlfriend, Max.”
What. The. Hell.
I jerked slightly against his hold, and he tightened his grip on me, which I interpreted as a silent warning to keep my mouth shut. “We were out last night, a little too late, and let’s just say that her sea legs went missing today,” he continued. “She’s been in here recuperating.”
Pam’s narrowed eyes bounced between us. “Girlfriend? How come you haven’t mentioned her before?”
I glanced up at him hoping his answer would give me some clarity as well. He smiled, and fuck, it did something to me. He was hot before, all tall, broad, and bearded. He had the kind of sandy brown hair that probably got lighter in the sun, and the kind of deep brown eyes that probably got dark as sin when he was turned on. But when he flashed that smile, I began to understand how he got away with being so cocky.
When your smile looked like that, you could lie to a woman, and she’d thank you for the privilege.
“We’re private people,” he shrugged. “I learned the hard way after I sold my first business that I need to keep parts of my life to myself. You know how it goes, I’m sure. We reveal what we want to reveal and keep the rest private. But Max had every intention of joining us eventually. Let’s just blame the Cristal for the hiccup. Right, hon?”
He turned that smile on me, and I felt my mouth go dry. He was so close, and so damn cocky, and he smelled like the ocean…
The tightness of his fingers on my shoulder drove home that the only possible response was agreement. Pam’s eyes landed on me, and I felt compelled to speak up.
“Girls and champagne, am I right?” I managed with a weak laugh. Theo chuckled and loosened his grip on me.
Pam frowned. “I really wish I’d known about her .”
She sounded irritated. What the hell was going on here?
“Better late than never,” Theo replied. His voice was cheerful, but there was steel underneath. “Right now, Max needs to freshen up a bit. We’ll meet you back at the table, okay?”
She didn’t answer as she turned on her heel and stomped out of the room.
The moment she was out of earshot Theo let go of me and breathed out a long sigh.
“Okay, hold on,” I said, moving closer so I could see his expression. “What just happened? Your girlfriend ?”
“Hey, you fell asleep on the job,” he said. “I am not the only one making questionable decisions today.” He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Look, I’m dealing with some … sensitive dynamics during a business negotiation, and I had to think on my feet.”
I put my hands on my hips and glared. “I need more of an explanation than that if you want me pretend to be your girlfriend in front of people I’ve never met.”
Theo studied me. “Fair enough,” he said at last. “That was Pam Peterson. She and her husband, Ford, are here today so I can sign an agreement to partner with him. He’s a master yacht craftsman, and he’s the perfect addition to my portfolio. The problem is …” He trailed off. “How do I put this?”
Gone was the mocking, grinning man who’d taken such delight in punching my buttons just a few minutes earlier. Now, he seemed grumpy, tired, and well…human. I had to admit to feeling a little petty joy to see him brought down to earth.
Even if, unfairly, he looked just as hot when he was tired and grumpy as when he was smiling and doing his master-of-the-universe act. Actually, if I was honest, this version of him was even more compelling. There was something about seeing him unguarded that made a woman itch to massage the tension from his shoulders and kiss the worry from his forehead.
I mean, not me obviously. But some other woman. Someone na?ve enough to believe that a guy could be her prince charming just because he wore the clothes and flashed the cash.
“The problem is that Pam has … taken a liking to me,” Theo continued, blissfully unaware of the horny turn my thoughts had taken. “And that’s making Ford jealous. Which means he’s having second thoughts about the deal. I need a way to convince Ford he has nothing to be jealous of, without insulting him or Pam. I already tried talking to Pam directly and that…did not go well.”
I started snickering, imagining that conversation. I couldn’t help it.
“Hey, it’s not funny, ” he said.
“It’s a little funny,” I said. “At least as funny as that Barbados joke of yours.”
The corner of his mouth twitched. It felt like we were on the verge of laughing together or yelling at each other, and I couldn’t tell which possibility made me more nervous.
“So that’s where the girlfriend stuff comes in,” I said, trying to get us back on track. “Got it.”
“Exactly. And you have to join us above board and keep it up until we dock.”
It sounded like an order.
“ Excuse me?” I sputtered at him.
Seriously, the nerve of this guy! He was acting like I was his employee, and he was asking me to cover an extra shift. The man didn’t even say “please.”
“I’ll make it worth your while,” he added quickly. “I’ll pay you. I’ll double your daily photography rate.”
“That’s… you can’t just pay me to…” I shook my head. “I don’t think this is a good idea.”
But the money he’d just offered was already setting off a chain of calculations in my head.
I was saving up for an internship with Richard Adams, a photographer I’d been a fan of before I even got into the business. He was the primary photographer for Life & Style Magazine , which meant he’d shot everyone from Oscar winners to presidents throughout his forty-year career. Working with him would all but guarantee my future, but he didn’t pay his interns—and between the price of some extra top-of-the-line photography equipment I’d be required to purchase, and four months of living expenses over the course of the program, I needed to make sure I had nearly twenty-five thousand saved up in advance.
“You’d be doing me a huge favor by keeping up the charade, making Pam think that I’m not available.” Theo tilted his head and grinned, trying to go for boyish and bashful.
It looked good on him, damn it. Good in a way that got under my skin and whispered things like When was the last time you’ve been kissed?
I crossed my arms. “I only date polite men. And there’s one word you haven’t said yet.”
For a second, he looked confused.
I waited him out, meeting his direct stare with my version of a withering gaze.
Finally, comprehension dawned on Theo’s face.
“Please, Max,” he said.
Geez, it was no wonder a guy this obnoxious didn’t have a real girlfriend to take the fall at times like this. Sure, the guy was smoking hot. Way taller than me and thick , like he put in serious time at the gym. Plus, I’ve always had a thing for guys with beards, and his close-cropped dark brown one showed off the hard angles of his face. A hint of a black tattoo peeked out from beneath the sleeve of his white dress shirt in a way I’d normally find totally sexy.
Too bad for him that “smug asshole” had never been my type.
But he wasn’t actually asking me out—he was just asking me to pretend until we got back to shore. And frankly, how many options did I really have? I’d already met Pam, already gone along with the ruse that I was Theo’s girlfriend. And I was stuck on this damn boat for the next few hours no matter what I did.
Getting double my fee just for playing nice? I could manage that.
“Okay, I’ll do it. But we need some ground rules,” I cautioned.
“Like what?” Theo asked. “It’s only two hours.”
“Physical boundaries,” I said.
I ignored the little ripple of anticipation as I scanned Theo again.
Okay, fine, it was less of a ripple and more of a tsunami. The man was putting out pheromones.
“You can put your arm around me since you’ve already done that,” I said. “Hand holding is okay too. I’m guessing you’re not the type for major PDA during a business meeting so there’s no need for us to kiss. Right?”
Damn it, now I couldn’t stop thinking about what it would be like to kiss him. It would be fun to see what his beard felt like against my cheek, and what those plush lips could do. I felt my face go hot and hoped he didn’t notice.
“I think I can restrain myself from making out with you during a business meeting,” he drawled.
“We should probably figure out our backstory,” I offered. “Pam seems like the person who would want to know all about our meet cute.”
“Our what ?” he asked, scowling.
“The story of how we fell in love.”
“Who said anything about love?” Theo smirked.
My cheeks went hot for the second time.
Theo shook his head. “No need to worry about that. I’m good on my feet, leave it to me. Just follow my lead, got it?”
Ugh, why did he act like he had all the answers?
“The last time you thought on your feet, I ended up as your girlfriend,” I muttered.
“What was that?”
“Fine, I’ll leave our meet-cute to you,” I replied louder, trying to focus on the money I was about to make and not the man who was giving it to me. I actually was his employee in a sense, since he was paying me for a service. Giving someone the girlfriend experience wasn’t usually part of my package, but hey, I had bills to pay.
“You’re the boss,” I said, fluttering my eyelashes mockingly. “Do you have any rules I should know about?”
He considered the question. “Be friendly. Happy.”
I bristled. Ten bucks said he was the kind of guy who expected every woman he dated to be cheerful and easy, and dumped them the instant they dared to show him a messier, more complicated side of themselves. “Are you going to tell me to smile more too?”
He shrugged. “Wouldn’t hurt.”
I let out an exasperated sigh but swallowed back the rant that wanted to come streaming out. Just a few hours, I reminded myself. You can bite your tongue for just a few hours . “Any other rules?”
He paused. “Let’s keep this as simple as possible. What you see is what you get.”
“Fine with me. Anything else, sir ?”
He was either ignoring my frustration or it didn’t matter enough to even register to him. Neither one made me think any better of him.
“Just make them believe that we’re the real deal so Pam will back off and Ford will stop feeling threatened.”
“That only works if you can play the part of the devoted boyfriend. Are you going to do your part, to really sell it?” I asked. I was having a hard time seeing it. Seemed like the only person he could care about was Theo Barnes.
“Of course. I’m a phenomenal actor.”
Holy crap, the man really liked himself.
“Well, alrighty then. Let’s get this over with.” I headed toward the door.
Theo stopped me with a hand on my shoulder and paused to scan me from head to toe, wearing a frown.
“What? Am I underdressed for the cruise I didn’t know I was going on?” I asked with acid sweetness.
“A little,” Theo said, completely missing my sarcasm. “For this to work you need to look like you were planning to join me today. Do you have anything that’s a little less… utilitarian?”
He was a total micromanager, but unfortunately he had a point.
Then I had an idea. “Give me one second.”
I unzipped my backpack and found the crushed silk white blouse a model had left at a shoot a few weeks back. I turned my back and pulled off my tank top—ignoring the way Theo was studying me—then unfurled the shirt. Thankfully, it was made from a fabric that was wrinkled on purpose, so no one would know it had been wadded up in my bag. I slipped it on and tied it at my waist, then unzipped the side pocket of my backpack to find the fake diamond studs I’d taken off when they got in the way of my headphones.
“Almost there,” I said, studying my reflection in the mirror on the wall.
I dug through my bag to find my brush and quickly styled a sleek ponytail, then remembered I had an ancient tube of lipstick in the inner pocket. I slicked it on then turned to Theo and gave him a giant, fake-girlfriend smile.
“Better?”
He bit back a smile. “Superman in a phonebooth ain’t got nothing on you. Just one thing…” He reached out and stole my hair-tie, undoing my carefully crafted ponytail so that my hair fell loose and messy all around my shoulders again.
I opened my mouth to object, when I noticed the way his eyes had darkened.
“I like it better down,” he said, his voice gruff.
My stomach flipped. I did my best to ignore it. “Luckily, I don’t care what you think about my fashion choices.” But I made no move to get my hair tie back.
“Are you ready to make Pam believe we’re a couple?” Theo held his hand out to me, and his expression looked different. The cocky attitude was gone, replaced by a look that was half determination, and half adventurous. It was a look that said he was all in.
In spite of myself, I kind of liked it.
“I sure am, sweetheart!” I said in an overly cheerful voice. I skipped over to him and took his hand.
“For the love of God, please tone it down a few notches,” he sighed.
I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing. “Thanks for the note, point taken.” I intended to do my part, but if I could do it while messing with Theo every now and then, that would be a bonus.
Sure, the man looked like God’s gift to straight women, but he had an ego the size of the Gulf of Mexico. He deserved a little teasing.
As Theo led me down the narrow hallway, I realized there was no reason for us to be holding hands already. Pam and Ford were way outside on the deck, and no one could see us padding through the yacht’s interior. But it was his circus, his show, so I’d follow his lead. And it wasn’t like it felt bad to have his big hand wrapped around mine. Plus, it helped me get into character as his devoted girlfriend.
Lights, camera… I thought to myself as we headed outside, and…showtime!