Chapter 18
Amanda
T he golden beams of sunshine splashed across the kitchen table and my back as I perched on the counter. I held a steaming mug of coffee in one hand and a half-eaten everything bagel in the other.
“How’s your bagel?” Evan asked from nearby. He sat in the chair adjacent to the counter.
“Oh, it’s quite good. How’s yours?”
He gave me a smoldering look. “It’s palatable enough, but I prefer what I had to eat when we first woke up.”
A thrill tickled down my spine. I uncrossed my legs slowly and recrossed them, flashing my pussy in the process. I wore only one of his old shirts.
“Well, you could always have more of that for dessert, you know.”
He reached up and put his soft palm on my bare thigh. He stroked his hand up and sent chills down my spine.
“I’d love nothing more than to do just that. But I’ve got to head out for the shareholder’s meeting in less than four minutes.”
He checked his phone and grunted.
“Make that two and a half.”
He devoured the rest of his bagel. I stared at my own and set it on the plate with a sigh. My coffee cup joined the bagel as I slid down to put my bare feet on the floor.
He noticed my sigh and turned a puzzled gaze my way. “What’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong?” I asked. “I think I’m supposed to ask you that question, Evan.”
His eyes narrowed to slits. “What’s that supposed to mean, exactly?”
“It means you’ve been acting funny all morning. Ever since the great start we had, you’ve been growing more and more distant.”
I could see the wheels turning in his eyes. For a long moment, I thought maybe I’d pushed him too far, and he was going to shut down or even leave the table. He could have just walked out the door for his oh-so-important-meeting.
Instead, his stoic mask slipped off of his handsome face. An all too human look of fear and regret crossed his features instead.
“Okay,” he said, heaving a long sigh. “All right. I’ll just come out and say it. This…”
He gestured between the two of us.
“You and me, this is all new to me.”
“Yeah, it’s kind of new for me, too.”
“No, you don’t understand and.” He shook his head, eyes growing dark. “I just… I’m not explaining this very well, am I?”
“No, you’re not.” I crossed my arms over my chest and pouted. “The way you’re acting is starting to worry me, Evan. I don’t like this at all.”
“Look,” he said, wiping his hand down his face. He seemed weary again. Tired of pretending, maybe. I didn’t know. “I just don’t know how else to say this. This thing between us is new to me, and it’s overwhelming. All right? It’s overwhelming.”
He looked at me with a deep sadness in his eyes .
“You’ve proven me wrong on so many things. I never expected that when I arranged this fake marriage. I wasn’t expecting a lot of things…”
His voice trailed off, and his gaze snapped to the side. I wondered where he was going with it.
“Hey.” I put my hand on his shoulder. “What’s up?”
“I’m just saying, you taught me that treating people like, well, people, instead of just objects, and using my celebrity status to do good, and that sometimes letting go of control leads to better results and it really got me thinking.”
He put his hand on top of my own and gazed into my eyes.
“Amanda, I need time to come to terms with, well, me. You understand?”
“I think so.”
He stood up, and I kissed him goodbye. Then I handed him his briefcase and phone and walked him to the door.
He walked down toward the limo, then stopped at the last moment. He turned back to me.
“Goodbye, Amanda.”
“Goodbye, Evan.”
I wondered at the strange sense of finality in his words. As the door shut, I started to go over our last conversation in my mind.
I realized what it all meant. He really cared about me. He really, truly did. I couldn’t believe how I’d run around being so stupid, thinking he was out of my league.
He’d let his guard down and shown me his human side. For once, his super billionaire alpha male mask had slipped, and I’d seen the real person behind the Iceman persona.
I wondered about what Jennifer had told me about Marshall. That she hadn’t really changed him. That all she’d done was help him draw out the kind and loving person lurking deep inside to the surface.
Was that what I was doing with my fake husband? Drawing out the inner chewy nougat of goodness from within him? Or was I just seeing what I wanted to see? Believing what I wanted to believe?
I dismissed the idea summarily. He was showing me his real face now. There was no manipulation on his part. I could tell that these feelings were genuine. He had to come to terms with the fact that he now had genuine emotions, and he had to learn how to express them.
The thing was, he did a great job of expressing his feelings for me when he stopped trying so hard to be an island. We got along in an effortless, soothing way that allowed for plenty of sparks in and out of the bedroom, but only after he started easing up on me and showing his gentler side.
Rebecca and Maria showed up to clean up the dining room after our breakfast. Rebecca had music playing on her phone, heralding their arrival. When they saw that I was still in residence in the dining room, they startled and turned to leave.
“Sorry, Mrs… that is, Amanda. We’ll come back later.”
“No need. Come on back.”
I stood up from my spot so they could start the cleanup. Then I noticed she was playing The Twist. I remembered the song vaguely from a movie somewhere.
I started doing the dance, because I remembered that too and I was feeling light as a feather. Rebecca and Maria laughed in delight, and soon they joined in as well. The three of us twisted around the dining room, having a wonderful time. Chavez walked past the dining room door, then came back and did a double take.
His mouth was open in awe as he watched us having a splendid time. For a moment, I thought he was going to join us and start twisting his stately ass off. Instead, he gave a warm smile and continued on his way, humming the song under his breath.
The song ended, and I found myself breathless. I hugged both of them and then headed up to my room. I had work to do, after all. Then I remembered that I’d left my laptop in Evan’s bedroom. Lately, I’d been sleeping in there more often than not.
Or perhaps I should say, not sleeping in there more often than not.
I headed over to his side of the manor and entered the bedroom. The smell of sex hit my nostrils as soon as the door opened. I laughed under my breath, a bit of burn coming to my cheeks. I resolved to open a window or something before the household staff came to clean his chambers and discovered the scent of our mutual passions.
I stared at the bed where we’d had sex not that long ago and chuckled. The sheets were still rumpled and messed up. I went over to one of his discarded shirts and held it to my body. I inhaled deeply around the collar and sighed, exulting in his scent.
I found my laptop sitting on the nightstand. I picked it up, humming the Twist under my breath, and went over to his baroque desk. I seated myself behind it, setting up my laptop on the glass countertop.
I waited for my computer to boot up, looking out the window. It certainly seemed like a gorgeous day. The sun was shining bright in a perfectly blue sky. The green leaves on the trees outside waved gently in the breeze, reflecting the golden light of the morning sun.
I pondered going for a little walk around the manor grounds, then decided against it. I did have a ton of work to do for the charity. The Amazon rainforest wasn’t going to save itself, unfortunately. And I knew that if it went, then humanity might just go with it.
While I waited for the computer to finish going through all of its little boot-up operations, I happened to notice a thick manila file folder sitting face down on the desk. Out of idly curiosity, I picked up the folder and flipped it over so I could see the front.
Project Next Level. Again, with the Project Next Level. I noticed that the folder was significantly bigger than it had been the last time I saw it. I wondered what that meant.
I found myself opening the file folder before I even had time to think about it in detail. I wasn’t really snooping. It was truly just the kind of bored curiosity a person engages in when they’re stuck waiting for something to happen.
I figured that the project must have been close to completion, or the file folder wouldn’t have been so thick. I thumbed past a few pages that looked to be extra copy paper and then stared at a gorgeous-looking red-haired woman’s photo. I recognized her from somewhere, but I couldn’t place exactly where.
I turned the page and found a dossier with a name at the top. It hit me where I’d seen the pretty redhead. She was an actress whose star was on the rise.
Curious, I kept thumbing through the files. One after another, I uncovered a woman’s photo and a detailed dossier on her. Every single one of them was beautiful beyond comparison. Every single one of them was world famous for one thing or another.
As I went through the file, my heart sank. All these women were from the original list of candidates for the role of Evan’s fake wife. All of a sudden I felt mighty stupid.
He wasn’t trying to tell me he had feelings for me. He’d been beating around the bush about this. About Project Next Level.
Evan had compiled a list of celebrity women again for only one reason I could see. He was looking at them like items on a menu.
Why would a married man be looking at so many different women? Answer—he wasn’t planning on staying married for very long .
I covered my face with my hands. I wanted to cry, but it was like the tears wouldn’t come. I had been played for the fool quite well. Quite well indeed.
Project Next Level was all about finding my replacement. He was going to really divorce me out of our fake marriage. He was then going to pick a new candidate. Maybe one that was a lot less of a pain in the ass than me.
I was being replaced.