Chapter 9
LUKE
Clara picked at her coat sleeves nervously while we waited for the elevator.
I had her loaded suitcase at my side. No one had ever accused me of being a gentleman, but I knew enough to carry a lady’s bag for her, fake girlfriend or not.
Luggage mostly rolled these days but the principle remained the same.
When the elevator arrived, we got in and I swiped my card over the scanner, allowing me to access the top floor where I lived. The doors closed and it was just the two of us in the small space. She smelled like vanilla and I wanted to breathe her in forever.
“How long is this elevator ride?” she asked finally.
“We’re heading all the way up. It’s a long ride but I promise the view is worth it.”
Clara smiled to herself but said nothing.
“What?” I asked her.
She shrugged. “I was just thinking. It would be a real long climb up if the power goes out. Or a long walk down.”
I laughed. “You know, one time, I took the stairs all the way up, just to see if I could do it.”
“How did it go?” she asked, seeming less nervous. Her eyes sparkled with interest.
“I made it to my penthouse—and then couldn’t walk the next day.”
The door dinged and opened up to my front door. I unlocked it and led her into the entryway, all dark wood and moody lighting. I rarely brought anyone back to my place, but when I did, I wanted to make an impression. Judging from the look on her face, it worked.
Her jaw dropped and she shook her head like she was waking up from a dream. “I’m staying here the next few weeks?”
“Well, this is just the foyer. You haven’t seen anything yet.” I wheeled her bag ahead of her and she followed me into the sprawling living room.
Lofted ceilings really opened the space up, and the wall of windows made it feel like they were on a mountaintop, looking down all creation.
“Welcome home,” I said, looking her way. The starry-eyed expression told me she liked what she saw.
“This place is incredible,” she said in awe. “I would never leave.”
“Well, leaving helps pay for this place,” I said with a chuckle.
“Do all sports announcers live like this?” She looked at me with a smile.
“Actually, TV money didn’t buy this.” I shrugged. “It’s a long story, but I’ve made some lucky investments. I can’t complain.”
She nodded. “Well, this place is spectacular.”
She looked so small, so fragile, and I felt the urge to wrap her in my arms and make her feel safe.
Or maybe that was just an excuse to hold her.
Clara was gorgeous, with curves meant for holding on to.
Her bright green eyes drew my gaze, making me stare.
I had to consciously turn my eyes to other things.
The arrangement we’d made was strictly business. Clara was doing me a huge favor by agreeing to this at all. I didn’t want to do anything stupid to scare her off.
Besides, she was Nic’s little sister. He would never forgive me if he found out I’d slept with her.
It was bad enough I hadn’t told him about the fake girlfriend thing.
But at least with that, it was purely innocent, aside from a little white lie.
The money would make a huge difference in Clara’s life, but it would all be tainted if sex got mixed up in the deal.
No matter how much I wanted this girl, I had to control myself for the next few weeks. After? Who knew? If she decided to move to New York like she’d been dreaming about, maybe we could see what happened once money wasn’t involved.
Clara walked over to a shelf with some of my broadcasting awards on it. She picked up a delicate crystal microphone, which I’d won for best new announcer of the year. It meant the most to me out of all of them.
I immediately stopped imagining what she would look like in my bed and stepped toward her.
“Don’t touch that. Please,” I added, trying to take some of the edge off the command.
She jumped and almost dropped the award. My insides tensed up and I held my breath. Clara managed to keep hold of it, though, and she placed it back where she got it from.
“I wasn’t going to break it,” she said, shrinking in on herself.
I felt like an ogre, but that trophy meant a lot to me. “Ground rule number one,” I said. “Don’t touch anything that looks irreplaceable, okay?”
“How will I know what’s irreplaceable or not?” she asked, eyes narrowed at me.
“If it’s not something you can buy at the store, maybe leave it alone.
As for the rest?” I shrugged and shot her a smirk.
“Feel free to do whatever you want? Use it. Break it. Throw it out the damn window for all I care. Actually, don’t throw anything from this high up. But you get what I’m saying.”
Clara nodded. “I think I can live with that.” She walked over to the window and pressed her face up against the glass. “Any other rules you want to make up on the fly?”
“I don’t want to ruin the moment but you’re leaving a giant face print on the window.”
She looked at me and made an offended sound. “What do you care? There’s no way you’re the one cleaning this place.”
“Okay, you’ve got me there.” I chuckled and scrubbed a hand over the back of my neck. “Just use your best judgment. I have to go.”
“I just got here,” Clara protested.
“I know and I left the office to come meet you, but I have to get back. I’m going on the air in a couple of hours.” I pulled out my wallet and threw my black card at her.
She sidestepped it and the card landed on the polished hardwood floor. “What is that?”
“You need clothes. A proper winter coat for sure. But we’ll be going to a few parties together, so you’ll need something designer, expensive, anything to make you look the part.”
“Yeah, sure, I’ll get right on that,” she said, looking back out the windows, walking along them without touching them anymore. “I just can’t get enough of this view. The city is so alive.”
“Clara,” I said her name sternly, and it snapped through the air like a whipcrack.
She jumped again and looked at me, blushing. “Yes?”
“This is serious.” I had asked her to be my fake girlfriend for the bet with Troy, but I wasn’t going to tell her about that. She didn’t need to know about it yet. For now, her job was to make me look less flaky with the executives. She needed to look like she fit into their world.
“Finding the right clothes is important,” I continued. “I’m vying for a bigger role behind the scenes, and several of parties and events I need to go to this season will be drowning in big names and connections. You need to act the part of my girlfriend like it’s real.”
She pursed her lips and nodded. “What kind of woman would you normally be with?”
That stumped me. I didn’t bring women to work functions. One-night stands and the occasional fuck-buddy didn’t get involved in my life beyond our time together in bed. I shook my head.
“Oh, so silent?” she asked.
“I’ve never really thought about what would make the perfect girlfriend,” I said. “But for the record, you’re allowed to speak when we go out together.”
“Gee, thanks.” She rolled her eyes and looked around my penthouse like she was just now seeing it. Her nose crinkled in distaste. “Do you plan on decorating for Christmas?”
“No, probably not. I never have before.” I shrugged and grabbed my bag. “No more time for conversation. I promise we’ll talk more later.”
“Okay,” she said quietly.
I motioned to the card. “Don’t forget to look something to wear. No limit. Go as nuts as you want.”
She nodded but looked a little lost all of a sudden. “Okay,” she said again.
Seeing her sad made my heart cramp in my chest, and I didn’t like it.
I softened my tone and put my hand gently on her shoulder, trying to ignore the electricity I felt.
“You’re doing me a massive favor. It’s overwhelming, I get it.
Tomorrow I have some time in the morning and I can take you out, we can shop for the upcoming events, and if you want, we can see whatever you’d like before I have to be at work again.
There’s food in the fridge and the guestroom is all yours. ”
I felt her eyes on me while I waited for the elevator to arrive again. She wasn’t a stranger exactly, but it would certainly take some time to get used to having her in my private space. People rarely ever came here; I didn’t let them. It was my private sanctuary.
So why did I like the way she looked in my penthouse? Why was I looking forward to having someone to come home to, assuming she didn’t wreck the place? Why did my heart start pounding when I touched her shoulder?
The elevator popped open, shaking me from my thoughts. I stepped in and turned around just in time to see her watching me as the doors closed. I let out a breath I didn’t know I’d been holding.
My suit was feeling tighter in the pants. Even after all these years, Clara was like a drug. She had an instant effect on me and I was powerless to control myself—and I was always in control. It was the secret to my success.
When I walked into the network offices of SportsMax, the place was jumping. Things were always busy around here. Live broadcasts made everything intense and things could change at any second. That was why dependability was so important.
On my way to the production meeting, one of the board members spotted me. Marshall Lipton had a lot of sway with the other executives and he loved me, except he also thought I wasn’t steady enough to take control behind the scenes.
“Luke,” he called out. “Welcome back. I heard you were out for a few days.”
I nodded and shook the man’s hand. “I don’t like taking time off, but sometimes you have to.”
He laughed and clapped me on the shoulder. “No need to apologize, son. I hope you were on a yacht with a supermodel, living it up for the rest of us.”
“Believe it or not, I actually went home to Texas to visit my family,” I said.
“I don’t believe it,” Marshall replied, shaking his head.
It occurred to me that this was the perfect opportunity to get the rumor mill going. I had to break the news somehow, but I wasn’t going to announce it to the whole office. Starting small was the way to go.
“The truth is, sir, I’ve got a girlfriend now,” I said. “And I doubt she’d like me yachting off the Costa Del Sol.”
Marshall’s eyes widened and he grinned. “I never thought I’d see the day. Someone finally snagged Luke Whitaker, the eternal bachelor?”
“I haven’t put a ring on her finger or anything, but yeah, she’s different. She’s special.”
Insanely enough, the words didn’t taste like a lie on my tongue. Clara really was a special woman. We could never have any kind of romantic entanglement, but if I, the eternal bachelor Luke Whitaker, ever settled down, I knew it would be with someone like Clara.