her head. “I’d like to get in here to vacuum and dust, if that’s okay with you.”
Colin found himself staring rudely, but he couldn’t seem to help it. It was as if he was seeing her for the first time, though it’d only been an hour since he’d asked for her help. She was lovely, startlingly so. How could he not have noticed before?
She’d also saved his life.
What kind of a person was so willing to help?
He didn’t know another soul who would have done so. Uneasy with that thought, and irritated that he’d needed her help in the first place, Colin stood and walked around his desk to meet her. “You’re not interrupting. But there are some things we should go over, if you don’t mind.” Some things? It was laughable.
How to ask her if she was willing to put the entire charade on yet another level and attempt to fool the nosiest, most meddling, well-meaning mother that had ever lived?
Lani’s eyes widened slightly as he moved toward her and Colin slowed, realizing she probably considered him a certifiable nutcase.
He would just insist he pay her extra, over and above her cleaning fees, which had always been surprisingly low anyway. He’d yet to encounter a woman not susceptible to his money.
“You…didn’t put on another shirt,” she announced breathlessly.
He’d forgotten. He still smelled like pine, but then again, so did she. Her gaze was plastered to his chest. Her cheeks reddened, but she didn’t stop in her curious perusal of his entire body.
He felt curious, too, though it wasn’t as easy for him since she was fully dressed. A strand of her long hair hung in her still-flushed face. The baggy, shapeless, drab-colored clothes she always wore completely hid her figure, but judging from the lack of meat on her arms, she was a bit scrawny.
Definitely not his type, he thought wryly. Thank God. To have been attracted to her would have made this whole situation all the more impossible to deal with. “I have a bit of a problem,” he said.
She blinked, stopped staring at his chest, and went still. “You don’t need me anymore?”
“Ah…not exactly.”
She shot him a smile then, and it was a stunner. At the impact, he lost every thought in his head and then had to reassess the whole not-being-attracted-to-her thing.
“We need to set a date?” she asked.
“Worse.” He braced himself. “We need to live together.”
“Before the wedding?”
“It won’t get that far,” he said fervently.
“No…wedding?”
Uh-oh. She sounded shocked…disappointed. “This is just for pretend,” he said slowly. “Remember?”
She laughed and quickly turned away, hiding her face. “Of course. It’s just that I thought…never mind. Excuse me…I’ve got…something to do.”
“Lani?”
“I’m sorry. I’ve got to go.” She ran out of the office.
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