“Bleak, dude.” Rami nodded, slurping the last of his milkshake.

I appreciated that he didn’t offer platitudes or tell me I should have known this is what my life would be like. To be fair, the rest of my life was awesome.

“So the solution is to date a dominatrix who dislikes you because then at least she won’t pretend to like you?” He looked thoroughly skeptical. “How do you even know we can trust her? NDA aside, she’s got a lot of eyes on her right now. She wouldn't be the first person to try to cash in on that.”

I paused to think about what he was saying. My instincts said I could trust her, but instincts could be wrong.

So I considered the facts instead. “She could already be cashing in on the VP stuff, giving interviews, fanning the controversy. But she’s doing the opposite. We don't know who most of her client list is, but the ones we do know trust her implicitly. She and I just have to be convincing as a couple.”

I pictured what it would be like in the coming weeks to have her on my arm, gazing up at me adoringly…and found I liked the idea of her murderous glare better. I wanted to find a way to shatter that icy facade and make her laugh, but I didn’t want fake affection. As long as I knew where I really stood with her, it would be fine.

Rami stood up from the booth. “So there’s no convincing you? We're moving forward?”

“Yeah, let’s loop Chad and Asha in first thing, but keep it to the immediate team.” My agent and publicist would need to know what was happening. “I want the negotiation done quickly, so don’t dig your heels in like you always do. The clock is ticking.”

I would normally have stepped back and let him do his job at that point, but I had every intention of participating in the meetings on this one.

And it had nothing to do with how eager I was to see Lady Elena again.

Nothing at all.

3

Elena

“You pretended not to know who Alex Chase was?!” Ophelia cackled like a villainess.

Her signature cackle always made me smile, which was happening a lot as I described my unexpected encounter from the previous evening while we got ready for a double session in the dressing room of The Key Club.

“Well, what was I supposed to do? Ask him for a selfie?”

“No, no… It was a great move. I don’t know what I would have done to even the field—probably told him he was shitty in Tides of War.”

“Wasn’t that one good?”

“Yeah, exactly. But he’s gotta be used to criticism. Playing it like you didn’t know who he was is epic.”

Compliments from Ophelia always made me giddy. She tolerated no bullshit, which included bullshit compliments.

Her mother had come to the US from China when she was pregnant with her, so Ophelia had been born and raised in America. One of my favorite games was to watch her mercilessly destroy the idiots who asked where she was from. She knew they were ignorantly trying to ask “what kind of Asian” she was, but she played dumb until it got so awkward the other person crumbled.