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“Oh,” I mimic. Then, when she snatches the contracts back to her, I hold out a pen and she signs, muttering things to herself. Then she shoves it all at me. “Is that all?”
I slide my gaze over her. “No. Dress up tonight. We’re going out.”
Chapter Eight
Scarlett
Ayear.
That’s so different to four weeks. I mean, I know he wanted to make some changes, but I thought that happened to be rules. He’s a guy who seems happy with rules. A hot, sexy, rule man.
But a year and a new contract and NDA?
This drags me in deep, right down into the tangled mire of it all. And I have a problem. With four weeks, lying about my name…or who I am isn’t going to be much on any grand scale. Hot, sexy rule man threats aside.
But a year…
I drag in a breath as I drag a dress off a hanger and hold it against myself in my bedroom mirror. Rolling my eyes at the sight, I toss it on the bed and grab another.
The thing is, a year is a bunch of four weeks. That’s a whole load of things going wrong, or the potential, and what if he loses everything and then not only destroys me, but Danny?
I pause, my throat closing up and panic cutting into me with little barbed strands.
Okay, I’m totally panicking here, but I had to sign. If I’d walked away, I… My shoulders slump as I drop the dress. If I’d walked away now, then he still might do all that, like he said, and I’d also end up with nothing.
Danny would have nothing. All his hopes and dreams that are already battered would be destroyed.
And I’m smart. I know that. There’s a way to do this. Sarah won’t be back for a while, not according to the breezy text I got. We’re not the closest of friends, but we’re good. So even if she does come back, Hudson doesn’t seem to be in her world of parties and glitterati and the like.
I’ll have time to think it all through and make it to the end.
With that thought firmly in my head, I leave my room to raid Amber’s closet.
After all, I’ve got a not date I know nothing about to prepare for.
I get there with minutes to spare.
Hudson texted me to meet him. And I’m so pleased I chose upscale clothes that are probably from my roomie’s funerals and future mother-in-law’s lunch date collection. As in something that’s going to fit in anywhere and not show too much skin.
That was the plan, anyway, and considering my attributes aren’t as out there as hers, I think I pull off the deep chocolate dress and low heels which are mine. As is the Kate Spade knock off I got that I swear looks just like the OG.
I’m programming his name into my phone as Martini Legend when a shiver passes through me and all my senses go into overdrive as I stand outside the SoHo building.
I don’t need to look up to know Hudson is there. He moves in close. I’m still staring at the screen of my phone, my fingers biting into the protective cover, trying to gain some semblance of calm.
He’s so there, close enough he brushes against me, and I stare up into those dark eyes and forget to breathe, all over again.
“Should I even ask?”
His voice slides through me, and I’m lost in those eyes, in him, until someone bumps into me with a hurried apology and drags me out of whatever world I went and put myself in.
“What do you mean?”
“The name?” His eyebrow rises as he nods at the screen of my phone.
I laugh, a weird relief washing over me. “You said keep it secret.”
“I’m thinking there’s a story, and I’m both curious and not sure I want to know.” Then his mouth is at my ear and little electric pulses dart along my spine at the whisper of his breath there. “You look good, Scarlett.”
