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Was there anybody here who didn’t know Evan’s name?
Evan pointed in my direction. “Your question should be directed to my lovely date.”
Damn him. There was that compliment again. I downed a swallow and summoned my ladylike manners. “Your name?” I asked the waiter.
He settled the bottle in the ice bucket he’d brought and quaked in his well-polished shoes. “Stanley, ma’am.”
“Stanley, this is lovely. Thank you for bringing it so quickly.”
He bowed and backed away, disappearing between tables.
“What did I do to scare him?” I asked.
“You’re with me, and that makes you powerful.”
I scrunched my brow and tried to comprehend that while I gulped down the rest of my bubbly. This could be an upside I hadn’t considered to dating Evan McAllister, fake or not. I held out my empty glass. Evan was nearest the champagne.
He lifted the bottle. “Geez. Slow down. This isn’t a race.”
“This is my first,” I objected. “And if you think I’m putting myself out there to be plastered on Page Six again without a second, you’re demented.”
He poured a glass, not quite as full as I would have liked, but he didn’t argue. “Point taken, and I’m sorry that happened. Just to be clear, last night wasn’t planned. I had no idea they’d be there.”
I appraised him over my glass. “I believe you.” I took a sip.
“Back to giving you gifts,” he said. “That’s what I would do for anybody I care about. And being the sensitive, sophisticated, understanding woman you are, you’d accept said gifts, not insult me by refusing them or any help I could provide. One of the perks of dating someone with my resources is that I can share them with you. So youwillaccept them.”
I’d be an ungrateful bitch if I didn’t agree, so I nodded. The argument could wait. Another photographer was outside the window, closer this time.
Evan’s head didn’t swivel, but his eyes did. “Don’t look,” he said between gritted teeth. It was that commanding tone again.
I sighed. “Might I make a suggestion?”
He lifted his glass. “Suggest away.”
“You know, it seems like you don’t take criticism very well.”
His jaw tightened. “Is that a suggestion?”
“An observation. Perhaps you could—”
He didn’t let me finish. “And you don’t take direction well. The job isn’t that difficult. Just follow directions.”
That right there encapsulated the problem. I’d agreed to be his admittedly fake girlfriend, but he wasn’t treating me like one. I was just a lackey to him. A prop. Even a director had more respect for his actors than he had for me.
I stood, rounded the table, and leaned into his ear. “I’m not an employee you can order around. You’re the worst boyfriend ever, cold as ice. It’s no surprise you can’t keep a woman a whole month.”
“What?”
“I’m outta here.”
CHAPTER13
Evan
My heart raced.She couldn’t leave. That would destroy everything. I jerked to my feet, strode after her, and grabbed her wrist.
She glared with dagger eyes and whispered, “Let go of me, or I’ll start a scene that’ll end up on page one.”
