Page 9 of Love On and Off Set

Since he didn’t seem to be judging, I continued. “Yeah, and this was my third callback. But there were a couple of other guys as well and, I dunno, I think they did better than me.”

“But you don’t know.”

Persistent bastard.

“No, I don’t know.”

He pressed his napkin with a strong and elegant hand. A big hand.

Totally inappropriate for you to notice.

Sure…but that didn’t stop me.

He cleared his throat.

Uh-oh.

“I might have a job for you. If you’re interested.”

Completely intrigued, I leaned forward. “What is it?”

“Well…I need a date for Valentine’s Day. I have a charity dinner and, according to the man organizing, I always disrupt things by not having a companion.”

I blinked. “Okay, so you want me to accompany you? Like, as your boyfriend.”

He blinked in return. “Well, yes. You wouldn’t need to fawn or anything…just express interest in the same things as me. You’re a little young, but I think if we put you in a tuxedo, you can pull off a bit older.”

“You want me to lie about my age?”

“You’re twenty-six?”

I nodded.

“Yes, thirty-three would be much more appropriate. Still a significant gap, but it wouldn’t appear I’m robbing the cradle. I’ll compensate you, of course—”

“I don’t want money.”

“You need money.”

Nice of him to crassly—and accurately—point that out.

“I’ll also provide you with a tuxedo. I assume you don’t have one?”

I shook my head. I didn’t even have a nice suit. The one I used for high school graduation was several sizes too small, and I hadn’t needed anything when I graduated from university. I had an acting gig that day and hadn’t gone to the ceremony.

“Brilliant. I’ll put you in touch with my assistant, Mona. She can hook you up.”

“Uh…okay…what day?”

“Valentine’s Day. Charity dinner for the Children’s Hospital or something.”

“Or something?”

He waved me off. “My company is one of the major sponsors so, naturally, we have a table. I’ll provide you with a brochure about the charity, some information about my company, as well as the list of all the people who’ll be at the table. Oh, Lucille and Gordon Forbes are joining us.”

I shrugged. I had no idea who these people were.

“She’s a reporter for the Vancouver paper. An investigative journalist. He’s…a dentist.”