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“Oh, you know, this little thing called Google.” She slides me a glance. “I’m not an idiot, you know.”
“I guess you had to prepare yourself to be the belle of the ball, huh?” I quip as dinner is being passed out. “How many proposals for your hand in marriage do you think your dad is going to receive tomorrow morning? All these middle-aged businessmen are tripping over themselves to talk to you.”
“Just like you,” she says primly, cutting into her fish.
“I’m not tripping over myself to talk to you,” I hiss, before taking a sip of my wine. My parents must be eavesdropping from across the table because I see Mom giggling behind her hand.
“You aren’t?” Elise asks, sounding genuinely bewildered. “My mistake, then. I thought you were just another middle-aged businessman, given how well you know them. I must have been confused.”
I can’t help but chuckle at her little game and decide to just play along. “You know good and well I’m in my twenties, you little—” I pretend to catch myself, covering my mouth with my hand and looking pointedly at Elise. “I apologize, I forgot there were children in the room.”
She glowers at me but doesn’t break her stride when it comes to the exchange of insults. “Speaking of children, shouldn’t you produce an heir soon? I know when men get older, it’s much harder to get a woman pregnant because he has less—”
I’m about to slap my hand over her mouth myself, but we’re interrupted by a tall, slinky shape approaching the table. The new woman is tall and thin, with auburn hair and a figure-hugging green gown, holding a Cosmopolitan in one hand and a clutch in the other. She also looks vaguely familiar, but I can’t place her in my mind.
“Dan O’Brian?” she asks, standing between me and another male guest. “Is that you?”
Great. It’s never good news when a random woman knows my name. “Yes, that’s me.”
“I thought so! It’s Alice, do you remember? We met at that educators’ fundraiser a few years ago.”
I flip through the rolodex of women in my memory, and I think I can place her, albeit hazily. No matter what, having someone like her hovering over the table where Elise is sitting next to me is bad news.
“Maybe…” I say, sounding unconvinced. “I attend so many of these things it’s hard to recall.”
Alice looks crestfallen but presses on. “Oh, come on now, we even danced when they played that one song—”
I shake my head. “Sorry, Alice. Maybe I had a bit too much to drink that night.” I try to make it sound self-deprecating and dismissive. “Well, it’s nice to see you again anyway. Have a good night.”
Still, Alice apparently isn’t done, and I can sense Elise getting stiffer beside me. I take a quick look at her, and her lips are pursed, eyes narrowed as she looks at Alice. Something has her clearly pissed off.
Rattling off a few utterly forgettable moments from the night I had apparently met her, Alice won’t take the hint to leave, no matter how short and curt my answers become. At this point, Elise is almost vibrating with annoyance.
I refuse to let my night with her be ruined this way, and thankfully the group of musicians saves me by starting up a new song; a recognizable classical rearrangement of a popular song.
“Oh!” I exclaim, interrupting Alice. “Elise, this is your favorite song, isn’t it?”
She opens her mouth to reply, but I don’t have time to waste. I grab her by the arm and haul her out of her seat, telling Alice, “Sorry, my girlfriend loves this song. See you later.”
I whisk Elise onto the dancefloor, pulling her into me, my hands on her waist, and after her shock eases up she rolls her eyes. “You’re ridiculous.”
Her comment catches me off guard, causing me to frown. “Why?”
“Really?Girlfriend?” she drawls.
“It was the only way to get rid of her. It worked, didn’t it?”
Elise huffs. “Who was she?”
Spinning her around the dancefloor, just enough room between us to be polite, I refuse to give in to her interrogation. This is her repaying my favor, after all. “Why are you so damned nosy? I’m not your brother, miss.”
“I just like to know things. Plus, if I’m actually your girlfriend for the evening, I think you owe me an explanation.”
I chuckle at her little reasoning and leaning slightly closer to her ear, I whisper, “Darling, if you were my girlfriend, we wouldn’t be dancing like this.”
She tilts her head to the side just slightly. “How would we be dancing, then?”
Like always, when Elise is involved, all of my baser natures scream in unison to show herexactlywhat I mean, but I have to keep tonight innocent enough, or I might regret it. “I don’t think it’s appropriate.”
