Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 100277 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 501(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100277 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 501(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
Rafe grinned at the story, and I swear I was getting addicted to his smiles now that he was regularly bestowing them upon me. “Sounds like he had an elf fetish.”
“An elf fetish!” I exclaimed, without thinking about where I was. “Of course! Still, a fetish at eleven . . .”
That made his shoulders shake with laughter.
I smacked his arm playfully. “Hey, you weren’t the object of the fetish.”
“Are you talking about a foot fetish?” the woman next to me at the table—Andrea, I think her name was—leaned in to ask, her eyes wide.
Laughter trembled on my lips, but I contained it. “Um—”
“Because I just had to switch podiatrists because of that. I swear my feet aroused the woman.”
Rafe coughed into his fist, and I knew he was covering laughter.
I poked his thigh under the table. “How awful.”
He grabbed the offending finger and forced open my hand to tickle my palm. Bastard! I squirmed in my seat, trying to keep a straight face as this poor woman told me about her struggle to find a new podiatrist.
Her husband, thankfully, pulled her attention away and I turned on Rafe, tugging my hand from his. “You’re the devil.”
Laughter gleamed in his eyes, and I couldn’t help but grin at him. I’d never expected to see this playful boyish side of him.
“You know, I had a patient yesterday who I’m pretty sure had a hand fetish. Kept licking the hell out of mine,” he informed me with such deadpan seriousness that I cackle-laughed.
Not elegant. Not classy.
And he grinned at me like he didn’t give a damn it was neither.
“You two look like you’re having fun.”
We turned to find Pippa standing behind us.
“You look beautiful, Pippa,” I commented sincerely.
Her pale blue gown was stunning against her ivory skin and dark hair.
“Thank you. You look very pretty as well.” Her attention turned to Rafe. “There is someone I’d like you to meet. Do you have a second?”
Rafe’s entire demeanor changed. “Who is it?”
His sister-in-law’s eyes narrowed. “A friend.”
“Why do you want us to meet?”
She sighed. “Rafe, do you have to be so rude?”
“It’s not rude. What you’re doing is rude.” He stared stonily at her now and as she flushed, I suddenly realized what was going on.
She was trying to steal him away to introduce him to a woman she wanted to set him up with.
While he was supposed to be here. On a date with me.
Wow.
Even I thought that was rude.
Not sure why I felt so agitated by that, I decided to take a break from their family stare-down. “If you’ll both excuse me, I need to use the restroom.”
“Oh, of course.” Pippa stepped aside.
Rafe caught my hand as I stood, and I forced myself to meet his gaze. “Do you know where it is?”
I gave him a smile that didn’t quite reach my eyes and tugged on my hand. “I think I’ll find it easily enough.”
The champagne they’d been serving at the table had gone to my head, and I felt a little rush as I tried to stroll through the fairly busy dance floor without going over on my stilettos.
There was a line outside the ladies’ restroom, so it took a while, and the whole time I wondered if Pippa had talked Rafe into meeting this woman she thought was better for him than me. I knew it was ridiculous to be annoyed or hurt considering we were fake-dating, but Pippa didn’t know that. What she was doing was rude.
Maybe she was doing it because I wasn’t like the women who normally circulated around Rafe. Or maybe she was doing it because of my comments about commitment at the dinner table.
Either way, she was mistreating me, but she either thought I was too stupid to realize it or just didn’t care if I did.
While I’d never thought about being in a serious relationship before and was actually terrified by the thought, I considered what my real reaction would be to that if what Rafe and I had wasn’t a deception.
And so I walked out of that restroom on a mission.
I scanned the room as I entered it and found Rafe still at our table and Pippa across the room, talking to some guy. I marched over to her and she caught sight of me in her peripheral. Perhaps seeing the determined look on my face, she muttered something to the man and stepped away to meet me.
“Star, is everything all right?”
“May we have a word? In private?”
Her brows drew together. “Now isn’t the best time—”
“It’ll just take a second.” I walked away, hoping she’d follow.
Thankfully, when I stopped outside the ballroom entrance, where we had more privacy, I found that Pippa had followed me.
“Is everything—”
“I know what you’re doing.” I cut her off again, giving her a smile to soften my tone and coming words. “Trying to set Rafe up with other women. He told me. And I know that’s what you were trying to do right now.”