An Indecent Proposal(14)

“No, you’re not a coward.” He shook his head slowly, his eyes piercing through my heart and soul—so deep my breath caught in my throat. Even though I knew he was trying to be polite, somehow it mattered that Chase didn’t think of me that way.

I leaned back, eyeing him more carefully.

Perhaps Jude was right, and Chase was a nice guy.

“I think it’s unselfish,” he continued. “Maybe you’re holding on to the hope that one day you’ll find the one person who’ll change your outlook. And when you do, maybe someday you’ll give your parents what they want.”

I highly doubted that, so I inclined my head and forced my lips into a thin smile. He couldn’t have the entire situation more wrong. Love and marriage had never been one of my priorities. They had never featured in my cards because love is nothing but a fool’s gold: It glitters and shines until you look underneath and see that all is but an empty shell of appearance. Something we all want but can never fully grasp, and when we do, it always comes with heartbreak.

I stopped wanting love a long time ago.

“Maybe,” I lied, ready to change the subject. “Your Internet profile says that you’re an actor. You certainly look the part.” My face flushed a little at the obvious compliment.

Chase’s smile widened. He’d opened his mouth to say something when I held up my hand, stopping him before he got the wrong idea and thought I was hitting on him, which I wasn’t…not intentionally, anyway.

“What I mean is, you don’t look like you need to do this kind of job to get by.” Damn, that came out wrong, too. I cringed. “What I mean is—”

“I get it,” Chase said, laughing. “Acting doesn’t pay a lot. In our economy, you have to get creative. I do a bit of theater acting, host workshops for aspiring models and TV personalities, do club appearances, voice-overs. You know, bits and pieces here and there.” He paused for a moment and took a gulp of his drink, obviously in his element. “I draw the line at nude work. In fact, at anything involving nudity.”

My fantasy took off in that instant, and I found myself imagining him half-naked. His body looked buff enough to earn him a lot of money. Actors certainly didn’t wear a whole lot of clothes—particularly not those who looked like Chase—so why not go just a little bit further than that? Everyone did it. Not that I wanted him to.

The mere thought of him strolling in front of a camera with his shirt off ignited a pang of fire inside me.

“I get it,” I lied. Not. With a body as hot as his, shoulders that broad and arms that strong, it should have been mandatory for him to show off his sexiness.

Chase took a gulp of his beer and put the bottle back down, the clear liquid leaving a wet trail on his full lips. Unintentionally, I brushed a trembling hand through my curls. I wasn’t used to sitting so close to someone, especially someone so manly and confident. I had never met anyone who had made my body react the way it did around Chase.

I averted my gaze quickly before he noticed and leaned back, taking a sharp breath and letting it out slowly.

Okay, I didn’t really know him after barely spending an hour in his presence, but so far he had been friendly and easygoing, nonjudgmental and way more fun than I imagined. Chase had proved that he wasn’t what I expected at all, and, to my surprise, I found that I actually enjoyed his company. Only a few days left until I had to face the Waterfront Shore dilemma. Only a few days to come up with a better plan.

If only I knew how to get out of my problems. I had been searching for months, and there was no better plan. None that might actually work.

Except hiring an actor.

“How good is your acting?” I found myself asking, my hands playing with the neck of the beer bottle.

“I would say ‘good.’ If we’re to work together, then I’ll obviously need to get into character,” Chase said before I could follow the strange direction of my thoughts. “Find out everything about you. Who you really are. What you do. What makes you tick. You know the drill.”

I turned to regard Chase’s smooth face and the smile lighting up his eyes.

He wanted to know me to get into character. A dangerous undertaking, but not impossible. A challenge on my part to give him what he wanted while not giving him anything at all. It might just be simple enough.

Not a good idea. Back off, Hanson.

Alarm bells went off somewhere in my mind as I found myself nodding slowly.

“We’ll have to agree on a fee,” I said in spite of my better judgment.

“I’m affordable. You can even pay in installments.” His lips twitched at the corners as he reached over the table and held out his hand, urging me to shake it. “Do we have a deal?”