The Billionaire's Marriage Contract(4)

Crossing the room, she felt excitement rising up inside her stomach, a nervousness that tied itself in knots. She was a consultant to movie stars, to moguls and kings, and yet she felt nervous even being in the same room as Ethan. Amy shook her head as she approached him. Buck up, she thought. Just find out what he wants and then head out. He was probably just trying to get a rise out of her. How sensitive could this proposal be? When she reached his side, she cleared her throat.

Amy was used to men like Ethan. They always had to win, and getting her to agree to meet him for a drink was just another form of winning. Whatever proposal he’d have would be some other game for him to win. She had wanted to be the one in the seat as he arrived, but he had denied her that, too. As annoyed as she was with him for that, she couldn’t deny the waves of nervousness that rushed through her body as he stood up to face her. He reached over and pulled out the chair for her. Amy laughed. “Really?” she asked. “I can get my own seat, Ethan.”

“I know,” he replied. “Doesn’t mean I shouldn’t make the effort.”

“This is a meeting, not a date.” Not that I can remember what it’s like to be on a date, Amy thought.

“Well, agree to disagree,” Ethan replied with a smile. He looked her over again as he waited for her response.

“No,” Amy replied. She pursed her lips and opened her eyes wide as she tried to express just how little patience she had for Ethan’s games. He was doing it again, getting under her skin. “I don’t date clients. I don’t get personally involved with clients.”

“And why is that again?” Ethan asked. Amy watched his grin grow wider as he waited for her response. She’s going to kill me when she hears what I have to say, he thought.

“I know my clients. You’re all the same. You all want one thing, and I’m not about to let you make me the center of a scandal myself.”

“I promise I won’t try to sleep with you,” Ethan said.

“Ha,” Amy said. “Like you’d even have a chance. I meant you want to win. It’s hard-wired into you.”

“How?” Ethan replied. “How does a drink with a colleague equate to needing to win? And how is it a scandal? It’s hardly tabloid material.”

“When the colleague is female and around your age, and while you’re still tabloid gold, it is.”

“You forgot attractive,” Ethan added.

“What?” Amy replied. Was he actually hitting on her after everything she had just said or was he that self absorbed that he was still talking about himself? “Did you just call yourself attractive?” Amy asked.

“No. You know what I meant,” he replied. Besides, if you weren’t attractive people would just assume you were my secretary or sister or something.”

“You date supermodels.”

“And as far as I know, you don’t date anyone. So like I said, I think we’re safe. What are they going to say? Ethan Cole spotted in public with a nun? I have half a mind to find out if you’re wearing a chastity belt under that dress.”

Amy laughed. “I swear if you make a nun joke.”

“I try not to make a habit of it.”

Amy shook her head and laughed before lowering her voice. She reached out, placed her hand over Ethan’s and asked, “Why are we here?”

“I’m thinking about getting married.”

“Are you really?” Amy asked with a grin. She wondered which South American supermodel had managed to pull the fleece over his eyes. “Let me guess, you want me to do some preemptive damage control.”

Ethan looked down and then met Amy’s glance, he had a sheepish smile on his face, like he was purposely leaving out some important detail. “Yeah, something like that.”

“Tell me you didn’t get her pregnant. It doesn’t do much for your image if you’re off knocking up Ms. Venezuela. What is she, seventeen or something?”#p#分页标题#e#

“No,” Ethan replied, “She’s about my age.”

“You’re using protection, right?”

“We’re not even having sex yet.”

“Really?” Amy replied. “She must be worth the wait.”

“I think so,” Ethan replied, he couldn’t help but smile. He felt like he was in the eye of the storm, watching the calm before all hell broke loose. Of course, hell breaking loose was the whole point of this meeting.

Amy watched his grin grow even wider. “What am I missing here?” she asked. “What is so funny? Do I know her?”

“Better than I do, believe it or not,” Ethan replied. “Though I’m guessing you don’t know her as well as you’d think. She’s in her thirties, a colleague of mine actually, a bit of a departure from the women I’ve been dating. Truth be told, a bit of a departure from pretty much everyone I know.”