To Save His Mate(17)

“I won’t back out,” Ethan promised. “I’m sure Landon can manage with only two men. Besides, it’s you ladies who are the main feature in these shots. We’re just background decoration.”

Lacy snorted. “You’re hardly decoration.”

Ethan watched as she blushed sweetly, “Well, thank you. It’s nice to know I’m liked for more than my pretty face.” He leaned in to bat his eyes at her and laughed as she rubbed her elbow after giving his ribs a sharp jab.

“Yeah, well, apparently, there’s a rock-hard body there, too,” she grumbled.

“All right you two,” Gus chuckled. “I’m heading back now. There’s a mountain of paperwork to get started on. I’ll keep you updated, Lacy.”

She smiled, but Ethan could see it didn’t reach her eyes. “Thank you, Gus. I’ll do the same.” Lacy was obviously feeling the stress piling on her shoulders after this latest attempt, and he wished like hell he knew some way to make it easier for her.

Heading back toward the creek, Ethan asked, “So what kind of cover do you want to use?”

“What do you mean?”

“We’ll need a reason for spending so much time together away from the shoots,” he explained. “Are you still up for ‘dating’ me?”

“Date? You want to pretend to date me?”

“Well, I’d actually prefer to really date you, but I’ll take what I can get. For now.”

“For now?”

“For now.” He could see her considering what he’d said. Oh, there was nothing in her facial expression—she had her features schooled perfectly—but her eyes were another story. Those violet orbs seemed to see right through him, taking his measure, and—thankfully—not finding him lacking.

“We can try that, I suppose,” she relented.

“Don’t worry, I’m totally committed to helping you in any way I can.” Ethan was shameless when it came to this woman, and he’d be pulling out all the stops. By the time their “dating” really got underway, he’d make sure she was perfectly aware of his intentions.

And he intended to have the lovely Lacy in every way imaginable.

* * * *

Lacy was one big jumble of nerves and hormones by the time they reached Stephanie and Adam again. Ethan’s bold statement had taken her by surprise, but it was her own reaction to his words that shocked her the most.

He wanted to date her, which wasn’t a real surprise since most guys tended to eye her as if she was the answer to their lustful prayers. Lacy wasn’t vain by any means, but she wasn’t oblivious to the fact men found her body very attractive. Her looks were actually more of a burden than a blessing, in her opinion, because she was often judged based on them.

Despite all of this, her entire being warmed at his low spoken “for now”. She could have sworn there was a rumble of a growl in those two tiny words, but it could have been her imagination. The truth was she looked forward to their “dating”. She hadn’t been out with a man, in a romantic setting anyway, in years, and Ethan seemed to be a real gentleman.

Her longest relationship had ended up being one of the most painful, and she was in no hurry to experience anything like that again, but she wouldn’t mind spending time with her new modeling partner. In her previous love-blinded state, she’d nearly lost everything, including her freedom. If not for an overheard conversation, she might have taken the fall in his scam, as was his plan.

Instead, she’d contacted the authorities but had remained in place, continuing to feed them information until they had enough to warrant an arrest. It was then that she decided to pursue her degree in law enforcement.

Lacy was startled out of her memories when Ethan’s fingers threaded through her own before giving her hand a gentle squeeze.

He could obviously see her confusion at the gesture and offered, “Practice. If we can convince my brother and Stephanie that we’re a new couple, then everyone else should be a cinch.”

“Oh…okay.” It seemed all he had to do was touch her and her brain turned to goo. And God help her if he kissed her again! Geez, one more of those, and she’d likely combust.

“What’s wrong?” Ethan slowed his pace, glancing her way for an answer.

Oh, if you only knew, she thought. Let’s start with the fact that I haven’t gotten laid in almost a year, then move on to the fact that I’m now pretending to date every woman’s wet dream, then we can finish up with how I’m terrified that my overexcited hormones will have me behaving like some two-dollar whore the next time you kiss me.