Her eyebrows shot up.“And if I’m not.”
He’d steal her from the faceless man.“Are you seeing someone?”
Her eyes narrowed.“No, but that doesn’t mean I’ll not meet someone next week or… How long are you going to need me?”
“A year.”
She blinked.“Seriously?You need a bodyguard for a year?”
“No, Jillian.”Lex decided he was done being evasive.“I need a wife.”
CHAPTER 5
Jillian prided herself on never letting anything or anyone shock her, but Lex had just sucked the breath out of her lungs and driven thoughts from her mind.Then all sorts of possible explanations flashed through her head like a tsunami.
It was a joke.
She was dreaming.
No, she couldn’t be.
Lex was seated across from her in his custom-tailored dinner jacket, sexy smile on his lips, and those gorgeous gray eyes fixed expectantly on her.How did he expect her to react?Jump and kick her feet in joy?It was the kind of offer that could either make a woman very happy, if he loved her, or question his sanity.Like she was doing now.
She could just see the headlines:
Crazy Billionaire Buys a Wife for Millions of Dollars.
No, Lex Fitzgerald was too powerful and too industrious to be insane.Eccentric?Maybe.Playing mind games?Definitely.The man ordered caviar like most people ordered burgers and fries.It didn’t matter that she hated the taste of caviar.Men like him didn’t marry women like her.
“Your wife?”Jillian managed to say when she could speak calmly without screeching.
“A fake, temporary wife,” he corrected and leaned forward, bringing closer that potent sensual aura he oozed.Her reaction to it was the same—warmth unfurled deep in her belly and her heart did that stupid murmur as though trying to find its rhythm.
“Allow me to explain,” he added, totally oblivious to the effect he had on her.
“Oh, please do, because from our earlier discussion, you said you wanted a bodyguard.Abodyguard,Lex.Someone to shield you from unwanted attention from other women.”It had sounded ridiculous over the phone, and it sounded worse now.“At no time during that discussion did you mention the wordwife, temporary or… otherwise.”Her voice trailed off when he picked up her hand.Funny how his touch could be so stimulating at times and other times so calming.Like now.
He nodded.“Shielding a husband is essentially what a wife does.Nothing stops other women more than a beautiful woman with your ring and rights to your time and body.”
He just had to go there, didn’t he?A wife would have a right to touch him, kiss him, and ride that gorgeous body of his whenever and wherever.She didn’t want to be thinking about such things now, not when he wasn’t asking for a real wife.
“Bodyguards and wives are two very different, uh, things.”His thumb stroked the sensitive skin between her fingers, completely distracting.He had large hands, long fingers, and neatly trimmed nails.She imagined those hands on her body, teasing her.Pleasing her.Heat shot between her legs.Jillian yanked her hand from his and placed it on her lap.
If her action bothered Lex, he didn’t show it.His voice was gentle when he spoke.“I personally believe that husbands and wives protect each other.I didn’t mean to mislead you when we spoke earlier, Jillian.”He peered at her.“I needed to know what kind of person you are.Call our phone conversation an audition if you like.I had to know how you’d react in certain situations.If you had what it takes to be my wife.”
“Toactas your wife,” she corrected him.Audition made sense, but she still didn’t like being blindsided.“I’m not an actress, Lex.I’m a stuntwoman.My audition was me beating you during that ride on Ortega Highway.”
He chuckled.“You didn’t beat me.I let you ride ahead and had every intention of finding out who you are and how to reach you.”
Jillian studied him.“Why?”
“I was looking for an actress for hire.”
She hadn’t expected that.“You went to that field to find a temporary wife?”
“Narrow down the list was more like it.Nothing like watching someone in action and unaware to know exactly what kind of person they are.”
Jillian gave an unladylike snort.Around the set, everyone acted fake.“Let me see if I’ve got this right.You had alistof actresses you planned to interview for this part you’re offering me?”
