She took my hand. “You sound sincere, but I’m not the best choice for you.”
“I think you’re perfect.”
“You want to fool your family. And I’m not that good of an actress.”
“I was raised by great parents, and they just want me to be happy.” If not for Maman and Pedar, I would have become a complete disaster with no direction at all.
“I don’t know about that.” She sat back, sipping her water. “I assumed you’d tell me how awful it was to be raised rich.”
I placed my hands on the table. I was raised to appreciate every blessing and to always continue saying thank you to everything, even when nothing seemed to work out at all. I smiled, just thinking about my parents. “Not at all. My parents wanted us to be whoever we wanted to be. There was an expectation of success of entrepreneurial ideas with the fallback always being working with my father. Warren loves being there, but a few years back, when I told them I wanted to be a pilot, they paid for the education without question.”
She pressed her lips together. I’d thought she would disapprove, but then she said, “That is a privilege that most of us don’t get.”
Interesting. It was true I had access to everything material, but Maman wanted us all settled, and that meant marriage. “Now the pressure is to just be happy, but you’d like them if you met them.”
“You didn’t understand me.” She shook her head. “I’m not good at meeting parents.”
My eyes widened. She was enchanting, but I kept that to myself. “As my girlfriend, they’d want to meet you, and charming them will be easy because you’re sweet.”
She hugged her waist. “I’m not that, though.”
Staff came in and took our plates. She stared at my butler, Mr. Michael Fuller, like she’d never seen one before. A minute later, Michael returned. He ignored her at the moment and left the desserts.
Hope stared at me, and I wasn’t sure why. I tugged my seat closer. “Look, you said you lived check to check.”
Her eyes widened. “What?”
“How much did you make last year?”
“Like how much did I make for my taxes? About fifty-five thousand.”
This was a way to help her. I smiled. “Okay, for my temporary girlfriend of six months, I can pay you one hundred thousand dollars, and you can keep anything I buy for you.”
She covered her lips, and her eyes were huge. For a second, she was silent, but then she rocked. “You make this job offer sound good, but I can take care of myself.”
That wasn’t true. She had nothing, really. I had everything. This was a win-win. I sat back. “And I’ll pay off your student loans you mentioned last night.”
She jumped to her feet and shook her hands. “That’s way too suspicious.”
I stood. “Why? We both know you like me, and I like you.”
She wrung her hands. “So the offer above includes sex.”
I wished she trusted me more. I hated scaring her. So I shook my head. “No, if you offered, it would be of your own free will, and I’d definitely accept.”
Her entire body shook. “Thanks for the food. I’m going home the second I find my shoes.”
I pointed her to the entranceway. “They are near the door, and you need a night to think about it. Can I meet you for coffee to discuss my need for you to accept the offer?”
She bounced up and down then nodded. “Okay, I’ll meet you for coffee.”
Chapter Four
Hope
* * *
Charlie’s kisses had burned through me. Paris was the best time of my life. He’d pursued me, and I’d given in because I'd assumed that intense passion would dissipate once I was safely home. And I probably had told him to take me home when I was drunk because I’d clearly lost the filter that kept me sane.
