Faking Ms. Right (Dirty Martini Running Club #1) - Claire Kingsley Page 0,18

getting an award tonight and I didn’t want to ruin that for him.”

“I’m sorry, but are you sure he’s your real dad?”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing. I just didn’t expect to discover you have a father who’s too sensitive to find out he’s dating his son’s ex-hussy-gold-digger.”

Shepherd opened his mouth, but closed it again. Then he did something I’d never seen before. He smiled. Shepherd Calloway actually smiled.

Oh. My. God. Did that look good on him. He had dimples in those cheeks. For a second, I felt like I’d do just about anything to get him to smile again.

“Ex-hussy-gold-digger?”

I glanced down at my drink. Had that champagne earlier gotten to me faster than I’d thought? “Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”

“No, what do you mean?”

“I’m sorry, I just never liked her. It was so obvious she didn’t care about you, she just wanted your money.”

“And that bothered you?”

“Well, yeah. I know we’re not… I mean, we aren’t really… we’re not friends or anything. But that doesn’t mean I don’t care. I didn’t like the way she treated you. You deserve better.”

He eyed me for a moment, then looked away and took another sip. I was talking too freely, and I knew I was going to regret it later. Maybe it was the dress, or sharing a drink with him in a situation that made us look like peers rather than boss and employee. But I needed to be very careful, or the floodgates would open, and I’d find myself saying a lot of things I shouldn’t.

Like how fucking delicious he looked in that tux.

I held up my drink, glaring at it like it had betrayed me. Seriously, was I drunk? I could not think of him as delicious, tux or no.

Get it together, Everly.

While we finished our drinks, the emcee took the mic and gave a lengthy introduction. He talked about Richard, and the impact of his generosity on the community. Richard walked up on stage, beaming. I could tell his smile came naturally; unlike his son, he seemed to do it often. He gave a heartfelt thank you speech and received a standing ovation.

“Wow,” I said, when the noise had died down and people had gone back to mingling. “Your dad seems like a good man. Why have I never met him before?”

“We’re both busy,” Shepherd said.

We left our empty glasses on the table and Shepherd started making the rounds, talking to people. He kept up the pretense that I was his date, guiding me around the room with his hand on my lower back, or lightly gripping my elbow. He even ran his hand up and down my arm a few times, a soft touch that made my heart race and my skin tingle. I looked around, expecting to see Svetlana watching us, but I didn’t see her, or Shepherd’s father, again.

I went along with it, staying by his side. Leaning into him when he seemed to expect it. Smiling when he introduced me to people. He offered to get me another drink, but I declined. After the champagne and the Manhattan, I was in danger of bypassing a little tipsy and heading straight for telling inappropriate stories and asking strangers for hugs.

Not that I’d ever done that before.

Okay, yes I had.

Around the time my feet started to hurt, Shepherd said he’d take me home. He’d driven himself. Although he had a driver available all the time, he usually drove his own car. We went out to the parking garage, his hand still on my back. He held the passenger’s side door of his Mercedes for me, and I got in.

Another first. I’d never been in his car. Scheduled it for detailing, yes. Been a passenger, no.

He was quiet on the drive to my building. I tried not to dwell on what it had felt like to have his hand on my back. Or sliding up and down my bare arm. Or twining his fingers together with mine. It had been awfully nice.

But I needed to get that out of my head right now. I was just a bit too relaxed from the drinks. I’d gone a little outside my normal assistant role, but that was all.

There was a spot on the street a block from my apartment building, so he parked. “I’ll walk you to your door.”

It was the first time he’d spoken since we’d left the hotel. I was about to say he didn’t need to do that, but he got out and came around