Part 7 (1/2)
She made a noise like she disbelieved him, and he playfully glared back at her.
”Unless you want me to stay in the bed with you,” said Harrison, putting his hands on his hips. ”Which it seems like you do, quite frankly, since you're the one who brought it up. If you want me to, I can definitely make arrangements for that. I'm a bit of a sleep-talker, though.”
Clarice made a shocked noise and let out a harsh laugh. ”Oh, you wis.h.!.+ I'm not about this random, casual s.e.x place, remember? That's the whole reason you hired me to pull off this crazy idea?”
”But we're engaged, so it wouldn't technically be casual s.e.x with a stranger...” He took a few sly steps forward.
”Harrison.” Even as she rebuffed him, Clarice could feel heat between her legs begging her to take his offer. She tried to fight it down before he could see it on her face.
”Right, right,” he acquiesced with a laugh and checked the enormous gold watch on his wrist. ”I have a few more things I need to attend to before they arrive. I also have something I need you to do.”
”Oh yeah? What's that?”
From his jacket pocket he pulled out a small unmarked envelope and handed it to her. ”Here are the details of your mission, Agent Bond.”
”If one of us is Bond, I'm pretty sure it's you.” Clarice giggled and took it from him. ”Is this your life story?”
”More or less. The highlights. Things you'll need to know to pull this off.”
”I didn't make you a dossier on me.”
”Maybe you could?” he said. ”It would certainly help. And the other thing I need you to do is get down to the boutiques and get some shopping done.”
”Uh, what?” she said. ”Are you serious?”
”Quite,” he said. ”I need you to look the part, darling. It's not an insult to your current wardrobe, of course. You are a vision. But my mother would take me over her knee again if she thought I wasn't drowning my future wife in the finest jewelry and clothing available. Go fill out your wardrobe for the week and tell the staff to charge it to my account.”
”That sounds like a legit story,” said Clarice. She pretended to be talking to a shop-girl. ”Oh, yes, that's what I said, charge all of this to the owner of the resort, he totally said I could do it!”
”I like the way you think ahead. It's one of the things I'm good at, too.”
”Are you sure? Because I don't think we'd be here making this deal if you were.”
Harrison playfully glared at her. ”You've got quite a tongue on you, haven't you?”
Clarice gave him a saucy grin. ”What can I say? You seem to bring it out in me.”
His gaze turned to something more admiring and a little bit l.u.s.tful. ”I've already phoned ahead and told the shops to expect you, so there shouldn't be a problem.”
”If I do, can I throw a fit like a pampered housewife and demand that they get my future husband, the owner, down here this instant?”
Harrison laughed. ”By all means, the more obnoxious the better. You'll fit right into my mother's social circle.”
”Yeesh, maybe I don't want to do this.”
Harrison wrapped his arms around her in a sweet, innocent embrace. ”There's no turning back now, darling. You made a solemn pretend commitment to me to be my faux wife.” He took her hands in his with a straight face as Clarice tried her best not to bust up laughing at him. ”You can't get imaginary cold feet, not now.”
”As long as it's not pretend money in my bank account when all this is said and done,” she winked.
”If it is, then my father has much bigger problems than my marital status.” Harrison gave her hands a squeeze before he dropped them. ”I've got some business to attend to before he arrives, but do give me a ring if anything comes up. I'll contact you as soon as his plane touches down and let you know when we'll be meeting.”
”Knock, knock,” Trudy's voice rang through the main suite, followed by an impressive whistle. ”Jesus Christ, please tell me this is the wrong room.”
”In here, Trude!” called Clarice. Seconds later, her best friend popped into the bedroom with wide eyes and an approving smile.
”This place is incredible,” she said, whirling around. Her pretty pink sundress twirled around her tan legs as she did. ”I am jealous.”
”Only the best for my pretend girl,” said Harrison. Then he turned to Trudy with a frown. ”Wait, you are aware of what's happening, aren't you? Or is that what you call a spoiler alert?”
”We got the Cliffs Notes last night after your surprise proposal, although I plan on extracting as many more missing details as possible, and I'm prepared to use any means necessary,” said Trudy with a playful glare leveled at Clarice. ”But I do approve of you spoiling my girl here, for any reason. She needs it more than anyone I know.”
Clarice huffed. ”Gee, thanks, you make me sound delightful.”
”Personally, I think all women need more spoiling,” said Harrison, placing a gentle hand on each of the women's arms. ”In fact, Trudy, you help yourself to whatever you'd like at the boutiques as well. Put it on my tab. I'd be happy to spoil Clarice's friends.”
Trudy's mouth dropped open. ”You are truly going to regret that.”
Harrison laughed. ”I doubt that very much. Now, I must be off.” He turned to leave the room, but then stopped and came back to Clarice. He leaned down to give a small peck on her cheek.
She turned red and felt her chest tighten up, but when she looked up at him with questioning eyes, he just said, ”Practice makes perfect, right?”
Clarice nodded, fighting a grin. ”Right, of course. We'll see you in a couple hours.”
Harrison winked and gave Trudy a nod before disappearing out of the suite.
”That man is dangerously charming.” Trudy turned back to Clarice with a loving yet judgmental look, shaking her head slowly. ”Girl, I still don't get how all of this happened.”
”I already told you guys last night, there really isn't much else to it,” protested Clarice, trying very hard to make it sound like less of a big deal than it was. She was still feeling less than stable about this whole adventure, which she tried to convince herself was half the point. She was worried her sensible, protective best friend would still try and talk her out of it just when she was getting the fires back in her engines.
”I still find this whole thing so hard to believe since it came out of nowhere,” said Trudy, throwing her big designer purse onto the plush bed and then following it with her body. ”This guy seriously just... asked you to be his pretend wife? What the h.e.l.l kind of twilight zone did we land in?”
”You're the one that dragged us here, I take zero responsibility for any zones or twilights,” said Clarice with her hands on her hips. ”Like I said, I met him yesterday when he helped me back to the elevators, and the next time I spoke to him was when he pulled me away from dinner last night. He asked me to pretend marry him last night, and I agreed to do it this morning.”
”How... romantic?” said Trudy with a laugh.
Clarice gave a sarcastic, dramatic sigh. ”Yeah, I know, isn't he great?”
”This is all really G.o.dd.a.m.n weird, hun,” said Trudy with a serious voice. ”It's not exactly your style lately to just run off with strange British men and their needlessly complicated life schemes. Harrison seems like exactly the type of f.u.c.kboy we've always hated and avoided - or is that just me?”
A bit of shame bubbled up in Clarice's gut, and she admitted, ”Yes, I know and I see what he is, that's why this is all just a business arrangement. I'm not actually dating or marrying him after all. I'm just getting paid to pretend I'm a princess for a week. Clearly he's a guy who loves his job, and his job is being king of a s.e.x resort, so... I'm not letting myself get hurt, Trude. Promise. Anyway, you all told me to come here and have an adventure. Like I said last night, I'm not into the random hookups, so this is my adventure.”
Instead of the berating she was expecting, Trudy tilted her head and gave Clarice a sly smile. ”Some serious pride welling up in me to hear you talk like that, girl. I'm finally seeing shades of the old Clarice who used to hop the fence at Coach.e.l.la and flirt her way out of trouble with the security guards. I like it when you're all fired up. You always end up landing miles ahead from where you were before in life.”
She let out a small laugh at that memory. ”That's exactly what makes me want to do this, Trude,” admitted Clarice. She sat on the bed next to her best friend with a huff. ”I know it seems ridiculous to be a part of this scheme, trust me. When he first offered it to me, I wasn't jumping on board right away. He sort of talked me into it.”