False Engagements

Chapter 6

Immediately two men were already at the boot of the taxi, taking out her suitcases. Lila couldn't help but blink owlishly at them before reason kicked in.

"Hey!" She slammed the door behind her in a hurry. "Those are my things, what do you think you're doing?"

"I asked them to help you with your luggage," a familiar voice said behind her, and her head whipped around. Blake was there, a slightly bemused expression on his face. Oh. Right. Of course Mr. Fancy-pants would have hired people to take care of their luggage. That was honestly so unnecessary.

"You could have warned me, so I didn't think people were stealing my stuff," Lila huffed, as she backed away from the men who were now loading her luggage onto a trolley. Well, to be fair, her suitcases were pretty heavy. She was kind of secretly glad she didn't have to lug them by herself while she looked for a trolley to wheel them into the airport with.

Blake simply raised his eyebrows at her, taking the carrier from her.

"I'm here now," he said instead. "You're early for the flight. Let's get you to the lounge." After a momentary pause, he lifted the carrier to eye height, and added solemnly, "hello Rusty."

God, even his idea of what one did early at an airport was to go to a lounge. Lila couldn't stop herself huffing in both amusement and disbelief. She followed nonetheless, curious to find out what it was like. And she had to admit, Blake actually paying attention to Rusty was kind of cute.

It was tucked away in a corner of the airport, a small sign declaring it a 'First Class Lounge'. Lila hesitated.

"You bought a first class seat for me?" she asked. "Isn't it just a two hour flight?"

Blake tilted his head at her. "You seem to place a very low value on your time and help with my problem. First, you only asked for forty thousand, for a year-long job, that I can't find anyone else qualified for. And now, you consider a first class seat too much of an expenditure. Why is that?"

It was Lila's turn to raise her eyebrows. "You can't be serious. Are you really asking or are you just lecturing me for asking questions?"

She could have sworn Blake seemed amused by her retort, but she didn't know him or his poker face well enough to say whether that was true or not.

"I like the privacy of first class with Pearl Pacific better," he said after a considering pause, entirely bypassing her question to her irritation. "And the food's very good. Can I tempt you with their lounge buffet?"

Ugh. What an ass. He was really starting to know her weakness very well. With a huff, Lila walked past him and straight into the lounge.

--

Another advantage of first class, Lila discovered, was that they were allowed to bring Rusty with them into their space, as long as he remained in the carrier. She had been worried over placing him into the cargo hold since he was still so small, and this had totally alleviated her concerns.

As they settled into the seats, she tossed him a scrap of chicken she had saved in a napkin. Blake had raised an eyebrow at her when she squirreled it away, although he had said nothing.

"Do you usually fly first class?" she asked, watching Rusty happily claim the chicken treat.

Blake made a small non-committal hum from where he was seated, opposite her. He seemed to be more focused on what was going on outside the window, than what was currently in front of him.

"It's less convenient, but it's better for the environment," he said. "I only go for a private charter or helicopter if the situation is urgent."

... That definitely hadn't been what she was asking. This guy's lifestyle was way too out her league! Wasn't it clear that she was asking if he'd ever flown economy? She got the feeling he was slightly needling her though, because there was that micro-expression of amusement again. Was he just teasing or was he mocking her? It was hard to tell. So much for trying to jab at him for the extra expense.

Disgruntled, she returned her attention to Rusty, who proceeded to disappoint her by falling asleep. Damnit, she needed a distraction.

Her gaze went back to Blake, and she took the chance to observe him, really look at him while he wasn't paying attention to her.

Of course she'd noticed he was good looking from the first time she met him, but having the luxury to stare revealed details she hadn't noticed prior. His dark hair was cut quite conservatively, she thought, which maybe wasn't a surprise, considering that his clothing was similarly reserved. There wasn't much of a personality to the nondescript grey suit he wore, despite the subtle print on his cream shirt. The accessories were branded, unsurprisingly, discreet monograms wherever one cared to pay attention, but that was it.

It looked like a stylist had dressed him.

Lila wasn't quite sure why she didn't think he'd chosen his clothes, except she felt it just didn't fit him effortlessly. His clothes were a shell on him, not an expression of what he liked. Call it instinct maybe. She tended to trust her instincts when it came to discerning what people were like, and her instincts thought he seemed rather withdrawn from the world at large, in spite of his lifestyle or the unexpectedly piercing look he leveled at others when he was concentrating solely on them.

She was about halfway through admiring the elegant line of his profile when he finally looked away from the window, and settled his attention back on her.

Oops. Caught.

Quickly, she fumbled for a question to cover her indiscreet ogling.

"So what's the plan for today? I'm assuming we're not going to meet your family off the bat?"

That slight wince on his face was interesting. Lila wasn't sure she wanted to find out what that was all about.

"You're correct in your assumption." He toyed with a pen he had, the barrel moving smoothly across his fingers as he seemed to consider something. "I don't think it would be fair to introduce you to the wolves this early. We should have some time to coordinate our cover story. Get to know basic details about each other that a normal couple would know."

Lila shivered slightly. That definitely sounded intimidating. "I can't believe you're calling your family wolves," she said, trying to keep it light. "Doesn't that make you one too?"

Blake's lips quirked slightly upward. "Dependent on context maybe. But I thought you could probably do with some time unwinding, so there are no plans for you today. I don't imagine the last week of packing, paperwork and various other details was easy-going."

"No. It was a bit of a squeeze." It felt difficult to get a read on Blake. He didn't seem to be especially happy or pleased that she was here, just efficient and dare she say it- almost robotic, in the way he planned and carried things out. Even while she was having breakfast in the lounge, he had left her alone unless she had spoken to him, and then on the plane, looked away from her until she had initiated conversation.

Yet so much of his plans had included thinking of her comfort and well-being, always one step ahead of where she had thought things would go.

Maybe she was over-complicating things. Maybe this was just how he was showing his gratitude- taking care of her creature comforts, even if he didn't seem to particularly involve himself with her.

But if they didn't get at least a little friendly, Lila honestly wasn't sure she would be able to play the role of his fiancee convincingly. While she didn't exactly wear her heart on her sleeve for all to see, she wasn't good at hiding her emotions either. She had hitherto rarely felt the need to.

For the first time since she'd entered this arrangement, Lila wondered if she was getting in over her head. It had seemed simple in theory.

Maybe her theories weren't detailed enough.

She toyed with the edge of her cardigan sleeve, lapsing into uncharacteristic silence. Blake didn't seem intent on any more conversation as he returned to his phone and tablet, brows furrowing as he typed out responses to various messages. Probably it was just better to leave things alone and let it be. He was right about this being the first time she could relax, if nothing else. Now there was literally nothing for her to do except kick up her heels and lie back in her soft, plush leather chair.

The two hour flight seemed to zoom by, it was so comfortable just to lie there, read her novel, and have the handsome air steward drop by with delicious chilled drinks for them. She half-expected Blake to have some of the alcohol on the menu, and was surprised to hear him order a very run-of-the-mill fruit punch.

It was pretty awesome fruit punch, but still.

Landing brought yet more surprises that Lila wouldn't even have dreamed about.

An officer came up to check their passports when the plane halted to a stop, and the next thing Lila knew, they were whisked through a separate exit before a sleek car drove up and escorted them away.

"Don't we need to go through customs?" She looked out through the back window, totally befuddled. "And what about my luggage?"

Blake seemed torn between bemusement and annoyance. "Don't you think I would have arranged for your belongings to be taken care of? And our passports have been checked and stamped, did you need to declare something I didn't know about? A suitcase of smuggled parrots maybe?"

Lila shot him a sharp look. "Don't get sassy with me! You could have walked me through all this! I don't exactly fly first class every week and skip all the normal parts of an airport you know."

Impasse. They stared at each other hotly for a moment before Blake looked away in concession. She could see the contrition on his face at least, and her own annoyance simmered down. He did have everything taken care of, that was true. Too used to her own independence, having things taken care of before she'd even thought about them was... Weird.

"Alright, I'm sorry," she sighed, by way of an olive branch. "It was really nice of you to have every single detail all ironed out, I'm just... not used to it. I guess. It makes me feel like I don't know anything that's going on, like I'm not in control of anything."

He flitted a look back at her, before lowering his gaze again.

"I should apologize as well," he said- it was clear that he wasn't used to saying sorry for much, and it touched Lila that he was willing to own up so easily to his own transgressions, however minor. "I thought I should take care of everything from start to finish without your input- but I see that's a mistake, to leave you out of the plans even though you're the person who the plans revolve around."

"I'd just like to know what's going on, that's all. And if I can have some input without too much disruption, I'd like that."

He nodded. "Deal."

Mollified, she scooted around so she was facing him, dragging on the seat-belt. He seemed to be uncomfortable with that, to her amusement. "So. What are the plans for today? In detail, please."

Blake hadn't been untruthful when he said there had been nothing planned, but it was still nice for Lila to sit and look at what his planner said for the day. They would arrive at his residence within the hour, although he would have to go after he had given her a quick tour of the place. She would have the afternoon to herself to have lunch and to unpack. And in the evening he would get them dinner so they could officially start on the getting-to-know-each-other phase and also start thinking about how to get his family to stop hounding him as far as marriage was concerned.

"Solid plan," Lila announced, once Blake was done briefing her. "If you don't already have plans for dinner though, I vote tom yum and fried rice."

Blake shook his head, although he was smiling slightly. "You don't even know what's good around the city. So quick to settle on something?"

"I get cravings, what can I say? But you're always welcome to suggest something else."

"I think maybe I should just get my assistant to message you a list of good restaurants around the area later..."

The car trip was surprisingly more relaxed than the plane ride had been, almost as if Lila's objection to not being treated like a puppet had changed Blake's mind about something. It was actually possible to have a conversation with him- who knew?

Slowly the scenery rolled from hills overlooking the coast to skyscrapers and scattered older buildings that surrounded them, as they made their way into the city center. Lila had been to this city before, but walking through the shops as an ephemeral visitor versus actually going to live here felt different.

They stopped in front of a thoroughly modern building, all steel and glass and artfully weathered stone. The lift they got into was open to the side of the building, allowing her to get a glimpse of the city skyline as they shot higher and higher, all the way to the top floor.

Ding! went the elevator bell, alerting her to the doors opening. She couldn't help the gasp that escaped her.

Instead of the small apartment she had envisioned, a spacious penthouse greeted her. It took up two entire floors, split into a loft for what seemed to be the bedrooms, while the main floor sprawled with space for entertaining. A glass door to the left led into an outdoor space, with verdant greenery blooming in a small rooftop garden.

"Welcome to my home," Blake said casually, striding out the elevator and taking Rusty's carrier from her.