She thought back to their first meeting. He’d flat out refused to help her, but had the audacity to ask her out. Was this his sick way of getting her on a date? Pretend he was going to help her and then try to seduce her instead?
She mentally shook her head. Of course not. No one would go through that much trouble just to sneak a date with her.
Well…maybe one of those incessant reporters, but not the eccentric, rich consultant she’d approached first.
He held his arm out for her as she slid into the scalloped booth. As she reached the center, he entered from the opposite side, sliding down until he was only a few inches away. Once they were both finally settled, Grace started to ask what exactly he thought he was doing when the all too prompt waiter appeared.
As the waiter dutifully listed off the wine specials and handed out the menus, Grace became aware of exactly how expensive this place probably was. Her eyes shot to the name branded at the top of the menu and her heart nearly stopped. Lucia’s. Good grief.
Simon confidently said his wine order and looked to Grace. “Did you have a preference?”
She took a deep gulp. “That sounds good,” she squeaked out. Although she could appreciate a good glass at the end of the day, her wine knowledge was sorely limited.
The waiter nodded. “I’ll have that right out,” he said with a smile before he whirled away and disappeared behind the swinging kitchen doors.
As soon as he was out of earshot, Grace turned to Simon. “What the hell, West?”
He leaned closer to her, and she was once again inundated with his body heat. Half of her wanted to lean back to regain her personal space, but the other half had the strangest urge to lean closer and soak it in.
“I didn’t mean to put you through all this. I had meant to call you, but it took a bit of time to set this all up.”
She compromised by not moving closer or farther. “What did you set up? What does this have to do with my problem?”
He took a sip of the water. “Well, let’s be honest. You’ve already been tried and convicted in the court of public opinion. You’re a home wrecker and man stealer.”
Grace gritted her teeth but didn’t disagree.
“But there’s one thing the public can respect after years of endless law shows. An alibi.”
“I don’t have anything. I was up in my room working for five hours straight. Me running into Robert Bar before my event that evening was one of the only times I left my room.”
He nodded. “And there’s security camera footage to show that.”
Her eyes widened. “So all we need to do is get that footage?”
“Not so fast. Your senator boyfriend thought of that first. The hotel has ‘lost’ the security tapes from that day. Now you can bet your ass that if the press had them, they would’ve called Bar out on the lie. So my guess is he got to them first.”
Her heart beat faster in her chest, and she found herself leaning in closer to Simon. The guy was insane, but he might’ve actually stumbled on some sort of proof that she was being framed. “How can we get them back?”
“There’s the kicker. If Bar has them, they’re probably destroyed. I was on the phone with the head of security for a while, trying to figure out if there were any copies or backups, but we’re shit out of luck. So now we have to play on his level.”
“What’s his level?”
“Dirty,” he said simply. She blinked a few times in confusion, so Simon continued. “If he stole your real alibi, we’re going to make a new one. So instead of doing an honest day’s work in the hotel, you were on a date instead. With me.”
“You’re kidding,” she murmured. She didn’t know whether she should be excited to hear his reasoning or pissed.
“I helped the owner of Lucia’s out of a jam a few years back and she’s always been fond of me. So I asked if we could fiddle with the security feed in the store for the day. Now any tapes pulled will show the timestamp for a week ago up until about twenty minutes before you and Bar had your little run-in.”
“But why wouldn’t I have released these tapes right away? Why wouldn’t I tell them about our relationship? I tried defending myself before. Nothing worked.”
He waved a hand carelessly in the air as though her concerns were nothing. “People love video evidence. That’s why you got screwed over. They had a few photos that could possibly put you in a compromising position and jumped on it. So I’m going to leak this video tomorrow along with a statement that we were trying to keep our relationship under wraps, but I decided to come public once the lies Bar was putting out affected your reputation. Paint you as the victim and Bar as the asshole he is.”
Grace leaned back in her seat, debating the merits of his plan. She wasn’t too fond of playing a victim, but she’d love Senator Bar to have his ass pinned to the wall and exposed for all his lies. “What about our relationship? The nonexistent one?”
The waiter appeared and made a big show of uncorking the wine bottle and allowing Simon and Grace to both sniff for approval. She fought the urge to roll her eyes. Really, all she wanted was her wine and some privacy. But she went through the motions and thanked the waiter as he went off to fulfill other duties.
Simon set his glass down and turned back to her. “Our fake relationship won’t last long. The press has never cared much about me, and, to them at least, your most interesting attribute was your affair with Bar. So once they realize you’re not a home wrecker, they’ll stop paying you much attention. But everyone thinking we’re together will help me get closer to DuFord. It will give me a reason to be following you around.”
Grace almost forgot Simon’s true motive in her rush of excitement. His hatred of her ex. “I’m driving out there Thursday evening. The client has a small guesthouse about a mile from the event site that I stay at. I’ll be finalizing a bunch of things that Friday, but maybe you could meet me Friday night or early Saturday? It won’t be hard to get the client to agree to offer you an invitation, since your reputation precedes you.”
She took a sip of wine and studied his reaction. He didn’t seem overjoyed at the talk of his stellar reputation. So professional flattery wasn’t a weak spot. Always good to know.
“I figure we can drive together. It will strengthen our relationship story and give me some time to scope out DuFord while you’re working.”
Grace felt the blood rush from her face. “Scope out? I thought I wasn’t doing anything illegal.”
“Well, I never said I wouldn’t be doing anything illegal. But to clarify, I meant checking out where he lives and who he sees while he’s living the high life in the Hamptons.”
She nodded, relieved to hear his answer. “I think we should drive separately. I’m bringing my dog, and the alone time lets me focus on work.”
He raised a brow. “You bring your dog?”
“Yeah. Princess is well behaved, and with everything that’s been going on, I’ve barely seen her. I was looking forward to the two of us getting away for a few days, even if it is a work trip.”
“Alone as in not with me?” asked Simon with a grin.
Grace refused to regret her choice of words. They weren’t dating, and she didn’t need to feel bad about not wanting him around.