My hands are shaking as I pull out my cell to call the only person who I think might come close to understanding what I just went through. Not that Penelope has ever been propositioned the way I’ve just been. But she gets me. She’s been in my shoes. We share a history, even if we’ve only known each other for a few years.

“Penn. Oh, my God.” I can barely get the words out, I’m breathing so heavy.

“What’s wrong? What happened? Are you all right?” Her normally smooth, mellow voice is shot through with fear.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to freak you out. I just—I can’t believe what just happened. I need a second to catch my breath.”

“But you’re all right?”

“I’m all right.” I think. I hope.

“So what happened?”

“I think I just did something really stupid. Or really amazing. Or both.” I’m still sitting on one of the chairs in the restrooms on the ground floor of his building. I don’t trust myself to go out onto the street. My head is still spinning and I’d probably walk into traffic and get killed.

“I swear, girl, if you don’t tell me what it is, I’m going to scream!”

“Sorry, sorry.” I take a deep breath. “I texted you earlier and told you about the job Helen sent me on today.”

“Yeah, you did. How much will you end up getting for it?”

“Oh, I don’t even know. Whatever it comes to after Helen’s cut and taxes.” Funny, how I’ve stopped thinking about that already.

“What will you do with the money?” She cackles in glee at the idea of such a huge sum.

Boy, do I have news for her.

“That’s not the news, though. Penn. This is the news.” I pause to take a deep breath. “The guy who I was cleaning for wants me to go to Vegas with him this weekend and pretend to be his fiancée at his ex’s wedding.”

Silence. For a long time. “What?” she finally gasps.

“You heard me.”

“To Las Vegas? For the weekend?”

“Yes.”

“He’s footing the bill?” Amazing how we think along the same lines. An after-effect of the way we both grew up. We might have been thousands of miles apart at the time, but we know what the other one went through.

“Oh, he’s more than footing the bill. He’s buying me clothes to wear there, and we’re taking his private jet, and staying in a suite in a fancy hotel.”

“Uh, Dani…”

“I know, I know. It all sounds too goddamned good to be true.”

“He’s not some pervert sicko, is he?”

“I don’t think so. I sure hope not.”

“I guess you have to sleep with him, huh?”

“No.”

“No?” she echoes in shock.

“He told me he didn’t want that from me. He’s still in love with his ex. I guess it’s an ego thing for him. He wants to show that he is all right without her or something.”

“What’s he like?”

I blow out a deep, heavy breath. “Oh, Penn. He’s gorgeous. I mean drop-dead gorgeous. Almost a foot taller than me, dark hair, the bluest eyes you ever saw…” I realize I’m getting a little giddy. I sound like I have a crush, like a teenager with a crush on the captain of the football team.

“I hate you so much right now!” she squeals.

“Then, wait until I tell you the best part.”

“You haven’t yet?”

“Nope. He’s giving me two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for doing this.”

Silence. Longer, this time. “Oh, my giddy aunt! That’s—that’s a lot of money. Hang on…did you get the money yet? Do you even have proof that it exists?”

“He’s rich as sin, Penn.”

“That doesn’t matter. Ever hear about debt, dear? He could be in it up to his eyeballs, for all you know. I would definitely get a look at his bank statements before I agreed.”

“It’s too late,” I whisper with my eyes squeezed shut.

“You already said you would!”

“I did. It’s nuts, right? I’m insane. I did something completely insane and it’s so unlike me, I don’t even know what to think.” I hold my head in my free hand, rubbing my forehead as it all comes crashing down. Penn is right. It’s too good to be true. Wake up, Dani. This is the real world. Who pays someone two hundred and fifty thousand dollars just to pretend to be their fiancée for a weekend? There has to be more to this. I exhale slowly, the rush of excitement dying out. Making me suddenly feel sad and depressed. Of course, things like this never happen to me. I feel my body slide down the wall of the restroom and I end up squatting on the floor.

“I don’t have to go back to him,” I say quietly. “I can just call it quits and move on and I don’t have to go through with it.”

“Now wait a minute. Wait just one minute. I never said that, girlfriend.”

“Then you’re sending pretty mixed signals, Penn.”

“I just think you should exercise caution, is all. Find out if the money even exists, but you know. Hell, Dani, even if it doesn’t, you’re getting a fabulous Vegas weekend out of it. With a gorgeous man. And if he wants sex. Go for it. How often do you get a new wardrobe bought for you and whisked off to Vegas for the weekend by a billionaire? Never is the short answer.”

I giggle.

“I hate you sometimes,” she grumbles.

“If you think it, you mean it…”

We both laugh.

“So you don’t think this is wrong?” I ask again.

“You know what’s more important? How you feel about it. The fact that you even have to ask whether I think it’s wrong, tells me you have misgivings.”

“A Psych major, through and through,” I mutter.

“I mean it. You have to be okay with it personally.”

I stand up and square my shoulders. “I believe him when he says he won’t do anything wrong, and I’ve already gotten his word on that. Believe me.”

“I believe you did. You’re not a dummy. Although, if he’s that hot, don’t you think you should be jumping his bones?”

“I don’t want to think about it like that. I don’t like the idea of it. He said he doesn’t play games and has no intention of luring me into his bed. He only wants me to pretend to be his fiancée.”

“So you’ll have to pretend to be crazy about him.”

“I’ve gotta admit, I don’t think I’ll have to try too hard,” I whisper, since I don’t even know how I feel about this next little admission. “He’s really something.”

“You already said he was a dream. You don’t have to rub it in.”

“I don’t mean that—not just that, anyway. I don’t know what it is. He’s sexy and alluring and smart. He appreciates honesty and character, and we both know how sexy that is.”

“And how unbelievably rare,” she snorts.

“I think, no…I know, if we ran in the same circles, I would like him as a friend. Yeah, he’s weird in some ways. Even obsessive when it comes to having things done a certain way. It took all day to get his place cleaned. He’s tough too, in a strong, silent way. I get the feeling that whatever he does, he’s a big deal.”

“With all that money, I bet he is.”

“You know money doesn’t mean a person is a big deal. He could’ve inherited it, or just got lucky with a windfall, but I don’t think so. He said he likes to negotiate, and was just away on a business trip. I think he’s a big deal for sure. He’s definitely used to having his own way.”

“Oh. You’ll go together like oil and water.”

“We already do.” I snicker. “We’ve already shared a few choice words. I don’t take well to being ordered around, and told him so.”

“Good!”

“That being said, I’m moving into his apartment for the rest of the week.”

“What? No. Way.”

“It’s just so we can get to know each other better. I mean, it’s Monday night. It’s not like I’ll be there forever. We’ll fly out Friday morning. A few days, staying in one of the guest rooms. Hey, it’ll be like a real vacation. I haven’t had one of those in…ever.”

“But. Do you have to?”

“It’s one of his conditions and yes, I admit that it gave me pause at first. But it’s only a few days. And I do need to get to know him if I’m going to be convincing.”

“That’s true. I guess it’s like that movie Green Card where they learn each other’s ways and habits, so they don’t trip up in front of the immigration officers,” she says dreamily.

“I do want to do a good job. I don’t want to let him down. I’ll do everything in my power to make his ex, regret leaving him.”

“You work so hard at everything you ever try, I already feel sorry for her.”

“I do go the extra mile, don’t I?” I tell her about the sheets.

She laughs uproariously. “That is so typical of you! So he appreciated that, huh?”

“He did.”

“I always knew that being such an insufferable perfectionist with a nonstop work ethic would pay off one day. Good for you.”

“Insufferable.” I chuckle. “Good to know how you really feel about me.”

“You know what I mean. You’re just too perfect.”

I catch the sight of my own brown eyes in the mirror. “Yeah. Perfect.” I’m anything but, and she knows it, but I get her point. I am a stickler for perfection and order. Like him.

“And now, a perfect man noticed your perfection! You deserve this!”

“I’m hardly perfect, but thanks, I think?”

“Girl, he’s the golden goose that laid the golden egg.”

“Is that what they’re calling it these days?” I laugh. “I’m standing in the restroom of his building shaking in my shoes.”

“Why?”

“Because I did the math and it’s going to mean I can quit my stupid job and focus on wrapping up school. I need this money more than I even want to admit to myself and I think I’m just scared that it’s too good to be true.”

“Sometimes good things happen to good people, Dani. It’s about time you had a break. It’s not the money. It’s what the money represents. Your freedom. I couldn’t be happier for you.”