I managed to wait until we were in the limo to lose my cool. “Do you have a paper bag for me to hyperventilate into? Or maybe a loaded gun that I can empty into the side of my head?”

Max stared at me, oblivious. “You’re that upset? Why?”

“Are you crazy? You couldn’t have told him that it was short notice and we have something else to do this weekend?”

Max settled into the seat. “So why didn’t you say it?” he challenged.

“I couldn’t turn him down. How could I? He’s my boss,” I wailed.

“Okay, okay, He put me on the spot! And you staring at me with those big eyes didn’t exactly help either.”

“What? Are you trying to blame me?” I spluttered.

“It’s hard to think when you have a boner,” he said cockily.

“It’s all a joke to you, isn’t it?” I accused furiously. My hand itched to slap that smug expression off his handsome face.

“Oh, come on, Mimi. Lighten up. It won’t be so bad.”

“Won’t be so bad? How do you figure that? A weekend with my boss who doesn’t even know who I am. What could we add to make that more uncomfortable and awkward? Oh, right! My ex and his new fiancée who hates me,” I groaned, eyes closed.

“You should view this as a great opportunity to get to know your boss. Other people would kill for a chance like this.”

I opened my eyes. “You’re kidding, right?”

“No,” he says seriously.

I shake my head. He didn’t understand. I didn’t want to get to know my boss in this way. And I definitely didn’t want to spend any time at all with Josh or Lillian. I chewed my thumb and tried to think. “Maybe you can go alone. The invitation was obviously for you. Mr. Fields didn’t even know who I was until you introduced me.” I looked over at him from the corner of my eye. “Very masterfully accomplished, by the way.”

“Yeah, well, I can be smooth when I try.”

“You could have tried harder back there, Mr. Smooth.”

“I don’t see why you couldn’t have said you were tied up,” he argued.

“I didn’t want to be rude!”

“Neither did I! Going on my own is going to be useless since Josh will be there. Unless you want him to think we broke up.”

I exhaled. “I guess there’s no way around this, huh?”

“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you didn’t want to spend the weekend with me.”

“Everything isn’t about you, you narcissist.”

“I’d resent that if I didn’t already know I was one.”

“Shut up. You can’t charm your way out of me being annoyed with you.” I folded my arms, swinging one of my legs back and forth.

“Wow. It’s like we’re actually a couple. We leave a party and you’re pissed at me for something I said inside.” He looked at me with one eyebrow cocked. “I mean, if I’m going to go through this kind of grief, I should at least get something out of it.”

“Just adorable.” I groaned.

“Is that a yes?” he asked hopefully.

I glared at him. “Don’t change the subject. This is serious.”

He sighed.

“It’s one thing to pretend to be together for a few hours at a party, but a whole weekend?” Then another, more startling thought gripped me. My eyes widened. “Oh! My! God! We’ll have to share a room. One bedroom. Just the two of us in one bedroom. With one bed.”

A wicked gleam shone in his eyes. “I don’t think you should panic about that. Most girls enjoy their time in my bed.”

I rolled my eyes and huffed. “Really full of yourself, aren’t you?”

“You should know since by your own admission you’ve been listening from the other side of my bedroom wall.”

“God, you can be such an ass.”

His eyes crinkled at the corners. “I have been called donkey once or twice.”

I stared at him in disbelief. “How can you joke about the size of your penis when we are in this mess? How are we going to pull this off? We’ll have to act like we’re…crazy about each other for a whole weekend.”

He flicked his wrist. “It’s no problem for me.”

“Really?”

“Sure.”

“All right. We’ll just have to learn more about each other. Like in that movie Green Card.”

He looked at me without comprehension. “It was a great movie. I cried. This couple had to pretend to be in love and get married so that the guy could get a green card.” I sighed thinking of the movie. “We have to act like we’re in love too.”

He shrugged. “I think they’ll be satisfied with us being in lust.”

“What if they get us separately and grill us and our answers don’t match?”

“You have a very strange idea of what people do on weekends in the Hamptons.”

“I just want us to be convincing, is all. I would hate for them to find out we’re lying. That would be too humiliating for words.”

He nodded gravely. “Understandable.”

“Right. Let’s get to know each other better.” I turned abruptly to face him. “How do you know Alexander Fields?”

“He’s not really my friend.” He wouldn’t meet my eyes, I noticed.

I narrowed my eyes. “It sure seemed like he knew you very well. Unless strangers regularly invite you to their weekend retreats.”

“I have a very trustworthy face. It’s a real problem. I can’t get a weekend to myself.”

I stared at him. “I mean it. Why did he invite you if you don’t know each other?”

He sighed, rubbing his hand over the side of his face. “He’s friends with my parents, okay? He handles my father’s financial planning, that sort of thing. They’ve known each other for years.”

“Oh, I see. I should have known.”

“Known what?”