Knight in Shining Suit (24 page)

I smiled to myself. I am
not planning on sleeping with Ryder Van Woodsen! Who knows? He
might even use that as another reason for me to accept the ring
from him! Not only am I a whore for one night, I’d be a damn
mistress!

The next day, ten minutes
before seven, I was dressed in a pair of jeans and a violet blouse.
I was fresh from my bath. I was confident I smelled and looked
fresh. I was sipping coffee in my office reception, waiting for
Ryder to ring the bell… if he could find my place, that
is.

6:59, the doorbell rang. I
was shocked!
How could he know these
things?

I opened the door ready to
demand an answer from Ryder, but my breath caught in my throat at
the sight of him.

His hair was still a
little damp from the shower. He was wearing a beige turtleneck
shirt under a white hooded jacket. He looked boyishly handsome; I
almost forgot how to breathe.

“
Good morning.” He greeted
me with a grin.

I finally composed myself
and managed to raise a brow at him.

“
What is it this time,
Ryder?” I asked him.

“
Relax,” he replied. “I
promise you’ll have a lovely weekend.”

I grabbed my bag and
closed the door behind me. He took my bag from me as soon as I
stepped out of the house.

“
Hmmm… Manners.
Impressive,” I muttered sarcastically.

He chuckled. “Oh, there
are some things you should know about me.”

He put my bag on the
backseat and held the passenger door open for me.

“
Where are we going?” I
asked as soon as he got inside the car.

He smiled at me shortly
and then he said, “Do you remember you asked me a favor a couple of
months ago?”

“
Uh-huh,” I
said.

“
Well… I kinda need the
same thing from you.”

I raised a brow. My heart
pounded in my ribcage. “Wh… what do you mean?”

He sighed. “Well, we’re
going to a weekend get-together of sorts. With… old friends of
mine. Two of my best friends are celebrating their anniversary.
Last year, they made a wager that I wouldn’t have a steady
girlfriend before I turn thirty-one.”

“
How much is the wager
for? Why don’t you just pawn my ring and pay up?”

“
There’s no price for
pride and dignity, love.” He smiled.

“
And I have to be the
steady girlfriend?” I asked.

He nodded. “If it’s not
too much to ask?”

I heaved a sigh. “How
could I say no? I asked you the very same thing.”

“
Thank you very much.” He
smiled and then he reached for my hand and squeezed it. “To make it
easier, we can continue the same story that we told your relatives.
We met a couple of months ago, couldn’t take my eyes off you, went
after you for a month until you finally agreed to go on a date with
me.”

“
Okay. Well, you know my
background pretty much. You know my friends and many of my
relatives now. You know I just came from a bad breakup. You know
what I do for a living.”

“
And you know about me
too.”

I shook my head. “No, I
don’t,” I muttered under my breath.

He took a deep breath.
“Okay, I’m from Manhattan originally. My family owns the Van
Woodsen Restaurant Chains, which include the restaurants Rollo’s,
Mi Casa, Sugu, The Cellar, and some other smaller chains. We have
these restaurants in New York, L.A., Miami, Chicago, Beverly Hills,
Hollywood, Denver, and in other states. We have branches in Paris,
Rome, Milan, Florence, Vienna, Berlin, Barcelona and Sydney. My
grandfather started the business, and as early as now, I’m starting
to learn the ropes, although I have Oil Rig, The Rig, and Rig Style
as my own. I started them in Manhattan, and now, I’m branching out
in Malibu. I only have one sister, Paris… who was born and raised
in Paris ‘til she was a teenager. She’s got a bit of a French
accent. She and my mother are the only two women that I’ve ever
loved.”

I stared at him and raised
a brow. “You want me to tell your friends that?”

He laughed. “Okay, for the
purpose of our little masquerade, let’s say that Paris, my mom and
now you are the only
three
women I have loved in my life.”

“
You don’t have to say you
love me, you know,” I suggested. “We could be a couple that was
once serious, but is now slowly drifting apart. We’ve just met a
couple of months ago, you’re too busy with your work, you barely
have time for me, and we don’t even have sex anymore!”

I turned red the minute I
said the last phrase. I regretted that.

“
Hey, hey!” he said. “I’m
sure we will not be having those problems this early in our
relationship. And besides… I’ll never be too busy with work when it
comes to my girlfriend. And the sex part… I’m sure I won’t be able
to get enough of my girl.”

I sighed. “Seriously, you
want your friends to think that this relationship is going
somewhere?”

“
Of course!”

“
Do I have to get them to
like me too, like what you did with my family?”

“
Well, you don’t have to
try. I’m sure they’ll like you just as you are,” he
replied.

“
Obviously, you expect me
to tell them I’m not interested in your money, right? Can’t I just
play the mercenary little girl who couldn’t care less about your
heart? So they’ll hate me immediately and they’ll beg you to break
up with me? And then we don’t have to lie to them
anymore?”

He chuckled. “No,” he
replied. “My friends have been pestering to see me happy with a
woman for years. It’s been driving me crazy how hard they try to
fix me up once in a while. They’ve got to stop! And you’re here to
do that for them!”

“
I can’t be myself then,”
I said.

“
Why?”

“
Because it won’t be
believable,” I replied.

“
Why won’t it be
believable?”

“
First, the likes of me
won’t have the same friends as you. There’s no chance that we’d
ever meet.”

“
You’re in the wedding
industry, love,” he reminded me. “There are plenty of chances for
us to meet.”

I sighed. “I’m not sure
I’d even talk to you.”

“
Why is that? Do I look
hideous or something?”

I shook my head. “You’re
just too flashy, too rich, too famous. I wouldn’t want to be a part
of your league.”

He laughed. Then he
reached out for my hand and squeezed it. “Then I found the perfect
girl that my friends would love for me.”

“
I’ll try my best, Ryder.
But I’m not making any promises. I don’t even know if I can pull
this off.”

He laughed again. “I won’t
leave your side.”

“
Oh, don’t bother yourself
too much,” I said sarcastically.

“
You weren’t this
sarcastic the first time I met you, you know.” Although his tone
was light, I know he meant what he said.

I sighed. “It’s not me,
Ryder. It’s you.”

“
What about
me?”

“
I do not understand why
you even… want to be friends with me. Why you are so nice to me?
Guys like you are usually too busy to care about girls like
me.”

“
Is that all?” he asked
after a moment of silence.

I shook my head. “No.” I
took a deep breath. “I owe you the first steps of my recovery. I
will forever be thankful for that. For months I’ve thought of you
as a dear friend… an ally. I fixed my life, hoping that someday I’d
see you again, and show you that I did keep my promises to you that
night. But then when I found out who you were… I couldn’t think of
a reason why we could even be friends! I don’t move in your circle
and you don’t move in mine. When you gave me that ring… I still
couldn’t help thinking that I was… just an entertainment to you.
Maybe you were bored with your life and you needed someone to amuse
you. I was… desperate and unfortunate enough to venture your
way.”

Ryder didn’t say anything
for a long time. I was afraid that I had offended him with my
monologue. When I stared at him, he was concentrating on the road,
his face restrained. I sighed and turned away from him.

We didn’t speak for a
while. Before I knew it, he was parking on a slot in the airport.
He took a deep breath and then he turned to me. He looked at me for
a while and then he said softly, “You’re wrong, you
know.”

“
What?”

“
You’re wrong about me,”
he said.

“
I wouldn’t know that,” I
said quietly.

“
You will… by the end of
this weekend. You will change your opinion of me,” he said, his
voice was so serious, it made my knees shake.

13.

THE MAID OF HONOR AND THE BEST MAN:

The Maid of Honor has to
be unmarried. The Best Man can be a married man, or a bachelor. You
can choose from your closest friends, you can choose from your
family. But always keep this in mind: Make sure you choose one
whose relationship with you runs deep and goes far back.

W
e flew business class to Miami. It was a first for me. I
always thought business class flights were a waste of money. But
Ryder had a lot of money to burn.

He checked us into a suite
in a five star resort. When I stepped into the room and realized
that there was only one bed, I instantly became nervous.

He must have sensed my
discomfort because he looked at me wearily and said, “It’s only
right that we stay in the same room if we want to make this
believable. But I’ll stay on the couch, don’t worry.”

“
I can stay on the couch,
Ryder,” I said. “I’m smaller. I’d be more comfortable sleeping on
it.”

“
I’ll be damned if I let a
woman take the couch while I sleep comfortably in the bed,” he said
evenly.

“
Okay. Whatever you say,”
I murmured.

He turned away from me and
headed towards the door.

“
We have two hours before
we meet Janis and Jake. I will come back for you. Meanwhile, you
can sleep if you want to.”

He stalked out of the
room. As much as I hated to admit it, I felt guilty. Ryder had been
trying his best to be nice to me. To make the mood lighter. All I
did was throw sarcastic remarks his way, and made the morning
miserable for him. He was wonderful when
I
asked
him
to pretend to be besotted with
me. He played his part wonderfully. Maybe I should do the
same.

I rested on the luxurious
bed. I only had a couple of hours sleep last night and now I was
really sleepy.

I slept for about an hour
and a half. I was still alone in the room when I woke up. I took a
shower and prepared for the whole masquerade. I decided to do this
for Ryder. I’d be everything he needed me to be and then my debt
would be paid. I would not owe him anything anymore.

I slipped into a floral
printed white sleeveless dress. It was simple and chic. I tied my
hair in a bun and left some strands to curl on either sides of my
face. I put on powder and lip-gloss. Then I put on my favorite
perfume.

When I came out of the
bathroom, Ryder was already waiting at the balcony.

“
Should we go?” I asked
behind him.

He turned around. He
looked at me for a full minute, until I was blushing to the roots
of my hair and then he smiled. He stepped closer towards me.
“You’re beautiful.” I realized that if he was angry when he left
me, he had somehow decided not to ruin his plans, as I had decided
to do my part in this charade as well as I can.

I smiled. “Wouldn’t want
your friends to worry about your… taste.”

“
I’m sure they will be
fairly happy.”

Ryder took my hand in his
and led me out of the suite and into the restaurant on the ground
floor.

We approached a table
where a beautiful blonde woman and a handsome guy with blond hair
were having their lunch. The minute they saw us walking towards
them, they froze. They stared at us with shocked expressions on
their faces and it was obvious that they could not believe what
they were seeing.

I instantly realized who
they were. Janis and Jake… Ryder’s best friends.

I squeezed Ryder’s hand,
hoping to get some courage. He looked at me and smiled
reassuringly. Then he released my hand and put an arm around my
shoulder. He leaned forward and gave me a kiss on the
forehead.

“
You look beautiful,
love,” he whispered to me. “You can do this.”

I smiled at him. “I will
do this, Ryder. For you,” I whispered back before we reached Janis
and Jake.

He smiled back at me. In
his eyes, I could see sincere gratitude. I knew he was happy and
somehow, my heart warmed and I knew it was not going to be
difficult to pretend to feel affectionate for him.

His friends were still
dumbfounded when I was introduced to them.