Neighbors with Benefits (Anderson Brothers, #2)(21)
…
Just one more week, Mia told herself, then it will be over. For a while, she had hoped she and Michael could be friends. She’d moved so much from city to city, she didn’t have many close friends, which was why his business proposition approach to this had hurt so much. With so much opportunity in New York for her, she’d finally found a place she could stay. Plus, there was no way she could leave the Queen B’s at Heart’s Home. Having a friend again would have been so nice. Sue was her only real friend, and after all the trouble with Jason, they didn’t really talk anymore. She hoped to reconnect with her at the wedding if she didn’t do something stupid to screw it up. Like always.
Michael and the driver discussed some black rocks jutting out of the ground, and Clancy walked across her lap to Michael’s to see something out the other side of the carriage. She expected him to push the dog away, but he held him up and steadied him instead, to give him a better view.
After living at his place for a week, she knew that friendship was out of the question. Being friends with a man like this would be impossible. He was entirely too much. Too much of everything. And she knew her limitations. He would be so easy to fall for. Heck, she’d probably already started.
No. Never again, she told herself. Such a sucker for a pretty face. Add the power and confidence, and he was a custom built heartbreak. Plus, he’d never meet her non-negotiable requirement, so she’d have to just put her hormones in lock-down mode. Her goals were only to help him loosen up and to make it through this wedding with her sanity and heart intact. She had her work cut out for her on both fronts.
The carriage came to a stop and Lee turned in the seat to tell them about Bow Bridge. “It’s romantic, isn’t it?” Lee remarked. “You two should get out and walk around. This is a beautiful part of the park. I’ll just wait here.”
She knew Michael didn’t want any part of something romantic, but this was the very kind of thing he needed to do. Something frivolous and non-work related.
Clancy didn’t need to be asked twice. He bounded back and forth from Mia to Michael until the driver opened the door on Mia’s side. She helped Clancy out, but Michael made no move. “You coming?” she asked.
“Go ahead. I’ll wait here.”
Wait here, my ass. She was having none of that. “Out. Now,” she ordered. He glanced around, and she knew he was uncomfortable. Too bad. Discomfort was good for a guy like him. “Ah. It’s the public figure thing. Lighten up, Michael. Nobody’s looking at you. Everyone is having fun. Everyone but you.” She pointed to some kids playing ball. “See?” And then to a group of people gathered around a jazz ensemble on the bank of the water near some cattails. “Even dancing.” Then she gestured to a couple on the bridge wrapped up in each other’s arms. “Fun of all kinds.” She cupped her hands to her mouth and stage whispered. “And guess what? None of them are watching you or give a care what you’re doing.”
Other than a muscle twitch in his jaw, he remained stone still.
Poor guy. Was he that messed up? “But I’m watching you. And I care what you’re doing. Please come with me.”
“May I show you something, Mia?” he asked, pulling out his phone.
“Sure.”
He crooked his finger, and then patted the seat next to him. “Would you mind hanging on to the dog for a moment, Lee?”
“Not at all, Mr. Anderson.”
Michael looked directly at her, then back to Lee. “Have we met before?”
“No. But I’ve lived in the City my whole adult life and just about everyone here knows who you are. I recognized you the second I saw you. Just played along with your tourist routine.”
Once Mia had climbed back into the carriage, he handed her his phone. “Google me. More specifically, Google my name and NYC.”
She did and the screen filled with tiny thumbnails of Michael. Holy shit. She had no idea.
He took the phone and entered something. “This is my favorite.”
He turned the screen toward her and it was a blurry shot of him stooping to pick up a pile of dog poop on the sidewalk while Clancy sniffed another dog. “What do you think would happen if I went strolling over that bridge or danced to that band down there?”
“I know exactly what would happen. Someone might take a picture of Michael Anderson having fun. Heaven forbid.”
“You’re missing my point. You’d be in the picture, too.”
Was it her? He didn’t strike her as being that shallow.
“It’s a sensitive time for me, Mia. I’m trying to close several big deals. One of which is tenuous at best. I need to be careful and control what gets out there right now.”
She took the phone back and scrolled through the photos. “You’ve worked hard to get that entrepreneur playboy image just right, huh?” Photos of him on news shows, at fundraisers, and with slick, sophisticated women followed one after the other as she flipped from image to image. Maybe he was that shallow. A different woman in every photo. “So powerful and serious—and such a player,” she said, handing the phone back.
“Yes.”
“But is that who you really are?”
“It’s who I need to be.”
His eyes were hidden behind the sunglasses, but she could see her reflection in them—her messy ponytail and make-up free face. The polar opposite of the women she’d seen in the photographs. No wonder he didn’t want to be seen with her. She and Michael moved in different worlds that didn’t intersect at any point. At least she could be real in hers. And she certainly had no place in his.