ere mine. My hands quivered around each other in my lap, and I was trying to hold a steady thumping in my chest. It was something that I just was never going

y, that's fine. What about that whole intimacy issue? I mean, if we are pretending to be a couple, we need to make sure there is some level of.....chemistry right?" Ryan's expression didn't shift, but his eyes narrowed a fraction of an inch as if he was weighting his measure. "No actual intimacy," his voice was very adamant about that. "There will be no need for that. It's all the appearance-nothing beyond what is absolutely necessary to sell the illusion. Are we clear on that?"I nodded quickly. "Crystal clear."Ryan sank into his chair, his fingers lightly tap-tap-tapping on the desk. "That's good. In terms of public appearances, you need to always be in the eye of the spot with me. We'll coordinate our schedules to see that we are together quite often, but not too often for the people to get suspicious."I winced even at the thought of being constantly opened before the public. But I stifled it. "Fine. What about things outside those events? I mean, since I will be your 'girlfriend,' people may somehow expect a few things."Ryan's sharply linear look became suddenly penetrating. "That's the beauty of this. No need to have any personal connection. Everything's going to be superficial: no deep conversations, no long phone calls. We're just acting. For your role, you're going to have to show up whenever I need you, but you're going to keep it really casual outside of the events."I was silent for a moment running through everything that had been said. It seemed pretty simple in theory, but there were a lot of pitfalls I hadn't thought through yet. "And what happens if someone starts asking too many questions? What if it starts to feel too real?" Ryan leaned back in his chair, hands clasped behind his head as he considered my question. "We manage it. We just stick to the story and maintain the illusion. If anyone tries to question us, we stick to the brief narrative: we're dating for a few months now, everything is going great, and that's how it progresses naturally."Oh, I could feel a knot tightening in my stomach. This was starting to feel less like a relationship and more like a performance. But still, the temptation of the money proved too strong. And I had to admit, I