Madison

He walks in front of me down the corridor, it's wide with knotted pine flooring that looks to be oiled with the gloss it has on it. Either side of me are glass panels. I pass a large gym area; I mean it's huge. He has a wide screen television in there that must be at least seventy inches, and every bit of kit you'd find in a Gold's gym. It's pretty impressive and I spot the top of the range running machine. Fantastic, since I'm a runner and cannot wait to get on it tomorrow morning. Wait, I don't want to be working out if he is, he doesn't deserve to see me encased in my tight workout leggings and cute bralette top. Mm, I need to check with him about schedules. Anyway, I can always head out for a run, stick my pods on and my favorite playlist. Fine. Great. Panic over.

To my right we pass a square patio area with a water feature in the middle. The water flows out of the mouth of a stone cherub, it stands I'd say around four foot high. There are lights inset around the pale blue tiles that surround it on the floor and I can imagine at night this is a peaceful area with beautiful lighting.

"You like it so far?" He asks as he turns back.

"It's okay." I shrug. I'm not about to tell him I am totally in awe of his property no fucking way. As we continue, I see another lounge type area. This one has two red chairs with no arm rests facing a red sofa, not that garish red but a classy kind of heritage red. Between them is a rectangular, smoked glass coffee table with large books on it. I will have to check those out later.

Then we pass another area outside, this has a big stone BBQ, wooden benches along the far brick wall and a wooden gazebo from which I can see fairy lights are strung. That will be magical at night. Okay, so it may not all be so bad. This place is gigantic I can easily lose myself from him anytime I please. Yeah, I know my boss needs 24/7 coverage but that isn't literally. I'll get a lot of shots in since they wouldn't send my photographer with me and can do the write ups either in my room or one of these cute outdoor spaces.

"It's taken me some time to get it like this." He tells me. I don't say anything. I don't like this guy, except of course his ass. That's pretty damn cute, it's tight and high. I wonder how his butt would look naked, a bit like a GQ fashion model. Stop thinking like that right now. Then there's his broad shoulders, and the ink running up from his wrists to the sleeve of his tee shirt. There is a horseshoe underneath a stallion.

"What's with that tat?" I ask him, wondering why I'm even interested in anything remotely to do with Alex Stone, but curiosity has got me. Most sports guys I know of, have tats of their favorite sports on their arms. I half expected him to have a couple of hockey sticks and a puck.

"This?" He stops abruptly in front of me as I almost collide into him. I inhale his woody and cinnamon scent; it makes me tingle. Fuck's sake.

"Yeah, that one." I move backward slightly because some weird shit is happening to me being so close to him. Like a rush of warmth creeping up my stomach. Lordy, not right now this is too much. Am I blushing? I bet I am. He grins wickedly as if he knows exactly what reaction he has just had on me. His mouth is upturned and his electric eyes glint. God, I want to slap that smirk right off his damn face.

"It's Moonlight. My Arabian. I have stables out the back."

"Nice. Didn't figure you for much of a rider." I say.

"Darlin' I can ride anything. Trust me, I'm very good at riding." He says. Now I am seriously blushing not missing his innuendo.

"If you say so, Stone. Just show me to my room. I already need to get away from you." Belle is shifting around in my arm, and I want to get her tucked up on the bed so I can take a nice hot shower and get the days travel off me.

"Here we are." He opens double wooden doors that lead into a palatial sized room. There's a large king size bed to my right with a carved headboard that takes up most of the wall. The bedding is beautiful, all crisp white with a patchwork quilt thrown over it. It's homely, I never would have expected anything like this from him. There is a dressing table opposite the bed against the other wall with a classic, balloon backed chair, the upholstery is Fleur-de-Lis fabric, cream with the flower in gold. Drapes adorn the floor to ceiling windows of which there are two either side of a large sliding door. I step into the room and can see the forest land from the doors. Wow, this is impressive. It's stunning.

"You have an en-suite full bathroom." Alex points to the door on the right. There's plenty of towels and stuff in there, my cleaning lady, Rosa comes in every third day and will change them then. If you need any in the meantime let me know and I'll get some more for you. Only, we try to be sustainable here so only do towel changes every few days."

"I didn't expect it to be a hotel, Stone." I quip. Although, I'm quite intrigued by his sustainability awareness.

"Fine. I'll leave you to it. The doors are locked, and the key is over on the dresser, be sure to take some time outside."

"What time is this blasted dinner later?" I ask him already pissed off I will have to spend more time with him this evening and have to be polite to his manager and his coach. I'm mad as hell at them right now for coming up with this whole fake dating hairbrained scheme.

"My driver will be waiting for us at seven. Dinner is at eight. Does that give you enough time to nap and get ready?"

Since it's only late morning now, I guess it'll be more than sufficient time. I got an early flight out wishing I'd gone for the later option. I'm here now, nothing I can do about that. I place Honey-Belle on the ground, she goes off sniffing the bottom of the chair, the dresser and around the bed. He just looks at her. I can't make out what he is possibly thinking right now, maybe he's worried she's going to pee on the wood floor.

"It's a smart restaurant, there are bound to be photographers around too." He tells me. I groan. Great.

"Are you expecting me to hang off your arm? Only it's not going to happen."

"We have to show a united face and convince the public that I'm now dating, and my wild days are behind me."

I snort at him, actually I want to laugh out loud that kind of laughing that makes you almost wet your pants because Alex Stone trying to not look like the partying, man-whore that he is, is the biggest joke of all time.

He doesn't look impressed either, I mean him having to fake date me is seriously bad for his sex life since he won't be getting any from me. EVER.

"I'll be ready. But do not think I am kissing you."

He gives me that smirk again and I see a dimple on his left cheek. Right, well I am a sucker for a dimple. I avert my eyes to be sure I can't see it. "We'll see about that darlin'."

"Fuck off and get out." I snap at him.

He does as he is told and gives me a backward glance then winks.

The fucker.