by Ali Parker
I checked the time and closed up my desk for the day. It was my standing Thursday date with Justin. Instead of the bar, we were heading to the driving range. Hitting balls was a great way to release a little frustration.
“Hey,” I said in greeting, as I walked toward him in the dining hall of our shared club.
“Hey,” he said, looking very chipper.
I was glad he was in a good mood. I wasn’t quite as excited. Tonight, of all nights I could have really used a drink. We hit a few balls, my aim was off. It didn’t take long before Justin noticed.
“What’s on your mind?”
I shook my head. “Nothing.”
“I know you better than that. You’ve been off since last week. What’s going on?”
I couldn’t tell him. Justin would give me a very long-winded lecture about how much of a jerk I was. I knew he would be right in his eyes, but for guys like me, I wasn’t doing anything all that wrong. I was doing what I had to.
“Just work stuff,” I said, trying to shrug off the feeling of doom and gloom.
“Hit a few more balls—hard, that’ll help,” he encouraged.
“Of all nights, this is the night you want to have a sober outing?” I grumbled.
He chuckled. “Who said anything about being sober?”
I stopped mid-swing. “How long have you been here?”
He shrugged a shoulder. “I got done with work a little early. I figured I had a free pass for the night, so I might as well take advantage of the opportunity.”
“I’m going to get a drink,” I said, taking my driver and heading toward the clubhouse to get a double scotch on the rocks.
“Wait up!” He laughed, following behind me.
We sat at a table, our plans to hit balls all but forgotten. I tried to zone out on some baseball game on the big-screen television, but nothing was pulling my mind away from Hannah. I liked teasing her. I liked making her mad. Her blue eyes would narrow to tiny slits as she focused her anger at me. It was hot. I loved that I could control her just a little bit, even if she didn’t realize she was giving me the power. I knew she would make a damn good CEO, and if I wasn’t in such a predicament, I would have given her the job without thinking twice.
Unfortunately, I was over a barrel and she was the only woman in my immediate sights that I could convince to go along with my plan. I guessed it could be called blackmail in a way, but it wasn’t like she was losing anything. Hell, my baby would be cute, smart, and make her a very wealthy woman.
“Work my ass,” Justin mumbled after a while.
“Okay, there’s a girl,” I started.
He slapped a hand on the table. “I knew it! A woman has finally got you by the balls! Look at you! You can’t even think straight. I knew it would happen eventually. Who is it? What’s going on? Tell me everything. I want to live vicariously through you and then I’m going to go home and tell Jenna everything—full disclosure.”
I shook my head. “I don’t like that whole marriage pact where you have to tell her everything.” I frowned.
He laughed. “I told you when I married her that was how this worked. We practically share a brain at this point. Your secret is safe with me. And Jenna.”
I took a deep breath. I was going to hedge a little by using hypotheticals, but he wouldn’t realize it was a hypothetical. He would think he was giving me advice. While he was, it wouldn’t be for the problem he thought I was having. Hell, I was confusing myself.
“The girl has a situation and I want to help her. I thought I was helping her, but I think I may have ended up scaring her away,” I admitted.
He nodded. “You do tend to come on pretty strong.”
“I wasn’t trying to. I saw a solution and offered it up. I think she sees it as me overstepping a little. I see it as a solution and no need to worry about the little details.”
Justin looked thoughtful. “Were you trying to fix the problem for her or did you give her advice on how to solve her own problem?” he asked.
I thought about how to answer. “I offered to fix it for her.”
“In exchange for?” he said one brow raised.
He really did know me well. I was a little ashamed that he knew I would ask for something in return. I didn’t realize I had such a poor reputation. I made a mental note to change that. I was going to give more freely.
“It was nothing major,” I said, not being completely truthful. I mean, I did ask her to have my child. The more I thought about my asking, the more I realized I should sweeten the pot a little more.
“But it was something. Maybe you take a less Grayson-like approach. Talk to her about what you’ve offered to do. Try and help her find a way to do it herself without your help. Or, if it requires your help, then don’t gloat. Don’t hold it over her head.”
I nodded. “I don’t think I have.”
“When did this whole ask and offer thing happen?” he asked.
“A couple days ago. She was upset and walked out on dinner, and I haven’t heard from her since,” I admitted.
“What did she say when she left?”
“That she needed some time to think it over,” I mumbled.
He smiled. “Grayson, we are talking less than forty-eight hours. You think differently than others. When you know what you want, you go after it. There is no maybe for you. For other people, they need time to process and weigh outcomes. Is this a new relationship for you?”
I nodded. “Very.”
He grimaced. “Then I think you really need to take a step back. Give her a minute to process and mull it over. She doesn’t know you. She doesn’t trust you. Your looks and charm are only going to get you so far. She sounds like a smart, cautious woman. I hope you don’t ruin it. I’d like to meet her,” he teased.
I nodded. Hannah was smart. I didn’t know if she was cautious, but I had a feeling she wasn’t the type to jump feetfirst into any situation. I admired that. Hastiness could get a person in trouble. Hannah didn’t know me. She couldn’t know I would keep my word. I had given her nothing to go on.
“I hope I don’t ruin it either. She is very smart, driven, and not a pushover.”
“Maybe when she was talking to you about her problem, she simply wanted a shoulder to lean on. If she is ambitious, it’s likely she’s used to solving her own problems. You probably offended her, made her feel inferior,” he said in a gentle tone.
I nodded. “I know I can come off a little hardheaded. It wasn’t my attention. I truly thought I was offering her a fair solution. I guess I’ll leave it be for a few days.”
He smiled. “Good thinking. Women need to be handled with kid gloves, even the most docile creatures can get their feathers ruffled and come out swinging. I’d be careful with that one. If she actually walked away from you, it tells me she’s got a spine. You’re not used to dealing with that type of woman. Take it from me, you must be careful. Things can get very ugly in a hurry if you push the wrong button.”
I looked at him, recognizing the value of his words, but he didn’t know Hannah like I did. Not that I knew her all that well, but I did know she seemed to be a little excited by my aggressive nature. If she didn’t like it, she would have shut me down and never looked back. She wasn’t the type to back down from a challenge. I was sure I had given her just enough to spark that little fire inside her that would make her want to fight back.
I was looking forward to many heated arguments with her. It would be fun. Hell, maybe I would even let her win a few.
“You know,” Justin said cutting into my thoughts. “Those feisty ones, when they get mad, they get vicious. But when they get viscous and you manage to tame the beast enough to get close, hold onto your socks because you are going to be in for a hell of a ride,” he said with a grin.
I smiled. “I think you’re right about that. Thanks for hearing me out.”
“Anytime. Soon enough you’re going to be an old married guy like me and we’ll be able to compare notes about whose wife was the
worst for the week.”
I laughed. “I don’t think I’m going to count on that happening anytime soon.”
“You’re the one that said you needed a wife. Maybe this woman is the one,” he said with a sly smile.
I nodded. He had no idea how right he was. I wasn’t sure I was going to have them actually meet anytime soon. If he got wind of how I coerced her into being my wife, I knew the rash of shit I would get from him and Jenna, because, of course, they shared the same brain. That meant double the trouble for me.
“I don’t know about that, but we’ll see,” I muttered.
We sat back and enjoyed a couple more drinks before he had to call it a night. His words had sunk in. I wasn’t going to call her or threaten to take the offer off the table. I’d give her a few more days to think on it. I wasn’t sure how I would deal with her telling me flat no. Not only would I have to go in search of a wife, but I’d also have to find a CEO to run the new company I was going to be acquiring. The makeup business wasn’t exactly something I was familiar with.
By the time I fell into bed that night with a decent buzz, I was already feeling better. Somewhere inside me, despite everything saying no, I had a gut feeling she’d come around. We’d spar a bit more and she’d make some demands, I’d say no, she’d get mad and we’d do a dangerous dance, but she’d come around. She had to. Now that the idea of her as my fake wife had popped into my head, I couldn’t imagine any other woman being suitable.
It had to be Hannah. I was in an unfamiliar position. She was dangerously close to being the one who held all the cards. I hoped my bluff was good enough.
Chapter 10
Hannah
I felt a bit like a freak. Not a freak, but one of the ladies who liked things that were a little outside the norm when it came to sex. Grayson’s rather forceful tone had turned me on. I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him since I’d walked away from dinner. There may have been a wet dream involving him, but I wasn’t admitting to anything. He was a tease.
As if asking me to be his fake wife wasn’t bad enough, he had to go and throw in that little tidbit about giving me a taste of what it would be like. Heavens, if I didn’t want to take him up on the offer. I had gone straight home and taken a cold shower. It pissed me off I let him get under my skin like that. The man had no filter. He blurted out exactly what was on his mind, regardless if it offended or crossed socially acceptable lines.
I had one last shot at walking away from Grayson for good. I had managed to get my investors to come in for a meeting today. I would much rather grovel at their feet than Grayson’s rather large size thirteens I was guessing. I was well aware of the big feet rule. Once again, I had to force myself to keep my mind out of the gutter. I couldn’t let myself think about how endowed the man would be. Thinking that way would only make my situation a hundred times worse.
“Pull yourself together,” I told myself, walking down the hall to the conference room where my fate awaited.
I walked in, smiling, and doing my best to appear confident. The dour faces looking back at me were robbing me of my earlier excitement at getting one last shot. It was evident they weren’t interested in hearing what I had to say about saving the company.
“Well, I guess you’ve all made up your minds?” I asked.
“I’m sorry, Hannah, but yes, we have.”
“Fine, then you should know I followed your advice and have met with a potential buyer. I can see none of you are willing to give this another shot. I expect to have the paperwork started and things rolling along by the end of next week. Does that satisfy you all?” I asked in a syrupy sweet voice.
There were a few nods around the table, no one looking directly at me.
“There are some minor details to work out, but the buyer is eager, and I don’t see any reason to delay this. I wanted to let you all know before you read it in the paper.”
There were more nods and mumbles.
“That’s all I have for you,” I announced and walked out of the room.
It hurt to have them turn their backs on me. I couldn’t truly blame them, but it hurt nonetheless. I hadn’t actually accepted Grayson’s offer, but it looked like I was going to have to. Now, the only sticking point was whether or not I would take him up on his other little side deal.
When I got back to my office, I made the call I’d been putting off for days.
“Ah, my future wife, how are you?” he answered the phone.
I almost hung up. Hearing him gloat pissed me off. “I have a few more questions about your offer. Is there a time we could meet to talk about it?”
“How about tomorrow night?”
I rolled my eyes, knowing it was another ploy. “Fine. Where?”
“My place.”
I felt a punch to my gut. My first reaction was to say hell no. My second reaction was to start panting. I scrapped both ideas. “Fine. Text me your address,” I mumbled before hanging up. I could hear him laughing and I wanted to throat punch him. The man made me violent. I had never had such violent thoughts in the past. It was him. He made me a little crazy.
I wondered if he planned on testing the goods. What if we slept together and I wasn’t what he liked. Or, what if he slept with me and then laughed in my face, pulling the CEO offer off the table. This could all be one very cruel joke just to get me in bed. He could very well have no intention of giving me the CEO job at all.
I leaned back in my chair and weighed my options. Did I dare? I needed to talk to Amber. She’d have sound advice. We were supposed to be going out for drinks later. I’d worry about it then. For now, I needed to start getting things in order in case I really was forced to walk away for good.
By the time seven o’clock rolled around, I was extremely thirsty. Amber had gone early and got us a table, ordering me a martini. The moment I sat down, I began sucking it down. I thought about his requirements and the fact I wouldn’t be able to drink for nine whole months if I took him up on it. That was worth more than the job itself.
“Did you talk to him?” Amber asked.
I bowed my head. I hadn’t told her the details of our abbreviated dinner date the other night. “I did.”
“Are you going to do it? Are you going to give up your position?”
“Well, there’s another offer on the table,” I admitted.
She stopped drinking. “There is? From another company?”
I shook my head. “No. Still him. We had dinner and he proposed a new set of terms that would allow me to stay in my position as CEO.”
She looked at me suspiciously. “Why do I get the idea the terms are not favorable? If they were, you would have jumped at the chance to get this done. What does he want?”
I cleared my throat. “Me.”
“Excuse me?” she said, nearly choking on her rum and Coke.
I nodded. “You heard me correctly.”
“Like, you have to have sex with him once type of thing?”
I shook my head. “Like I have to pretend to be engaged, possibly even married to him kind of thing.”
Her mouth fell open. “Why you?”
I gave her an affronted look. “Why not me?”
She laughed. “I didn’t mean it like that. I meant why you? Why not any other woman in the world? What’s his deal with you?”
I sighed. “Maybe because he has something I want and knows I’m an easy target.”
“So, if you pretend to be his fake fiancée, possibly wife, does that mean you sleep with him? Is that part of the deal?”
I was not going to tell her about the heir thing. No way. I still hadn’t come to terms with that myself. “I don’t know. I’m going to meet with him tomorrow to discuss the finer details.”
She was smiling. “I think you should consider it a perk to get to sleep with him. He’s hot. I imagine he is phenomenal in bed.”
I wrinkled my nose. “He would be my boss. Your boss. How am I going to work with the guy I’m sleeping with? I don’t even know
if that is a requirement or if it is only a one-time thing and then we go back to normal. I have no idea what I’m getting myself into.”
“But you’re going to get into it?” she asked excitedly.
I shook my head. “I don’t know.” I groaned.
“I would, but I’m kind of a ho.”
We both burst into laughter. “You’re crazy. I have a feeling it would be very hard to look him in the eye after doing the deed with him. I mean, I’m going to always remember that one night.”
“Or several nights. He’s probably not a guy you can have just once. I have a feeling he’s like one of those potato chips. There’s no stopping at one,” she said with a coy smile.
I had the same feeling, but I wasn’t going to admit it. I could feel myself getting in way over my head. I didn’t like that feeling at all. I liked to be in control. I knew when I was with Grayson, he’d be the one in control and I would be like putty in his very capable hands. That scared me a little. I didn’t like feeling vulnerable or exposed. Who did? There was something about the man that turned me inside out. It would be very difficult to quit him, which meant he would quit me and I would be left feeling like a loser.
“I don’t know. We’re having dinner tomorrow and I will find out the particulars.”
“Where are you having dinner?” she asked casually.
I was going to regret saying it. “His place.”
Her mouth dropped open, the straw dangling from her lips. “You’re going to his place?”
I nodded. “You better wear your sexy underwear. You know you’re going to have sex. You’re on the pill, right?”
I didn’t answer. “We’re not going to have sex.”
She burst into laughter. “Yes, you are, and you know it. You’re going to his place. You know what’s going to happen. If this was a business dinner, it would be at a restaurant. He invited you to his place for sex. When you accepted, you also agreed to sex—you do realize that, right?”