by Megan Bryce
“My mother certainly thinks so.”
She leaned closer to him and said softly, “You just think that if you bring up your mother I’ll get upset enough to let you do all sorts of depraved things to me.”
“It’s worked in the past.”
“I think she might be the anti-Wyatt.”
He chuckled. “So are you going to let me do all sorts of depraved things to you?”
“No.” She put her lips to his ear. “I’m going to do them to you.”
“I don’t want to ruin the mood, but God bless my mother.”
“Shut up, O’Connor.”
“Shutting up, Wyatt.”
Another week gone, another family dinner they’d all survived. Barely. With copious amounts of liquor all around.
Mackenzie had persuaded Ethan that she needed a day to recover, so she was still in her pajamas when he came home.
He saw her on the couch in her lounge pants and held up a takeout bag. “Lunch. Put something decent on and I’ll share.”
She looked down. “What’s wrong with this?”
“It’s pajamas. It’s boring. And it’s on.”
She got up, snagged his magazine, and headed back to the couch. “This is what I wanted anyway.”
“You know it’s not the Enquirer, right?”
She laughed at him. “You’re the one who reads that. I prefer heavier tomes.”
He looked at the magazine in her hands and raised an eyebrow. She said, “Alright, I just prefer my fluff pieces to be about stocks.”
“And have you picked something to invest your million in yet?”
“Part of it. I’m looking at WestCon.”
He blinked, then laughed. “We’re in negotiations to buy them out.”
She sat up, thinking WestCon was suddenly looking a real winner. “Oh, really?”
He wagged his finger at her. “Which means no buying or selling for you, Ms. Wyatt. That would be insider trading.”
She put her hands over her ears. “Don’t tell me anything else!”
He shook his head, grinning. “I’d better tell you everything we’re looking at. The SEC wouldn’t care about you being my fake fiancé.”
She slouched on the couch, pulling her feet under her and glaring at him. “First you take away my job, now you take away my investments. I’ll be in the poor house by the time this engagement’s over.”
He looked unconcerned. “Mm-hm. You’re still not getting that half mil.”
She grumbled, “You’d better give me half that sandwich then.”
He brought her a plate and sat next to her. “We’re only looking at one other company. So unless you’re looking to invest in Parkade you should still be able to retire comfortably.” He grimaced. “As comfortably as one can on a measly million.”
Mackenzie bit into the sandwich, closing her eyes as pastrami juice ran down her chin. “Good sandwich. And luckily, I’ve owned Parkade for a while.”
He grinned at her. “Have you? I guess great minds think alike.”
“Or small minds never differ.”
Ethan patted her chin with a napkin. “Are you insulting me? Or you?”
“I’m insulting the idea of us.”
“Oh, good. Because I couldn’t tell how you felt about us from all your snarky comments.”
She sat back, looking at his petulant expression. “You’re upset I’m not falling all over you.”
“No. I picked you because I knew you wouldn’t.”
That was why he’d picked her alright, and he’d still gotten her into bed.
She said, “And it’s pissing you off.”
“It’s what I wanted, Wyatt.”
“Mm-hm.”
He set his sandwich down, uneaten, and she eyed it. Deli sandwiches quite possibly tied with the subway about being the best thing about New York.
He said, “Would it kill you to pretend you like me?”
She looked back up at him. “Probably.”
They spent eighteen hours together everyday, the only time they were apart was when he went to work. The only defense she had left was snarky comments because the reality was. . . life with Ethan wasn’t so bad.
He glared at her and Mackenzie laughed, leaning into him and running her hand down his arm. “Do you want me to get clingy? Make you worry that I really do want to marry you?”
He looked into her eyes and she thought for a moment that he was going to say yes. But he shut his eyes and sighed. “No.”
“Do you need to go hit on another woman to get that old spark back?”
He smiled wryly. “No.”
“Should I tone down the snark?”
“Yes.”
“I can do that.”
She started to reach for his sandwich and he opened his eyes and lightly slapped her hand. “Can you?”
“Probably. Can you turn down the charm?”
He picked up his sandwich and took a big bite, right in her face. He said around a mouthful of sandwich, “Probably.”
She watched him eat his half, wondering if she could get him to go out and get her another for dinner. Today was a pajama day, and not even a deli sandwich could get her out of them. She said, “Then we’ll probably make it another two weeks together.”
He looked at her in surprise and swallowed. “Is that all we have left?”
“And a couple days.”
“It’s going fast. I thought it would drag by.”
“Nice. Just for that I’m not going to tell you all the places I’ve hid candy when I leave.” Just that morning she’d hid a couple snack size Kit Kats under his bathroom sink. Mackenzie wouldn’t eat anything that had been in a bathroom but if he didn’t have a problem with it. . .
He shook his head. “I know I will be finding candy for years to come. My children’s children will unscrew a light switch and find a bag of Skittles stuffed inside.”
“That’s a good one, actually.”
Mackenzie looked around the room, wondering what else she could unscrew. Ethan watched her, laughing out loud. “Is that what you do all morning? Too busy hiding things to get dressed?”
“No. Today is a pajama day.”
He looked down at her lounge pants. “I am unfamiliar with the concept.”
“That doesn’t surprise me since I just made it up. It means I’m not getting out of my pajamas today. I’m not going anywhere, I’m not doing anything.”
“Sounds. . . boring.”
She nodded. “I tried to watch some daytime TV and had to turn it off. Talk, talk, talk. Couldn’t stand it.”
“You should come to work with me tomorrow. It’s only half a day. Doesn’t even feel like work.”
She shook her head. “You can’t afford to pay me two salaries.”
“You usually pull your own weight there. And wear real clothes, at least. Everyone would like to meet you.”
Mackenzie was surprised to find out just how much she didn’t want to go into the office. She would have happily wanted to see how the New York office was run before. See if anyone could get any work done with Ethan wandering around, messing up everyone’s concentration. But she did not want to go in as Ethan’s blond bimbo.
She said, “They don’t want to meet me, they want to meet your fiancé.”
“They want to meet Mackenzie Wyatt, best salesman in all the branches.”
“And number one pain in the ass?”
He laughed. “Absolutely. And the woman who also snagged the boss. It’s all connected now.”
“I don’t think so. I’m not part of that anymore.”
He said, “You could be. You’re going to miss it.”
She was afraid he was right. She wasn’t quite getting the hang of all this leisure time yet. But there was no way she was going in there as Ethan’s woman.
Besides, she couldn’t stand to spend twenty-four hours with Ethan. Couldn’t stand to find out that she might be perfectly happy with him all day long.
“No. I need to learn ho
w not to work.”
He watched her for a minute, gauging her sincerity. He finally said, “Then I have a another question about this pajama day.” He pinched her lounge pants. “You’re not getting out of them for any reason?”
“Nope.”
“What’s the technical definition of still on? Would a few inches south still count? Because I think I could make that work.”
She tipped her head to the side and he said, “What else are we going to do if we’re not going out?”
He had a point.
Eight
The door buzzed and Ethan groaned. “Don’t they know it’s a pajama day?”
He rolled off her, picking up her pants and handing them to her. “Sorry about that. We can try again after I get rid of whoever is trying to disturb us.”
Mackenzie unhooked her leg from the back of the couch. “Let’s move it to a bed. This couch isn’t big enough for the two of us.”
He grinned at her and answered the intercom.
Ethan listened, furrowing his eyebrows at Mackenzie, then said, “The doorman says your father is here. Luke Holden?”
A sick feeling washed over Mackenzie and she blanked her face before Ethan could see. She sat up, shaking her head. “Don’t let him up.”
He raised an eyebrow, watching her closely.
She shook her head again. “Don’t let him up.”
Ethan told the doorman not to let her father up, then leaned against the wall and said, “Well?”
Mackenzie shoved her legs into her pants. She should have foreseen this. But she hadn’t heard from her father in ten years. Wasn’t sure he would recognize her name, even if she was his daughter. Wasn’t sure he would care, if he did recognize it.
Looks like he had and did. And wherever Luke Holden smelled big money, that’s where he went.
She looked up to find Ethan still watching her.
She said on a long sigh, “He’s a con man. With a smile so pure, you’ll think he’s an angel. Or a prophet. He’s done that one before. Started his own religion. Convinced hundreds of people he was a prophet sent from God to take their money.”
“I take it you don’t have a good relationship.”
She smiled slightly. “You could put it that way.” She stopped smiling. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think this would bring you to his attention. I didn’t think of him at all. It’s been a long time since I’ve talked to him.”
Ethan wandered to the wine chiller, taking out a bottle and saying casually, “Ten years?”
She looked down, didn’t say anything.
He brought over two glasses filled with a deep, dark red and said, “Not a charming hopeless crush who didn’t love you back. Your father.”
Ethan held on to the glass when she tried to take it, forcing her to look at him. Forcing her to smile and laugh so she wouldn’t cry.
A father who didn’t love his own daughter.
When Ethan sat down next to her, she stood up and walked towards the window, pretending to look outside.
She said, “He’s handsome and charming. And can make anybody, man or woman, think they are the most important person in the world. He did it to my mother, left her pregnant with me. Did it to me when I tracked him down.”
Mackenzie remembered what it felt like to be her father’s most important person. She remembered what it felt like to be the two of them against the world.
And she remembered what it felt like to realize it had never been the two of them, it had only ever been him against everyone else. She had only been a weapon in his arsenal. Maybe his best weapon, but still only a tool he used to get what he wanted.
She took a sip and said, “He can see inside anybody and know what they want, what they’ll give for it. How much they’ll give for it.”
Ethan said softly, “What did you give up to be loved by him?”
She felt him behind her, his heat warming her back, and she looked at him over her shoulder. His jaw was clenched, a look of pure disgust on his face.
She shook her head. “Not that.”
She turned toward him, taking his hand, looking down at his long fingers. Running her finger along the trimmed nails, the golden hair on his knuckles.
She said, “I wanted to be loved by him. I wanted to be his daughter.”
The first time she’d seen Luke Holden, she’d known he was her father. Honey-golden hair, tawny eyes, and a radiant glow about him. As if he knew something you didn’t. And it was good.
She forced herself to look up and meet Ethan’s eyes. “And Luke Holden wanted to see if he could turn me into him. He wanted a little mini-me.” She smiled wryly. “I looked just like him, there wasn’t any doubt I was his. He’d taken one look at me and then just smiled. Like I’d been the gift he’d been waiting for.”
Ethan blinked, a dawning realization covering his face. “He’s why you’re such a good salesman.”
She laughed humorlessly. “I learned at his feet. Trained at his compound every year to see who wanted what we were selling, how much they wanted it. I used everything I had to wring every last penny from them.”
He raised one eyebrow. “Forgive me, but I’ve seen you close a deal. You don’t use anything but the facts. And their greed. You don’t give them anything, sometimes not even a smile.”
He made her laugh and she leaned against him, the knot in her stomach loosening a little.
“I got tired of selling myself. Of giving anything they wanted to get them to fork over a check.” She shook her head. “They don’t get me. They don’t even get to see who I am. I’m not part of the deal.”
“I am constantly surprised that works. All of my other top sellers are quite personable.” He ran a finger along her mouth, tracing the small frown that still lurked there. “You shouldn’t be successful at sales.”
Mackenzie rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. You try taking money for a theoretical promise of heaven. Selling a tangible investment that they can moan or celebrate over every day? Cake.”
He laughed and squeezed her. He murmured, “You said you didn’t still love him.”
She pulled back and looked out the window again. “I don’t.”
“He’s your father.”
“It took a long time for me to realize that he’s not. He’s a sperm donor. Nothing more than that.”
Being a father implied some sort of emotion, some sort of care for his child above his own needs. There was none of that with Luke Holden.
Ethan grunted. “We don’t get to choose who our parents are. We can only choose who we want to be. And I can safely say you’ve learned to use your power for good.”
She turned back to him and let him put his arms around her, let him pull her close. She said, “I can see what you want.”
She could. She could see everything that he wanted.
Ethan said, “Because that’s hard to figure out with me pressed up against you?”
She shook her head. “Not that.” She whispered, “Take me shopping.”
He pulled back and looked at her suspiciously. “You’re just trying to distract me.”
“Maybe. And maybe I need new clothes.”
He looked down at her pajamas, then cursed. “I feel like I can’t miss this opportunity.”
One corner of her mouth kicked up.
He narrowed his eyes. “What about pajama day?”
“We’ll just spend it having sex.”
He nodded. “I was starting to see the point of it.”
Ethan followed her to her bedroom, sitting on her bed and watching her get dressed. “You can distract me for a little while, but we’re not finished discussing your father.”
“Yes, we are. The end. Daddy-daughter issues? So boring. And when we get home from shopping, you can peel all the new clothes off me and forget everything I told you in a blaze of passion.”
“It does sound promising.”
“Yeah, it does.”
He smiled. “There will be short skirts and high heels.”
&nbs
p; “I didn’t have to read your mind to figure that out.” She walked over to him, grabbing his shirt and leaning into his face. “There is one thing that I want you to know before we go.”
She waited until his eyes widened, until he looked sufficiently nervous, then said, “If you call anybody to meet us, I will hide your body where no one can find it.”
He smiled and said lightly, “You just want me all to yourself.”
Mackenzie let go of his shirt and walked out. “Whatever gets you through the day, O’Connor.”
Ethan followed her, chuckling.
And turned off his phone before they got in the elevator.
Halfway through their shopping expedition, Mackenzie left Ethan to grab two cups of coffee. Ethan had told her someone in the store would happily go get it for them, but Mackenzie needed a break. A break from shopping, a break from the over-solicitous staff, a break from Ethan. He’d been treating her with kid gloves since her father’s unexpected attempt back into her life. Soft touches, whispered words. His every attention focused on her, waiting to lift even the smallest frown into a smile.
It was grating on her.
She didn’t need to be coddled because she had a lousy father. She didn’t want it to affect her at all. And Ethan was making it clear that not only was she upset, he could see it.
She didn’t like either of those situations.
Ethan had finally waived her off to get coffee, apparently realizing she needed a moment to herself, and Mackenzie knew he would take the opportunity to buy something highly inappropriate. She decided if she didn’t know what it was, she couldn’t be embarrassed about it.
Mackenzie waited in line and didn’t notice the man a few people ahead of her until he paid for his coffee. The tattoo peeking out from the cuffs of his expensive suit was what grabbed her attention. By the time he turned around, she had hardened her heart and got a good hold of her wallet.
Her father offered her one of the two cups he’d bought and she thought about ignoring it, thought about throwing it in his face.
His eyes glittered. “That’s not how to get what you want from me.”
“I want you to go away.”
“I know it. And throwing a fit isn’t how to get it.”
She took the cup, following him to a table and sitting stiffly.