He was a prime example of someone born with a silver spoon in his mouth, having lived in the lap of luxury his whole life he had no concept of earning things for himself or hard work. He was a good four years older than Laurel but may as well have been thirteen years younger as she often felt like a babysitter who’s job it was to keep him out of trouble.
Four years into this job, she was getting tired of having to do damage control for the media every time he embroiled himself in a scandal and now here he was, offering her a wonderful way out if only she was brave enough to accept.
Chapter 3
The Contract
“So what do you say?” Daniel’s voice interrupted her thoughts and brought Laurel back to the contract printed out on his desk.
“Will we actually have to get married?” she asked voicing her first concern.
“God no!” he exclaimed alarmed at the thought of marriage.
“Can I think about it for a few days and get back to you?”
Daniel who couldn’t afford the luxury of a few days shook his head, “No, I need an answer now.”
When Laurel didn’t respond right away, he cajoled her in his sweetest voice, “Come on Laurel, what’s there to think about? You do this for me and I’ll give you the money to open your own company and be your first client. You and I both know it’s a good offer.”
Laurel shrugged her shoulders dismissively to show she didn’t really care too much.
“I’m not sure I want you as a first client actually.” Not bothering to add that one of the reasons she so desperately wanted to open her own PR firm was to get away from his messes.
“Okay fine, you don’t need to take me on as a client personally but I’ll give you the company’s PR, how’s that? That’s hundreds and thousands of dollars right there. It goes without saying that having our name in your Rolodex will open countless doors for you.” He added to drive the point home.
Laurel knew he was right and she also knew she would be stupid to not take him up on this more than generous offer. What’s a few days of pretending anyway? I bet given our busy lives we’ll hardly even see each other. She reassured herself.
“You’ll pay for everything?” she asked cautiously easing into the finer details of the contract.
“Absolutely everything, for one year.”
“And all I have to do is pretend to be engaged to you?”
Daniel nodded his head again, “Yup. But it obviously has to look and feel real.”
“And why are you doing this again?”
“I want my father to take me seriously.” He responded lightly. One finely arched brow shot up, “And being engaged will do that?” her voice was filled with skepticism. “Couldn’t you just actually become serious about life?”
“That will take too long. I need a quick fix and if I get engaged, he’ll see that I’m getting serious about life. Everyone always takes an engaged man seriously.” He added as an afterthought.
Laurel felt sure there was more to it than that but she didn’t press the issue.
“You realize this means no dalliances on the side right?” she said pointing out his obvious weak points.
A heavy sigh followed her question, “I know.” He said glumly, “I’ll toe the line and be good.” His face brightened as a thought occurred to him, “Another added plus to agreeing to this, you won’t have to do damage control for all my fuck ups.”
Laurel’s lips lifted at the corners into a rare smile, “Sold! Where do I sign?!”
“So will you do it?”
She looked at the contract again, it was a simple one page document outlining her agreement to enter into a fictitious engagement with him, and in exchange, Daniel would help open her own PR company by absorbing all the costs for a period of one year.
“I’m not sure I like the idea of having to live together.” She said doubtfully pointing out clause 3C on the document. “This whole thing reeks a little too much of Pretty Women.”
“My parents will never believe it if we’re not living together, have you met me?”
“I guess.” She said reluctantly. Her wide, almond shaped eyes travelled over the sections in the contract.
“Come on Laurel, it’s not that big of a deal.” Daniel said, an edge of impatience was creeping into his voice. The impatience tipped the balance for Laurel, there was no way she wanted to keep doing damage control for him forever. She wanted her own company, she wanted out. Having made up her mind she said briskly, “Okay, let’s do this.”
“Great!” all smiles again Daniel reached for his favorite Mont Black pen but she held up her hand to stop him, “Wait! I’ll sign it but I have two conditions. You can’t lie to me ever.”
“You’re not really my fiancée so I see no reason to lie to you anyways.” He said with a cheeky grin.
Laurel rolled her eyes and bit back an exasperated sigh before continuing with her second condition, “And I don’t want anything physical between us.”
At the blank look on his face, she specified, “No Sex. Ever! Can you do that?”
“Other girls?”
She looked at him incredulously, “If that’s your approach we’re just wasting our time.”
“I was just joking!” he assured her quickly, “Lighten up, I wasn’t serious. I don’t want any gossip reaching my parents’ ears. If we do this, we’re doing it right.”
“Do we have deal on my two conditions?” she asked him again. He nodded.
After hashing out the final details both Laurel and Daniel signed and dated the contract. As the ink flowed in elegant, fluid lines spelling out Laurel Jenkins, a part of her couldn’t help but wonder if she was doing the right thing.
Once the contract was signed, Laurel rose to her feet itching to get out of his office and away from him.
“Anything else?”
Instead of responding right away he produced a big, gift wrapped box from somewhere behind his desk and handed it to her.
“What’s this?”
“Something to celebrate the occasion. It’s a gift for you.”
She cocked an eyebrow at him, “A gift? What made you so sure I would agree?”
“Just a hunch.” He said being deliberately vague.
“Just a hunch huh.” She said shaking her head before taking the beautifully wrapped box complete with an elaborate purple bow.
“Thank you.” She said a little stiffly.
“Open it soon and make sure our calendars are cleared for the evening.”
She nodded and was almost at the door when she turned to look at him again, “I have one more question.”
“Yes.”
“Why me? Why didn’t you ask one of your many girlfriends for this? I can think of half a dozen celebrities who could have benefited from the publicity.”
The blue eyes crinkled with amusement but he answered her truthfully, “Because none of those girls are wife material, but you, you’re meant to be cherished and loved.”
“Oh.” She replied inadequately, taken aback by his sudden candor. Could it be there’s a sensitive side to him after all? She thought to herself. But his very next words popped the bubble.
“For this to be believable I need a nice, serious, bookish girl like you, not a fun loving, wild party girl. Plus,” he concluded smugly, “you’re hot. I couldn’t be with someone who wasn’t hot.”
She was so outraged at being called bookish and serious she missed the compliment and stared at him with furious eyes before turning on her heels and walking away.
“Don’t forget to scan a copy for the contract for me.” He called out after her angry retreating back thinking to himself how everyone had a price. Even an honest, upstanding and hard-working woman like Laurel had a price. The trick was figuring out what that price was.
His phone rang, an unwelcome intrusion into his thoughts. The caller ID showed it was Amber. He fairly growled as he picked up the call.
“Do you have my money?” she asked in her smooth, velvety voice.
<
br /> “I’m working on it.” He said shortly.
“Better hurry darling, just a few days now.”
Without bothering to respond he disconnected the line.
He looked at the framed picture of his mom and dad on his desk, focusing his attention on father’s formidable face. It pained him to know he was going to be deceiving them in such a manner but what choice did he have?
Chapter 4
The Dinner Date
In the privacy of her own office, Laurel doubtfully studied the wrapped package Daniel had handed to her. What could he possibly have gotten her? It bothered her he had been so certain she would accept his proposal, she wished she could have turned it down just on principle but could she really afford to be so stubborn?
Sighing to herself she approached the box and untied the bow and unwrapped the expensive paper to reveal a large, white box trimmed in gold with the words Dior stamped in lavish letters across the top.
Feeling more excited than she would have cared to admit, Laurel removed the lid and gasped in surprise. Nestled amid the folds of soft tissue was one of the most beautiful dresses she had ever laid eyes on accompanied by a short note. She recognized Daniel’s arrogant scrawl immediately.
“Wear this dress to supper tonight. Reservations are at the Four Seasons for 7pm.”
Her first reaction on finding the note was utter disbelief he could be so pompous and arrogant to demand she drop everything just because he told her to. And wearing something chosen by him no less! No wonder he had asked her to clear both their schedules for the evening. She was just about to send him a quick email saying she had other plans when the phone rang. Laurel picked it up without looking at the caller ID and groaned to herself when she heard Daniel’s voice.
“I gather you opened the gift?”
“Yes.” She said stiffly, “Unfortunately I will not be…”
“You will be available for supper because that is my wish.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Dining with me falls under your duties as my fiancée, I will expect you at the restaurant at 7pm sharp.”
Without giving her a chance to respond he hung up the phone.
As angry as she was, Laurel knew Daniel had a point and she would have no choice but to comply. Feeling too disgruntled to stay in the office she packed up her laptop and some files and left for the day letting her assistant Annette know she would be working from home for the rest of the day and was not to be disturbed.
Going home had the desired effect, settled behind the large oak desk in her home office, Laurel could feel the tension from earlier easing away as she immersed herself in her work responding to emails and returning urgent phone calls. As the head of the PR department at Connor Enterprise her days were so busy and jam-packed she rarely had time to respond to emails or calls in a timely manner and so relished quiet days like today where that’s all she did.
For the next few hours she worked steadily until she was decently caught up. Feeling proud of herself, she looked at her watch and immediately grimaced, it was ten to six, she would have to hurry to be at the restaurant for 7.
Rushing to the bathroom, she took a quick shower and carefully applied a little bit of makeup to enhance her wide, almond shaped blue eyes and her high cheekbones. Because her long, dark hair had a natural wave, all she had to do was brush it out and add a few curls to give it some bounce. Pulling on a body hugging shift, Laurel carefully took out the dress Daniel had given her and slipped into it, smoothing the folds of the silky dress over her hips.
The beautiful blue green color of the dress complemented the golden tan of her skin and seemed to match the color of her eyes making them pop. The one-shouldered dress was heavily beaded on the top and fell in a simple and elegant cut to just above her knees. It hugged her in all the right places and emphasized her C cup breasts hinting at a sexy cleavage.
Laurel stared at her reflection in the mirror and grudgingly admitted to herself that Daniel clearly had good taste.
She was replacing the cover on the box when she noticed something she had missed a before, a smooth velvet pouch nestled in the corner. When she opened the pouch a pair of brilliantly cut diamond earrings spilled out sparkling and shimmering in the palm of her hand.
Ruefully shaking her head at how he had seemed to think of everything, Laurel put on the earrings and couldn’t help but admire how well they suited the dress. With her busy schedule, she didn’t often get the chance to dress up and lived in a uniform of sorts, which consisted of suits, skirts and blazers with solid colored tops. In this beautiful dress with the sparkling jewelry she felt like a princess.
After spending a few more minutes primping in front of the mirror, she left her apartment and showed up at the restaurant at 7pm on the dot. When she gave her name to the Maître D’ a wide smile lit up his cherubic face.
“Ah Mizz Laurel, Mr. Daniel is already here, waiting for you,” he said enthusiastically as he ushered her forward.
Seeing the notoriously tardy Daniel Connor already seated at the small, intimate table made her realize how very important this evening was to him. His eyes lit up as he took her in from head to toe and a devilish grin spread across his handsome features.
“You look good enough to eat.”
Flushing at the indirect compliment, Laurel dismissed him immediately, “I’m not one of your airheads Daniel, it’s not me, it’s the dress.”
“Whatever it is, I’m really digging it.”
“Daniel,” she said with mock severity, “if you can’t behave courteously, I’m going to leave right now.”
“Okay okay, I’ll behave and be a total gentleman.” He took a sip of his wine and leaned back comfortably against his chair, “Tell me about your day.”
Chapter 5
The Good Surprise
Dinner progressed more smoothly than Laurel had anticipated, and she found Daniel was a surprisingly easy to talk to and to her utter shock, she discovered they had a few things in common when it came to their favorite authors and works of arts. As the last plates were cleared away from the table and they waited for their coffee and dessert, Laurel finally asked him why he had set up this dinner.
“What am I really doing here Daniel?”
“What do you mean?” he asked giving her an innocent look.
“Don’t toy with me, I know you better than to believe all of this is just out of the goodness of your heart.” She said pointing out her dress and earrings.
“Okay fine, there is a reason why but it’s a surprise.”
“A good surprise?” she said warily, thinking back to all the other surprises he’d sprung on her over the years, the scandal involving a group of escorts found partying with drugs and booze galore, late into the night in an upscale hotel in Australia had been a particularly good surprise.
Seeing the concerned look in her eyes, he rushed to assure her it was a good surprise.
“I promised I would never lie to you remember?”
Left with little choice in the matter, she put it out of her head and dug into the delectable piece of chocolate cake placed in front of her knowing she would have to pay for this moment of weakness at the gym the next day.
And then suddenly Daniel stood up and started to go down on one knee and Laurel knew instantly what his surprise would be. Her mouth formed into an “O” as he held out the most stunning diamond ring she had ever seen and uttered the words every girl dreamed of hearing, “Laurel, will you marry me?”
Somewhere in the restaurant, she heard a girl shriek and within seconds she felt cell phones being pulled out and pictures being snapped but she sat frozen in her chair unable to move or say anything.
“Laurel?” Daniel prompted her through the smile plastered on his face, “You need to smile and say yes.” He whispered urgently. Suddenly remembering the charade she had agreed to be a part of she gave him a brilliant smile and exclaimed, “Yes, yes, of course I will!”
The restaurant broke out in a thund
erous applause as Daniel got to his feet after slipping the ring on Laurel’s finger and swept her into a passionate kiss. As his lips molded on to hers, Laurel felt a jolt of electric shock dart through her body.
She knew it was all for show but couldn’t help the heated passion his kiss evoked within her and it was with considerable effort she managed to gently pull herself away from him, feeling embarrassed. Daniel pulled her close against him in a hug and whispered, “That was beautifully done.”
ROMANCE: Badass Boss (Billionaire Alpha Bad Boy Romance) (Western Mail Order Bride Calendar Contemporary) Page 45