The Engagement Game

by Hunter, Talia

  “If I can find a way to talk to him, I’ll show him I’m not that pimply kid anymore,” she said to Clooney. “My scars can be covered. And if he’ll give me a screen test, I’ll prove I can act.” Her hand stilled on the cat’s back as she thought through her plan. Then she snatched up her phone and dialed her sister’s number one more time.

  “Which flight is Bozier catching to Fiji?” she asked Rosa when her sister answered.

  “Um. He asked me to order a water taxi leaving Port Denarau at three thirty. So he has to be leaving Sydney on the nine o’clock flight tomorrow morning, I guess. Why?”

  “I’m going to catch the same flight. We’ll be in the boarding area together, so I can talk to him before we get on the plane. I can convince him to cast me in the show.”

  “You and your imaginary fiancé?”

  Clooney butted his head against her arm, reminding Carin to scratch his ears again.

  “I’ll ask Jake to play that part. With his looks, he’ll be perfect. They’ll eat him up.”

  Her sister laughed. “Jake?” she repeated. “You’re kidding, aren’t you?”

  “Why not? He won’t mind pretending if it’ll help my career.” Okay, so her best friend probably would mind, but maybe she could talk him into it. Somehow.

  “Jake’s done a lot for you, but he won’t do this. It’s too much to ask.”

  “You think? I’ll pitch it as an all-expenses-paid holiday in Fiji. He might enjoy it.”

  “A holiday?” Rosa’s voice rose. “You do know you’ll be sleeping rough and having to do all kinds of challenges? They’ll probably make you eat bugs. And did I mention two couples dropped out last week because they couldn’t handle it?”

  “I’ll just explain to Jake how badly I need this opportunity. I’m almost thirty, and that’s fifty in Hollywood years. If I don’t get offered something soon, I may as well kiss my dreams goodbye.” She stroked Clooney’s belly when the old cat rolled over and pawed at her hand. Good thing her neighbor loved him as much as Carin did and would jump at the chance to look after him while she was away.

  “There’s no way Jake’s going to be able to take off to Fiji on such short notice. Besides, you can’t just turn up and expect Bozier to—”

  “I’m tired of being told I can’t do the things I want to do, or be the person I want to be,” Carin interrupted. “I know this is a crazy plan and it probably won’t work out, but right now, it’s the best chance I have.”

  Maybe her tone was a little harsh, but Rosa didn’t know how many auditions she’d been to or how many times she’d been turned down. This was the only chance Carin had to score the role she wanted and get back the life she’d once had.

  Her sister was silent for a moment, and when she spoke she sounded contrite. “I get that. And if it means that much, I’ll stop trying to talk you out of it. Come over here and give it your best shot. Anyway, I can’t wait to see you.”

  Carin let out a slow breath. If only Bozier would be as easy to convince as her sister, maybe she’d be in with a chance. “Me too. I miss you. But it might not be for long if Bozier won’t talk to me. I guess if that happens, Jake and I will just turn around and go home again.”

  “Stay for as long as you like. We have a big spare bedroom and we’ve bought in an amazing new chef for a few weeks while the TV crew are here. You have to taste her calamari. It’s the best thing I’ve ever eaten.”

  “Thanks. But with a bit of luck, we’ll be sleeping rough on the beach and snacking on bugs.” Carin grinned. “Though maybe I won’t tell Jake about the bugs part until we get there.”

  3

  Jake was standing in the boardroom with his brother Hendrix, arguing about the plans for his new development, when his cellphone rang. It was in his pocket, but he didn’t need to see the screen to know who was calling. The ringtone was a love song that had surprised the hell out of him the first time he’d heard it coming from his phone. Teach him to leave the thing unlocked while he was in the shower. He could only be glad that adding the ringtone was all the woman he’d spent the night with had done.

  “You going to answer that?’ Hendrix motioned toward Jake’s groin, where the sound was coming from.

  Jake tugged out the phone and hit the button to send the call to voicemail. “Not a chance.”

  “Let me guess.” His brother’s lips quirked. “Another poor, broken-hearted woman who’s convinced you two belong together? And if only you’d open up to her, you’d realize she’s the one for you.”

  “I told her I wasn’t the one for her. I was honest from the start and it’s not my fault if she can’t accept it.” Jake jammed the phone back into his pocket. He motioned to the building plans he’d unrolled onto the boardroom table. “So if the houses sell for the lowest price the valuer estimated, our profit will be—”

  “Let me give you a tip,” Hendrix interrupted. Next time you go out with a woman, program a ringtone into her phone so she knows what to expect from you. Use that ‘I am a Rock’ song. Or ‘Cold, Cold Heart’, by Hank Williams.”

  “Hendrix, would you—?”

  “Or maybe you can find a song called, ‘It’s Just Sex and in the Morning I’ll Show You the Door’. No point in being subtle, is there?”

  “Very funny,” Jake growled. “Okay, you’ve had your joke. Now will you focus on the plans?”

  The last thing he needed was a lecture from his older brother. The brother whose wife had left him because he’d cheated on her. In that respect they were both their father’s sons, whether they wanted to be or not.

  “I don’t want to talk about your building plans.” Hendrix waved a dismissive hand at them. “I’m never going to agree to this, and you already know what Dad will think. He’ll hate it more than I do.”

  “You’d rather the company go out of business?” Jake put both fists on the table, leaning over the plans. “It’s either this, or we start letting some staff go. Besides, the deal’s done. I’ve signed a contract for the land and if I pull out now, the penalty will finish us.”

  “Then you shouldn’t have signed it.” Hendrix jutted his chin out. “We’re not selling our souls. We’ve never had to resort to throwing up cheap houses for the money. If Dad knew about this deal, it would finish him off.”

  Jake let out a long, frustrated breath. “Don’t be so emotional. This is business. And this deal will see us through until the market picks up again. Right now, we’ve got a whole team of people sitting on their hands with nothing to do. We need to put them to work.”

  “In the Northern Territory? They won’t move up there.”

  “Some of them will. I’ll offer them an incentive and I bet up to half will take it.”

  The boardroom door opened and Carin poked her head inside. “Hi. Can I come in?”

  “Why not?” Hendrix threw up his hands. “Maybe you can talk some sense into my hard-headed brother.”

  Jake snorted, but waved Carin in. She was Jake’s best friend and practically family. Since the age of eight she’d spent more time at their place than her own.

  “What’s the deal?” she asked, studying his plans with a small frown.

  “I’m trying to save Dad’s company,” Jake said. “Hendrix wants to see it go under.”

  Hendrix yanked out one of the boardroom chairs and sank into it with a loud sigh. “Carin, you know how our entire brand is based on the fact we build quality, bespoke houses? Well, Jake wants to build an entire subdivision of cheap, boring, soulless boxes—”

  “Efficient, profitable boxes,” interrupted Jake.

  “Sacrificing quality for quantity. Dad’s on his death bed, and this’ll probably send him over the edge.”

  Jake clenched his fists, fighting the urge to haul Hendrix out of his chair and shake some sense into him. “I’ll bet Dad can still jump out of his so-called death bed and whup your ass.”

  Carin nodded. “I wouldn’t worry about your father. When the Grim Reaper turns up for him, your dad will charm him into letting him
live forever.”

  “You can’t throw away the company’s reputation,” declared Hendrix. “I won’t let you.”

  They were getting nowhere. Jake turned to Carin. “What do you think? Keep in mind that the market for the type of houses we normally build is dead right now, and if we don’t do something, we’ll have to let half our staff go.”

  “Um.” She looked down at the plans, biting her lip. “Well. I can’t help thinking about Sylvester Stallone. Do you know his story?”

  Jake glanced at his brother. Hendrix met his gaze, his brow furrowed in confusion.

  “The actor?” asked Hendrix. What’s he got to do with it?”

  Carin stepped back from the table, giving herself some room. She looked from him to Hendrix, making sure she had their full attention before answering the question.

  “He wasn’t really an actor yet. He was doing what I’m doing. Working a low-paid job, going to auditions and not getting many parts.” Carin had switched into storyteller mode, punctuating her words with hand movements. Her voice had changed too. It was pitched a little lower, and at the same time it seemed to fill the room.

  “The lower part of Sylvester’s face had been paralyzed from birth,” she went on. “You’ve heard how he talks? Like this.” Her mouth twisted to one side, she took on a fighter’s stance and drawled in a deep, guttural voice, “What’s the matter with my house? My house stink?” Jake recognized the line from the movie Rocky, though it had been years since he and Carin had watched it.

  “Who would hire an actor who talked like that?” Carin shook her head, her brows knitted in a dramatic parody of despair. Even in jeans and a T-shirt she was mesmerizing. It was easy to see why the kids at the hospital adored her. “Stallone’s wife was pregnant. He was broke and desperate. The best he could get were a few walk-on roles. So you know what he did?”

  “What did he do?” asked Jake, playing along. In spite of his frustration with Hendrix, he felt his lips twitching up. But that was the effect Carin always had on him. He should be used to it.

  “He wrote the screenplay for Rocky. He showed it to some people and got an offer for it right away. A lot of money, when he had none at all. It was exactly what he needed.” She held up one finger in a theatrical ‘wait’ gesture. “But Stallone didn’t take the money. He turned it down.”

  “Why didn’t he take it?” asked Hendrix.

  Jake leaned against the wall, bringing one hand up to hide the smile he couldn’t fight any longer. She’d managed to draw them both into her story. Hendrix was sitting forward in his chair, hanging on every word.

  “Because he wrote the lead role, the part of Rocky Balboa, for himself. The money men wanted to buy the movie, but they were lining up Burt Reynolds for the main role. The last thing they wanted was to cast a hero with a speech impediment.”

  She brushed a lock of hair out of her eyes, and on the way down, as though by accident, the backs of her fingers brushed over her chin. Her scars were faint and barely noticeable. At least, they were barely noticeable to anyone except Carin herself. Sometimes he wondered if when she looked in the mirror, she saw anything else.

  “But he ended up playing the role,” said Hendrix.

  She pointed at Hendrix with a delighted expression, as though he’d won first prize in a competition. “That’s right. Because he wouldn’t budge. If they didn’t let him play the lead role, they couldn’t have the script at all. That was the deal. In the end, he got just a fraction of the money they’d first offered, but they gave him the part he wanted.” She spread her arms, grinning. “And you know what happened? The movie won three academy awards. That franchise has made a billion dollars. And Stallone is Rocky. Can you imagine anyone else playing that part?”

  It was a great story. But Jake couldn’t see how it related to his development, unless she was trying to say that they shouldn’t do something that didn’t fit with the types of projects they preferred to work on. Problem was, they didn’t live in Hollywood, or Fairy Land, or anywhere that money didn’t matter. It was great to have principles, except when it came to paying wages. Their employees couldn’t take a story about Sylvester Stallone to the bank.

  Hendrix shot him a triumphant look. “So you agree with me. The moral of the story is to stick to your guns and not sell out.”

  Carin shook her head. “The moral of the story is that sometimes you have to take a chance and do something crazy to get what you want.” Her expression changed, becoming serious. In an instant, Carin the storyteller became real-life Carin, the complicated woman who always managed to surprise him. “Honestly? I think your big development is a good idea if it gets your business through this quiet patch. But I’m not in charge and I don’t know all the ins and outs, so it’s hard for me to judge. There’s only one thing I know for sure. I’m holding the script for Rocky and this is my big chance to change my life.”

  Her eyes locked with Jake’s, and Carin lowered herself onto one knee. She gazed up at him. “Jake Sturne,” she said without a trace of a smile. “Will you marry me?”

  4

  Jake stared at Carin in disbelief. His mouth opened, then closed again. No words came out.

  Until Hendrix gave a loud guffaw.

  Then the vortex of whirling confusion lifted from Jake’s brain just enough for him to say, “What the—?” in a strangled tone.

  Carin was still on one knee in front of him. Now, finally, her lips lifted in a smile. And with that smile came a jolt of realization that she was joking after all.

  And he should feel a rush of relief. Not disappointment. Not frustration, or pain, or anything but relief.

  But as he reached out one hand to pull her to her feet, he probably looked angry. In fact, judging by the way she flushed and the guilty look in her eyes, he must look furious.

  “Sorry,” she said quickly. “I was being dramatic. But I need to ask you a favor. Will you pretend to be engaged to me for a day or two? Or maybe, if things work out, for a little longer than that. It’s for a TV show, and it would mean a lot.”

  Jake let out his breath. He shouldn’t be angry with her, but with himself for his inappropriate reaction. “What are you talking about?” He pushed his anger down deep so it wouldn’t show. It was easy to do. Over the years he’d become very good at hiding what he felt.

  “Maybe you should start at the beginning,” Hendrix said. The laugh in his voice meant he must be finding the whole thing hilarious.

  Carin nodded. She was on her feet again and the only sign she was nervous was the way her hands were linked and she was twisting and untwisting her fingers. “I need your help, Jake. I want to be part of a reality TV show that’s being filmed at Rosa’s place in Fiji. Tomorrow morning I’m going to get on the same flight as the director and see if they’ll let me on the show. And I need you to come along and pretend to be my fiancé.”

  “No,” said Jake.

  “Please?”

  “No.”

  Her hands went still. “Just like that?”

  “I’m sorry.” There was no way in hell he’d pretend to be engaged to her when she had no idea how he really felt about her.

  Her brows pushed together. “Since you guys haven’t been that busy, I figured you might be able to take a couple of days off. If nothing else, we’ll get to see Rosa and enjoy a little sunshine.”

  “Just a couple of days?” asked Hendrix.

  “Well, if Jake and I get on the show, it’ll be a week before we’ll be eliminated and can leave. But it’s likely we won’t, which means we can fly home again right away. All I really need is to get in front of the director, to remind him I exist and prove I’ve still got what it takes. The show’s director can make all my dreams come true.”

  Feeling a little weak in the knees, Jake tugged out one of the boardroom chairs and slid into it, opposite Hendrix. “I’m not going,” he said.

  “Pretty please?”

  “Was I not clear? Forget it, Carin. I’m not doing it.”

  “May I sa
y something?” asked Hendrix.

  “Not a chance.” Jake glared at his brother. Nothing Hendrix could add would be helpful.

  “You’re going to turn me down flat? We can’t even talk about it?” Carin folded her arms and blew her fringe out of her eyes with a sharp, frustrated breath. The scattering of freckles across her nose stood out under the florescent meeting room lights, and her hair looked more strawberry than blonde. Her eyebrows were at least five shades darker, and he loved the way her eyes were several shades darker again, a rich warm brown with touches of gold. The way her arms were crossed pushed her breasts up, and her nipples stood to attention like two eager soldiers saluting their general…

  And that was exactly why he couldn’t pretend to be engaged to her. Because he kept coming up with comparisons like ‘eager soldiers’. He’d been struggling against his attraction to Carin since they were kids, when he noticed his best friend was starting to fill out her clothes in a fascinating way. Now more than ever, he wanted to be the general commanding her soldiers.

  “I won’t be on a reality TV show,” Jake said flatly. “End of conversation.”

  “What can I do to convince you?” asked Carin. “How about if I work in your office for free to help make up the time you’ll be away? And what if I take your mother to all her appointments? Just tell me what you need.”

  “Nothing. There’s no way I’m doing it.”

  Carin blew up another breath, lifting her fringe again. Was every damn thing she did designed to draw attention to the curve of her lips? He’d kissed those lips just once, when they were both seventeen. That kiss had led to the worst moment of his life, and still, if he had a dollar for every time he’d thought about kissing her again, he’d make Bill Gates look poor.

  “I have a solution,” said Hendrix in a lazy drawl. “I’ll go with you, Carin. I’ll be your fiancé.”

  Carin’s face jerked to him. “You’d do that?’

  Hendrix gave her a slow, smug grin. A grin Jake knew was really aimed at him. His brother was well aware of the way Jake felt about Carin, and was only doing this to rile him. “It’s a no-brainer. A holiday on a tropical island, engaged to a gorgeous woman? If any man turned that down, he’d have to be certifiable.”