“That suggests I’m moving in with you now, and I’m not,” she said.
About that...he’d rethought that portion of the agreement. He didn’t have much time to meet his father’s conditions. His father demanded Derrick get this public fight with Noah wrapped up or he’d lose his chance at owning the company. Never mind that he’d brought it back from the brink of bankruptcy or that the Jameson coffers were now full due to Derrick’s efforts. His father insisted, once again, that Derrick prove himself.
There were other conditions about bringing his brothers home and repairing the damage dear old dad had done to his sons’ relationships. Derrick liked that part. Running the family business with his brothers and without his father’s interference had always been his dream.
But the one issue Derrick had to handle first, the one he’d signed an agreement to fix, related to Ellie. She was the only one he could think about at the moment. That and her mouth and those big eyes.
“We should discuss the timing of your move,” he said.
She exhaled long and loud and added another eye roll at the end. “Here we go.”
Derrick decided to ignore the dramatics and go right to the heart of the issue. “You are out of work. Your brother clearly is not contained.”
“You aren’t exactly wooing me so far.”
“I was telling you, not trying to convince you.”
This time she made a clicking sound with her tongue. “Again with the blind obedience thing. So romantic.”
He’d had girlfriends, dated other women, even managed to have sex now and then despite his overwhelming workload. None of that had prepared him for Ellie. He’d never met a woman less impressed with his wealth, position and power than her. It was endearing in some ways but it also messed with his usual way of winning an argument. “Should I call you lovely again?”
“Get to the point.”
And now a third eye roll. Great.
He heard a noise and was pretty sure she was tapping her slipper against the floor. In his view, he was the one with the reason to want to move this along, but fine. “We should shift the engagement and—”
“Fake engagement.”
“Those are words we only use with each other and when no one else is around.”
Her eyes widened as she looked around the room. “Do you see someone else here?”
“I’m just saying.” Her glare really could melt stone. He wasn’t a fan, but he had to admit it was persuasive. “Fine. Anyway, we should get you settled in.”
When he finally got all the words out, she stood there. Silence screamed through the room. Even the foot tapping stopped.
Then... “Wow.”
He gave up. “Now what did I say?”
“It’s the way you say things. Like, everything is an order.”
Damn right. He realized too late he should have made that much more clear in the agreement. “I’m the boss.”
“I don’t work for you.”
“Technically, you do.” But he decided not to talk about the fact he was paying for her time, or was about to. She didn’t seem to be in the mood to discuss that topic.
“You would be wise not to put this fake engagement in those terms right now.”
Yeah, he gave up. “So, dinner?”
She shook her head. “Tomorrow, or maybe the day after. I need a bit of time.”
Another zig when he expected a zag. He never thought she’d say no. “Ellie, come on.”
“It’s not a test.” She rested a hand on his chest. “I haven’t showered. If people are going to be taking my photograph every two seconds, I should have the opportunity to brush my hair.”
He looked down at her fingers and the nails polished a soft pink. Felt the weight of her palm over his heart. “Is this a woman thing?”
“I don’t even know what that means.”
“Are you still upset about your brother?”
She hesitated then nodded. “Almost always.”
“Listen—” Derrick put his hand over hers “—I’ll talk to him.”
“He’ll kill you.” And for once she didn’t sound excited by the idea.
Still, it wasn’t as if he hadn’t dealt with trouble before. Compared to the financial crew that wanted to dismantle the company when he became CEO over four years ago and all the fellow businessmen who mistook his youth for weakness, Noah was nothing more than a blip. A small nuisance. “Oh, please.”
“I don’t think any part of this charade will be as easy as you think it will.”
He squeezed her hand. “Trust me.”
Six
The DC Insider: We are concerned, dear readers. It’s been five days without a sighting of, or peep about, the most interesting romance in town. Did it already fizzle? There are some nasty whispers out there about the lady’s last job. Goodness knows playboy Derrick Jameson has had some interesting things printed about him over the years but it’s believed he’s put those drinking and carousing days behind him. Maybe Ellie was too wild for her billionaire?
Derrick sensed Jackson hovering by the door. He’d stepped inside the office but remained quiet. No surprise since Jackson had an uncanny ability to blend in. He overheard more than he should but wasn’t the type to start rumors. His loyalty never wavered, which was only one reason Derrick considered Jackson his best friend.
After less than a minute of silence, Jackson cleared his throat. “Is everything okay?”
“With what?” Derrick didn’t look up. It was the universal sign for “not now” but he knew Jackson would ignore it.
“Only you would answer that way.” Jackson walked into the office. Sat in the chair across from Derrick without waiting for an invitation. “I meant with you...in general.”
“I’m fine.”
“Is that why you have a woman’s shirt in a dry cleaning bag hanging on your office door?”
At the mention of the shirt, Derrick thought about the woman who owned it. Days had passed since they’d talked, and that was no accident. A bit of distance struck him as a smart move. Something about her had him spun around. He wanted her in his home. He’d visited her house for no obvious reason. He never did stuff like that.
“The shirt belongs to Ellie.” Not that Derrick wanted to make a big deal about it.
“Yeah, I was hoping you didn’t have a second fake fiancée wandering around here.”
The comment got Derrick’s attention. He settled in his chair as he looked at Jackson. “She had a fight with her brother and spilled wine.”
Jackson’s eyes narrowed. “Is she okay?”
“In what way?”
Jackson exhaled. “The human way, Derrick.”
Derrick had no idea what that meant, but he did get Ellie. At least a little. She played the role of protector. She was the person who came in to clean up the mess, regardless if that meant she didn’t have energy left to rescue herself.
“She’s overly committed to babysitting her brother. She’s been job hunting and I’ve gotten calls curious about the implications of our relationship. As if I’d get her hired to get the inside scoop on a company. And to top it all off, she’s not that excited about moving in with me.” The part about her brother should have been the most annoying part, but the last really ticked him off.
“I can’t imagine why she doesn’t have her bags packed. You’re charming.”
“It’s a big house.” Derrick wasn’t sure why he needed to keep explaining that.
“Because that was my point.” Jackson shook his head as he shifted in his chair. “Is that why you haven’t been seeing her? Is she being punished for not jumping to obey your command?”
“What are you talking about?”
“It’s as if you’re hiding in your office to avoid her...and everything else.”
“That’s ridiculous.” Derrick
rubbed his thumb over the leather seam at the edge of the armrest. “I’ve been slammed with work and am still trying to unravel this Noah mess. It’s almost as if he finished his work every day in about an hour and then spent the rest of the time working around our security and protocols and generally searching out every document and email ever sent around here.”
“That’s scary.”
Derrick couldn’t disagree with that assessment. “Understatement.”
Boredom. That could be the explanation for why Noah had turned on him. Derrick originally assumed greed, but the more he learned about Ellie, inadvertently the more he learned about Noah. From what Derrick could tell, Ellie had eased Noah’s way in the world. Maybe too much. It was all something a fake fiancé shouldn’t worry about, yet he did. He told himself it was because Noah had stolen from him and he had to fix this, not because he cared.
“He’s a genius, right?” Jackson asked.
Derrick was getting tired of hearing that excuse. He knew a lot of really bright people and none of them ever stole from him. “I guess you think that explains his behavior.”
“Let’s find a new topic. Have you seen the Insider today?” Jackson took his cell phone out of his jacket pocket and tapped the screen a few times.
“There shouldn’t be anything worth reading about me since I didn’t leak a story.” Which made him realize he really had ignored Ellie and their arrangement. He should be two steps from putting a fake engagement announcement in the paper. Yet he couldn’t pull that trigger, at least not until his brothers hit town and they were on their way.
The hesitancy wasn’t based on fear. It was something else...a feeling he couldn’t name. This flashing warning signal in his brain that told him to slow down and think things through.
He never expected to want her. This deal was supposed to exist on paper only. He should be able to leave her and not think about her. This whole thing where he wanted to drop by and see her, to call her and talk with her about nothing, made him desperate to create distance between them.
“That’s the point. Someone did leak a story and it’s not all that flattering to Ellie.” Jackson turned his phone around and slid it across the desk toward Derrick.
“What?” Derrick glanced down, skimming the post. Then he read it again. One phrase stuck out: “nasty whispers out there about the lady’s last job.”
“Damn it.”
“You’re not the type to let details slip by you, so I’m guessing you knew about Ellie’s job issue before you entered into your agreement?”
“Of course. It’s all bullshit.” He’d made it a point to investigate Ellie before offering her the agreement.
At first, he’d hoped to win her to his side with logic or even bribery, if needed. But the more he’d studied her photo and some bits and pieces of her history, the more the PR firm’s offhanded comment about needing an old-fashioned, fake-relationship arrangement to make the Noah problem go away had sounded like the right answer.
And that’s how he’d ended up in this mess, wanting her in his bed and at his breakfast table. Smelling her, touching her...tasting her.
“It still sucks for Ellie to have it out there, so public,” Jackson said.
“I’ll take care of Ellie.”
* * *
“Did someone mention my name?” Ellie smiled at how the sound of her voice made two grown men freeze in their chairs. Just a handful of words and she had them spinning around and stopping. Now, that was power.
A few seconds later they both continued to stare at her. Jackson recovered first and returned the smile as he rose to his feet. Derrick’s reaction was not as welcoming.
“How did you get in here?” Derrick practically barked the question.
Every single day she came up with more things she should have added to their ridiculous agreement. Today? A “no shouting” clause.
“I walked.” And she did that again after closing the office door. In a few steps she joined the men by Derrick’s desk.
“I’m serious. The protocol and security lapses are starting to annoy me.”
Derrick’s voice sounded low and growly. She refused to find that sexy. “So, I’ve been subjected to your nonannoyed personality to date?”
“Ellie.” That’s it. He said her name in a flat, monotone voice.
He truly was exhausting.
“A very nice woman showed me back. I told her my name and said we were dating—it’s weird how much attention that attracted, by the way—and that I needed to talk to you about what was posted in the Insider.” It had been the first time she talked to anyone about dating Derrick. The way the words had rolled out of her scared her. The lies should have caught in her throat, but no. “I think she took pity on me, probably because I said the part about us dating.”
Derrick picked up his phone. “Who was it?”
“Why?”
“She should have called me first.”
Truly exhausting. “Then I’m not telling you.”
Derrick lowered the handset again. “The person works for me.”
Every conversation with him turned into a debate. The few days apart hadn’t done anything for his bossiness. She’d hoped he’d also magically turn less attractive. No luck there, either. “The person helped me. I’m not tattling on her.”
“Tattling?”
She sighed, letting him know she was done with this topic, then glanced over at Jackson. “Did he really forget about dating me like the gossip post said?”
Jackson winced. “That’s unclear at the moment.”
“Trust me, ignoring you would be impossible,” Derrick said.
“It’s been days since we signed the agreement, then we had the canceled dinner plans because of your work emergency and then you went into hibernation mode. Even the Insider noticed, which is weird because I thought you were the one who fed them their intel.”
She’d tried not to let the newest post bother her. Her ex-boss’s accusations bordered on horrifying. They were the type to disqualify her for a human resources positions if they were true, which they were not. But no one would care about the veracity of his claims. It was his word versus hers, and now that her supposed relationship with Derrick fueled the town’s gossip machine, those untrue accusations would grow even louder.
“Did you need something?” Derrick asked her.
She noticed he skipped right over her comment about the gossip post. She turned to Jackson for assistance. “Do you think he hears his tone when he talks?”
“I can only hope not.” Jackson shook his head. “You should hear him when he actually yells.”
She snorted. “No, thanks.”
“Ellie!”
This time Jackson laughed. “There, that was close.”
Yeah, it looked as if they fully had Derrick’s attention now. He held the edge of his desk in a death grip.
Ellie took pity on him. From the exhaustion tugging at the corner of his eyes to the rumpled shirt to the loosened tie, he seemed to be working nearly round the clock after all. “I’m going to ignore the near shouting because I was purposely trying to prick your temper.”
“Good Lord. Why?”
She hated to admit it but part of her was testing him. After a few tough years with Noah, running through their parents’ life insurance and holding on to the family home only with the help of an aging aunt who lived with them to satisfy a well-meaning social worker, she needed to see if Derrick could control his temper. Then there was the issue of being ignored. “I texted you yesterday and you didn’t text back.”
Jackson cleared his throat. “So that we’re clear, I really want to stay and listen to the rest of this and see how it turns out, but I sense you two need to hash this out without me.”
Something in his tone, a mix of amusement and general fondness for Derrick, broke through, making Ellie smile.
“Does that mean you’ll make him tell you later?”
Jackson nodded. “Definitely.”
With a final wink at her and a small nod in Derrick’s direction, Jackson took off. He slipped out, closing the door behind him.
“I like him.” She did a second glance when something about the door caught her eye. The shirt. The dry cleaning bag.
“I was working.”
Derrick’s comment dragged her attention to the conversation. She slipped into the seat Jackson had vacated. “Oh, you’re answering my previous question now? No texting because you’re a busy, busy man?”
“Yes.”
“Just so you know, being ignored is frustrating even in a fake dating situation.”
For a few seconds Derrick didn’t say anything. His gaze searched her face then he leaned into his chair. “I’ll do better.”
“I’m impressed that’s your response.” Stunned was more like it. But at his words, she relaxed into the chair, letting her hand fall over the edge of the armrest.
“You strike me as the type who could bolt at any time, so I’m being careful.”
Which lead her to another one of the reasons for her visit. “You should know my brother keeps calling me to complain about you. Fair warning, I think another video is coming.”
“I’ll try to talk to him.”
She wanted to believe Derrick could get through to Noah before his behavior spiraled much more. He was fixated on Derrick. Part of her wondered if it was the shock of being fired. But she loved that Derrick promised to try and was holding firm to that vow. Her father used to promise a lot and never follow through. She sensed Derrick was not that kind of man.
“It’s not easy to win him over.” She hesitated, not sure who much more she should share. “I’ve tried.”
“I get that, but let someone else carry the load for a change.”
That sounded so good, so promising, that a wave of relief rolled through her. “We lived together for so long. Right up until he got a job with you and moved into his own studio. Even in college I commuted and went home to him each night.”
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