by Ali Parker
“It looks good out there,” I said, looking toward the waves rolling in.
It was the sweetest sight I’d seen in a long time. Not counting my brief meeting with Hailey. I itched to get out there.
“It’s perfect. Let’s go,” he said enthusiastically.
I followed him down to the sandy beach, my bare feet hit the sand, and I immediately felt my cares washing away. I could understand why Zach chose to live life the way he did. Maybe I’d do the same if I managed to secure my inheritance. I propped up my board and slid the torso of my wetsuit on before zipping it closed.
“I’m ready. Hopefully, I can still get up on the damn thing.”
Zach laughed. “It’s like riding a bike. You never forget.”
I hoped he was right. He walked into the surf like he had done it a million times before, dropping his board onto the surface and climbing on. I followed suit, the water gently rocking me as I paddled out.
“Shit,” I mumbled, coming up for air after falling backward off my board on the first wave I tried to catch.
“You’ll get it!” Zach said, laughing as he turned his board around to paddle back out in wait for the next wave.
After a few face-plants in the surf, I managed to find my balance and made a day of it. It felt good to be back on the water, living it up like I didn’t have a worry in the world. It restored my very soul. After hours of being on the water, we were both starving.
“I need food,” I said, walking toward the shoreline.
He nodded, shaking water from his hair as he stood.
“Up there,” he pointed.
I looked where he was pointing, seeing the shack with a large sign in bold red letters advertising cold beer and giant hamburgers.
“Sounds good,” I said with a grin.
“Feels good, doesn’t it?”
I laughed. “It does. It felt good to forget about everything. I can see the appeal of your lifestyle.”
“Damn straight. I know people think I’m a bum. A guy living off his trust fund and doing nothing with his life. That might be true, but I love life. Life is too short to be lived from behind a desk,” he said as we walked toward the parking lot to secure our boards before heading to the brown shack.
He nodded his head, putting up two fingers, indicating he wanted two cold beers. The waitress quickly delivered us two Coronas with lime wedges sitting on the top. It was obvious she knew him well and what he liked to drink.
I took a long drink, savoring the way it went down. Nothing beat a cold beer after a day on the water.
“Any ideas for a wife?” he asked.
I laughed. “There isn’t exactly a catalog.”
He shrugged. “Technically, I think there is. Isn’t it called Tinder or something like that?”
“Ha, ha, I’m not going on Tinder to find a wife. I’ll end up getting catfished. I want to see the woman, in person, before I make any decisions. I don’t want to go through all that. It seems so—”
“So, what—easy? They put pictures on, list what they like and don’t like. How much easier can it get?”
Zach took a drink from his beer. “What about a mail-order service. You can get a woman mailed to you—literally,” he said with a grin.
I rolled my eyes. “Actually, I have a candidate in mind.”
“You do?” he asked with surprise.
I nodded. “Yep.”
“Who?”
“Hailey Hollis.”
He shrugged a shoulder. “I don’t know who that is. Should I? Is she a celebrity?”
“Not really. And I hope you don’t know her. Even if you did, I doubt you would remember her. You tend to get around,” I quipped.
He grinned. “Are you afraid I’m going to snag your woman right out from under your nose?”
“I don’t think you’re her type. She’s very serious. She doesn’t strike me as the type to hook up with guys like you.”
“Guys like me? There isn’t a woman who doesn’t think I’m her type,” he said confidently.
I shook my head. “I really think she is different.”
“Okay. I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt. What makes you think she’s the one?”
I took a deep breath. “She’s attractive. Gorgeous, really. She’s nice and smart. I could see myself spending time with her and not hating it.”
He laughed. “Always a good requirement for a wife.”
“I’m taking her out on Friday. I want to talk to her more and see if I can convince her to go along with the plan. She technically works for me, so I need to tread lightly here. I don’t want to get sued.”
“Maybe you don’t need to tell her anything. Play it cool. If you’re suave enough, you can get her to fall for you without having to pay her to be your fake fiancée,” he suggested.
The idea did not sit well with me. I didn’t think I was that coldhearted. That was downright manipulative and shady. I liked to be straight up with people. The idea of lying to a woman and then dumping her once I got what I wanted was not how I operated.
“I don’t know. I think she should know ahead of time. I don’t want her to find out I’m set to inherit, get pissed or hurt and dump me before I get the money and my company. I would waste time I don’t have. I think in this situation, honesty is the best policy. If she says no, she says no, and I move on to the next one.”
“Suit yourself. Share your money if you want,” he said, drinking his beer.
“Thanks,” I smirked.
We ordered burgers and refueled after our day on the water. Surfing always made me ravenous.
“You said she’s beautiful and a model?”
I nodded my head.
“Tell me more.”
“Long blond, curly hair, tall, toned and really pretty,” I said with a smile, thinking about her.
He raised an eyebrow. “Sounds like someone you would hook up with.”
“I’ll talk to her more at dinner. She wants to get out of modeling, which is good news for me. The money might be exactly what she wants to get out of the business without worrying about how she’ll support herself. She’s a planner. I like that. She’ll be able to look at this arrangement as a business deal and leave all the feelings and crap out of it. Plus, she’s exactly the kind of woman Bob would expect me to settle down with,” I explained.
“True. I hope she’s on board. That would certainly tidy all this up.”
I nodded in agreement, stuffing my face with the giant burger, slathered in condiments that would probably send me to an early grave, but I didn’t care in that moment. It was too damn good.
“You have to make this work,” Zach reiterated, speaking around a mouthful of hamburger.
“I know. I will,” I assured him.
“If she says no, don’t spend a lot of time trying to convince her. You need to move on. I don’t care how pretty she is,” he lectured.
I nodded. “I know. I got it. Trust me, everything is riding on this plan of yours. No one knows that more than I do.”
“What if you tell her what you’re doing, and she runs and tells the tabloids or finds the lawyer and tells him directly? I’m sure there is some clause that automatically voids the inheritance if you’re caught trying to cheat the stipulations set forth.”
I shook my head. “Why would she do that?”
He shrugged. “Maybe she’s into you, and when you tell her you only want to use her, she’ll get pissed. When women get pissed, they get vindictive.”
I scoffed. “I think that’s true of anybody, no matter what sex they are.”
He chuckled. “There’s a reason they warn us from a young age about scorned women. You need to be careful. Tread lightly with this.”
I nodded. “I know. I will.”
“I still think the mail-order bride option is best.”
“Duly noted. I’m going to try it this way, first.”
“Tick tock, Terran, tick tock.”
I finished my beer and burger and said my goodbyes.
“Thanks for hanging with me today. I really needed the break.”
“No problem. Let me know how things go. If it goes well, I’d like to meet your future fake fiancée,” he said with a grin.
I laughed. “I’ll give you a call on Saturday.”
He grimaced. “Don’t call too early. I’m not a morning person like you.”
“I know. I won’t. See you later,” I said, heading toward my jeep.
The day had been sorely needed. I was wound too tight. I had been pushing myself too hard for too long. It was stupid and getting me nowhere. Maybe that’s what my dad saw. He wanted me to slow down and enjoy life. Not just enjoy my life. He wanted me to share it. I got it, even if I didn’t fully embrace it. I didn’t want to end up like my dad. I had witnessed the pain he had gone through for years after my mom died. I didn’t want to experience that kind of grief. It was probably the underlying reason I never had meaningful relationships. I didn’t want to be sad.
The day of surfing had helped me clear my head, get clarity which is exactly what I needed. I had let myself get caught up in the emotional response, the knee-jerk reaction to reject my dad’s demands. I could beat him in this game of wits if I kept a cool head, which I was now. Now, I was ready to make this fake engagement work, even if it meant I had to marry the woman. I’d pay her extra for marrying me if that’s what it took.
I wouldn’t lose my company.
Chapter 8
Hailey
I walked into the orphanage, greeting the employees as I walked to the rec room. Fortunately, they all knew me and didn’t stop and ID me anymore. I peeked through the rec room door, saw Mandy in the front of the room reading a book to the younger kids in the orphanage. I didn’t know the group as well as I knew the others, but I still liked to say hi when I could.
I waited until I saw her close the book before I made my entrance. I didn’t want to disrupt the calm she had established with the little ones.
“Guys, we have a special guest!” Mandy said with a big smile.
I grinned, walking into the room, waiting for the kids to turn around and see me. The moment they did, I was embraced in exuberant hugs around my waist.
“Hi, guys! Did you enjoy your story?”
There were some nods and a couple sighs. I spent a few minutes chatting with them, doing my best to give them all an even amount of attention, which wasn’t easy when they were all talking at once.
“Alright guys, it’s time to head in for your snack,” Mandy announced.
The kids lined up at the door before one of the aides came in to take them into the dining hall, leaving Mandy and me alone.
“Hi,” I said once she closed the door.
“Hi! I’m so sorry,” she said, making her way toward me before wrapping her arms around me, giving me a quick hug.
“It’s okay. I know you’re busy.”
“I meant to call you back yesterday, and then we got a new intake so things were hectic. I’m a terrible friend.”
“You’re an excellent friend. It’s really okay. This job is far more important than my silly problems, which really aren’t problems at all. You were right about everything. I’m sure you enjoy hearing that and don’t expect me to say it again—at least not for a long while.”
“I was right?” she asked with a grin.
I nodded. “Yep. My meeting was very positive. I’m not fired.”
She giggled. “Of course, you aren’t. What was it about?”
“He wants me to sign an exclusive contract with his agency, and he’ll give me a pay raise if I do.”
She smiled. “That sounds awesome, but is it what you want?”
I nodded my head. “Yes, I think so. An exclusive contract would mean I wouldn’t have to go out on calls to try and land new jobs. I told him my real goal was acting, which he actually wants to help me with. He gave me the name of an agent he says can help me get into the business.”
Her mouth dropped open. “He who? The CEO you were worried about meeting? He wants to help you get into acting?”
“Yes. He wasn’t what I thought he was. He’s actually very nice and really handsome—nothing like what I expected the CEO of a big ad agency to look or act like.”
Mandy eyed me carefully. “You like him!”
I shook my head. “No. I mean, he isn’t an ogre. I guess I assumed he was older and crankier. I mean, I knew he had a playboy reputation and all that, but I know plenty of older men that have that same kind of reputation. He does not look like the typical CEO at all. He has this sexy, dangerous thing going on that really surprised me. I expected clean-cut, stuffy and a jerk. He was none of those things.”
Mandy was smiling. “You like him,” she repeated.
I shrugged a shoulder. “I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do. I haven’t seen you giddy over a guy since we were in high school. You like him. I need to meet this guy. What’s he look like?”
I smiled, visualizing him in my mind. “Black hair, a little long but he keeps it slicked back. Green eyes, tall, muscular, and charming, I guess would be the word. I mean, he has this way about him that just makes you want to smile. Or at least it makes me want to smile—a lot.”
She was nodding her head. “He sounds yummy.”
“He is. I think he has a bit of an Elvis thing going on. Young Elvis. Square defined jaw, nice cheekbones, somewhat tan,” I said, my voice trailing off.
“How long was this meeting? Did you get his shoe size as well?” she teased.
I sighed. “I can’t help it. No words could aptly describe him. And, the meeting was short. Too short.”
She was grinning. “You’re smitten. He has captured your attention, and you have a serious crush.”
“I’m going out with him on Friday,” I mumbled.
“You’re what!” she gasped.
I was embarrassed to admit I had accepted a dinner date offer from a man I didn’t know. It wasn’t like me, but there was something different about him. Something I was drawn to and wanted to get to know better.
“He asked, and I accepted,” I said nonchalantly.
“Now I really need to meet this man. He must be something special to win you over with one meeting. You’ve been around male models and managed to resist their charms. This is different.”
I laughed. “He is different. I mean, my body felt alive in the brief time we were together. I was all tingly, and my stomach felt warm and gooey inside. I don’t know what it was about him, but I was helpless to resist. I didn’t want to resist. I can’t explain what happened, but it did.”
Her eyes were sparkling as she stared at me. “I’m happy for you. I hope he is what you think he is.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, suddenly wary.
She shrugged a shoulder. “You’re having a very visceral response to him. It sounds like a lot of sexual chemistry, even if you’ve never had it or experienced it. I’m going to say you’re lusting after him. Maybe he feels the same way about you.”
I nodded my head, not understanding what she was getting at. “And that’s bad?”
“Not bad. Most people would kill for that kind of attraction, but I want you to be careful.”
“Why?”
She looked down at her hands. “Hailey, you’re a beautiful, sexy woman. You know men find you attractive.”
I shrugged. “I don’t think that’s a bad thing. Just say what you’re trying to get at.”
I was getting frustrated. I didn’t like hints. I wanted things spelled out in plain English. I was a black or white kind of person. Gray dirtied things up and left too much room for confusion.
“I’m just saying to be careful. Dinner to you might mean something different to him. He might think you are more interested in taking things a step beyond a casual dinner,” she warned.
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not that naïve, Mandy. I’ve been out on dates with men before. I know what they expect. That doesn’t mean that’s what they’re going to ge
t. Come on, you know me better than that.”
“But this guy is different. You are attracted to him, and I can tell you like him. I don’t want him to take advantage of that and hurt your feelings if he tries to push for more.”
“Which is why I said I would meet him at the restaurant. I know he probably thinks he’ll score if things go well. I’ll leave in a cab at the end of dinner. There won’t be any awkward moments at my front door or any of that stuff,” I assured her.
She nodded her head. “Good. I worry about you.”
“I know you do, and I appreciate it. My gut instinct tells me he is different.”
She giggled. “Or it could be pheromones.”
I nodded my head. “That is definitely a possibility. There was certainly some kind of chemical reaction happening in that room. I don’t think I was the only one who felt it even if he did a much better job at hiding it.”
“So, he is technically your boss, right?” she asked.
I titled my head thinking. “I don’t know. I mean, I work for his company, but it isn’t like I ever see him or anything like that.”
She grimaced. “Be careful. He is the CEO. You just said he offered you a raise, which means he also has the power to fire you.”
I rolled my eyes. “I don’t think he would do that.”
“You never know. If you don’t give him what he wants, he could take it out on you in other ways.”
I shook my head, refusing to believe Terran was like that. “I don’t want to sound arrogant, but my ad campaign is making him very successful. I don’t think he would fire me because I wouldn’t sleep with him. If he does, so be it. I don’t need the job that much.”
“Smart girl. If that does happen, I’ll have a few choice words for him.”
I laughed. “Now who’s the one worrying too much. Relax. Nothing has even happened. You’re imagining all these horrible outcomes, and I haven’t even gone to dinner yet. We might end up not liking each other at all. The reaction in the office could have been a one-time thing.”
“That’s crap, and you know it,” she shot back.
I grinned. “I want to see if he’s what I thought he was. I’ll be careful, and I won’t let myself get caught in his little web. If he’s a snake, I’ll know. I have a pretty good radar when it comes to that. Give me some credit.”