It Started With a Lie

by Lisa Suzanne

  The presentation is ready, but I need to keep myself busy for the next two hours before I head over to the convention center. On the plane yesterday, I put together a proposal for Becker and Jason with my idea to bring the Germany work in-house, so I send that email off. I catch up on other correspondence and clear half the paperwork off my desk, and at seven-thirty, a gorgeous woman walks into my office looking refreshed and ready for the day ahead.

  “Good morning, Vivian,” I say.

  Her lips tip up in a small smile of victory, likely because I used her full name this time and didn’t need the reminder. “Good morning, Brian. Did you sleep well last night?”

  I laugh. “For about two hours. You?”

  “Two hours? Why?”

  I shrug and shuffle some papers around. “I had work to do.”

  “Workaholic,” she mutters.

  “You’re the one prancing in at seven-thirty,” I say.

  “Yeah, and you’re the one who’s probably already been here at least an hour.”

  I grin. She’s got me pegged. “You give any thought to the charity ball next weekend?” I ask.

  She nods, and just when she opens her mouth to respond, Jason walks by my office door. He stops and leans on the doorframe. The laptop bag on his shoulder indicates he just got in. “How was Miami?”

  “I postponed signing the contract. I sent you a proposal this morning for bringing the Schneider work in-house.”

  Jason raises an eyebrow as he looks up at the ceiling in thought. “I have two or three guys I think would be able to head that up.” He thinks another few beats. “We’d need at least three minimum, I think. One to head it up and two support. Where are we at on hiring?”

  “Frozen,” Viv says.

  I glance over at her with a glare, and her eyes widen as she realizes her mistake.

  “Sorry, that’s what Brian was talking about a little while ago.” Her attempt at a cover is weak, but Jason buys it.

  “For how long?” Jason asks, looking at me.

  I shake my head. “It’s not frozen. Ignore her. If you need to hire three new guys, let’s get a panel together for interviews. I need the team assembled before I try to talk Porter out of Schneider next week.”

  “You have time today for interviews?” he asks.

  I shake my head. “I’ve got Vegas Con today.” I glance at my calendar. “I can do this weekend or Monday, though. Porter wants me back within a week to sign off on our new deal. I didn’t mention bringing the work here.”

  “You hear from Beck on it?”

  I shake my head. “Doesn’t matter,” I remind him...even though it does matter.

  We wrote a policy into our bylaws that if forty percent of the stakeholders vote on something, it passes. It can only be blocked by a fifty-one percent vote. If I had my twenty percent stake, which I don’t, I wouldn’t need Mark or Beck on board for our final decision.

  But I don’t have my twenty percent, so I need to figure this out. I’ll email Beck one more time.

  Maybe Jason deserves to know the two of us can’t make these big decisions together anymore, but it’s my stubborn right to keep it to myself. I remind myself I’m working on it, and he doesn’t need to worry about it. The justification is weak in my own mind, but I brush it off as I glance at Viv.

  She shakes her head. She’s Mark’s proxy, as she’s reminded me numerous times, and she’s saying no, he wouldn’t be on board with this decision. Instead of listening to her, though, I say, “We’ve got it covered.”

  Her jaw opens a little at my clear defiance. I’m supposed to be turning over a new leaf, but she’s supposed to be pretending like everything’s fine. If she can fuck things up for me, I can do the same right back to her.

  As soon as Jason’s out of sight, she glares at me. “What was that?”

  “A chat between co-presidents.”

  She stands up and strides over to the other side of my desk, and my eyes take in the full view of a woman in a black dress on a mission. “I’ll tell you right now you don’t have the money to hire three new employees. Even if you get a wave of cash at the start of the month, you still won’t have enough in the bank. What are you doing?” She’s hissing at me, and it’s hot.

  “I’ve got a beautiful woman here to help me figure it out.” She rolls her eyes at my words. “Look, Viv, we’re saving money if we cut ties with the third party out of the country. We’ll get the work in-house, and it’ll take a few months to balance, but we’ll get there.”

  She thinks about it for a minute—really thinks this time, and then she finally says, “Fine. But you’re just making this harder on me.”

  “That’s why you’re getting paid the big bucks.”

  Jason’s head pops into my doorway again, and I wonder how much he might’ve overheard. From the look on his face, I’d guess none of it, but I need to be more careful about closing my door when Viv and I have these chats.

  “Hey, you going to the Delnore Charity Ball next weekend?” Jason asks just as I take a sip of coffee. “I asked Tess to come with me, and she’s in.”

  Tess, right. The girl who called me in a panic last night because Jason wanted to get back together...the girl I completely forgot about as all thoughts of Viv began to invade my every waking thought—and even my sleeping ones, if you count the sex dream I had about her last night during my brief window of sleep.

  I manage to hold myself together. “Yeah, we’ll be there,” I say absently, and I hear Viv’s sharp intake of breath at my words. I keep my eyes trained on Jason even though I feel the daggers she’s shooting at me from across the room. “And we can’t wait.” I shift my eyes over to her. “Right, Viv?”

  “We’re just so excited,” she grits out between a locked jaw and a glare in my direction.

  “Great. See you there. Knock ‘em dead on the presentation this morning, all right?” Jason says, and I nod.

  As soon as he’s out of sight, my grin at Viv is met with a glare.

  “That was rude,” she says.

  “Admit it. You were gonna say yes. I just made it easier for you.”

  She rolls her eyes and averts her attention to her laptop screen, but I don’t miss the tiny tip of her lips upward even though she tries to hide it.

  * * *

  I’m tackling the most intricate part of my speech during my presentation, the one I had to go over a few extra times to ensure I had the numbers correct, when she walks in.

  And just like that, I’m not in front of four or five hundred business men and women. It’s just Viv and me in the room now, and when her eyes find mine after she slides stealthily into a chair in the back of the room, I catch a glimpse of guilt despite the distance between us. I’m not sure if it’s because she’s late or if it’s something else, but it does have the effect of shorting out my brain for a few beats.

  I pause as I collect my thoughts, and then I steal a glance at the slide behind me to try to get back on track. I have to pretend she isn’t here. I have to get through this.

  I have to really sell our company today. If I can’t do my job and we don’t acquire some new blood, we run the risk of bankruptcy.

  It’s with that thought in mind I draw in a deep breath and pull myself together.

  “As you can see from the data on this slide, our predictive models can help you attract and retain your most profitable consumers. FDB is committed to seeing your business grow.”

  I continue with my presentation, and when I’m done, I know I knocked it out of the park. A long line of people forms beside the stage as individuals have personal questions related to their own companies, and I stay behind to answer all of them. This is where I make the hard sell. These are warm leads, people who are already interested, so now I just have to give them a little bit of my attention and make them feel like they’ll fit in with the FDB family.

  I can’t help it when my eyes keep edging over to Viv, but I do my best to focus on the people in front of me.

  I’m talking
to the fifth or sixth person in line when I glance at Viv again, and her gaze is intent on me.

  Fuck it.

  I wave her over. She’s studied the hell out of my business over the past couple weeks, and I have the sudden need to have her by my side, to have her help answer questions and give her own hard sell to get these people interested enough to sign a contract with us. Maybe she doesn’t care about my company, but she’s getting paid handsomely to get us above water, and this is all part of it.

  “This is Vivian Davenport, my colleague,” I say to some guy whose name I’ve already forgotten. “She’d be happy to answer your questions.”

  Vivian looks surprised for a beat, but then she dives in. “Nice to meet you, Mr...”

  She trails off, and I stare at her. Those perfect brown locks flow gently around her shoulders. She’s all business, yet my dick hardens with an ache I need her to soothe as I stare at her.

  “Woodley,” the potential client fills in for her.

  “Mr. Woodley,” she says, flashing him a smile. Her face lights up with the smile, and I realize how little I’ve seen of it. I’m used to the lemon-puckered face of disapproval from her, so the smile completely throws me off balance. “What can I answer for you today?”

  I force my gaze away from her once I see she’s going to be okay and I focus on the next potential client in line. “Brian Fox,” I say, holding out my hand.

  “Dave Shaw from Booth Graphics,” he says, and then he launches into questions about what my company can do for him. I focus all my attention on him and on our conversation, and by the time he leaves, I’ve practically got his contract drafted.

  As the seemingly never-ending line starts to dwindle and more and more of these potential clients turn into probable clients, I realize I’m going to have a shitload of work to do this weekend.

  I just hope a certain foxy brunette will want to hang around to help me get my work done, and if she does, I hope she’s not just another distraction.

  chapter twenty-six

  I gained at least thirty new contacts from the presentation, and my first order of business is organizing them by priority level when I get back to the office.

  “Lauren, I need you to run a profile on each of these companies,” I say, handing her the stack of business cards I collected. “And I need it as soon as possible.” I glance at the clock. It’s a little after one—plenty of time to get it done before quitting time at five. And if not, then she’ll just have to stay late to finish. I hate to be a dick on a Friday afternoon with short notice, but I don’t have time to waste with these qualified leads.

  “Yes, sir,” she says, and she sets to work as I head into my office.

  I’m on the phone ordering a late lunch to be delivered when Viv walks into the office.

  “Did you eat lunch?” I ask. She shakes her head, and I say into the phone, “Make that two.”

  “You didn’t have to do that,” she says when I hang up.

  “I don’t mind. It goes on my tab, and apparently my black card is unlocked again.”

  She shakes her head at me. “I see you never learn.”

  I shrug. “I’m still not over the roach motel,” I say dryly. “Guess Mark will be paying for that a long time.”

  “That was my fault. He didn’t say we had to go that frugal.”

  “But you’re his proxy,” I say, mimicking her tone as I glance through some of the notes I took during my one-on-one client conversations. She laughs, which I’m grateful to hear. I never know if she’s going to take my teasing to heart or not.

  “I am, and I have to say, Brian, it was amazing to watch you work that room this morning.”

  I glance up at her in surprise. “Thank you.” I feel a little embarrassed, and I’m not sure why. Humility isn’t really my strong suit.

  “The presentation was impressive, the way you commanded that room. But it was the attention you gave each potential client afterward that showed me what a truly great businessman you are. Your communication skills, your confidence, your leadership—these are things that seem to run in the Fox family.”

  “You know my brother that well?” I ask.

  She lifts a shoulder. “I was on the ground level of Ashmark when it launched,” she says, referring to my brother’s record label.

  “I had no idea.”

  “I typically don’t share client information, but Mark encouraged me to share that with you.”

  I’ve seen the fruits of my brother’s company. It’s a hugely successful label, and part of me wonders why she didn’t tell me she helped him launch it. I might’ve given her more credence from the start rather than making her prove herself.

  Or I might’ve seen her as just another one of my brother’s groupies.

  It’s probably wise she waited to tell me until she earned my trust.

  I clear my throat. “I have a confession.”

  She raises a brow as if to tell me to have at it.

  “When you walked into that room, for a moment you were the only one in there.”

  Her cheeks redden almost immediately, but it’s not my intention to make her feel insecure.

  “You’ve got my attention, Viv.”

  She shakes her head and averts her gaze to some papers on her desk. “Stop,” she says unconvincingly. I do stop, though, because last night it was my vow to respect her wishes.

  I’ll take every opportunity I can, though, to let her know I want more than just a professional relationship with her.

  * * *

  While Lauren researches companies, I set to work on creating contracts for the companies I touched base with, and I have Viv work on the contracts for the ones she spoke to. By the time five o’clock rolls around, Lauren’s only about two-thirds of the way through the stack of cards.

  I’ll be working all weekend anyway. I can take care of the rest. “Have a good weekend, Lauren,” I say, and then she heads out.

  “You want me to take half?” Vivian asks.

  “You don’t mind?”

  She shakes her head. “I’ll be going back to an empty hotel room. I’d rather stay and work.”

  I would, too, especially since she’ll be here. Before I think of some witty response along those lines, Jason pops into the office.

  “How’d the Con go?” he asks.

  “Great,” I say, nodding toward my computer. “I’d bet on twenty-five new contracts in the upcoming weeks.”

  “Twenty-five?” he asks, surprise evident in his voice.

  I nod. We typically sign two or three per week, so this will be a much greater increase.

  “Do we have the manpower for that?” He glances over at Viv and crinkles an eyebrow when he looks back at me.

  “We’ll take it as it comes. We may need new members on our support team. Viv here volunteered to help me sort through the contacts. Wasn’t that nice?”

  His brows draw down as he glances at Viv again. “What did you say you do again?”

  Viv glances up at me. “I own a small consulting business,” she says. I can’t remember if she ever told him what she does.

  “What sort of consulting?” he asks, suddenly interested.

  “Mostly small business strategies, that sort of thing.” She lies so smoothly I can’t help but think she rehearsed it just in case.

  “Is having our client list a conflict of interest?” he asks.

  “Jason, stop,” I say. “We can trust her.”

  He holds up both hands in surrender. “I didn’t mean anything by it. Just making sure our work is protected.”

  It’s protected because she’s the one protecting it. I fail to mention this to my partner, though.

  “It is,” I say thinly. “Where are you off to tonight?”

  “Tess and I are going to dinner and a movie.”

  A dart of dread passes through me as I realize I was supposed to have plans with Tess tonight. I never followed up with her after her frantic phone call two nights ago—I’ve been too busy between today’s con
ference and thinking about Vivian.

  “You kids have fun,” I say, and Jason laughs as he heads out.

  As soon as he’s out, I text Tess that our plans are off. Permanently.

  I just need to get FDB out of the red. Once we’re back in black, my time with Viv will be done, our fake relationship will be over, she’ll go back to Los Angeles, and I can stop lying to my friends.

  I’m just not sure why the thought of her leaving has me feeling more than a little disappointed.

  chapter twenty-seven

  I waltz into the office late Saturday morning. I actually have a glorious home office, but I like the idea of being in the place where Viv is during the week. I like the idea of sitting at my desk and wishing she was here with me.

  Imagine my surprise when I find the object of my thoughts herself sitting at her desk and tapping away on her computer when I walk in.

  “What are you doing here?” I ask.

  She jumps in her chair, startled, and her hand flies to her chest. “Oh my God, you scared me!”

  “I’m sorry,” I say, watching as the blush creeps up into her neck and onto her cheeks. “I didn’t mean to.”

  She sucks in a deep breath. “I wanted to finish the client profiles we didn’t get to last night.”

  I glance at her desk. Neat rows of file folders sit there, and I wonder how long she’s been here.

  She hands me the first stack. “These are the highest priority level.”

  “You didn’t have to do that,” I say, taking the folder from her. Our fingers accidentally brush in the process, and a little thrill darts through me.

  “I’ve told you, Brian. I’m here to help. Besides, I couldn’t sleep and I wanted to sort this stuff out.”

  “Why couldn’t you sleep?” I ask as I head over to my desk.

  She doesn’t answer as she resumes her tapping. “Let’s just get through these, okay?”