by Dagny Rand
*~*~*
The next morning, Neal found himself camped out in the coffee shop of a good sized bookstore that he frequented due to how close it was to his office. He actually read quite a bit, but he never really paid attention to the other people in the store with him. Scott had been right about him gravitating more towards girls who didn’t give off an air of being well read. He didn’t think it was because he was intimidated by intelligent women, though.
He’d been there about an hour when the sound of the bell over the coffee house’s door brought his attention around. He’d generally been ignoring the people that were coming in for coffee, but this woman was beautiful. She had long, dark hair that hung down to her waist in soft, gentle waves and a figure that caught everyone’s attention, even in the jeans and tee shirt outfit that she was in. She hadn’t turned around yet so Neal had no idea what her face looked like, but her voice sounded very happy and sweet as she ordered her cup of coffee and complimented the barista’s blue dye job.
Neal waited for her to get her coffee, and watched her from behind his book as she moved to add cream and sugar to her cup. Once she was done there, she turned and started walking towards the book store. Her bright hazel eyes caught his through her tasteful thin black framed glasses for a moment as she brought her coffee to her wonderfully full lips, then jumped back as she remembered that she’d just gotten it and it was hot. Then she blinked as if he wasn’t there, and brushed past his table. Neal grabbed his bag and followed her at a distance. He needed to see why she was there.
She moved as if she was there with a purpose. Her breeze past the romance section was a plus for Neal, and he smiled as he watched her continue on. She paused at a book about cooking healthy, but ended up putting it back down and moving on. That wasn’t a bad thing, Neal could always appreciate a good home cooked meal, and he worked out at least three times a week, so healthy was good.
It was where she actually stopped that made him decide to try and strike up a conversation with her: Mysteries and suspense.
“That’s a great series,” Neal said, eyeing the book that she had in her hand. It actually was one that he’d read, and he wasn’t blowing smoke for once. She grinned.
“Really? I need a new series to start, since my current series new book isn’t going to be released for another eight months, and I’ve heard good things about this one,” she said.
“I love this author, his books are fast paced, which is good for people like me with no attention span,” Neal said, causing the girl to snicker. “That’s the sixth book though, if you want to start at the beginning, this is the one that you want,” he said, handing her the correct book. She gently took it from him, her fingers softly brushing his in an unintended moment of contact.
“Thanks, it’s nice to get an actual opinion from someone. I’m not entirely convinced that the online reviews for some authors aren’t paid for,” she said with a laugh. Neal smiled.
“No problem, I love talking to people who share my taste in reading,” he said.
“I’m in here pretty regularly and I’ve never seen you before. Do you come into this store often?” she asked.
“Often enough, but not usually this time of day. Today was an exception, I’m usually trapped in meetings around this time,” he said with a smile.
“Fun. Well, I’m Lisa. I feel like you should at least know my name,” she said with a slightly nervous laugh. Neal already thought she was absolutely adorable.
“Nice to meet you, Lisa. I’m Neal. Look, this might be rather forward of me but, would you like to go out to dinner sometime?” he asked. Neal was a good looking guy and he knew it. He didn’t strike out often, and he found that most women actually appreciated when he didn’t beat around the bush and just let them know that he was interested. Lisa didn’t seem to be an exception to that particular rule.
“Wow, you are forward. But that’s alright, at least I know where I stand. I’d love to go out to dinner with you,” she said. Perfect.
Neal unlocked his phone and gave it to her, so that she could enter her name and phone number while he did the same in her phone. They parted ways with a promise to speak over the next few days, and Neal began to think about where to take her. Some place that she’s appreciate, but that would also impress her. You couldn’t really ask someone to be your fake fiancé without impressing them, could you? He thought about calling Scott after his great bookstore idea, but decided against it, figuring that was just a onetime thing and he didn’t want to ruin it by calling and discovering Scott to be the same idiot that he’d always been.
“Jessica!” Neal called out to his assistant. She was a bit of a gold digger, but intelligent as hell. She’d been on enough dates to help him out with his dilemma.
“Yeah?” she responded, sticking her head into the office.
“What’s the best first date that you’ve ever been on? Not the most expensive one, but the one that you enjoyed the most,” he asked. Jess gave him a questioning look, and then came farther into the room.
“That’s an odd question coming from you?” she said.
“Why is it odd?” he asked. Jess smirked.
“Because that is the question of someone who is really trying to genuinely impress someone, and you are not the guy that does that. You want to impress them long enough to get them naked,” she said. Neal and Jessica had a completely candid relationship, there weren’t too many people who would talk to him like that other than her. She was also one of those girls who would be smart enough to blackmail him, which was why she wasn’t in the running to be the fake fiancé.
“My parents want me to clean up my image, so they’ve decided that I need to pay someone to play as my fiancé. I’ve got a few weeks to find someone on my own before they find someone for me. I met a girl at the bookstore this morning, and I asked her out to dinner and I need a date that will impress her and not make her think that I’m a jerk when I tell her my predicament and ask her to play along,” he said. Jessica stared at him for a few moments with wide eyes before laughing.
“Wow, your parents are serious this time, aren’t they?” she said between giggles. Neal sighed and rolled his eyes.
“Are you going to help me or not?” he said, folding his arms across his chest. Jess curbed her laughter and sat in the chair across from him.
“Alright, sorry, I’m done. Let’s plan a date that will knock this girl on her ass, so you can fake propose without having the taste slapped out of your mouth,” she said. Neal grinned. This was why she was his assistant.
Chapter 3
Jess and Neal picked out a restaurant that had flawless reviews and a view of the city that was ‘to die for’, in her words. After that, I planned to take her out to do something fun. I’d noticed that her tennis shoes were obviously used, not simply for show. Jess suggested that we do something like bowling, something where the shoes were provided because no one wants to do something athletic in five inch heels. Neal was well aware that he probably wouldn’t have thought of that. That was why he’d ask Jess.
Jess had also told him to put a little bit of light gel in his hair, because the blond and brown looked really good when it was doing that ‘swoosh thing’. She’d had to show him what the swoosh thing was so that he could do it himself that night. He had also been told to wear a dark blue suit with lighter blue pin stripes, because it would look great with his almost sapphire blue eyes. Jess made a parting comment about eating him alive, and then left him to it.
Neal arrived a few minutes early to the restaurant. He had reservations, but for dates he liked to make sure that they restaurant had his card information before his date arrived. That way, when they were ready to leave they could, and the restaurant could simply charge his card what he owed plus a twenty five percent tip. There was a reason that restaurants loved him being a frequent patron.
“Ah, Mr. Broussard, it’s a pleasure to see you again,” the concierge said. Neal smiled, remembering that the same man had indeed been on the do
or when he’d come past for lunch a few days ago. What had his name been? Oh yeah…
“You as well, David. My assistant called in a dinner reservation tonight?” Neal asked. David smiled wider upon hearing that Neal remembered his name. You could accomplish and get away with a lot by doing the simple things like remembering a name, or whether they have kids, or that their wife had the flu last time you all met. There was a reason that Neal was so good at what he did.
“That she did, for a table by the window, correct?” he asked. Neal smiled and nodded.
“Perfect,” he said. David grinned.
“Would you like to wait for your date, or be seated now?” he asked.
“I’ll go ahead and take a seat now. I’d also like to go ahead and give you all my credit card information, and have a bottle of wine chilled, if it’s not too much trouble,” Neal said. David turned and motioned for him to follow.
“No trouble at all. I’ll take your card and get the information into the system, and would you like the same wine that you had last time that you were here?” David asked. Someone else was good at their job, if he was aware that Neal had a favorite bottle.
“That’s be perfect,” he said as David stopped by a table and motioned for him to take a seat. He handed over his card and sat down, looking out of the widow and smiling. Perfect. The bottle arrived in a tableside bucket of ice a few minutes later, and right on time, he noted Lisa’s reflection in the glass.
She looked amazing in a simple black dress that hugged the curvy bits of her perfectly, and Jess had been right about the shoes. He wouldn’t have asked her to even take a stroll in those, too much of a chance to sprain an ankle or something. They did make her legs look amazing though.
“I’m not late, am I? You look like you’ve been waiting for a long time,” she said. Neal smiled and shook his head.
“Not at all, I arrived a bit earlier than I intended to. You are rather punctual,” he said with a smile that could melt butter. Jessica giggled.
“So what’s a good dish here that won’t make me gain ten pounds before I leave? I’ve never been here before, it’s really nice,” she said.
“Just abandon that hope right now, everything here is rich and decadent, you can’t avoid it. You can have whatever you want. I’ve tried all of it, and it’s all excellent,” He said with a smirk and a wink. Lisa eyes him as if she was mused but not buying into all the charm that he was pouring on, which honestly made him laugh. She was the kind of woman that his parents would love, but that he would stay away from because he’d anticipate her opinions getting in the way of his. All he had to do was show her a fantastic time, and then be completely honest with her and hope for the best.
Dinner was amazing. The two of them talked and laughed the entire time, and Neal saw that he could see himself spending significant time with Lisa and it not being a chore, which was a good thing. She’d laughed when she found out that they were going bowling afterwards, but since she was just as competitive as he was, it turned into an all-out friendly war on the lanes as the two of them vied for the win. She won the last game, which Neal was thankful for in retrospect, hoping that the win would put her in a good mood. Currently, they were strolling through a rather quiet neighborhood together.
“Lisa, I have to tell you something,” Neal started. Wow, this was really going to suck, wasn’t it?
“Aren’t we a little early in our relationship to be having ‘the talk’?” she said with a giggle. Neal’s face was so serious and worried that she stopped laughing and swallowed.
“It’s harder than I thought, but I’m really hoping you don’t try and break my nose afterwards,” Neal said. Lisa frowned and turned her entire body to face him, stopping their rate of movement.
“Alright. Shoot,” she said.
Neal told her about the brothel in Vegas, about what he’d done that had pissed off the madam enough for him to be kicked out of there, and about the meeting with his parents after he’d returned. He told her the whole truth about why he’d been in the book store that day, and what made him talk to her about the book when he’d asked for her number. Then he told her that he needed a fake fiancé, and that if she was willing, he would pay her whatever it was that she named, once she signed an agreement not to take advantage of any knowledge that she might gain while being with him. Once he finally stopped speaking, Lisa stood there, staring at him completely still. Almost like she needed to be rebooted.
‘Lisa?” he said softly.
“Are you kidding me? Am I on some candid camera or something and Penny put you up to this? This is something that she would totally do, thinking that it’s hilarious. What are you, her cousin or something?” she said, looking around.
Neal hadn’t really counted on disbelief being the reaction that he’d get. It stopped him for a moment, watching her as she looked around. He sighed and pulled his phone from his pocket. It was pretty easy to find the news story and corresponding video from that night, since it was still pretty fresh in terms of the stupid things that celebrities do category of reporting. I didn’t say anything, I simply handed her my phone with the story pulled up.
Lisa hesitated before taking the phone, but she did. She read the little blurb that didn’t really tell you much about what was happening, other than celebrity trouble and the name Neal Broussard. She glanced up at him momentarily before starting the video:
Last night, celebrity paparazzi caught the score of a lifetime. Celebrity son and businessman Neal Broussard was caught exiting a brothel in Las Vegas. ‘That’s not a big deal, its legal there’ you may say, and normally it wouldn’t be considering some of the other shenanigans we’ve seen Neal get into. The deal this time, is that he was hurled into the street outside of the brothel, wearing literally nothing. His clothes were hurled out after him in a ball by a rather large bouncer, before the door was literally slammed shut. For his part, Neal didn’t seem at all embarrassed about the scene or the fact that he was naked, but he didn’t speak a word to any of our press that happened to be on the scene. Will Mom and Dad finally have enough of his…?
She stopped the video and handed Neal the phone back with a hurt look on her face. Damn it, that hadn’t been what he wanted.
“You’re telling me the truth,” she said softly.
“I am. One hundred percent of it,” Neal replied softly.
“You’re a big deal. Your parents must be pissed,” she said with a hesitant laugh. I smirked a little.
“Yeah, they are,” Neal said.
“And that’s why you need someone to pretend to be your fiancé. So that your parents won’t try and force you into something that you aren’t comfortable with,” she said.
“Yes,” Neal answered.
“What does this get me? Why in the world would I do this for someone I barely know anything about?” she asked. An excellent question, Neal thought to himself.
“Most people would say something like, ‘do it to help’ or something philanthropic like that. I discovered years ago that most people don’t do anything because it’s the right thing to do. There is always something that they are getting out of it, something selfish,” he said, causing Lisa to honestly feel a bit guilty about having asked the question. “In short, money. If you’ve got student loans that you need paid off, I can handle that. You want to buy a house in the county, I can handle that. You want a blood red convertible Ferrari, I can handle that too. I don’t expect you to do this out of the goodness of your heart, all that I ask is that you not blackmail me to get more. I’ll give you everything that you want in terms of payment, and during this whole charade, you get to come and go from my luxury penthouse as often as you please. You’ll have my black card for expenses, which includes shopping, and I will take care of you. You won’t have to lift a finger, unless it’s time for us to play nice in public,” he said. Lisa was about to say something, but her brain stopped her. She did have quite a few bills that were long overdue and needed paying, and buying a home sounded like a great plan
and a good stepping stone into financial security, something that she’d been grasping for but hadn’t quite grabbed onto recently.
“All of that, but help me find a job,” she said, crossing her arms. Neal blinked at her, he really hadn’t expected her to say yes, so the job request threw him off a bit.
“What?” he asked.
“A job. I’m trying to get into the architecture field, but I’m fresh out of school and I don’t have experience, which apparently is something that everyone wants. You have business connections, help me. Help me, pay me my terms and I‘ll do it. And you won’t have to worry about blackmail,” she said. Neal broke out into a grin.
“I know at least three firms off the top of my head that I can call first thing in the morning and get you interviewed,” he said.
“Perfect,” she said with a satisfied grin. She was getting paid, getting to spend money that wasn’t hers and living in luxury for a few weeks with a payoff that was massive for her. This wasn’t a bad plan.
“Absolutely perfect. Here’s my office, come past around 10 tomorrow morning and I’ll have the paperwork for the engagement agreement and more information about the firms,” he said, handing her a business card. Lisa smiled down at the card and slipped it into her purse.
“I’ll be there at ten sharp!” she said, turning and walking off.
“Wait, don’t you want a ride home?” he called after her.
“Nah, I want to walk. It gives me time to think about what I’m going to do with all that money!” she yelled back over her shoulder with a giggle. Neal grinned. Something about that answer made him glad that he’d chosen her, and that she’d agreed. This actually might work out.
Chapter 4
Lisa arrived at the building at five of ten the next morning. It hadn’t been hard to find the building, but she was a little overwhelmed when she walked into the lobby.