The Screwup: A Billionaire Fake Fiancée Romance (The Holbrook Cousins Saga Book 2)

by Alina Jacobs

  Allie grimaced. "It's nothing."

  "I doubt that," Liz said as she flopped on Allie's bed. "I want to know everything."

  Allie relented and told her. It felt good to get everything out; she had been holding her frustrations and insecurities in for so long.

  "But I'm done with him," she concluded. "His family hates me, like really hates me. They think I'm out to kill or ruin Carter."

  "But you clearly feel something for him," Liz pressed.

  Allie looked guiltily at Liz.

  "Don't worry about me," Liz said. "I was just in love with the idea of being in love with a Holbrook. Now that I've been working with Carter, I don't think he and I would do all that well together after all."

  "He's a handful," Allie agreed.

  "What are you going to do?"

  "I don't know. I can't deal with it."

  "So that's it? You're not going to fight for him?" Liz said, munching on a chocolate-covered cookie.

  "You don't understand. There was nothing there." She rubbed her eyes.

  "Are you crying?"

  "No," she said, hiding her face.

  "I'll tell my brother to have a talk with Carter," Liz said, shoving a bottle of vodka into her hand.

  "No, please, I’m done. I'm so tired of Holbrooks. I need to buckle down, finish my internship, graduate, and find a job."

  The next day, she tried to force herself to concentrate on the presentations. Allie took copious notes and studiously ignored Carter.

  Vance was back, and he had tape on his nose, she noticed during one of their breaks. He came over to her, put his mouth close to her ear, and hissed, "I’m going to ruin your boyfriend."

  Allie didn't know how to handle that. This was her fault! She should have deescalated the fight or just simply told Carter off.

  "Glad that's over with," Carter murmured beside her as they arrived back at the hotel for their final night in Oslo.

  Allie tried to ignore him, but he grabbed her around the waist, saying, "Let me buy you a drink."

  "I don't know."

  "Come on. Do you ever drink anyone else's alcohol?"

  "That sounds like you're trying to make a dirty joke," she said.

  Just go back to your room and ignore him, she told herself. But she knew she wouldn't, especially when he winked at her.

  "This is a nice date," he said as the bartender handed them their drinks.

  "Better than the storage closet," Allie said dryly.

  Carter looked chagrinned. "Yeah, that was messed up. I’m going to do better. I promise."

  Allie looked at him sadly. "I meant it. We can be friends but nothing more."

  "I want more, I think."

  "Do you? Or do you want it just because someone told you that you can't have it?"

  She stood up to leave, and he followed her to her hotel room.

  "You can't tell me you don't want it," he said, pushing past her into the room when she unlocked her door.

  Allie let him push her against the wall. She strained against his body, wanting to feel all of him.

  "I knew when you said you didn't want me you didn't mean it," Carter said, looking down at her.

  "I never said I didn't want you," she told him, trying to pull him down so she could kiss him. "I just said it was a bad idea."

  "I know I didn't treat you right, but I'm going to redeem myself," he said, his breath hot on her ear.

  He pulled off his clothes as he kissed her. She could taste the faint traces of alcohol on his tongue while he undid his shirt.

  "We shouldn't," she said, not meaning it. He gave her a wicked smile and started to unbutton her blouse.

  She tried to shove him off, but all she got was a handful of his body. He grinned at her as she let her hand roam over his chest and around his muscular back.

  Unable to help herself, Allie buried her face in his neck and luxuriated in the feel of having a perfect naked man in her arms.

  "Like this?" he asked. She moaned involuntarily as his fingers worked between her legs, rebuking any notion of pushing him away.

  "You want it rough?" he asked.

  She nodded. She couldn’t even choke out a yes.

  Carter pinned her against the wall, his fingers a hard pressure between her legs. She moaned and whimpered, bucking against his hand.

  "I like this much better," Carter said and bit down hard on a nipple. He turned her around and jerked her back against him.

  She felt his hand spread her legs and the other hand grab a fist of her hair. Then he entered her. His cock was hard, and she moaned from the feel of him.

  He was so large inside of her. She gasped as he moved her over and bent her over the side table.

  "I want to have all of you," he said. She could feel his rhythm increase, and she heard her breath hitch each time he slammed into her.

  Letting out a low moan, she came from the sensation of him inside of her. A few moments later, she felt him shudder.

  Breathing hard, Carter took off the condom and dumped them both on the couch. She leaned back and let him sprawl in her lap as she traced her fingers through the sweat on his back.

  "You want to go out?" he murmured, his eyes closed.

  "I'd rather stay here with you," she replied.

  He smiled.

  36

  Carter

  Carter felt invigorated. He didn't care that his family didn't want him to be with Allie. He felt so much better with her than he did without. He spent the night in Allie's room. Waking up next to her, he was elated when she smiled at him.

  He wrapped his arms around her, saying, "You can't tell me this isn't great." He traced the tattoos on her back. "Where did you have these done? What do they mean?" He wanted to learn everything about her.

  She laughed at his question. "They were done by some people I know who wanted to practice tattoo artistry, so I let them practice on me. It's not their best work, but oh well."

  Carter let his hand drift down farther and stroked between her legs, coaxing a moan from her.

  "We're so right for each other," he told her and leaned down to kiss her. "Who else makes you feel like this?" He thought about her mentions of past boyfriends. He wanted to make her forget about them.

  She arched against him as he worked his hand between her legs. He couldn't contain himself as she threw her head back. He slipped on a condom then entered her.

  "I'm glad I can finally fuck you in a nice bed," he told her.

  "The storage room wasn't doing it for you?" she gasped out.

  He kissed her, stifling a cry. It felt luxurious to fuck her as she lay like an unwrapped present in the tousled sheets.

  Carter groaned as the heat and tightness of her was too much.

  She bit his shoulder as she came, sending him over the edge as well. He rolled her over to sprawl on top of him.

  "I don't want to go back," he murmured.

  Allie kissed him. "I'm going to shower."

  As they boarded the plane to go back to New York, Carter felt as if he were already flying. He ignored the dirty looks Digby and Vance gave him. Vance's face was splotchy and bruised. Carter supposed he had hit him harder than he thought.

  He pushed it out of his mind. He was back in Allie's good graces, or at least he hoped he was.

  I should ask her out once we land, he thought. I'll plan a real date, somewhere nice.

  He wasn't able to, however, because as soon as they landed, Kate was waiting with a car to bring him back to the Holbrook estate.

  "So I've been summoned?" Carter snapped when he saw her.

  When he walked into his uncle's study, Grant was there, as was Jack.

  "This couldn't wait?" Carter asked.

  "I have to go to Asia," Walter said. "Grant has informed us about your workplace affair with Allie."

  "Traitor," Carter muttered. "I can't believe you ratted me out."

  "It's affecting your performance," his cousin replied.

  "You need to end it before people find o
ut."

  "Grant didn't end anything with Kate," Carter retorted.

  "Because he married her," Jack stated.

  "Married her? What is this? The eighteen hundreds?" Carter yelled.

  "No, but it is the corporate world. People are very conservative."

  On the drive back to New York City, Carter ignored Grant and Kate, who rode in the car with him.

  Marry Allie? That was a big step. He hadn't even taken her out for a real date.

  He waited to see if there would be a moment he could ask her out for real, but Monique had given them a reminder about their projects, and now Allie was laser focused on creating an amazing deliverable.

  A few days after returning from Oslo, Carter and Allie arrived at the Halcion Drone company headquarters to talk to the general manager, Trent Tanner.

  Carter didn't like the look of the man, who swaggered over to greet them. His dislike intensified when Trent kissed Allie on the cheek and smirked.

  "Hello, there Allie," he said. "And one of the famous Holbrooks, our new owners."

  "I didn't know you worked here," Allie said.

  Her voice sounded small, Carter thought. She wasn't her usual confident self.

  "Allie and I are practically family," Trent said to Carter. "My brother, Bryce, and she were very close, weren't you?"

  Allie shrank back, and Carter looked at her with concern.

  "We're here to look at potential safety violations in your factory," Carter told him. "We're going to need all your records. If people keep dying in your factory, it reflects poorly on Holbrook Enterprises."

  "We take safety very seriously here," Trent said, motioning for them to follow him into the factory. He reached out an arm and grabbed Allie around the waist.

  "Don't touch her," Carter snapped at him.

  "It's all right. Allie and I go way back."

  "I don't care," Carter said flatly. "We do not tolerate sexual harassment at Holbrook Enterprises."

  Trent gave him an ugly look.

  "I don't have all day," Carter said. "How about you show us around the facility."

  He kept himself between Allie and Trent as they went through the factory.

  "Is this where the fall happened?" Allie asked Trent.

  "It was an accident," Trent said. "The worker wasn't wearing a safety harness. He had also been written up for other incidents of not following procedure. I was there; I saw the fall happen. Nothing I could do to save him, unfortunately."

  "Is that so?" Carter said. He didn't trust Trent.

  "And I suppose you think that just because your name is on the company, you have any idea what's going on here? I was in the military," Trent stated, glaring at Carter.

  "So was I," Carter replied.

  Trent spat in a nearby trash can then took them outside, and they watched the drones take off and land.

  "Impressive," Carter said as the unmanned drones completed complicated aerial maneuvers.

  Back in the plane, Carter said, "I don't like that guy. How close are you, really?"

  Allie ignored him and said, "The company should have sent Holbrook Enterprises every file pertaining to the working of the company as part of the buyout. I want us to go through everything."

  When they checked their network access upon returning to the office, they found that the legal department had given them access to the Halcion Drone files on the server.

  "This is a lot," Carter said, feeling discouraged.

  "Better start looking through it," Allie replied.

  "More nights and weekends?" he said, remembering how it felt to be inside of her. His mouth watered. He really had it bad for her.

  Allie read the lust on his face and gave him a disapproving look as she left for her bartending job.

  Carter thought they had turned a corner in their relationship in the hotel room. In hindsight, though, maybe he shouldn't have done that. He had never been in an actual relationship, he realized, and he didn't want to screw up whatever nascent connection he had with Allie.

  37

  Allie

  She hated herself for giving in to Carter in the hotel room. She had to admit, it had been nice to do it in bed as opposed to a cold, windowless room. It almost made her forget that she really didn't mean anything to him.

  Coming back to Arnold's small, dirty apartment was almost too much to bear. She felt herself tense up just walking into the building. Margot was happy to see her, at least. Allie looked the dog over. She looked as if her eyes were runny. Probably from how dirty the apartment was.

  Allie's bad mood hadn't improved after seeing Trent. There was something going on with that company. She was sure of it. She clipped the leash on to take the dog for a walk when she returned from visiting the drone company.

  As if her thoughts had summoned a bad spirit, there was Bryce, waiting for her outside of Arnold's apartment.

  "Go away," she said, trying to push past him.

  He grabbed her and slammed her against the wall, knocking the breath out of her. Margot barked, and Allie could barely struggle as Bryce pressed against her, forcing his tongue into her mouth.

  "We were so good together, weren't we, Allie?" he said.

  She felt him force his hand between her legs, and a spike of fear gave her the energy to push him away.

  "Don't touch me," she warned.

  Bryce only laughed. How had he found out where she lived?

  "Don’t think I've forgotten what you did to me. I'm finally out of the military now, and I'm planning on working with my brother, and I don't need you to mess up my plans. You and that Holbrook need to stay out of my family's business if you know what's good for you, or I may just come over and finish what he and I started." He hit the wall next to her head and smirked when she flinched. Then, finally, he left.

  Why was he so concerned about Trent and Halcion Drone?

  She stewed over it for the rest of the week.

  "He's so insane," she muttered one weekend as she scrolled through the deranged text messages from Bryce.

  "What?" Carter asked, pulling off his headphones.

  "Nothing."

  Since they were trying to finish up their project to make some serious headway, they were spending more time together. Because Allie had to work at the bar most evenings, she started coming in very early after walking Margot. They were alone in the office on the weekends as well. Liz was gone most weekends for a bachelorette party or a wedding.

  At least she didn't have to worry about Margot on the weekends. Allie had decided to start sneaking Margot in with her when she could. Now the little dog slept peacefully on Carter's lap.

  She thought about the time with Carter in Oslo. It was magical, but she didn't think that it would make anything different between them.

  "This is nice," Carter said. "We should be together."

  "You aren't responsible. You aren't even helping take care of that dog that you dumped on me."

  "I sent you money."

  "Not in a while. But it's not about the money. You probably have a huge apartment. And I'm stuck in… Well, never mind. But I'm sure Margot would have more space to run around at your place."

  "I'm sorry," Carter said, sounding like he meant it.

  "If you were sorry, you wouldn't have let it happen."

  "I'll be better."

  "Don't bother."

  Their interactions were frosty the next few days. Allie was the one who wanted it that way.

  Carter kept badgering her about going over to her place.

  "I don't want to fuck you in the print room," he murmured to her.

  "Then don't," she snapped.

  "Why are you being like this?" he demanded. "We had a good time in Oslo."

  "We had an affair on a work trip," she hissed. "It was so unprofessional."

  "So that’s what it was?" he asked. "An affair? That's what you think of me?"

  Allie shook her head, brushing past him to grab a water out of the break room fridge.

  "I'm not d
oing this. I have more important things to do."

  She thought he looked hurt, but it was probably just her imagination. Carter was like many overly entitled people—he just wanted something simply because someone told him no. She wasn't going to let herself be used.

  "You're coming to New Cardiff next week for Brandy's wedding planning, right?" Liz asked, interrupting the tense moment with Carter.

  "Sure," Allie mumbled and left for her bartending job. It was still slightly chilly outside, but wedding season would soon be upon them.

  New couples and first daters filled the Olive and Twist. Allie mixed expensive cocktails and tried to dispel the dark cloud of envy.

  Carter could shrug it off if he was exposed as having an affair, but she was on a razor-thin margin. If she lost this internship, she was finished. She was hoping to use her experience at Holbrook Enterprises as a stepping-stone. If word went around that she was sleeping her way to the top, it would be disastrous.

  She shook her head and handed the freshly made drinks to a server. She knew what the solution was. It was the same as it had always been.

  You have to cut off Carter. She didn't want to, but she had to. She had been lucky so far, but if she kept tempting fate with Carter, she was afraid he would ruin her.

  38

  Carter

  Liz looked at Carter expectantly after Allie ran off.

  "This is your big moment," she told him. "You want to be a better man, someone Allie can depend on, and someone she would respect and desire? Better step up."

  "Yeah, I guess I have room for improvement," he admitted.

  "Improvement?" Liz snorted. "You need to make drastic changes. Stop thinking about it, and just be better."

  Carter mulled over her words as he made his way to the Olive and Twist.

  "Your boyfriend can’t be here," the manager said when Carter walked up to the bar.

  "I’m a paying customer."

  "He’s not my boyfriend," Allie stated.

  "You can't have a rotation of men coming in here," the manager said disapprovingly.

  "Men?" Carter hissed.