by Misti Murphy
“He’s got a track record. You know,” I say. “A wham-bam guy.”
“Oh.” Erin gazes up at Garrett.
“I have a radar. It’s like that’s the only quality I’m attracted to.”
“This guy is having slumber parties all over the place and what, flirting with you on set?” Garrett asks.
“Um, not exactly.” I shake my head. “He’s been very attentive actually.”
“When you say attentive...” Erin starts.
“It’s not going to last though, is it,” I tell myself out loud. “It’s stupid to think it could be something.”
“Don’t know,” Garrett says, stealing another cookie. “But from where I’m standing it’s always possible that the right girl might change a man’s life. It worked for me.”
***
I’ve been so mixed up these last few days. I begged off from watching Barclay do his Cupid impression, and haven’t seen Max since. I don’t know if I even want to see him. These feelings I have for him won’t go away. I’m not sure that I want to cement them too.
I’ve responded to his messages about how I am and if he can see me as curtly as I can manage, telling him that I have to work out who to pick for the show. But the truth is that’s only difficult because I don’t want to pick any of them. I’m pretty sure my dreams are starting to look like the set of Puppy Love, and every time I announce my choice, it’s Max.
I wandered past his sister’s house at one point, waivered on whether to stop, but there was a woman there, which reminded me why he’s not the type of guy I want to get close to. How many times do I need to learn my lesson before it sticks?
***
“Have you made your decision?” Kelly asks as we walk down the hallway to the room where the first interview was filmed. Inside the crew, the dogs, and the guys who worked to woo me through the craziest dates I’ve ever been on are waiting.
“Maybe,” I say nervously. Will Max be here too now that he’s not necessarily needed? Will he be hurt that I’ve avoided him? “I’m not sure. I suppose I have to pick one of them, don’t I?”
“Yes.” She gives me a pity smile that is more a tight squeeze of her lips. “It is the moment we’ve all been waiting for.”
“And if I don’t?” I balk at the door. “If I can’t?”
“Remember how I told you about the breach of contract?”
“Yes.”
“Well—”
I don’t hear whatever she says, because coming toward us is Max and a woman I’ve never seen before. She’s radiant and naturally sun bronzed, her dark hair a sleek bob. “Hello, you must be Evie.” She takes my hand, her brown eyes sparkling, as Kelly steps back. “It’s lovely to meet you. I’m Deanna Holt. Owner of Puppy Love.”
“Hello.” I glance at Max who stands stiffly beside her in a dark suit and tie. He has one hand shoved in his pocket and his jaw is clenched, but his gaze doesn’t contain its usual warmth, and when it settles on me it’s almost unbearable.
“I’m not sure if you two have formally met. This is my brother, Maxwell Holt.” She gestures at him. “It’s my understanding that he helped out during filming.”
“It’s good to see you again.” I’d swear we’d never met before if he wasn’t looking at me like he was finding this conversation as difficult as I am.
His sister is the owner of the company. When he said he had connections I didn’t think it would be to the owner. And the way he’s dressed now that she’s here... like he’s important. Kelly’s reaction to my assertion that he could be fired makes sense now. How high up is he? Is he an owner too? “You’re not the dog walker then?”
“No.” He leans forward to shake my hand. Perhaps it looks normal, but it feels stilted and awkward. “CEO of Puppy Love Enterprises, actually.”
When I told him that Kelly had threatened me with breach of contract and I’d worried he could be fired, he’d said he couldn’t be fired because his contract was different from mine. I’d figured it was because he wasn’t the one on the dates. It made sense that the dog walker might not have the same limitations put on him. But he’s not really a dog walker is he? He’s the CEO? Big difference. Huge.
Is anything he told me remotely true? I glance past his shoulder at Kelly, and she presses her lips into the tightest of lines, a warning in her eyes. Why is he behaving like he’s barely met me? Like I’m nothing.
“You lied to me,” I whisper under my breath, letting my hand drop back to my side. Do I even know him at all? Or was it some game for him? A ploy? The worst part is I expected it. Or should have expected it. I only fall for guys who hurt me. You’d think I would have learned by now.
“Sorry?” Deanna asks, but Max hears me.
His nostrils flare almost imperceptibly, his eyes widen and then narrow. For a second I expect he’ll say something by the way his throat tenses and his lips part. Then he steps back, drawing a line between us, and I feel sick to my stomach. How did I fall for his act?
“Are you ready, Evie?” Deanna asks.
“As I’ll ever be.” Somehow I manage to sound confident and indifferent. I don’t know how, when inside I’m shaking.
Kelly opens the door and Deanna walks in ahead of us.
“After you,” Max says, touching my elbow as he ushers me in.
I want to snap at him and tell him not to touch me. I don’t know him at all. But it won’t achieve anything. He probably wouldn’t even care. I just want to get this over and done with so I can get out of here.
Shadow, King, and Maloney are all sitting on plush cushions in front of three screens. The crew is set up and waiting for us. Deanna says something about how grateful she is to everyone for all their hard work.
The entire time Maxwell Holt stares at me from just inside the door. His gaze travels with me, no matter where I stand. I can’t help but think of Holly and Frank. Although his name was never Frank, it was Paul, or Pete, or something. I thought that night I was Holly, but maybe it was Max this whole time. Wild and uncommitted and whoever he had to be to get what he wanted. Me. He wanted me, he had me, and now it’s over.
“Hey, we’re ready for you.” Kelly squeezes my arm. “Come on, let’s get you where you’re meant to be.”
I nod and let her lead me to the mark on the floor.
“I’ll take your jacket.” She holds out her hand, and I make quick work of taking it off. They have the temperature up in the room so that I don’t shiver or goose bump in the little red number we decided I should wear.
“Rolling,” someone calls out and I clasp my hands together in front of me.
I should have prepared speeches these last few days instead of worrying about how I feel about Max. It would have been much more useful now. “Uh. Maloney. Where do I start? Our date was so much fun. I enjoyed playing dress up with you. But I’m sorry, you’re not the one I’m going to choose.”
Maloney barks twice. It’s probably the only trick he knows. Other than how to hump legs.
“King. You’re a little sweetheart.” I squeeze my arms to my side. “But our date was a little crazy. You peed on everything, including that old man. So, unfortunately, I’m not going to pick your owner.”
I lick my lips and clear my throat, glancing at Max before focusing on Shadow. I should have trusted my radar and stayed the hell away from Maxwell Holt. .“Shadow, we had a lot of fun. I tried something new with you. And you were such a gentleman. That’s why I’m going to pick your owner for a date this Valentine’s Day.”
A shadow moves behind the screen, and a man with a dark lumbersexual beard and navy suit steps out from behind it; Shadow’s owner. He smiles as he crosses the floor to me, his gaze friendly. When he gets to me I give him a hug like I was asked to, and he does the same.
“It’s nice to meet you, Evie.” He takes my hand when he steps back. His are clammy, probably from nerves. “I’m Holden.”
“Likewise.” I grin, not because I want to, but because it’s expected. “Your Shadow is such a gorgeous p
up.”
“I’m glad you had fun on the date.” He takes my other hand, squeezes my fingers. Smile. Smile. Smile for the camera. “I’m looking forward to our Valentine’s date now that you’ve picked me.”
I catch the door closing out of the corner of my eye, and when I glance over, Max is gone. I want to go after him and ask him why he pretended he was someone else. I want to yell at him for tricking me. Mostly, I just want to go home and hug Abby’s duck. How could I have been so stupid? I don’t know what else I say to Holden. I’m on autopilot until we finish filming.
Deanna comes over to talk to us about the date, and I nod along, as though I have any idea of what she’s saying. “Kelly will be in touch with any last minute details. We’ll see you then.”
“I’ll call you tomorrow,” Kelly tells me a few minutes later as she hands me my coat. “I’m guessing you’re a little frazzled right now.”
“Yes, thank you.” I slip my jacket back on as she leads me to the elevator.
“Do you want to go up? Or do you want to go down?”
“Sorry? Why would I want to go up?”
“Max’s office,” she says.
Do I want to confront him? Do I want to hear his excuses or more lies? I let him get past my defences. I almost breached my contract. He could have cost me everything.
“If it helps, he walked out without a word to anyone when you made your decision.”
“Why would that help?” If he cared at all wouldn’t he have stuck around? I reach in front of her and press the button.
“I don’t think Max took seeing you with someone else too well. This is new territory for him.”
It’s not new to me. He’s one of the worst bad boys I’ve ever met. Was anything he told me real? “I don’t even know the guy.”
We stop in the lobby, and she turns to me as the elevator door slide open.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I say. “I just want to go home.”
“Evie, I—”
“Kelly,” Deanna calls out, marching toward us from the reception desk. “I need you to find out where Maxwell has gone. We’re supposed to be in a meeting in ten minutes.”
Kelly races off to help Deanna, leaving without finishing whatever she was going to say. I’m not sure it matters. I don’t have time for men like Maxwell Holt who lie and trick women to get what they want.
CHAPTER TEN
MAX
I slam the door closed and stalk through my apartment. Barclay’s asleep on the floor in the living room, stretched out on one of the old couch cushions. Can’t believe I talked Deanna into letting me keep him, but he’s become a fixture in my life. Somewhat like Evie has in the short space of time I’ve known her. He lifts his giant furry head as I pass, tugging at the stupid knot in my tie. “Yeah, I know. I miss her too.”
Until this morning it’d been days since I’d seen Evie, and all I could think about was that as soon as we were finished taping I was going to tell her how I felt about her. I was going to tell her everything, and hope she would understand why I’d let her believe I was just some guy who walks dogs. That it isn’t normal for me to pretend to be someone I’m not just to spend time with a woman. That I would have done anything to be able to be around her. Still would. I thought we might laugh about all this after a while. That it would end up being a story we told when people asked us how we got together.
But now everything is screwed. “What am I supposed to do?”
Barclay doesn’t respond with any encouragement, though he does drag himself off the floor to trail me into the bedroom.
“I should have just told Dee that she could take the job and shove it where the sun won’t shine.” Deanna has been in a hell of a mood since she got home, bent on making sure I understood that she wasn’t impressed with my role during shooting, but she would have gotten over it. Probably. Eventually. Once she realized I was serious. Once she could see that Evie was different from anyone else I’ve ever known.
I sit on the edge of the bed and pick up the lampshade Evie wore as a hat that afternoon we watched Breakfast at Tiffany’s. She looked so damn cute in it.
I don’t even know why I came home really. There’s a meeting in less than twenty minutes that I need to be at. But Christ, seeing Evie with another guy was such a kick in the gut. Watching him hug her and take her hands like they had something special made me want to throw up or throw down. The way he looked at her and she smiled back…I had to get out of there. Especially after the way she looked at me when she called me a liar. It was like she didn’t know me at all.
Barclay jumps onto the bed and settles there with his head beside my leg.
“What do I do now?” My hand sinks into his dense fur. I doubt she wants to see me or hear me out.
I could tell Deanna. Though I have no idea how I’d convince her that it took one woman less than a month to bring down her bachelor life loving brother, and that he didn’t even kick or scream as she felled him. There was no dragging him into these feelings, and from the very first time he met her while rescuing a small child from Barclay he knew she was going to be the one girl who mattered. That he’s ready to make the kind of commitment that involves giving himself to one woman and dog ownership.
“Humph.” I snort under my breath as I roll my gaze and turn the lampshade over in my hands. “Like she would ever believe that.”
And if I could somehow make her see? She’d still ask me to hold off. Just for a few days. A week. Long enough to wrap up the Evie and Holden Valentine’s Date that will conclude this ridiculous campaign. Deanna’s put so much into the company, sacrificed to give us both opportunities and a lifestyle we might not have otherwise. She’s given up so much for me over the years. Maybe she doesn’t know how much I watched her give up in order to raise me, but I saw the way her life changed, the friends she lost, the boyfriends who didn’t want to deal with me. How many people broke her heart because she put me first. This is the least I can do for her.
I just hope Evie will forgive me when I get a chance to explain to her why I didn’t tell her the truth. “Think I’m going to need a plan to get out of this mess?”
Barclay moves until his head is on my knee, his nose leaving a wet patch on the black shade. He yawns, making that high-pitched noise dogs sometimes do as my phone starts ringing.
“We’ll win her over,” I tell him as I answer and lift the phone to my ear. “Yes, I know there’s a meeting. I’m on my way back now. Yes. Tell her I’ll be there in five minutes.”
***
“What are you doing in here?” Deanna walks in and puts her laptop on the desk before moving to the bar at the other end of the office that takes up at least a quarter of the top floor.
“I was waiting for you.” I put my feet on her desk, reclining in her ‘rule the world’ leather office chair. And yes, we once did joke over the original version, that it was the perfect chair for an evil world ruler. Or in Deanna’s case a villainous puppy loving ruler.
“Can you remove your shoes from my work space?” She wrinkles her nose as she pours gin into two lowball glasses. A spritz of tonic and she sways toward me.
I kick off my shoes, putting my feet back on her desk. It drives her crazy, but she catches herself before she goes parental on my bad behaviour. “What do you want, Maxwell? You missed the meeting with the investors.”
“I am sorry about that.” I accept the glass she hands me and take a mouthful. Fucking hate the stuff. She knows it. That’s why she’s not enjoying her usual scotch.
She smirks while I try to get over the taste. “I had to tell them you were sick.” She sits on the edge of her desk. “That you caught rabies. Or was it syphilis?” She shrugs it off. “At any rate, they send their condolences.”
“At least I didn’t miss the marketing meeting.” I toss the liquid from my glass into her waste paper basket.
“That’s true,” she muses, completely ignoring the fact gin is leaking onto her carpet while she leans closer and presses a fin
ger into the file in front of me. “I heard a little rumor about you.”
“You did?”
“My little brother, who can’t be trusted with the human female, has lost his ability to charm a woman’s underwear clean off.”
“Well, obviously you can’t believe everything you hear.” I shove my hands behind my head.
“Oh, that’s not all I heard.”
“You’ve had way too much free time on your hands.”
“I hear you haven’t even tried to in weeks. That’s unheard of.”
“It’s a dangerous time of year for guys like me. And now it’s Valentine’s Day. Women everywhere have declared it man hunting season, and you know they all want to tie a fellow down and mount his head on a wall.”
“I don’t think so.” She pushes my feet off her desk. “We’ve been playing on each other’s nerves since I got home, waiting for the other one to crack, but your heart’s not in it. You’ve barely put in any effort.”
“Sorry, I’m just not myself.” I sit up, stick my feet back into my shoes and get out of her seat. She walks around to sit down. I hesitate, tap my fingers on the edge of her desk with a grimace. “Is everyone happy with the campaign?”
“Almost.”
“At least that’s something.”
“I’ve started watching the tapes. The unedited parts as well. So I am guessing at least one person isn’t particularly happy. You kept her in the dark about who you are?”
“I couldn’t keep away from her, Dee.” I turn around to face my sister. “But you talked about suing her for breach of contract if I kept seeing her. You threatened to get her in trouble with her employer. I get it. You’re protecting our interests, but they don’t mean much to me when Evie’s involved. Instead, I was protecting hers.”
“They don’t mean much?” She sits back and the leather rasps as it settles around her.
“Or anything,” I say. “Not a damn thing. I can do without any of this.” I wave an arm to indicate the room around us, the floor we’re on, the whole building. “I can’t say the same about her.”
“Well,” she says.