by Leslie North
“I didn’t mean to snoop. I was passing by when I heard the end of your conversation. And I had an idea.”
Jackie swallowed hard, unable to move her gaze from his face. It seemed wrong to stop looking at such perfection. His straight nose, ice-blue eyes, full lips that wouldn’t possibly be as soft as they looked if she were ever to kiss them…
“What is it?” she forced out.
“You need a place to stay,” he said, though it sounded like a question. “And, I’m not sure if you noticed, but you’re already staying in a place.”
She blinked a few times. “What?”
“You don’t have to leave. I have a guest room. I have four of them, actually. You could pick whichever one you like—or alternate between them, whatever you want.”
She felt her cheeks flaming again. This somehow seemed worse than imposing on any of her friends—one of her clients taking pity on her. “No, no, you don’t have to do that.” Even though if you don’t take him up on that offer, you’ll be sleeping in your car tonight. “I don’t want to intrude on your space. This is your home. I—”
“Jackie.” The way he said her name made a shiver race up her spine. “I promise you. This is fine. I know what it’s like to have things change last-minute. And if you were counting on staying here, and my dumb ass doesn’t tell you about the change of plans…I get it. Let me make it up to you. For coming back early, and for also almost scaring the piss out of you twice in a half hour.”
Jackie fought to hide the smile that threatened to cover her entire face. God, he was too nice. Could someone that handsome also be that nice?
“And besides, here’s the other part. I still need you to stick around for the last half of the original time block I booked you for.” This little detail made something tight inside her finally unclench. “I’m only going to be here for the rest of this week, and then I have to go to Napa for my best friend’s wedding. You saw him—the one who was here earlier. My original plan was to go straight from Seoul to Napa, but I came here instead. After the wedding, I’m heading straight off on another business trip. So we’d only be sharing a kitchen for the next six days, until I leave again for two more weeks. Of course, you’ll be paid for the full month—that was what you agreed to when you accepted the assignment, and it’s not your fault my plans changed.”
Jackie found herself nodding without even realizing. The hard, proud side of her wanted so badly to not take up him on his gracious offer, but the rest of her was dissolving with relief that she could still count on this penthouse for both a home and an income source for the three weeks.
“That sounds perfect,” Jackie said, offering a grin.
Daniel’s grin nearly sent her tumbling to her knees. “Great. It’ll be nice to have someone else around here for a change. I’m a pretty easy roommate. All I do is work and order takeout.”
“Sounds like my kind of time,” she said.
Daniel nodded, and they locked eyes for a long while. Longer than what felt normal.
But it was hard to look away. From the second she’d started coming into his home, she’d been so eager to know more about the man who decorated only in grays, blacks and neutrals. The man whose aquarium spread alone could have funded her entire last year of college. The man who actually included in his house-sitting profile, “Please talk to my fish.”
The man who she could have sworn was flirting with her via the infrequent notes they’d leave behind after house-sitting gigs.
Six days of cohabitating with this man—and then it would go back to business as usual. Which meant that he was going to go be model-grade hot somewhere else, somewhere far away from her, in his life that didn’t include a late-blooming, big hearted, homeless social worker.
There had been enough unprofessional incidents between them in one day to last a lifetime, so she didn’t need to tempt fate anymore by adding a rejected sexual advance or a withering innuendo on top of everything else.
So she’d just be quiet, normal, and keep to herself for the next six days.
Piece of cake.
3
“Finally, Delayed Daniel shows up!”
Daniel smirked as his friends ribbed him. He smoothed down the front of his dress shirt as he approached the table for three on the covered patio at one of San Francisco’s most elite country clubs. It didn’t have the same charm as the diner where they’d planned to meet two nights earlier when he’d just gotten back into town, but at least he wasn’t afraid to look at the health rating of this place.
“I’ll have you know, I made it on time today,” Daniel said, his chair scraping as he eased into the padded seat. The table was already laid out with oysters and sparkling water, sunlight filtering through the trendy thatched roof of the patio and casting beautiful shadows on the white tablecloth.
“Yeah, but you totally missed our Stanford dinner two nights ago, so you deserve some harassment. Even your dad got here today before you did,” Blake said.
Daniel sighed, glancing around the patio. “My dad’s here too?” He saw enough of his father at the office, but then again, they ran in similar circles. This wasn’t the first time they’d chosen the country club for lunch on the same day.
Blake turned to Grayson, jerking his chin. “Pay up.”
Grayson narrowed his eyes, making a big display of checking his watch. “I’m calling it late. We said twelve thirty and it’s…”
“12:34. Don’t forget, buddy, we got here early,” Blake clarified.
“So you were betting on if I’d be late again?” Daniel asked, smoothing his napkin over his lap before reaching in for an oyster. “Typical.”
Grayson sighed as he dug for his wallet.
“How much are you out this time?” Daniel said before slurping back an oyster.
“Five hundred,” Grayson grumbled, then slapped five crisp hundreds into Blake’s waiting palm.
“If I’m late, or if I’m early…either way, someone’s not happy,” Daniel cracked. The server approached then and took their orders. As this was another regular haunt of theirs, nobody even glanced at a menu before ordering their regular fares. For Daniel, it was a half portion of salmon with a fancy kale salad he never ended up eating but loved the look of it.
“As long as you’re not late next week,” Grayson said with an accusing finger at Daniel.
“I would never,” Daniel promised. And this time, he meant it. He’d never do anything to risk messing up the events Grayson and Mila had planned leading up to their wedding. Despite having arranged the wedding in under two months, they’d still managed to make an entire week of it—and have damn near their entire families participate. It was going to be the wham-bam affair of the century, tucked into a picturesque villa in Napa Valley that they’d rented exclusively for their wedding week.
“Are you planning on bringing your cute little bathtub lover?” Grayson asked.
“Oh, yeah,” Blake interjected. “Daniel, I’m pissed at you. You didn’t tell me you had a bathtub lover. Grayson had to tell me when he got to the diner the other night.”
Before Daniel could correct his friend and explain that there was nothing going on between him and Jackie, Grayson barreled on. “Why would he tell you? His flings don’t last more than a couple weeks.”
“Exactly,” Blake said, narrowing his eyes at Daniel, assessing him. “So it all depends on where he’s at in the fling cycle with this one. If he’s nearing week three, then he’ll be broken up with her before your wedding week even starts.”
“It’s not like that—” Daniel started, wanting to set the record straight. But his father walked into view then, his business grin pulled tight with his hands stuffed into his pockets, and heading straight for their table. “Here comes my dad.”
“Good old Mr. Trent,” Blake murmured, glancing over his shoulder. Daniel’s dad was practically a celebrity at this place, and damn near every other business establishment he went to. As he headed their way, he waved to or nodded at practically everyo
ne he passed.
The man was a business shark, as evidenced by his multiple mansions across the world, his insane collection of sports cars, and bespoke suits that he wore to every occasion, whether it was church, the boardroom, or the dentist’s office.
“Hello, boys.” His father’s gruff voice made Daniel tense. The way he spoke to all of them always reminded Daniel and his friends of their position—the kids at the table. Daniel had fought tooth and nail to be accepted by his father as a capable businessman, but even still, there were frequent lapses when his father treated him like he was a twelve-year-old playing soccer in the backyard.
“Hey, Mr. Trent,” Blake said, sounding overly friendly.
“Good to see you,” Grayson chimed in.
“Hi, Dad,” Daniel said, shifting in his seat. They’d missed each other at the office since he’d gotten back from Seoul, so he was sure this was more of a business drop-in than a friendly visit.
“Hatching up another plot for world domination?” His dad squeezed Daniel’s shoulder, a satisfied smirk on his face.
“You know it,” Grayson chimed in. “Actually, I was just about to propose an interesting offer to your son.”
Daniel narrowed his eyes at his friend. “Oh, really?”
“With my wedding next week, I don’t want your son to show up alone to the biggest day of my life,” Grayson said, the start of a shit-eating grin on his face as he looked up at Mr. Trent. “I think he should try to make something work with his latest girlfriend for once.”
“She’s not a—” Daniel said.
“You’re seeing someone?” his dad demanded.
“He is, but I’m not sure it’ll last without a little incentive. Therefore, I wager that Daniel can’t keep that girlfriend for the entire length of my wedding festivities,” Grayson finished proudly, looking at each of them in turn. “Let’s bet on it.”
Daniel’s knee began bouncing. It would have been embarrassing enough to explain to his friends about the house-sitting mix-up, but now that his dad had been brought into the misunderstanding, untangling it would be ten times worse. His father always seemed to take his lack of serious romantic relationships as a sign of Daniel’s immaturity rather than an indicator that he had no damn time for a girlfriend, given the pace at which he worked.
“You boys and your bets,” his dad chuckled before jerking his head to the side. “Daniel, will you join me for a minute? I wanted to go over something about the Korea contract.”
“Sure, Dad.” Daniel cleared his throat, sending an apologetic look to his two friends over business intruding on their lunch—yet again. Grayson and Blake, used to Daniel’s father, just nodded sympathetically as he stood and left the table. His father led him over to an ornate gazebo on the far side of the patio.
Overlooking the sprawling, immaculately tended green lawns, his father said, “Now tell me why you’re back here in California. Since you finished up in Seoul early, you could get a head start on the Bangladesh project. There’s no need for you to be in California—and why do you have next week marked off for no work at all?”
“It’s Grayson’s wedding next week.”
Confusion creased his dad’s sun-weathered face. If the man wasn’t in a boardroom, he was on the golf course, schmoozing with business contacts. “And you’ll be gone for a week?”
Of course his work-hungry dad wouldn’t understand. In their family, things were only considered of value if they padded your bank account or padded your social status. Supporting a friend during an important life event didn’t count. “I might be closing a deal there,” Daniel lied. It was the only way his father wouldn’t give him endless shit about being there for his best friend during the biggest time of his life. Until the baby came, of course.
Still, his father frowned, looking out over the golf course as he jingled the keys in his pockets. “And you’re doing him such a favor by jumping when he says jump. But what is this about a girlfriend? Is she another fling? That seems like something they would love to bet on. Were you even planning on bringing this girl with you to the wedding?”
“No, I wasn’t,” Daniel admitted, a headache building around his temples. “Because we’re not—”
“So it is another dalliance,” his father cut in with a disappointed frown as if Daniel had, once again, failed to live up to expectations. “You won’t be young forever, you know. When are you going to settle down, take your responsibilities seriously?”
His father thought he wasn’t serious enough? Despite all the hours he put in, all the business deals he closed? All the work, all the dedication, all the effort he put into chasing the gold ring of his father’s approval, and still he had to deal with this bullshit?
“You know I’ve never approved of your silly bets,” his father continued. “But this bet…I want you to win it. Show your little nouveau riche friend that he can’t get the better of you—not this time, at least.”
Daniel couldn’t quite hold in a bitter laugh at that. How like his father to insult him and Grayson all in one breath. Grayson might be new money, but that was because he’d pulled himself up from poverty into a brilliant career. And while the competitive friendship between the two of them and Blake meant that Daniel didn’t always come out on top in their contests and bets, that didn’t make Daniel a loser, no matter what his father seemed to think.
“Dad,” Daniel began, but when his rebuttal failed to appear on his lips, he realized he had no good reason for not going through with it. If he explained that he and Jackie were not—and had never been—together, his father would think he was just making up excuses.
He just needed to make sure he could convince Jackie to go through with it, but he already had a pretty good idea of how he’d make that happen. Tossing tons of money in anyone’s face was a sure way to elicit a solid ‘yes’.
“What? The next words out of your mouth better be ‘Dad, you’re right’, or—”
“Dad,” Daniel interrupted, clamping a hand on his father’s shoulder. “You’re right. I’ll be collecting my money at the end of next week, don’t you worry.”
His father seemed appeased, and he nodded brusquely, his gaze darting over Daniel’s shoulder. “Great. Go get ‘em. I’ll see you in the office later.”
When Daniel returned to the table, their lunches were there. As soon as Daniel sat down, Blake dug into his food. “You get in trouble from Daddy Trent?”
“No, just wrapping up some details from the business trip I went on,” Daniel said, replacing his napkin over his lap.
“So, what’s the answer?” Grayson asked.
Daniel sighed tersely, pushing around the fancy kale salad he had no intention of eating. “To your stupid bet?”
“Yes. Let’s hear it. A cool mill says you won’t be able to make your romance with the Bathtub Babe last until my wedding is over and we’re en route to the honeymoon.”
The fire flickered to life inside of him. The competitive juice that streaked through his veins was more like a drug than anything else.
“Done. I’ll show you that my Bathtub Babe not only has a name, she has longevity. To the honeymoon and beyond,” Daniel proclaimed. It didn’t matter that he hadn’t talked it over with Jackie—he’d figure out a way to convince her. He closed business deals every day, and that was all this was. A business deal to show his friends and father and anyone else who was looking that he could hit any target he aimed at, one way or another. All that mattered was winning. “That extra million would have been nice for you guys to vacation with—hope it’s not going to ruin your plans.”
“We’ll be fine,” Grayson said with a snarky grin before diving into his quiche.
Their conversation finally turned to other topics, most of them involving the preparations for Grayson’s wedding and whether or not the DJ would open with the “Macarena” once the dancing began. After lunch, Daniel made a quick exit so that he could get back to the office. He had a lot on his plate for the day, but more than that, he wanted to make
sure that he was home in time to catch Jackie.
Their first two days of cohabitation had been uneventful, to say the least. She was usually getting ready for her day by the time he was leaving for work, and both nights he’d gotten home late—after she was already tucked into the guest room.
Still, though, he could see small signs of her presence in his penthouse. Feminine toiletries in the bathroom. Grad school textbooks on the coffee table. And the presence of granola bars and three-pound bags of pistachio nuts—that was all new. And for some reason, really cute.
He liked the idea of Jackie sitting around, studying and cracking pistachio nuts while she worked.
Or maybe he just liked the thought of Jackie doing anything.
He managed to leave the office by six thirty, and was hitting home by just after seven with a rumbling belly and no energy to cook. As soon as he stepped into his penthouse, Jackie’s sing-song voice carried through the foyer.
“And I say hell-o to you, and hell-o to you…”
As his footsteps snicked through the foyer, her singing stopped. When he saw her, she was standing guiltily next to the fish tank in his great room.
“Hey.” His gaze washed over her, part of him disappointed that she wasn’t dripping wet and naked again. Not that there was anything wrong with the current view. Dressed in skintight booty shorts and a tank top that showcased the line of her cleavage, Daniel had to force his eyes off her body. “What were you singing?”
“H-hey. No, it’s just, uh…” She glanced nervously at the sprawling fish tank. “I was singing to your fish. You’re home early today. Is everything okay?”
“Yeah. Perfectly fine.” It was then that he caught a tantalizing whiff of garlic. “Are you cooking?”
Her eyes rounded and she spun on her heels. “Shit! I forgot to check the garlic bread!”
He followed her into the kitchen. She yanked open the oven and peeked inside, but all he could focus on was the apples of her ass in those tight shorts. She heaved a sigh of relief, shutting the oven. “It’s a good thing you came home. I made too much.”
