by Holly Jaymes
Her head lifted to look at me, causing her body to sink back into the water, “Are you asking me if I like what I see?”
I knew I was a good-looking guy. The only possible turn off for women would be my tats. I wondered what Hallie thought of them, “I guess I am.”
She gave me a smirk, “Of all the things I’m going to have to fake, thinking you’re attractive isn’t one of them.”
I grinned like a loon, which was embarrassing, but what the hell, “Good to know.”
She swam toward the stairs, murmuring something that sounded like, unlike you, “I think I’ll turn in.”
“Wait a sec, let me get you a towel,” I hopped out at the nearest edge of the pool and went to the little pool house. I grabbed two fluffy towels, wrapping one around my waist and then bringing her the other.
She waited in the pool for a moment, and I got the feeling she didn’t want me to see her.
“I’ll grab our drinks and take them inside.”
I turned away but watched her reflection in the large windows of my house as she emerged from the pool. My dick started to swell again at the sight of her luscious curves in her pretty lace panties and bra.
Her words came back to me, unlike you. Did she think pretending to be attracted to her would be a hardship? Even after I’d already proven to her, that was totally wrong?
I turned back to her after her towel was wrapped around her, “Hallie?”
She met my gaze as she made her way back to the porch.
“I won’t have to fake that part either.”
Book 2: Chapter 6—The Road Show
Chapter Six: The Road Show
Hallie
“I won’t have to fake that part either.”
I was pretty sure he was just being nice when he said that, but I appreciated the effort. Sure, he showed me he could get it up, but my understanding was that it didn’t take much for a man to get an erection.
Me, on the other hand - I had no intention of getting in the pool with him, until he took his shirt off and then his pants. I’d known by the way his suits hugged his body that he was a fit man, but to see the carve of the muscles in his back, decorated with intricate tattoo designs made my mouth water and my body go really hot. Too hot. I needed to get into the pool to cool down.
What I didn’t want was for him to see was me. Where he was hard sexy muscle, I was soft and round. No, he didn’t think I was attractive in the same way I thought he was.
That night in bed, I struggled to sleep, worried about how all this was going to play out the next day. How was I going to convince my coworkers I was really married to this guy? How was he going to convince them?
The next morning, looking bleary-eyed from a restless night, I slipped the gorgeous rings on and rode with him to work.
When he parked, he looked at me, “Ready?”
I nodded, even though I wasn’t ready. Not at all.
“Any details I should know before we do this?”
My mind was blank.
“Hallie,” his dark eyes were sympathetic. “Do you want to call this off? It’s okay if you do.”
I was shaking my head before I had a chance to process what he was saying. But once I did, I rallied. I was going to get my house built to suit my ailing parents. All I had to do was act like I was in love with my boss, which I sort of was. I was in lust at least, “No. I’m okay.”
He stared at me a little more. I smiled so he’d know I was okay and ready to play his wife, even though I had no clue how I was going to pull this off.
We exited the car, and as we walked to the building entrance, he took my hand. I looked down at our entwined fingers, thinking how surreal this was.
“Married people hold hands,” he said, matter of factly. His hand was large and warm, and in a weird way, comforting.
Once at his office, he asked Clair to call a meeting of all the executives and managers. This was it. He was going to tell them we were married. I got a C in junior high drama. Now I was in the play of my life. Would I be convincing?
At first, he stood next to me in the conference room as the highest-level members of his business filed in. When they were settled, he cleared his throat.
“I have some news that involves myself and Ms. Thorne--Hallie,” he looked at me and smiled, putting his arm around my waist. “As you know she’s an invaluable member of the Sloane Labs team. What you don’t know is that despite my rules and my best attempts to avoid it, I fell in love with her.”
All eyes around the table widened in surprise.
“I wanted to keep this between us, but well, when I realized I couldn’t live without her, I knew I needed to let you know. Hallie and I were married recently.”
The wide eyes reminded, followed by gaping mouths.
“Work-wise nothing changes. But we’re a team, and I felt like you needed to know. Are there any questions.”
I could tell from Clair’s expression that she had a million questions, but she shook her head, even as her surprise turned into a frown toward me. I was sure she was wondering why I never said anything.
“Congratulations, sir, and Ms. Thorne...or I guess it’s Mr. and Mrs. Sloane,” one of the managers finally said. That was followed by other congratulations.
“Now, as far as the IPO, we’re moving forward. Hallie will be with me on the dog and pony shows. The rest of you keep doing the fabulous job you’re doing. We’re going to change the world with our work.”
I looked at Nate feeling inspired by his words. One of the many things I loved about working for him was his use of “we” when it came to his company’s work. He recognized that it took many people to achieve goals, and he made sure we all felt a part of the grand mission to improve the lives of sick people.
“Do you have anything you want to add, sweetheart?”
Sweetheart? I shook my head.
He turned back at his audience and grinned, “I’m a lucky man.”
Nate pulled me tighter to him and looked at me with his wonderful dark eyes, and for a minute, I believed him too. He smiled and kissed me on the cheek. It’s for show, I reminded myself, as his warm lips on my skin made my blood heat up.
After he dismissed everyone, I went with him to his office, and after a quick, “Do you think that went alright?” he was back in work mode, planning our trip to New York on the first stop of the dog and pony show. It took me a moment to switch gears, and it made me think that I might have to be careful with my heart around him. He was the type of man that would be easy to fall for. I’d need to keep that in mind - this was all pretend, after all.
After he was finished with me, I returned to my office. It only took a minute before Clair and Jolene to enter.
“You’ve been holding out on us, girl,” Jolene said.
I swallowed hard, “Sorry.” I smiled, hoping I looked a little bit like the cat that ate the canary.
“I can’t believe it,” Clair plopped herself down in one of the chairs in front of my desk.
Uh-oh.
“All this time the two of you were…” she made a gesture mimicking sex, “and I had no clue.”
“It’s not very nice to leave your friends out of such important business,” Jolene added. “Were you just having sex in his office?”
I gaped, “No!” Then I remembered we were newlyweds, “Not this morning, anyway.”
“Oh my God,” Clair fanned her face. “How many times have I sat outside his office with you in there getting your groove on?”
Holy smokes. I went with a coy smiled in lieu of an answer as I sat behind my desk.
“So…” Jolene prompted. “Give us the deets. When did you get together? How’s the sex? Is he huge? I bet he’s huge and really good in the sack.”
“It just sort of happened,” I was going to fail this.
“All those late nights you two worked,” Clair shook her head. “I always wondered about that.”
She did?
“Ooh, look at that ring,” Jolene came over to me, grabbed my ha
nd, and looked at the diamond and platinum engagement and wedding ring set. “He does love you, girl.”
Maybe this wasn’t going to be so hard after all.
“And the sex…spectacular, right?” Clair asked.
“I never kiss and tell,” I re-deployed what I hoped was a coy smile.
“I’ll tell you what, if that man were mine, I’d have him naked all the time,” Jolene said.
I couldn’t blame her. From what I’d seen of his body, he was certainly something I’d never get tired of looking at.
Later in the day, I told Nate everything I’d told them about our courtship and wedding so he’d be able to answer questions if asked. His cheeks reddened when he learned about the questions about having sex in his office and his manly size.
“I don’t understand women.”
I rolled my eyes, “Are you telling me you never talk about breast size with men?”
He shook his head, “Not since I graduated from high school and grew up.”
I had to concede it was a little juvenile to discuss him as a piece of meat, but I also knew, women often lived vicariously through others. Today I was the conduit of the idea that fairy tales could come true.
That first day, I had a lot of questions about Nate, but by the next day, people lost interest, and our work lives went back to normal. Except for Clair and Jolene, of course, who never missed a chance to ask me probing questions about Nate.
Mid-week, Nate and I flew to New York for the first official stop to make his presentation for his IPO. He booked a suite and told me I could have the bedroom and he’d take the hideaway couch. The bed looked bigger than a king-size, and I considered offering to share, but I wasn’t sure I wouldn’t somehow end up jumping him if we did. Since this was a business deal that, when done, would require me to go back to being his assistant, it was probably better that I didn’t seduce him.
Like a good assistant, I had all his presentation materials and the information he needed about each potential investor ready for him and coordinated with his lead underwriter who set up the roadshow presentations.
Working alongside Nate, all felt very normal until he’d do something like put his arm around me or hold my hand and remind me that I wasn’t just his assistant, I was his fake wife.
The presentations in New York went well. Aftward, Nate talked with the lead underwriter, and then we prepared to attend a gathering with the investors at a local restaurant’s event room. After a little rest from the presentation, we changed, Nate in a different dark suit that made him look like the billion bucks he was. I was back in the green dress I wore at the Madison event. I hoped that there wasn’t anyone from the Madison event at this gathering. We were over 200 miles away from Washington, D.C., where the Madison event had been held, but working with Nate showed me that rich people seemed to get around. If anyone noted I was in the same dress, they’d wonder why since surely I’d have access to enough money to buy a new dress.
As I came out of the bedroom, his eyes scanned my body, making my breasts tingle. Crap, he was probably wondering why I was wearing a dress I’d already worn.
“This is the only formal dress I have.”
“It’s a good one,” he said, stepping toward me. His gaze took me in again, and I cursed my body for getting all warm and aroused. He held out a jewelry box, “I got this for you.”
Confused, I opened it to find a simple yet elegant necklace with a diamond pendant inside.
“I hope you won’t be offended, but I was thinking that my wife would have jewelry. Not that you don’t, but—”
“I get it. I need to look like a billionaire’s wife,” I wasn’t offended, but it was a reminder of how different our worlds were. Perhaps I should mention that I’d need a few more dresses if these types of gatherings would be a part of the roadshow.“What will you do with all this when we’re done?” The rings alone had to be tens of thousands of dollars.
“I hadn’t thought about it. You can keep them.”
“What?” What would I need with an engagement and wedding ring, much less a fancy necklace when this ruse was done?
“Hock them if you want.”
I wasn’t sure what to say to that. I didn’t like feeling like a charity case, and yet, I needed to take care of my parents.
While we were dressed nice, the gathering itself was fairly laid back. The atmosphere was friendly and informal. Of course, there were several questions about our marriage, and a few people indicated that they liked that Nate was settled. I wondered what they’d think when they learned we weren’t married anymore. It was one factor we hadn’t discussed about our fake marriage - our fake divorce.
As the evening wore one, Nate and I got separated, and I ended up talking to a woman who was a patent lawyer that once lived in Washington, D.C. but was now with a firm in New York.
“Nate sure has changed,” she said, watching him from across the room. The gleam in her eyes wasn’t the usual admiration that I saw in women around Nate. No, her expression suggested a familiarity with him.
“You know Nate?” I asked.
“Oh yes,” she said wistfully. Then she jerked, looked at me, and blushed, like she realized she was thinking of Nate naked in front of his wife, “I worked with him on a patent deal a few years ago when I lived in D.C.”
“Oh?” I had a good feeling that working wasn’t all they’d done. I pushed down the jealousy. I knew of Nate’s history and reminded myself this was a fake marriage.
“Yes, although in the end, he didn’t patent it,” she shook her head, “He wouldn’t need this IPO if he had.”
“What do you mean?”
“It would have made him a fortune. Or another fortune, I should say. But he decided to give it away. A real-life Jonah Salk.”
What? I forced myself to nod like I knew what she was talking about, but I had no clue.
“He swore us all not to say anything. I figure since you’re his wife, he’d probably told you though.”
“Yes, of course,” I sipped my wine to hide my lie. I looked over at Nate, smiling and talking to a potential investor.
“When that drug is finally approved by the FDA, many people with Parkinson’s will have a more affordable medication option.”
My heart tumbled in my chest at this news. Why wouldn’t he want people to know he’d not patented a drug? He wanted to change his image, and instead of getting the news out that he was forfeiting millions - even billions - to create an affordable Parkinson’s treatment, he opted for a fake marriage.
Nate caught my eye, he smiled, and then, when he saw who I was talking to, he frowned. He appeared to excuse himself and made his way to me.
He smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Allison,” he said, kissing her on the cheek. “I see you’ve met my wife.” He draped his arm around me.
“Yes, we were swapping stories,” she winked at me.
Nate flinched.
“All good, I assure you,” she laughed.
He looked at me and smiled, but it still looked forced, “Please tell me you’re not talking about my prowess again.”
I patted his cheek, “I don’t have to tell people about it, darling. People already know.” Once the words were out of my mouth, I regretted it. The whole reason for this charade was to change his reputation, and I just reminded him and Allison of it.
Annoyance flashed in his eyes.
“Of course, I don’t tell people. I don’t want to make them jealous,” I said, trying again.
Allison snorted.
“You’re bad,” he said, but I could see that his irritation was lessened.
I smiled sweetly, “You like bad.”
He surprised me by letting out a low growl. He shocked me when he planted his lips on mine. It wasn’t a quick peck, either. It was firm and full, and it made every neuron in body fire at once. Just as I was getting ready to really sink into it, he pulled away. He wrapped his arm around me again, tugging me closer. The movement shocked me back to reali
ty. This was all fake. The marriage. The kiss. All. Fake.
After that, I continued to smile and schmooze with all the business types in the room, but I felt like the wind had been knocked from my sails, which was ridiculous. I knew this was all fake. The problem was, my body wanted it to be real. I wanted him to mean it when he said “I won’t have to fake that part either,” the night we discussed attraction in his pool.
Once the soiree was over, and we were back in our room, I immediately changed into my pajamas - cotton pants and t-shirt, and tied my hair up into a knot. I had no one to impress now that we were in the privacy of the hotel suite.
“You okay?” Nate asked as he watched me take a seat on the couch and grab the remote. Allison probably thought we were now having wild sex. Instead, I was looking to see if there was a rerun of Sex in the City on t.v.
“Sure.”
He came to stand behind the couch. He held a drink in his hand as he looked down on me, “You sure? Did Allison say something?”
“She said a lot of things,” I poked the guide button on the remote looking for the menu.
He swore under his breath, “Look, Allison and I were a long time ago, Hallie.”
I tilted my head to look up at him, “It doesn’t matter. This is all fake, remember?”
His brows knitted, “Even so, I don’t want you feeling uncomfortable.”
I shrugged, turning back to the t.v., “I’m not uncomfortable. I can pretend marriage and fake kisses.”
I was just about to click on a channel, when Nate’s fingers threaded under my hair knot and tilted my head back.
“The marriage might be fake, but the kisses aren’t.” Then his lips were on mine again. An inferno flamed through my body as his mouth consumed mine. This time, his tongue drew along the seam of my lips, which I took to mean he wanted me to open my mouth. I parted my lips and invited him in. He tasted divine, like bourbon and Nate. He moaned, or maybe it was me. All I knew was that my body was on fire and I wanted him around me, on me, in me.
And then he let go. His expression was a mixture of frustration and desire.
“Fuck,” he growled and turned away, headed to the bathroom, leaving me hot, needy, and disappointed. This is all fake...right?
