by Holly Jaymes
I blew out a breath and sagged back on the couch. There was really no bullshitting out of this one, “It’s for the IPO.”
There was a pause on Gabe’s end, “You’re going to have to explain that one.”
“There was concern that my reputation could hurt the IPO, and it was suggested a wife would help that.”
“You’re shittin’ me? So you found some woman willing to marry you?”
“Sort of. I’m not married. It’s fake,” it sounded ridiculous saying it. I could only imagine what it sounded like to Gabe.
“Jesus. And what’s going to happen to the stock when you go through your fake divorce?”
“It will be quiet. On the down-low,” still, a little niggle of worry sat in the pit of my stomach. If a marriage would help my reputation, a divorce, especially if people thought it was because I was unfaithful, might hurt it. I might have to keep this fake marriage longer than I thought.
“So, who’s the crazy girl—oh wait, it’s your assistant. That’s why you’re paying for this house rebuild.”
I dropped my head onto the back of the couch. How could an idea that seemed to be going so well, now seem so nutty? “It was part of the deal.”
“You’re one crazy fucker, Nate. How is that not sexual harassment or something?”
He wasn’t wrong. After all, not only was she pretending to be my wife, but I was fucking her every chance I got, “It’s fine, Gabe.”
“So, it’s all just pretend? You’re not role-playing any other parts?”
I knew what he was asking, but I wasn’t going to confess to my sexual life with Hallie, “It will be fine, Gabe. How’s the house coming along?”
“It won’t be weird when it’s all said and done, and you’re back to boss and assistant?”
God, he needed to let this go. “Weird? No.” But that was another part I hadn’t completely thought through. It could be weird. Especially since the safest bet would be to stop our sexual relationship then too. But what if I wasn’t ready for that? Could I keep sleeping with her after our fake marriage? What would happen when that relationship fizzled out? How would it impact our working relationship? I’d known that sex would complicate this whole thing, but I hadn’t been strong enough to resist her.
“What then?” Gabe asked.
I pinched the bridge of my nose, “Let it go, Gabe.”
Again there was a pause, and I knew he was scanning his brain for a way to get more info. I started to ask about the house again, but he cut me off, “You’re in love with her, aren’t you?”
How the fuck did he get that from what we’d talked about? Yes, I liked her and even cared for her. But love? I didn’t know what that was. Were my feelings different for her than other women I’d dated? Yes. Was I wishing we had more dog and pony shows so we could travel and be alone longer? Yes. Did I want to extend the IPO time so I could play house with her? OK, yes.
Oh, Jesus, maybe I was in love with her, “No.”
“But you’re falling for her. You like her.”
My non-answer was the answer.
“You have to bring her to dinner on Sunday, Nate.”
“No, I don’t,” I snapped. God if my family knew, they’d razz me about it until the end of time.
“You have to. Everyone wants to meet your wife.”
“Ah fuck, Gabe.” Had he told our family?
“Hey man, I had to ask around. See if anyone knew what was up about you having a wife.”
If that was true, why hadn’t any of them called? “I don’t believe you.”
“It’s true. Mom wrote it off as a mistake by your secretary, but I told Will and Mitch I’d get the info.”
“I should have smothered you as a baby,” I snarled. I considered not going to dinner this Sunday, but I couldn’t skip simply because I was embarrassed. But what the fuck? How could I bring Hallie? She didn’t need to have my family all in her business. It was one thing to pull off a fake marriage at work, but with my family? No way that would work. First, my mother would be heartbroken, and my brothers would be pissed. We were a close family. There’s no way I’d have fallen in love and not told them. And I certainly would have invited them to the wedding.
“Listen, I get the fake marriage thing will be difficult to explain, so why don’t I just say you’re not married, but you’re seeing your assistant and the secretary was confused?” Gabe said.
“Because I never date my staff. Who’d believe it?”
“So you want me to tell them of the fake marriage sham?” Gabe said.
Fuck! “No! God DAMNIT!” I wanted this to go away.
“Bring your assistant. I want to meet the woman that has my I’ll-never-get-married brother falling for her.”
“It’s not like that,” I nearly screamed into the phone. I might be having feelings for her, but I wasn’t getting married for real. I’d completely lost control of this situation. “Jesus, Gabe. Can you get off this for two fucking seconds? What’s up with the house?”
“Sure, I will but bring her, Nate. The house is cleared of debris, and we’re ready to start rebuilding the one side, and redoing electric and plumbing.”
“Good. Listen, she doesn’t know I’ve sent you out there.”
“Ah hell, Nate, you’re surprising her?”
I thought he was going to say that doing the rebuild behind her back was a bad idea.
“You have fallen for her,” Gabe laughed as he spoke.
Fuck.
I got off the phone and headed down to Hallie’s office.
“Oh hey,” she smiled at me as I poked my head in. Jesus, she was beautiful. I could look at her bright green eyes and sexy smile all damn day.
“Hey.”
Her smile faltered, “Something wrong?”
I entered her office and shut the door, “More of a hassle. Perhaps an embarrassment. For me, anyway.”
She quirked a brow, “Oh?”
I sat on the corner of her desk while she continued to sit in her chair, “My brother Gabe called the office apparently while I was away, and Clair told him I was out with my wife.”
Both her brows arched “Ohhhhhh.”
“I told him the truth, and now I need to invite you to family dinner on Sunday.”
“And that’s bad?”
“You coming to family dinner isn’t bad,” I hoped she didn’t think I was averse to having her come because of something about her.
“Their thinking we’re married is bad?”
“Actually, Gabe said that he’d tell the family that Clair was mistaken. We’re not married.”
She frowned, “Then what’s the problem?”
“Yes, but, to my family, we’re an item. I told him that wouldn’t work because everyone knows I’d never be with my staff…” I laughed nervously because that was clearly not true. “Anyway, while we don’t need to be pretend married, we do need to be pretend together.”
Something in her eyes shifted. I almost felt like I’d hurt her feelings. But she nodded, “Yes, okay. I can pretend that.”
Except it wasn’t pretend, was it? The only pretend part was when I called her my wife. Everything else was real. Shit, Gabe was right. I wasn’t just falling, I was practically there - in love with my assistant slash fake wife. All of a sudden, I felt a little sick to my stomach.
I stood, “Thank you, Hallie. I know this is not what you signed up for.”
She smiled, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes, “It’s not much longer. The IPO is in a few weeks, and then we can go back to normal.”
I looked into her green eyes and had the urge to tell her I didn’t want to go back to normal. Fuck. I needed to get away from her and figure out what the hell was going on in with me.
“I’ve got to get back to work,” I stood. “I think I’ll run down to the lab. I have a few questions about the latest report.”
“Drive safe.”
The drive to the lab only helped because it got me away from Hallie and the pull she had on me. But on
ce we were back at my home, it was there again, and it scared the shit out of me. Our situation was complicated enough, but to add emotion to it, I didn’t know what to do about that. Did she feel the same about me? What was fake, and what was real? I was driving myself crazy, trying to get a handle on it all.
On Sunday, I drove us to my mother’s house, giving Hallie the details about my brothers and how they’d probably razz me.
“I am looking forward to meeting Gabe. Maybe he can give me some tips on my house. I hope you don’t mind, I brought my book to show him and Sam. I got the idea from her.”
“I’m sure they’ll enjoy that.” And having something other than hassling me to talk about would be good. “Have you been out to see your house?” I kept wondering if she ever visited it and would find out what was being done.
She shook her head, “I’ve seen it a few times already. I don’t need to see it again until I’m ready to get it fixed.”
I hoped that she’d like what she saw when she did. It was a risk to fix her home without her input, except her book was the input. But I also knew Gabe was adding some additional touches based on her desire to make everyday living easier for her parents. I hope she liked them.
I parked behind Will’s Audi again. I noted Mitch’s motorcycle, as well as Gabe and Sam’s SUV, were already there. Inwardly, I groaned. They all wanted to be there to see me arrive with Hallie.
“You okay?” she asked.
“Just getting ready to be hassled.”
“How do you want me to play it?”
I looked at her. How much of us was play for her? Was she having any sort of feeling at all? “Just be normal. Oh…and remove the ring,” I replied as I took mine off and put it in the change holder of my car. She put hers in too. “We’re just dating tonight. No fake marriage.”
“Got it,” she smiled, and I couldn’t help myself, I leaned over to kiss her. “What was that for?”
“I just felt like it.”
She unsettled me, and yet, at the same time, brought me peace.
Her smile was even brighter. Maybe she felt something after all. But now wasn’t the time to figure it out.
I took her hand as I led her up the front walk and into the house.
“Oh, Nate, you’re here,” My mom breezed into the foyer, “and, finally, I get to meet your friend.”
I gave my mom a quick hug, “Mom, this is Hallie Thorne. Hallie, this is my mother.”
Hallie extended her hand, but my mother pulled her into an embrace, “It’s so lovely to meet you, Hallie.”
“You too, Mrs. Sloane.”
“There’s the drug dealer,” Gabe sauntered into the room, wearing a smirk. He studied Hallie, and if he weren’t married, I probably would have slugged him for looking over my woman. Well, not my woman…shit.
“This is my brother, Gabe. He’s inbred.”
Hallie smiled and held out her hand, “Nice to meet you.”
“You’re behaving, aren’t you Gabe?” Sam rushed into the room. “Hi, Nate.”
“Sam. This is Hallie. Sam here is trying to domesticate my brother, but as you can see, she has her work cut out for her.”
Eventually, we made it out to the back deck where Hallie met Will and Mitch. They too gave her a thorough look over that made me want to throttle them. They were both single but had no business looking at her like that.
Fortunately, Mitch was at the grill while Will got me a beer. Hallie told Sam about her book, and after getting it from the car, the two of them were in the house going through it.
“So, what happened to that rule about not dating your employees?” Mitch asked as he flipped a burger.
“Have you taken a look at her?” Will said.
I shot him a look, “Stop ogling her.”
Will grinned, and Mitch snorted.
“He’s been bitten by the lovebug,” Will said.
“Shut up,” I grumbled, but holy shit I was sure I had.
“Must have been all those late nights working on the IPO. She's traveling with you on the dog and pony shows?” Will asked.
I drank my beer. They didn’t really want to know the answers. They just wanted to razz me.
“I feel for ya, man,” Gabe sat in the lawn chair next to me. “Wait...actually...not so much - if I remember correctly, you hassled me about Sam.”
“Then I deserve it from you, but not from those two assholes,” I nodded toward Will and Mitch.
“Nate. Language,” Mom’s voice came from the kitchen window.
“How does she hear that?” I shook my head.
“They’ll get their turn,” Gabe said with confidence, sipping his own beer.
“Bite your tongue, Gabe,” Will said.
The dinner went well. Hallie fit right in with everyone. While they didn’t miss a chance to embarrass me, my brothers were nice to Hallie. When the topic of the IPO came up, I told them where we were in the process, and Hallie chimed in about my presentations.
Will poked me in the ribs, “She’s got it bad for you, bro. I hope you don’t break her heart.”
I stared at him like he’d gone nuts.
Will nodded, “She looks at you and talks about you like a woman in love.”
“How would you know love?” I gave him a hard stare. Will was like me - a confirmed bachelor and lover of women.
“I’ve got eyes. I remember mom and dad, and Gabe and Sam drip with love.”
I shook my head. Hallie didn’t have it bad for me. Sure, she liked me. I doubted she’d be having sex with me otherwise. But that didn’t mean she had it bad for me. This was all fake. I was the one whose feelings were muddled, not hers.
The ring of a glass being clinked by a utensil pulled me away from Will’s crazy assessment.
Gabe stood, “I have an announcement.”
What the hell?
Gabe looked down at Sam, and in his eyes, I saw what Will seemed to think Hallie had for me. Gabe loved Sam down to his soul. We hassled him about it at first, but now Sam was family, and all of us were happy for him.
Sam smiled up with that same love, then she looked at all of us, “Gabe and I are having a baby.”
The whole table erupted in cheers and congratulations.
“Took you long enough,” Will said to Gabe. “I was worried your little swimmers weren’t working right.”
“God, tell me Will knows about birth control. Otherwise, Washington D.C. is littered with little Will Sloane clones,” Sam shot out with a smile; she’d learned quickly to take it and dish it out.
“See? That’s why I married you,” Gabe said, giving her a kiss.
It was sweet, and for the first time in my life, I envied him and his relationship with Sam. I looked over at Hallie, who was smiling. She was beautiful. Would she look even more radiant if she were pregnant as Sam did? My heart did a strange roll in my chest at the idea of Hallie carrying my child.
On the drive home, my mind was in a whirl as I began to realize this nutty feeling in my chest had to be love. It terrified me even as it thrilled me. What would Hallie think if she knew I had feelings for her? Could I convince her to continue our relationship beyond the IPO?
“You okay?” Hallie asked.
“Yes, just happy for Gabe and Samantha.”
“That was wonderful news. I was honored to be a witness to it. Your brothers do pick on you a lot, but you all pick on each other, and I can see the love there.”
It made me feel good that she could see that. We did hassle each other, but we loved each other. Family was important to me.
Once home, I thought about taking a swim. Perhaps the physical activity would help settle the crazy buzz of emotion keying me up. But as I watched Hallie’s fine ass make its way up the hallway to her room, I knew the only physical activity I needed was her.
I caught up to her, wrapping my arm around her waist and pulling her back against me. I kissed the back of her neck, “Thank you for doing this tonight.”
She wiggled her ass against my d
ick, bringing him to full staff, “It was my pleasure.”
“I want to give you pleasure.”
“Mmm, I think that could be arranged,” she turned in my arms and kissed me, while I maneuvered us to my room and worked her dress off. I dropped to my knees, needing to taste her sweet pussy.
“Nate,” she gasped, and her fingers gripped my head.
Need like I’d never felt before rushed through my body. It wasn’t just a physical need for release. It was something more intense and powerful. Something deeper. I needed to possess her. To make her mine. But I couldn’t tell her that. For one, it sounded sexist, but two, it was too close to telling her how I felt, and I couldn’t bring myself to do it. At least not in words. Not yet. I couldn’t even say the words to myself. But I could show her what I was feeling through my touch.
I stood, kissing her thoroughly as I moved her to the bed. She lay back, her lush body strewn out like a fine piece of art, “You’re so fucking beautiful.”
Her smile was sweet, “You make me feel beautiful, Nate.”
I grabbed a condom from the drawer and started to sheath my dick, not wanting to stop to do it later.
“Nate. I’m on the pill.”
My gaze snapped to hers.
She nodded, “Several weeks, in fact.”
My brain was short-circuiting, “You sure?”
She laughed, “Yes, I’m sure I’m on the pill.”
I shook my head of lust fog, “I meant you’re sure you want to do this without a condom?” After all, I had a reputation. I’d always used a condom. Always. So I knew I wouldn’t be putting her at risk healthwise.
She nodded again, a faint blush heating her breasts and cheeks, her voice barely above a whisper, “I’m okay with it if you are.”
Several thoughts and emotions converged in my brain. First, there was a swell of emotion that she trusted me. Despite my reputation, she trusted I wouldn’t do anything that would put her at risk. Second, I trusted her too. She wasn’t a woman to lie. She wouldn’t try to trick me into a pregnancy.
As I looked at her lush body, my body flooded with arousal at the idea of being inside her without a barrier.
I joined her on the bed, at first laying over her. Torso to torso. Thighs to thighs. I felt her under every inch of me, and it was fucking perfect. Well almost perfect, but that would come shortly once I pressed inside her.
