by L A Pepper
Setting up this fake engagement not only kept her safe from my brother’s advances— I still felt my blood heat when I thought of David putting his hands on Chloe. I didn’t really want to examine those possessive feelings too closely - but it also would force her to spend time with me, giving me the chance to work my wiles on her. I had wiles. She herself wrote about my wiles. But she’d never experienced them first hand. And if my wiles weren’t working, I’d use my money and my power, to make her want me.
I knew it was underhanded of me, but I couldn’t stop thinking about her. She had become an obsession, and it was starting to be a problem. Everyone at work had noticed that I was distracted. It was only a matter of time until they connected the dots and figure out that they led back to Chloe.
This fake engagement would make the dots loud and clear, but they’d keep everyone away from the truth, and set up some protections. For both of us. I could pursue her if we were engaged, there was no rule against people in established relationships working at the magazine, but ilicit affairs between the boss and a young, vulnerable employee? That wasn’t exactly approved. I knew I’d never punish her for a relationship that went wrong. And making it pretend? Well, that meant we both knew it wasn’t going anywhere. I was starting to feel rather proud of my little plot.
“You know you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”
She looked at me like she was offended. “Are you trying to back out of our engagement?”
God, this girl made me laugh. “No. No, not that at all, I just want to make sure you know that whatever happens with this, there will be no negative repercussions at work. Your job is safe. You understand that, right?”
“I trust you, Nick,” she said, and I felt a twinge of guilt. Whatever happened with us, I wasn’t going to do anything she didn’t agree to, and I was going to make sure she was happy. And that she enjoyed herself.
“I trust you, too, Chloe. How about you come to my house and we can seal the deal over a nightcap. We can work out any details.”
She took a deep breath as if she wanted to argue. Of course she wanted to argue. She always wanted to argue. Then she closed her mouth with a snap and shook her head. “No, Nick. I think you should take me home. I wouldn’t want us to forget that this is a fake engagement not a real one.”
Now it was my turn to argue with her and think better of it. It was a fake engagement, sure, but, I wanted something. And that wasn’t quite fake. I didn’t think it was the time to let that out.
Huh. This was an improvement in our relationship already. This thinking before we lashed out and snapped at each other. I smiled to myself. “No problem,” I said. “We can work out the details on the way there.”
I started the car again and pulled. The entire ride to her apartment was filled with negotiations about how we would act together, when we would go out in public, and how exactly we would handle the press and our workplace. To start with, we’d have to talk to human resources and then to Rachel. She would want to know how long this had been going on.
“The elevator,” she said. “Keep it close to the truth as possible.”
“Huh. That’s a whirlwind romance. Just three weeks until I asked you to marry me?”
“When else? Would I have been already seeing you when I was hired and you were in Kuala Lumpur?”
“Of course not. And before I left, I was in a relationship with another woman. It didn’t last long, but everyone knew. It couldn’t be before. That would make me…”
“Easy,” she said.
“Hey!”
“And fast.”
She was teasing me and I liked it. “Let’s just say it would make me a man who falls in love with both feet. Not really my reputation.”
“Maybe I’ll save your reputation. Why not have me be the one who asked you to marry me?”
I had to smile, she charmed me. “No. I’d definitely be the one to ask you. Let’s not fight, honey bear. Let’s just say I fell instantly in love with you and asked you to marry me.”
“Honey bear? Are you just going to keep flipping through endearments? You are a ridiculous man.”
“But I’m your ridiculous man.” She jolted in her seat. “Or rather,” I amended, “your ridiculous fake man. Or your fake ridiculous man? No that doesn’t sound right either. Because I am both a real man and really ridiculous.”
Her peal of laughter filled me and I was sad to pull up in front of her building.
“Okay, fake fiance. I guess we’ll start the game on Monday.”
“My stylist will pick you up at eight. Be ready for her.”
“Eight! So early! I already regret this.”
“You won’t after she takes you shopping.”
“I’m sure I’ll regret this sooner or later.”
“Then we end it. No problems. If anyone wants to get out, for any reason, then it’s over. No repercussions. And let me tell you a little trick. We avoid confirming it. Avoid, avoid, avoid. Just smile and nod, say ‘we’d like to keep that private,’ and then when it inevitably ends, we just say, oh we value each other very much and will always stay friends. Yadda yadda yadda, the end, the paparazzi move on to the next target and my parents are disappointed yet again and you find your notoriety improves your career and you get to keep the clothes. It’s a win-win situation..”
She shook her head like she couldn’t believe the whole thing. I was getting used to the idea and was rather looking forward to it.
“Good night, Nick,” she said and got out of the car before I even had the chance to come around and open the door for her. I met her at the other side, anyway.
“What are you doing?” she asked, startled.
“I’m walking you to your door. Haven’t you been engaged to a gentleman before?”
There was that laughter again. Like bells ringing inside of me. “I have actually not. Well, this is me. Not a long walk to my door, I’m afraid.”
I took a breath to speak. I really wanted to say this, but I didn’t know how she would respond.
“What?”
“There is an issue of PDA.”
“Public displays of affection?”
I nodded.
She chewed her lip for a minute. “What kind of pda am I comfortable with?”
“Okay, let’s start there.”
“Start there? Hmm. Hand holding, waist touching. The knee. The small of the back, like when you guided me out the door.” Had I done that? I didn’t remember. But a blush touched her cheeks so I would remember to do that more often. I was enjoying myself already. “The arms and shoulders, the back.”
“Neck?” I asked. I remembered her neck, and hair. The apple blossom smell of her.
She looked away. Her blush deepened. She remembered too, I thought.
“Kissing?” I asked and nearly trembled waiting for her answer.
She raised her chin. Was an argument about to start? Instead she nodded. “Cheek,” she said, decisively.
She laughed at my expression. “Oh, is that too tame for you, playboy?”
“A kiss on the cheek? That’s for children. And maiden aunts.”
She rolled her eyes. “It’s acceptable workplace PDA, Nick. We work together. We’re not going to be making out.”
“Not in the office,” I grumbled under my breath but I think she heard.
“Like this,” she said, and she put one hand on my shoulder and leaned into me. A shock went through me as her body pressed up against my chest. I held still and let her press her lips to my cheek, softly, sweetly. Something inside of me melted into a puddle. She pulled away, and I looked at her, with her smile that finished the job. “See? Work appropriate.”
I had to swallow because my throat was dry. “Let me try that,” I said, and slid my hand around the back of her neck, letting my fingers tangle in her hair. I let my thumb run across her cheekbone and then kissed it, right where the pink of her flush was the brightest. I let my lips linger, then before I pulled away entirely, pressed a flee
ting kiss to her neck, just below her ear.
She gasped, and I stepped back.
“You said neck.”
Her lips were parted, maybe in shock, maybe because she liked my kiss. “You know,” I said, feeling sly, feeling like she’d be okay with that, “The staff at Worldly Mag has seen me with my girlfriends. They know I don’t limit myself to kisses on the cheek. If this is a whirlwind romance, then they’re going to expect me to kiss you for real.”
She narrowed her eyes at me but I could tell she wasn’t really offended, it was more this game we were playing. “Yes, well, they know me well enough to know I wouldn’t make out with my significant other at work. So think again.”
“Okay. Compromise. No making out at work,” I made sure to get that ‘at work’ in there, because I was planning to take her out, outside of work. “But a kiss on the lips. Casual. As if we’re a real couple.” Her suspicious look got more suspicious. I laughed at her. “Okay, you think I’m trying something, let me show you.” So I leaned in, with the smile still on my face, and gently kissed her lips. “Hi,” I whispered when I pulled back. She blinked at me in shock. I had to laugh again. “If that’s how you react when I kiss you, no one’s going to believe we’re an actual couple. You’ve got to make it seem like we do this a lot. Like it’s no big deal.”
She wrinkled her nose at me then shook her head, as if she needed to get rid of the daze. “No. Try it again. I wasn’t ready.”
It was hard not to smile this time. So I just chuckled and kissed her again. This time when it was over she tilted her head and looked at me. “Hi,” she said back. “Better?”
I nodded. “Better. Now you kiss me, like you’re greeting me.”
She raised an eyebrow but nodded. Placing a hand on my shoulder and standing on her toes. “Morning, baby,” she said and kissed me, barely touching my lips but the feeling reverberated down my spine.
“Baby?” I said to distract myself from the shivers.
“If you’re going to have a nickname to call me I figured, I should come up with something for you.”
“Oh?” Why did I not have any other words?
She nodded and grinned and evil little grin. “Morning, pumpkin pie,” she said, and pecked me on my lips.
I laughed. “Pumpkin pie?”
“See, I can do this too. See you later, apple blossom,” she said and leaned in to kiss me but I stopped her.
“That’s mine. You’re the one who smells like apple blossoms.”
She jolted back. “That was real?”
“Your hair,” I said, with the words stopped up in my throat.
She put a hand to her hair self consciously. “Oh! My shampoo. It reminds me of home.”
“Do you--” my voice was tight. I cleared it. “Do you have apple trees in the mountains?”
She looked up at me and in the shadows of the night her blue eyes looked swimmingly deep. “I... do. Yes. The honey is apple blossom honey.”
She was sweet as honey. “Yeah. That makes sense,” I said and stepped back from her. Maybe I was the bee, and she was the blossom. “I think we’ve got the casual kissing down. I’ll call you later to make plans for next week.”
“Oh!” she said, as if she was sorry to see me go. Was she sorry to see me go? I grinned at her. I’d like it if she was sorry to see me go. “Okay, yeah. That sounds like it’s for the best,” she combed her fingers through her hair and draped it over her shoulder. I liked it down, it was always tied up at work and she was always so focused on business. Which was good for my business, but not exactly all that I wanted from her. Certainly not right now.. “I’ll see you on Monday. Honey.” She added. It was so awkward I almost laughed.
“Maybe you should just call me Nick, apple blossom.”
She did laugh then. “Yeah, maybe I should, Nick. See you on Monday.” Then she went into her building and I was left out on the sidewalk wondering what the hell I had just done to my life.
* * *
I went into work early on Monday, I wanted to get in before everyone else and get ahead of this engagement story, but I was, unfortunately, not early enough.
“Oh Nick!” Rachel called as soon as I stepped out of the elevator. “Can I talk to you?” Her voice was sing song and a question mark was tacked on the end of her words but it was in no way a question. It was a demand.
She was technically my employee and shouldn’t be able to order me around like that, but the truth was she was my partner. She was the brains behind the magazine, while I was the money and the face. And she was going to have words to say to me. I put a pleasant smile on my face and went into her office, closing the door behind me.
The door clicked closed, and she was standing at her desk, not quite shouting, but exclaiming. Loudly. If I wanted to feel generous. And as I had rather dropped this bombshell in her lap, I was willing to be a little generous.
“What the hell do you think you’re up to, Nicholas Meryton?!”
“Good morning to you, too Rachel,” I said pleasantly at a normal volume and sat myself down on her couch.
“Don’t you give me that. What the hell are you pulling with Chloe. I swear to god, Nick, if you’re screwing with her I am going to kill you.”
“Nice to be trusted by my oldest friend, Rachel.”
“Oh, I trust you. I don’t trust your libido. I know she’s adorable--”
“She’s beautiful.”
She glared at me. “But she’s innocent. She’s not like your kind of people.”
“My kind of people? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You know what I mean. Rich and jaded and manipulative.”
“I am not manipulating her.”
“You’d better not be. I hired her because she’s got something, something great, and so help me if you break her heart and screw her over and ruin her...”
“I like Chloe.”
“You ‘like’ the woman you’re engaged to?” Her voice was dry and cutting.
“I—I,” why were words so hard whenever Chloe was involved? “I’m in love with her, okay? You know that’s not easy for me to say.” Especially since it wasn’t real. Should that make it easier?
“Oh but it’s easy for you to ask her to marry you, Nick?”
“It was—I— we--” It was time to bring out the story we had concocted. I took a deep breath and straightened my shoulders. “We got stuck in the elevator and she had a panic attack and I took care of her, and when we were freed, I couldn’t let her go. And I just didn’t.”
She sat on the edge of her desk with her arms crossed and glared at me. “I know,” she said.
“You know?”
“Yes, I know. I talk to everyone. I talked to the custodians.”
Suddenly I was glaring at her. “Did you see the surveillance tape?” I said and couldn’t keep the threatening tone out of my question. No one was supposed to see that surveillance tape. I didn’t want Chloe’s episode to get out, let alone what happened between us.
She lowered her glasses and looked over the frames at me. Evaluating me, as if she saw more than I meant to show her. She blinked slowly at me. “No I did not see a surveillance tape although had there been one I assume there would have been something to see.”
I thought back to that day with her in my arms and the breath I drew in was ragged. “She needed me, okay?”
Rachel nodded. “And you liked being needed, did you?”
“Please do not psychoanalyze me, Rachel. It happened, okay. I tried not to do it but it didn’t work. I couldn’t help myself. I just…” what was the right word? “Fell.”
“You poor bastard. No wonder you were such a wreck these last few weeks.”
“We were trying to keep it a secret.” That was our explanation for the cold shoulder I’d given Chloe while I was trying to pretend what happened hadn’t happened. It wasn’t even a lie. We just decided to tell people more happened than actually did.
She pointed a sharp finger at me. Her nail was painted red.
“If this goes wrong, you’re the one who’s going to have to suck it up. You’ll have to take another trip to, I don’t know, Timbuktu or somewhere. I’m not firing her. She’s my protege. I hired her. I want her for this magazine.”
The idea offended me. “Why would this go wrong? We’re in love. We’re getting married.”
“So fast? This is such a bad idea.” She shook her head and went back around to her desk. “Have you never been in love before and had it fall apart? It always feels like it’s for forever in the beginning, until it’s not.”
“That’s not what’s happening here.”
She looked at him again. “Have you never been in love before at all? Has this never happened to you?”
“What? What kind of— You know what, Rachel. I will talk to human resources and we’ll take care of the mess. I’m not just playing games with Chloe. This is… this is real. And I’d appreciate it if I could have your support.”
She harrumphed. “She has my support. You I’ll kill if you screw her over.”
My temper rose, and I tamped it down. “I’m going to take care of her. She’s my--”
“Your what, Nick? If you can’t even say it, then how real is it?”
I narrowed my eyes at her. I could say it. Even if it wasn’t real. “She’s my fiance, and my responsibility. I’m not going to hurt her.”
“You’d better not.”
“I assume this meeting is over,” I said, not a question. A statement.
She glared at me and I glared at her until I turned and stalked out.
The door slammed behind me, and I was glad the office was still empty because my heartbeat was racing and I was having a problem keeping my breath calm. I went into my office and buried myself in work.
Chapter Ten: Going Places
At eight sharp, there was a town car outside my door. When I slid in, a frosty blonde woman in all black looked me up and down. “You’re Chloe,” she said, and it wasn’t a question. “I’m Bar. We don’t have much time for this, so we’ll have to get started right away. This is for you. Put it on,” she said and held out a ring box.
