I glared down at her as she stared up at me, her face flushed, her chest visibly rising and falling. She was pissed at me, too. But I wasn’t the one who’d forgotten the deal tonight. She had. With that jerk. Her friend.
When she’d initially told me she and Julie had shared a dorm room with a male, I’d pictured a skinny, dorky nerd far more likely to gossip with girls than hang out with real men, like the ones in the fraternity I’d been in. That mental image had been reinforced when I found out he’d spent the day at the spa with the girls.
But Dan was nothing like that. Through my study with Kate, I’d learned that he’d been on the swim team, and dammit, he looked the part. I’d seen several of the female servers checking him out earlier tonight. Before he’d holed up a corner and monopolized my fiancée.
What kind of self-centered prick goes to an engagement party and then hogs the bride-to-be?
I closed my eyes for a moment—now was not the time for rage. I needed to calmly explain to Kate what she’d done wrong. How she’d violated the spirit of our agreement. How she was jeopardizing the whole thing.
But holy fuck, I couldn’t get past the way she looked tonight. Somehow she was even more gorgeous when she was mad. That dress, that slinky, shimmery dress dipped low in the front, and I could see the flush of her cleavage. God, how I wanted to plunge my hand into her plunging neckline and caress her. Squeeze her. Make her scream my name.
Calm. I needed to be calm. No matter that she’d made my blood boil before with her stubbornness—and how she made it boil now with her nearness.
Screw calm.
I grabbed Kate by the shoulders and stared into her eyes for one endless moment. Then I opened my mouth to scold her—and kissed her instead.
A real kiss. Not like those goddamn love taps I’d been forced to do before. A real, honest-to-god kiss that she’d feel in the depths of her soul.
As did I.
After a moment of shock, Kate reached up and wrapped her arms around me, cupping the back of my neck with her hand. Pulling me closer. Her breasts pressed against the front of my suit, and I wished I had a magic wand to make the layers between us melt away.
Kate’s eyes closed, but I didn’t want to miss a minute of this as I ravished her mouth. Her long lashes rested against the soft skin of her cheeks. And her hair… at long last, I was free to fist her loose bronze waves. They were every bit as soft and silky as I’d always imagined. Maybe even more so.
She moaned against me as I explored every inch of her mouth. God she felt good. The bare skin of her back felt warm under my hand, but I was still mesmerized by the way her tongue met mine.
All the anger I’d felt before, the resentment toward Dan, and the frustration I felt about our current situation, it all went into this kiss. And this embrace. And suddenly, it wasn’t enough.
My hands ran down Kate’s luscious little body, finding and squeezing her pert ass, and then I slid my hands down her thighs, lifting her up. Her shriek of surprise was muffled by my mouth. But she didn’t break the kiss—instead, she clung to my neck more tightly.
Her long legs wrapped around me, and I could feel the heat from her core pressing against the bulge in my pants. God, I wanted her. So fucking badly.
I pressed her back against the wall, and I could feel every inch of her. Her breasts smashed against my chest. Her legs surrounding me. Her fingers in my hair. And her warm lips pressed against mine.
I never wanted it to end. Screw the family corporation. Screw the fake engagement. All I wanted to do was to carry her out the door, pile her into my car, and drive her to my penthouse. Then I’d worship her like the goddess she was.
But it wasn’t meant to be.
A sliver of light flashed along the wall behind her head, and a voice from behind us said, “Oh, excuse me.” The door shut rapidly, but the spell was broken. Already the magic was ending as Kate’s long legs slid down mine. Once she had her feet under her, she let go of my neck though she clutched at my arm to steady herself.
Wiping my mouth with the back of my hand, I stepped back, staring at her. Had she been wanting that for as long as I had? No—because I’d known her longer than she’d known me. I’d been attracted to her before she ever knew I existed.
So there was no way she could’ve wanted this as badly as me.
Had she even wanted it at all?
Her responsiveness to the kiss said yes, but I wasn’t certain. Maybe it was just business to her. A part of the path that led to the trip of her dreams.
The door behind us opened again, and I heard people talking beyond it. Time to get back to the real world. Time to go back to the charade.
Time to pretend that hadn’t been the hottest kiss of my entire life.
Later that night, I insisted on driving Kate back to her apartment. The roads to my grandparents’ place were dark and twisty, and she’d had some champagne. Plus, I got the impression that those sexy shoes that had looked so hot on her had fucking tortured her feet.
All good reasons for me to drive her home. Too bad I couldn’t come up with anything to say to her. But after we’d ridden for five miles in silence, she spoke up.
“I’m sorry.”
What? That we’d kissed? “For what?”
“I wasn’t thinking how it would look to hang out with Dan. Especially to people of your grandparents’ generation.”
“Thank you for saying that.” My voice had gone all stiff again, like it had earlier when I’d seen her dancing with Dan. I’d wanted to knock his fucking head off, but I hadn’t been mad at her. Of course I couldn’t tell her that. Better for her to think that I was an arrogant jerk than what I really was—which was jealous.
“Do you think it made people question our relationship?”
I thought about it for a moment as I turned from one dark road to another. “I doubt it. And even if it did, we kind of made up for it by getting caught making out in the cloakroom.”
Kate made a small sound, possibly a little laugh, but then she straightened in her seat and clutched at my arm. “That’s it!”
“What’s it?”
“That’s how we can break up! At the rehearsal dinner. You can make sure that your grandparents are at the entryway at a certain time, and you can open the door to the cloakroom, and catch me kissing another man. Maybe Rob or someone like that.”
What the fuck?
The thought of her with any man other than me was disturbing, though the idea that Rob would betray me like that was laughable. “He’d never do that to me.”
“Okay, then Dan.”
“Absolutely not.” My voice had gone all cold again which was strange because the thought of her in Dan’s arms made my blood boil.
“But it’s perfect. You said people are already suspicious. So they’d have to believe it if they saw us in there together. I mean what else would we be doing in there besides fooling around? Sewing a button on a jacket?”
“This isn’t a good idea, Kate.”
“Then what is?” Frustration was evident in her voice. “I don’t like the idea of being branded a cheater, but we have to end this engagement somehow. And we’ve talked about it a half dozen times and never come up with anything plausible.”
She was right, but I still hated this plan. “We’ll brainstorm some more.”
“We already have. I’m sorry, but nothing else makes sense. I doubt people are going to believe that we just drifted apart a few weeks after the engagement party. But since they saw me dancing with Dan tonight, I honestly think they will believe this. That I could… that I could actually…” Her voice broke off.
Was she crying? I hoped not, but clearly, her mind was catching up to what a horrible situation that would be if it were real. She was getting upset even though this had been her idea.
“We’re not doing this,” I growled.
“I don’t see any other choice.” Her voice was quiet.
“We’ll think of something.”
“Okay… we’ll try.
But if not, I think we have to do this. I mean, obviously we have to think of something quickly. We’re running out of time.”
Time. Fucking time. God, I wished we had more of it. To figure things out. To see if there could possibly be something real between us.
But she was right. The clock was ticking, and the days of our fake engagement were numbered.
That was a fact—no matter how much I wished it weren’t.
Thirteen
Ethan
That kiss. That fucking kiss.
Ten days later, it was still on my mind.
I shouldn’t have done it, I knew that. I mean, I’d wanted to. Hell, I’d wanted to for days. Since the first moment I laid eyes on her, actually. But I shouldn’t have done it.
But holy shit, that was a pretty impressive kiss given that just the memory of it made my blood pump harder.
Too bad we’d been interrupted. And too bad it hadn’t happened again.
Grandma had kept Kate pretty busy since then with all the wedding planning. Kate knew enough about my past that I didn’t worry about her slipping up in front of my grandparents anymore. Mostly, I left her to deal with all the things Grandma wanted her to weigh in on.
Which was probably good, because whenever I was near Kate, whenever she was within touching distance, I wanted her so badly I couldn’t see straight. If only things could’ve been different. If only we’d met in normal way. Perhaps we would have, if I’d approached her some morning when she was getting her chai tea latte. But a good CEO usually refrained from hitting on female employees in the lobby of his building.
Frustrated, I pushed back from my desk, striding over to the window with the view of the city. Staring out but not focusing on anything in particular.
The trouble was, as far as I could see there weren’t any happy endings for my current situation with Kate. The plan had worked—I’d achieve my dream of becoming president of the company—but the price was that I’d lose her. We had to break up. I knew that, but I absolutely hated the way it was supposed to go down. Her suggestion that she pretend to cheat on me with Dan made me want to punch him in the face.
Well, it made me want that more—I’d already wanted to do that even before the engagement party. Because he knew her better than me. He got to sleep under the same roof as her every fucking night. He was going to spend an entire year traveling the world with her. Their relationship was friendly and easy and uncomplicated. Which was the exact opposite of ours.
After the engagement party—and our epic kiss—I’d tried to examine my feelings, which wasn’t really my forte. Was I just being a jealous prick? Quite possibly Kate thought so. But I wasn’t so sure. The idea of her cheating on me—or at least pretending to—was a blow to my ego, sure, but that wasn’t the primary reason I objected to it. I just became irrationally enraged at the thought of her in another man’s arms. Even if he was just a friend. Because I didn’t want her with him—I wanted her with me.
And that could never be. Try as I might, I just didn’t see any option that let me get the job and the girl. Maybe if there were more time, but there wasn’t. The wedding was a little over two weeks away, and then Kate would be off on a world tour. What was I going to do, wait a year until she came back, ask her out, and then explain to my grandparents that I was dating the woman who’d essentially left me at the altar? Yeah, that would go over well. They’d hate her guts.
Not that she’d say yes. Absolutely nothing about this whole business painted me in a good light. I never should’ve asked her to do this in the first place. That was fucking selfish, and I probably deserved this feeling that I was losing someone special.
A chime issued from the phone on my desk, and I strode back over and pressed a button to see what was up. “Mr. Grant, a shareholder is here, and she wants to talk to you about the future of company.”
What? A shareholder just showed up randomly without an appointment? That was odd, and Mona’s normally professional voice sounded a bit strained. “Who is it?”
“Sir, she said to just tell you that—”
Mona cut out and a new voice echoed through the speaker. A very familiar voice. “What difference does it make who it is? I own stock in the company, therefore I get a say in how it’s run. And I want to speak to the man in charge.”
With a sigh, I steeled myself for whatever new drama was about to be added to my day. Then I said, “Come on in, Grandma.”
A moment later, I was giving her a perfunctory kiss on the check. She clung to me for a minute longer than necessary. “I’m so proud of you, Mr. President.”
And just like that, the occasional frustration I felt around her melted away. I patted her on the back as I released her. I’d been president of Grant Industries for nearly a week now. It was all I’d ever wanted—until I’d met Kate. Now my mind was often filled with thoughts of her when it should’ve been focused on business. “Thanks. But that means I have to deal with irrational shareholders at times.”
“Good. That’ll keep you on your toes.” She placed her purse on my desk and settled into a chair across from mine. “I see you kept your office.”
“Grandpa’s office will be his until the day he dies. If not longer.”
“He’ll still come down here every so often. You know how he is.”
“Yep, I do.”
“And you know how people can be.”
Uh-oh. We were getting closer to the real reason for her visit. “What people?”
“All people,” Grandma snapped. “Specifically my friends.”
“And?”
“And we ran into Edna Clark today. At the florist.”
“Who’s ‘we?’”
“Katie and me. We were picking out arrangements for the wedding.”
I frowned. Poor Kate. Instead of planning for her world tour, she was stuck planning for a wedding that was never going to take place. “Doesn’t that usually happen long before this point?”
“Yes, but most couples have an engagement party months before their wedding—not just a few weeks.” My grandmother still possessed the ability to take me down a notch or two when she thought I needed it.
“Touché. So what are they talking about?” A sudden thought hit me. “Do they think there’s a reason why we’re rushing the wedding? Do they think she’s pregnant?”
Grandma frowned, lost in a thought for a moment. “Hmm… not that I’ve heard. Though maybe. This has all happened pretty fast.”
That was an understatement. But for Kate to be pregnant, that would mean we’d had sex. The daily ache between my legs proved that wasn’t the case—unfortunately. “So what’s the problem?”
“That handsome young man with the broad shoulders. Her roommate.”
Shit.
Grandma shook her head. “I know it’s ridiculous, but they think it’s strange that she’s living with a man.”
“She has a female roommate, too.”
“Yes, but it still looks bad.”
“Why?” It was frustrating that people were talking about our engagement for this ridiculous reason. “Didn’t your generation watch Three’s Company in the seventies? That was about two women and a man living together, wasn’t it?”
“Not the point, and anyway, I preferred M*A*S*H.”
Well, at least Grandma had good taste. Frustrated, I stood up and went to the window.
After a moment, Grandma joined me there. “What you and Kate want is the most important thing,” she said quietly. “Are you okay with her having a male roommate?”
In the distance, a construction crane swung around in a wide arc. I watched it until it stopped moving. “I should be.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“It’s her living situation. It was like that when I met her. I have no right to complain.”
“But you have the right to ask her to move in with you.”
I stared down at my grandmother in surprise. “Move in together?”
She laughed. “Why is that such a shoc
k? You’ll live together after you’re married. Why not start a few weeks early?”
Right. Of course. If we really were getting married, living together first would be a logical thing to do. Excitement coursed through me as I thought it through. If we did that now, it would give us a little more time together before she took off on her trip. Not that that would make any difference for our situation, but I’d take it. With all the wedding planning, I barely got to see her anymore. Except for our lunches. Most days of the week I took her somewhere different to dine on various types of cuisine she’d encounter on her trip.
Grandma was beaming up at me—evidently she’d sensed my excitement about this plan. Leaning down, I kissed her on the cheek. “You’re a funny sort of grandmother, you know.”
“How so?” She didn’t appear to be insulted in the least.
“A lot of people your age would be scandalized about a couple living together before marriage.”
“Well, if people want to talk, let them. At least they’ll be talking about you and Kate rather than Kate and her roommate.” Apparently having accomplished her mission, Grandma gathered up her purse. “Besides, it’ll be nice for you and that darling girl. Your grandfather and I would’ve shacked up before the wedding if we could’ve.”
“Shacked up?”
Grandma blushed. “What, is there a newer term for it now?”
I grinned. “I just never thought I’d hear the respectable Bridget Grant use a phrase like that.”
“Eh… I guess at my age it’s not good to be too respectable. It’s nice to know I can throw a surprise or two your way.”
Spontaneously, I hugged her. She was the closest thing I’d had to a mother since I was a child, and I was glad she was on my side.
She hugged me back, and then good-naturedly pushed me away. “Now go see if you can convince that young lady of yours to move in with you.”
Mr Right Stuff Page 9
