Irresistible Lies

by Juliette White

  Grace made herself some coffee while Jake and Caroline ate their eggs, discussing a new friend he had made at school. She couldn’t help but feel a little sad, thinking of how much she was going to miss Caroline when she moved out. She and her sister had lived together for years, since before Jake was even born.

  They had been through so much together.

  Grace would never forget the day she found out she was pregnant. It was the day before college graduation and a few days after her boyfriend had unexpectedly decided he was better off without her. She had finished her final exams and driven all the way down to her sister’s new apartment in Virginia, needing time to think over the breakup and time to wallow in her misery. Caroline had welcomed her with open arms, helping her to ignore her ex’s phone calls and trying to get her to see that she was better off without him.

  Grace had her whole future ahead of her. She had a great job lined up in New York City. She was graduating. She didn’t need a man. It would only hold her back.

  Fortunately for Caroline, Grace hadn’t made the job of convincing her too difficult. Grace was, and had always been, notoriously stubborn. She was determined to get over the breakup as quickly as possible and determined not to go crawling back to the man who had broken her heart. Her mind was set, and that was that.

  The day before graduation, as she packed up her things to head back up to school for the ceremony, she was numb to the world. She was determined never to speak or even think of her ex again.

  But fate had other plans.

  When Caroline was helping her pack, she mentioned that she had been having bad cramps. Grace suddenly realized that her period was late.

  A week late.

  Caroline tried to convince her that it was nothing. She couldn’t be pregnant, because she had always been so careful and used protection. It was probably just the stress of the breakup.

  To be sure, they bought a pregnancy test. Grace peed on the stick, her bags packed by the door, wondering what the hell she was going to do if it came out positive. Quit her job in New York? Tell her parents? Put the baby up for adoption? Tell Jamie?

  But it couldn’t be positive, Caroline told her. It just wasn’t possible.

  Yet somehow, it was.

  When the result came in, it was Caroline who was in shock. Grace accepted it as something that she couldn’t change, something that was meant to be. She was going to be a mother.

  “Are you going to tell Jamie?”

  Grace had considered Caroline’s question for just a moment before she answered. She pictured calling him and telling him she was pregnant. She pictured him speechless, then freaking out. She pictured all of his dreams flying out of the window and him blaming her for it. Hating her for it.

  She had no doubt he would do the right thing. He would take the stable job in New York City and they would probably get married, and he would support her and take care of her and their child.

  And he would hate her.

  Well, she wasn’t going to give him the opportunity. He had left her to follow his own path or whatever, so she was going to let him do just that. He would never know about their child, and he would never be responsible for either of them.

  It would be just her and her baby, and that was fine.

  “I’m not going to tell him, Cara,” Grace told her, certain her decision was the right one. “I want you to swear to me that you will never tell him either.”

  “I won’t tell him.” Caroline pinky swore, tears threatening to fall from her eyes. “I’ll never tell him. I hate him for doing this to you.”

  “Hey, it takes two to make a baby.”

  “I could kill him.”

  “I’m sure dad will get to him first.”

  It was a definite possibility. Grace prevented a potentially dangerous situation, however, by telling her parents that the baby’s father was a stranger she had met at a bar right after the breakup. She wasn’t sure they believed her, but they agreed not to say anything to Jamie even though he called them incessantly asking about her and had even stopped by their house.

  When Jake was born it was obvious whose child he was—his bright blue eyes fooled nobody. But by then her parents were so in love with their grandson they didn’t care who his father was. Their lips were sealed.

  So, in the end, Grace hadn’t gone to her graduation or started her job in New York City. Instead she moved into Caroline’s one-bedroom apartment and her sister helped her through her miserable, lonely pregnancy and the wonderful birth of her son. After a few years the trio moved into a slightly bigger apartment where they each had their own bedrooms, but not much else had changed. Caroline had gone from an assistant teacher at an elementary school to teaching her own classroom, and Grace had finally made up for lost time and gotten a job at a public relations agency. She had just recently been promoted, in fact. And Jake, of course, had just started school.

  Their lives were good. Things were finally headed in the right direction. They were happy together, a little family.

  Now Caroline was getting married to the man she loved and starting her own family. And Grace and Jake would be left alone.

  It wasn’t that Grace didn’t want to be alone with her son. She loved Jake more than anything in the world, and even though her life could be pretty darn stressful sometimes, he made her so happy. He really was the best thing that had ever happened to her. Still, she couldn’t help but think that there would be something missing when Caroline left.

  But then there had been something missing all along, hadn’t there?

  No. She wouldn’t think like that. She had worked hard to make a happy life for her and her son, and she was doing herself an injustice by dwelling on the past.

  She didn’t need Jamie Castleton. As far as she was concerned, she had the best part of him right in front of her.

  GRACE SAT THROUGH the morning staff meeting with her second cup of coffee of the day and listened to her coworkers share what was going on with their clients. She waited for her turn nervously, knowing she was going to be called on to speak in the meeting for the first time ever. She had just been promoted from an assistant to an account executive, and she was going to be taking on a much bigger role at the company.

  “Grace, what about you? How are things going with the winery?”

  Grace turned to face Charles Bradden, public relations genius, owner of the company, friend and occasional thorn in her side. “Everything is on schedule. I’ve put together an e-newsletter that will go out this week as soon as the client approves it, and we’ve got journalists already lining up to attend the party this month. I’ve spoken with Donald from WRTV and he’s considering partnering with them on the event, which would be huge.”

  “Great, keep me posted.”

  “I will.”

  That was fairly painless, she thought as Charlie moved onto the next person. When the meeting was over and she began to pack up her materials, however, he gestured for her to stay behind in the conference room.

  “What’s up?”

  “Sit for a moment.”

  “Okay.” Grace sat down in the empty chair next to her boss and smoothed out her skirt, racking her mind to figure out what she might have done wrong. Charlie was extremely particular about the way he ran his company, which she knew very well from spending a year and a half as his personal assistant.

  During that time he had asked her out on no less than six different occasions, and she had rejected him every time. When he finally promoted her about a month ago, however, she had accepted his invitation to take her out to dinner.

  She had enjoyed herself, which had surprised her. After being at Charlie’s beck and call for eighteen months, picking up his prescriptions, the miniature water bottles he liked and making appointments for his massages, she had thought there could be nothing romantic between them. He was good looking in a way powerful men tended to be, but she hadn’t like the idea of dating her boss when she felt she could actually have a future at his company.
r />   Still, it wasn’t like she had many other options. She hadn’t had a boyfriend since Jamie, and every date she had been on had been a failure. She and Charlie knew one another, so there was none of that first date awkwardness that made her so nervous. He was great at his job and a good guy, once you broke through his outer shell. And it wasn’t that she was after his money, but she liked knowing that if things got serious between them he could provide for Jake as a father would.

  Not that she was thinking that far ahead... Well, okay, she was, but only because Caroline was getting married and it was really freaking her out.

  Now she and Charlie were officially dating, she supposed she could say. After their third date last week, Charlie had insisted they inform human resources what was going on, even though he owned the company. Grace didn’t like the idea of her coworkers finding out and thinking she was trying to sleep her way to the top, but she needn’t have worried. The company was small, after all, and everyone there knew how hard she worked to take care of her son.

  Last week when the news had spread, everyone had told her they were genuinely happy for her and that she was great for Charlie. He needed a good woman to take care of him, they said.

  Maybe they really were right for one another. Time would tell. For now, she was just trying to take things slowly and not let the relationship screw up her work life.

  “Are you available for the next hour?” Charlie asked her.

  “Yes, I am. Why?”

  “I’m meeting with a potential client. I’m hoping to get him to hire us.” He looked at her seriously, his gray eyes narrowing into thin lines, an expression his employees loved to mock. “I need you to be there. You don’t have to say much during the meeting. I’ll take the lead. If we get this account, though, it’s going to be yours.”

  “Mine?” Grace smiled, excited at the possibility of taking the lead on an account. Until now, she had only taken on supporting roles. “That’s great news. I’d love to come to the meeting. Thanks, Charlie.”

  “You’ve earned it,” he said gruffly. “And I think this company will fit in nicely with the other clients you’ve been working with. It’s a brewery, and since you’ve done so much work for the winery you’re the best choice for the position.”

  Her first thought was of Jamie and his brewery, the one she never found out what had happened to. She didn’t want to know if he was rich or poor. She didn’t care.

  Her second thought was that she could totally handle doing public relations and marketing for a brewery and that this was going to be a great opportunity. And Caroline had said she had a bad feeling about the day. What did she know?

  “When is the meeting?” she asked.

  At that moment the phone in the conference room buzzed, and the voice of Charlie’s new assistant came on the line. “Mr. Bradden? Your 9 o’clock is here.”

  “Great, show him into the conference room, please.” Charlie straightened his tie and put his game face on. “Okay. Here he is now. His name is Jamie.”

  “Jamie?”

  “Take notes, and if he asks you any questions, don’t say no to any of them.”

  She nodded her understanding, thinking what a strange coincidence it was that they were meeting with Jamie from a brewery. What were the chances of that happening?

  But her confusion quickly changed to shock when the door to the conference room opened and she found herself looking up into the bright blue eyes of none other than Jamie Castleton.

  When their eyes met it was like an electric jolt went through her system, and she instantly was transported back in time five years as though it was just yesterday that they had said goodbye.

  She whispered his name and in a flash he was standing close enough to touch her, a great big smile on his face.

  “Grace,” he said, that devilish light in his eyes. “I didn’t know you worked here.”

  Chapter 3

  What the hell was Jamie doing in her office? In Virginia?

  Grace was still in shock when he pulled her to him tightly, embracing her. She felt the muscles beneath his suit hard against her and was surprised that he smelt the same as he used to, of soap and the outdoors.

  Charlie cleared his throat and Jamie released her, taking a small step back. The big grin was still on his face, and he looked strangely proud of himself.

  “What a coincidence,” he said, his voice as deep as she remembered. “Funny how life works out.”

  “I’m sorry. Do you two know each other?”

  Grace realized that she hadn’t yet said a word, and she tore her eyes away from the ghost in front of her to look at Charlie. She cleared her throat, hoping it would clear the fog from her brain. “Jamie and I are old friends from college.”

  “Actually, we dated for a long time,” Jamie said good-naturedly.

  Grace’s mouth flew open in surprise, but she said nothing.

  “You must be Charles. It’s nice to meet you.”

  Charlie shook Jamie’s outstretched hand, looking slightly uncomfortable. “Call me Charlie. Any friend of Grace’s is a friend of mine. Please, have a seat.”

  The three of them sat down, Grace across from Jamie and Charlie between them at the head of the table. She closed her gaping mouth and took a deep breath, her heart beating wildly in her chest as she looked over the man she once loved more than anyone else in the world.

  Jamie wore a gray suit and tie that looked expensive, and his dark blonde hair was styled in just the right way to make him look professional but approachable. The light stubble on his jaw was just as sexy as it had been five years ago when it would graze her cheeks as he kissed her. He never liked shaving and apparently still didn’t.

  His look was different. He was definitely older. Gone was the 21-year-old in a tee shirt and jeans with floppy hair just like her son’s. But he still had those same blue eyes, so bright they were almost mesmerizing.

  She tore her eyes away, wondering what he thought of her staring.

  Not that he wasn’t staring right back.

  “So...” Charlie cleared his throat again, opening the folder in front of him. Grace could tell he was unnerved because she knew him, but she doubted Jamie could. “Let’s talk about Four Brothers Brewery. We cannot tell you how thrilled we are that you reached out to us about a potential partnership. We believe that there is a lot our agency can do for your company.”

  “I think so, too. I am definitely interested in hearing what you can do for me.” Jamie was talking to Charlie, but his eyes were still on Grace. He scrutinized her every feature, finally trailing down her neck and to her cleavage. She felt his gaze like a caress, and she flushed.

  Their eyes met, and she knew he had noticed the sudden color in her cheeks.

  “You are based in New York, correct?” Charlie asked.

  Jamie finally looked away, giving her a moment to breathe. “Yes, our brewery is upstate, but our beer has been selling very well all over the east coast. We think there’s a lot of room for growth, especially in Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina. We envision ourselves as the beer of small town America, and that’s why we would love to establish ourselves further in a market like this one.”

  Charlie slid an article over to Grace for reference, and she looked it over. It was a clipping from a food magazine. Apparently Jamie’s company was doing better than she had ever imagined, and they were expanding at an incredible rate all over the Northeast. She wasn’t a big beer drinker, but Four Brothers Beer sounded familiar even to her.

  So he was a big shot. He had gotten everything he wanted.

  She didn’t know if that made her happy or angry, so she just tried to focus on the conversation happening in front of her.

  “With an aggressive marketing campaign, you could be the beverage of choice around here,” Charlie was saying. “We should look to target local bartenders and get them to push the product, because people around here have real relationships with their bartenders.”

  “Great.” Jamie turned to Grac
e, all blue eyes and smile. “What do you think?”

  What did she think? She thought he looked damn good, that’s what she thought.

  “I agree with Charlie,” she said. “A great marketing campaign would do wonders for you, and it would be a lot cheaper than pouring tons of money into advertising.”

  Jamie leaned back in his chair and folded his hands together. “Let’s do it, then. Give me some numbers and draw up a contract. Let’s get this ball rolling.”

  “Are you interested in having us on retainer?” Charlie asked.

  “Absolutely,” Jamie said. “Where do I sign?”

  Charlie glanced at her, and she knew what he was thinking because it was the same thing she was.

  That had been too easy.

  “Excellent. Grace, will you put together a copy of our new client contract for Jamie while we discuss some figures?”

  “Of course.” Grace stood up quickly, happy to have an excuse to leave the room so she could collect her thoughts. “I’ll get started on that.”

  Jamie’s eyes followed her, roving her body greedily until she was out of the door and a wall was between them. She felt her body physically relax as she made her way to her desk and sank into her chair.

  Jamie was here. She couldn’t wrap her mind around it. Was this a coincidence? Fate? Or something else?

  She had thought about what she would say to him if she ever saw him again, but in her mind it was always at a fancy party with her in a slinky black dress and a wedding ring on her finger. He would take one look at her and know that he had lost the best thing he had ever had. She would make charming small talk as if she had forgiven him for breaking up with her, and then she would go home to her husband and Jake and know she had won.

  Jake.

  She felt a chill run through her when her eyes fell on the framed photograph of her son that was sitting right on her desk, in plain view of anyone who might pass by. What if Jamie found out about her son and tried to take him from her? What if he fought her for custody?

  The Jamie she remembered wouldn’t do that, but she didn’t know him anymore. Besides, Jamie had a definite temper when he was really upset about something. He would be so angry that she hadn’t told him she had given birth to their child. He would obviously want to be with his son, and he would expect her to give him shared custody.