Dating the Enemy

by Amber Page

  “Can I ask why you need to know? Last I heard, you were on track to take that title from your father in the very near future.”

  Nick sighed. “My father and I are having a disagreement about the path the company should take. He is threatening to sell it before I get anywhere close to forty.”

  Peter frowned. “I see. Well, in that case, there is one way.”

  Nick sat up straight. “Lay it on me.”

  “You have to get married.”

  “Married?”

  “Yes. According to your grandfather’s will, if you are legally married, on your thirty-fifth birthday you automatically become CEO of Thornton & Co.”

  His thirty-fifth birthday was in four short weeks. Nick jumped up from his chair. “Peter, you are amazing. Thank you so much for the information!”

  “Does it help?”

  “You have no idea how much. Thank you!”

  He whipped out his phone as he strode out of the office and texted Jessie.

  I have news. Dinner tonight?

  Her answer appeared in seconds.

  Sure. Want to come to my place?

  Nick grinned to himself.

  Sounds great. I’ll bring the food.

  I knew I liked you. Be here by seven.

  Nick put his phone to sleep and whistled as he waited for the elevator. That gave him just enough time to get his hair cut and stop at the jewelry store before heading to Jessie’s.

  It was going to be a great night.

  “What are you going to tell him?” Gloria asked from her perch on the counter bar stool.

  “I don’t know. I haven’t decided yet.” Jessie waved at the table in front of her. “How does this look?”

  “Crystal, china, real silver … even a tablecloth? It looks like you’re planning to propose to him.”

  Jessie laughed, surprised at the brittleness in her voice. “That would be something. Would you, Nick Thornton, go through cancer therapy with me? Will you hold my hand and feed me soup? And promise not to laugh when I lose my hair?”

  “You’re making a joke of it, but I’ll bet he’d say yes,” Gloria said, hopping off her chair.

  Jessie was saved from answering by the sound of the doorbell roaring.

  “Whatever. Go let him in, would you? And let yourself out?”

  “Fine. But don’t dismiss him out of hand, okay? He could really be a help to you in the months ahead.”

  Jessie waved her away and then went into the kitchen to pour the wine.

  She was just putting the glasses on the table when he found her.

  “Hey, babe,” he said, putting two heavy bags down on the counter. “I brought a feast.”

  “Wow. You sure did.” She walked over and peeked inside. “What have we got here?”

  “Thai, Italian and Indian. I wasn’t sure what you were in the mood for.”

  She reached up on tiptoes and kissed him. He really was the most considerate guy on the planet. “Thank you. Let’s just set it up here like a buffet. Then we can take little bits of everything!”

  A comfortable silence fell as they unboxed the food and grabbed their plates. Jessie piled her dish high, but knew there was no way she was going to be able to eat. Her stomach was far too knotted to force food into it.

  Once they were seated she did her best to get some small talk going.

  “How was work today?”

  He shrugged. “All right. I found a great warehouse space for Thornton Digital. It’ll take a few months to make it work for our purposes, but when it’s done it will look spectacular.”

  “Where are you keeping my people in the meantime?”

  He looked up, his expression startled. She must have sounded more hostile than she’d intended.

  “They’re sharing an office next to mine. It’s pretty nice. They can even see Central Park if they crane their necks.”

  She tried to smile. “Great. Take good care of them, okay? They’re important to me.”

  He looked at her sharply. “Jessie, what’s wrong? You look exhausted.”

  Great. Apparently Goddess’s magic under-eye concealer wasn’t so magic. “Guess you just wore me out over the weekend!”

  “I don’t believe you. Is everything okay at Roar?”

  She nodded. “Becky called in some favors and roped a couple of great freelancers in to work for me. Don’t tell Coleen, but the stuff they’re putting together is even better than what she had going!”

  “Glad to hear it. But if that’s not the problem then what is?”

  She sighed. “Just worried about what the future holds.” It wasn’t a lie.

  “About that … I have some good news.”

  “Oh?” At least one of them did.

  “I was going to wait until after dinner to do this, but what the heck?” He wiped his mouth with his napkin, then moved out her chair so he could kneel in front of her. “Jessie, I’ve found a way for us to be together. A way to take Thornton away from my dad and keep Roar safe.”

  Jessie’s heart started to beat faster when she saw the serious look in his eyes. Whatever he was about to say, it was big.

  He reached into his front pocket and drew out a little blue box. “Jessica Owens, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

  “What?”

  Surely she had misheard him. But when he opened the box she realized he was completely serious. Inside was a beautiful ring, its center diamond glistening inside a nest of blood-red rubies.

  “Jessie, I want you to marry me.”

  Her mouth went dry. “Why?”

  “I went to see my lawyer today, and he said that if I was married by my thirty-fifth birthday Thornton legally becomes mine.”

  “When’s your birthday?”

  “Next month. But Roar would be safe even before then. As my wife, you’ll be a Thornton. So the minute we’re married the Goddess account will be back in the control of Thornton & Co. and our problems will be solved!”

  Jessie’s brain stuttered. He wanted to marry her. But did he want to marry her? Or did he just want her business? Had this been his plan all along?

  “So you want to marry me to get your hands on Thornton—and Roar.”

  “What? No! Jessie, I love you!”

  Rage flared to life in her heart. Jessie embraced it and let the flames spread.

  “How do I know that? Maybe this has all been a ploy. Maybe your father’s even behind it! Get the girl to fall in love, get her business, and then get rid of her!”

  “Jessie, that’s insane.”

  “No. You … this … this is insane.”

  He knelt back, his face pale. “You don’t really believe that, do you?”

  She drew a deep breath, trying to ignore the pain in her chest as her heart broke in pieces. “I don’t know. But I do know I’m not going to marry you for business reasons.”

  “That isn’t what I want, Jessie. I want—”

  “I don’t care what you want!” She pushed her chair back and spun away from him. Tears pricked at the backs of her eyelids. Damn it, she would not cry in front of him. “I’m not going to marry you! Just get out of here, will you?”

  “But, Jessie …”

  “But nothing. I don’t want you here anymore. I don’t need someone so manipulative in my life. Get out!”

  He stood and his face turned to stone.

  “Fine. I’ll go. Have a nice life, Jessie. I hope Roar makes you very happy.”

  She listened as his footsteps receded and the door slammed. Once she was sure she was alone she collapsed on to the floor and released the sobs that had been building. Because everything she had told him was a lie. She did need him. She did want him. She was pretty sure she even loved him. But she wouldn’t be a pawn in his business machinations.

  For a moment she wished her cancer diagnosis was terminal. At least that way there would be an end date to the giant mess that she called her life.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Dear Jessie

  I know you don�
�t want to talk to me, but please don’t delete this email before you read it. I need to apologize for what happened the other night.

  I know how much you love Roar. And how desperate you are to shut down my father’s attempts to sabotage it. I thought if I appealed to the businesswoman in you you’d agree to my plan—even though I know you don’t love me.

  But it was just a ploy to get you to say yes. There was nothing I wanted more than to make you my bride and live with you as man and wife—till death do us part and all that other sappy junk.

  I’m sorry, Jessie. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me. And, above all, I hope that someday you find someone you can love the way I loved you.

  Yours forever

  Nick

  JESSIE READ NICK’S email for the two-hundredth time, not bothering to wipe the tears from her cheeks. How had things gone so wrong, so quickly?

  Before he had arrived that night she’d had a plan all worked out in her head. She needed to take time out to take care of her health. He needed some time to get the business and his father under control. So she’d been going to propose that they take a break and start for real a few months later.

  It would have worked.

  But instead he’d made that stupid proposal. And she’d told him she never wanted to see him again. That she hated him.

  There was no going back from that. His email made that very clear. He’d put “loved”—in the past tense. In fact he’d probably already moved on. So now she had to slog through cancer treatment without anything to look forward to on the other side.

  “How’s it going, Jess?”

  Jessie jumped at the sound of her sister’s voice and quickly clicked out of her email.

  “Oh, you know. Terrible.”

  Gloria plopped down in her office’s guest chair. “Well, that’s not what I thought you were going to say. What’s going on?”

  Jessie rubbed her eyes and pushed back from her desk. She didn’t want to talk about Nick with her sister, so she decided to talk about work instead.

  “I’m designing garbage.”

  “I’m sure it’s not that bad. Let me see.”

  Jessie spun the computer monitor around so Gloria could look at the screen.

  “Hmm …”

  “See—I was right. It sucks.”

  Gloria sighed. “It doesn’t suck. It just doesn’t have your usual flair.”

  Jessie shrugged. “I know. I just can’t make myself care.”

  Gloria stared at her. “Who are you and what have you done with my sister? I thought you loved this campaign.”

  Jessie got up from her desk and crossed to the bay window, currently blocked with blackout drapes. She threw them wide and bright sunshine flooded the room.

  “I did. I do. But I’m spending what could be my last days on earth huddled over my computer in the dark—and for what? To score a few points for feminists in the misogynist world of advertising? No matter how great these ads are, no one will even remember them in a few months. No one will remember me!”

  Not even Nick, she thought to herself.

  Gloria crossed the room and took Jessie’s hands in hers. “Jessie, you’re not dying. In a few months you’ll have put cancer behind you and you can spend the rest of your life making sure everyone knows what Roar is and who you are. You could be an advertising legend!”

  Jessie looked at her sister, but she didn’t see her. In her mind’s eye she saw her mother, looking shrunken and pale, lying in the middle of her parents’ big four-poster bed.

  “Come here, Jessie,” she’d said, patting the bed next to her.

  Jessie had crawled up.

  “Lie down next to me.”

  Jessie remembered how anxious she’d felt. How afraid she’d been that she’d hurt her mother. But she’d done as she’d asked, curling up next to her on the pillow.

  When they’d been eye to eye, her mother had reached out and brushed the hair away from her face.

  “Jessie, you know I’m dying, right?”

  Jessie had nodded as tears began to leak down her cheeks.

  Her had mom wiped them away. “Oh, no, baby, don’t cry. Don’t cry. You’re going to be okay.”

  “How can you say that? You’re leaving me.”

  “I know, honey. I know. But I’ll still be watching over you. You won’t be able to see me, but I’ll be there.”

  She’d grabbed her mother’s hand. “But, Mommy, I …”

  Her mom had placed a finger on her lips. “Shh. Listen. Whenever you’re missing me, and wishing I was there to help you, I want you to promise me you’ll do something.”

  “What?”

  “Stop. Listen to your heart. And ask yourself, Will this, whatever it is I’m about to do, make me happy? And if it will you’ll know you’re doing what I would want you to do.”

  “I don’t understand!”

  Her mother had smiled. “All I want is for you to be happy. Do what brings you joy. And never forget: it’s not the things you do, but the people you love that matter the most. Love is what makes life worth living …”

  “Jessie? Jessie are you okay?”

  Jessie blinked and the world came back into focus. “Gloria, I’ve been doing it wrong,” she whispered.

  Gloria frowned. “Doing what wrong? What are you talking about?”

  “Life. I’ve been doing it wrong. Worrying too much about making my mark on the world and not enough about making memories with the people who matter.”

  Gloria tugged on her hand. “Jessie, I think you need to sit down. You’re not making sense.”

  Jessie took a deep breath. “No. Wait. What I’m trying to say is that I’ve realized Roar doesn’t matter that much in the big scheme of things. People are what matters, and I’ve spent too long keeping myself closed off. I’m tired of being afraid. Of refusing to take a chance on love. I’ve been pouring everything I have into Roar. I don’t want it to be all that matters anymore.”

  Gloria stepped back. “Whoa. It sounds like we’re talking about something bigger than a single campaign, here.”

  “We are.”

  Her cell phone rang, breaking the sudden silence.

  “Want me to get that?” Gloria asked softly.

  “No. I will.” Jessie jogged across the room and dived for her phone to see who was calling. “It’s the doctor’s office,” she told Gloria.

  “Well? Answer it!”

  “Right.” Jessie swiped the screen, hoping she had beaten her voicemail system. “Hi, this is Jessie.”

  “Jessie, hi. I’m so glad I caught you. This is Dr. Davies.”

  “Hi, Doc. Listen, I know I need to come back in and talk to you about a treatment plan. I’ve just been really busy …”

  “Jessie?”

  “What?”

  “I have something to tell you. Do me a favor and find yourself a seat first, okay?”

  Jessie’s heart dropped. What could be so bad that she needed to sit down? She already knew she had cancer. How much worse could it get?

  She dropped down on to the edge of her desk chair. “Okay, I’m sitting.”

  “Thank you. Listen, there’s no easy way to say this, but the biopsy results we were looking at the other day … they weren’t yours.”

  Jessie forgot to breathe. “What do you mean, they weren’t mine?”

  Gloria trotted over and sat on the edge of her desk. “What’s going on?” she mouthed.

  Jessie shrugged and put the phone on speaker.

  “There was a mix-up in the lab,” Dr. Davies was saying. “I don’t know how it happened, and I’ve already fired all the technicians who were on duty that day, but that doesn’t excuse it.”

  “Dr. Davies?”

  “Yes?”

  “What were the results of my biopsy?”

  “Your biopsy was negative.”

  Gloria and Jessie stared at each other, mouths open.

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means you don’t have cancer. T
he lump is benign. We still need to get it out, but you’re healthy.”

  “I don’t have cancer?”

  “You don’t have cancer.”

  Jessie dropped the phone and grabbed her sister. “Did you hear that? I don’t have cancer!”

  Gloria grinned, tears pouring down her face. “No, you don’t. You don’t have cancer!”

  Suddenly they were both on their feet, jumping up and down with excitement like they had when they were five.

  “I’m not dying! I’m not dying! Oh, God, Gloria, it’s like somebody just gave me my life back!”

  Gloria giggled and pretended to hold a microphone up to Jessie’s mouth. “Jessie Owens, you’ve just found out that this is the first day of the rest of your life. What are you going to do with it?”

  Jessie didn’t even have to think about it. She knew what she wanted to do.

  “I’m going to sell Roar. Then I’m going to get Nick back.”

  Gloria stopped laughing and stared.

  “You’re going to do what?”

  Jessie laughed. “I’m going to sell Roar and get my man back!”

  “What? You’re moving too fast for me to keep up.”

  “I’ve just been given a second chance, Gloria. I don’t want to spend it stuck in the dark behind a desk. And I don’t want to spend my life alone because I’m afraid of getting hurt. I want to live!”

  “And to do that you have to sell Roar? Are you sure?”

  “I’ve never been surer of anything in my life.”

  “And you want Nick back?”

  “Yes. Yes, I do.”

  “All right, then,” Gloria said. “Let’s sell this sucker and reel in a man.”

  “These are your conditions?”

  Jessie looked at her gray-haired adversary across her lime-green conference table and nodded. “If you want Roar, you’ll have to agree to every single term and condition in this agreement.”

  Brad Thornton looked at her with the same sapphire-blue eyes he had gifted to his son and started ticking things off on his fingers.

  “So I have to name Nick CEO of Thornton & Co.?”

  “Yes.”

  “And I have to name Gloria Creative Director?”

  “With the same salary you offered me.”

  He nodded. “And I have to agree to adjust the composition of Thornton’s senior management team to include at least five women at all times?”