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“Why not?” He stands. “This is part of our contract, or didn’t you read that? I need you when I need you. We have four weeks, not months.”
Shit, I have plans with my brother that I can’t get out of. Anything else, for anything else with him, I’d cancel, but I promised I’d go to an event with him this evening that’s important and I can’t let him down.
“It’s just…” It’s on the tip of my tongue to say I’ve plans with my brother, but Sarah’s an only child, so I panic. “I’ve got a charity event. It’s the Matronly Matrons of the Hamptons fundraiser. It’s this thing where—”
“That’s fine.” He cuts me off and I’m almost sagging with relief because I honestly don’t know where that would have ended.
“Tomorrow. No excuses.”
I watch him leave, hating the disappointment that surges at his departure. Instead, I delete the email and shut down the computer and head to meet my brother.
This all has the beginnings of a nightmare. Especially how the little lies keep growing into more lies. But this is only four weeks. And I can control an unrequited crush for four weeks. Right? I can do that. Four weeks. Then I get paid. Then I can save my brother’s business and help him find his confidence again, and I never have to think about this job. Except when I’m old and gray. Then I can relish the memory of the kiss.
But I just have to do this for four weeks.
What, really, could possibly go wrong?
Chapter Seven
Hudson
I’m more pissed off than I’d like to admit.
Normally it wouldn’t bother me, but after the kiss the other day, the kiss that still comes to me like the scent of skin at different times, it’s something that bites deep.
I don’t know what the fuck this fundraiser was, and I’ve no desire to find out. Those kinds of things bore the crap out of me. But for some reason, since I’ve gotten to know her, at least as much as I can in a few days, I would have thought she’d hate that kind of event.
My home is blessedly quiet, and nowhere near where most people think I’d live. It’s in the quiet mid upper east side of Manhattan, the street is tree lined and the houses worth a fortune. And mine, well, it’s a lovely brownstone with five floors, but I’ve got the top two as my private domain.
The rest is for guests and entertaining if I choose to do so, which is only usually for business purposes, but I’m here to sleep and eat and fuck in the master bedroom that’s not my room. That’s when I bring them here.
The event tonight would have been made more interesting with Scarlett, which surprises me. I was only planning to take her for the purposes of our contract, but she’s a bright light, full of life I didn’t know I liked having around. The stuffy suits of the company I just bought bored the pants off me and I stayed as long as was polite.
Now I’m home, some old school blues on because that’s my mood, and Scotch.
All I want is to relax and think about my plans.
So that’s when my phone rings. I pick it up from the arm of the chair in the living room in my private quarters and sigh, hitting answer and speaker at the same time.
“Hello, Mother.”
“Hudson. I’ve been speaking with Jenson. And I think I should bring up a few things if this girl turns into something more than just your employee…”
The next morning, everything at the office is running smoothly, the way I expect it to. Even my faux fiancée is hard at work. Of course, her idea of work and mine seem to differ. It’s not wrong, per se, but it’s not good.
I sit behind my desk and place the new contract on my desk, staring at it. The reason I’m late.
If things were perfect, then I’d be talking to her right now instead of sitting in here.
I want excellence.
I demand it.
No one’s going to believe I’d hire her if she didn’t give me that. She’s not the package I go for, so she needs to be on her game to make it all work.
Yes, I’m being hard, and perhaps I’m incorrect with not good.
Scarlett’s green.
