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“Red flag. You are a fucking Rothschild. You cannot be running around town with a fake fiancée,” Harrison grits out. He takes our reputation very seriously these days since becoming governor, and I support him on that, but his immediate reaction to me being engaged, fake or not, has my jaw clenching.
“If it is just fake, why did you hit me?” Tennyson asks, rubbing his arm again.
“Just a reflex, sorry,” I say with a laugh, not sorry at all.
“Nope, not work related and not very fake at all, by the looks of it,” Tennyson says, leaning back in his chair like the cat that got the canary.
“Again. What the hell is going on? A fake fiancée? How is that ever going to work?” Harrison continues, and I can basically see his thoughts racing behind his eyes.
“Sasha’s calls have escalated. She just came to visit me in the office, and I needed to find a way to get her off my back once and for all. Emily was there, and the idea flew out of my mouth before I could rein it back in. I talked with Emily after, and we came to an agreement. We will go out a few times so Sasha can see us together, maybe to a few events and business things too. Once Sasha is off my case, Emily and I will go our separate ways.” My stomach feels like lead as I talk through the plan out loud. I don’t like the sound of us going our separate ways.
“What does she get?” Tennyson asks, looking skeptical.
“She just wants me to hang out at the school and help some of the kids with their swimming. Nothing major,” I say, shrugging, because she could have asked for so much more.
“So you are not paying her?” Harrison asks, surprised.
“No, I am not fucking paying her,” I spit out. I refuse to pay a woman to spend time with me. In any capacity.
“She didn’t ask for much…” Eddie adds, leaving an accusation out there.
“My guess is that she wants me to embed myself into the school and the kids so that I can make this Beasley deal go away,” I tell them. It’s pretty obvious what her intentions are.
“Nothing Beasley does goes away,” Harrison murmurs over the top of his drink. He knows as well as I do that when Beasley wants something, he will stop at nothing to get it.
“So you’re telling me that you have met a woman, who has agreed to be your fiancée, but has asked for no money, and is getting no personal gain whatsoever?” Tennyson asks as he sits back in his seat, eyeing me.
“Me with the kids. That is all she wanted.”
“Mom is going to have a fucking field day,” Eddie says, and all four of us take a swig of our drinks. Our mother is a force unknown to us. After almost fracturing her relationship with Harrison, she has quickly moved on to me. The longer I can keep this news from her, the better, because I am sure when she finds out, the other side of the world will hear her explosion. Especially since she and Sasha get along so well. Sasha has probably called her already, because my phone is suddenly very quiet.
Mom was the one to introduce me to Sasha, having met her at a fashion charity function and deciding that a woman like her would be the perfect match for me. That should have been the biggest red flag of it all. I usually ignore all my mother’s ideas, but she wore me down, and so Sasha and I went on a date. Then another, and another, before we became semiserious. Mother was off my back, and I escaped any further issues. The drama that ensued after Harrison met Beth is seared into everyone's brains except hers, and that is something I didn’t want to experience.
I sigh and rub my hands over my face. “I’m so fucked. She is a pro in our meetings, yet a special needs teacher. I can’t wrap my head around it. I have been thinking about her ever since I met her at the bar the other week.”
“Wait, are you talking about the nun?” Eddie asks, now sitting forward, engrossed in the conversation.
“The one and only.” I sigh, taking another swig of my drink.
“Fuck, so you like her, then? This is not just a business deal?” Tennyson pushes, clearly intrigued as well.
“She isn’t your usual type…” Eddie starts. Here we go again…
“What, you mean tall, tanned, and from a magazine?” Harrison interrupts, and all three of my brothers laugh and cheer their drinks, mocking me and my past relationships.
“Fuck off, you assholes,” I murmur. Eddie made this point at the bar the other week, and I don’t need to keep hearing it.
“She is stunning…” Tennyson says, nodding at Harrison. “In a sexy librarian kind of way.” I need to clench my fist under the table to ensure I don’t punch him in the arm again.
“Maybe I should meet her if she isn’t your normal type, Ben. Then maybe after your fake fiancée deal ends…” Tennyson continues, knowing I am the jealous type after my debacle with Sasha.
“Don’t finish that sentence,” I spit at him, and he laughs in my face, taunting me. He loves pushing my buttons.
“You know you really can’t get involved with her; it could undermine the case,” Harrison says, looking at me seriously. The thoughts about how this affects work became secondary and now I am still scrambling to figure it out.
“I’m not planning to. Besides, Beasley is Michael’s client, not mine.” While that is true, I still own the firm, and the only way to get this past Beasley is to be upfront and honest, informing him in writing.
“He is the largest client of our firm. You can’t fuck this up,” Harrison warns, and I nod because I know. I know I shouldn’t go near her, shouldn’t touch her, but fuck, I want to. I make a mental note to work with Sandra this afternoon on a letter of information. Might as well get it done today and deal with the ramifications from there.
