Page 29 of Shattered Throne
"Yeah, baby?"
"I like your boss." She said it matter-of-factly, the way children stated simple truths. "He's not scary like you said."
I hadn't said he was scary. I'd said he was difficult. Demanding. Impossible to please. I was realizing now that I might have been wrong.
4XAVIER
Sleep wouldn't come.
I reached for my phone on the nightstand. The screen glowed too bright in the darkness, making me wince. February 22nd. 2:47 AM.
Two months and twenty-eight days.
That was all I had left. Two months and twenty-eight days before my grandmother's deadline passed.
I'd never fancied myself the marrying type. I'd spent my twenties avoiding exactly that. Keeping things casual. Moving on before anyone got too close, before anyone expected more than I could give. It had worked. I'd been happy, or something close to it.
But now the topic had come up, forced upon me by a grandmother who refused to accept that her youngest grandson might never settle down, and I didn't even know where to start.
At this point, I'd marry just about anyone to keep my inheritance. It wasn't about the money, not really. It was about security. The Dubois family was warm and accepting, don’t get me wrong, but my unique circumstances made me wary.
I didn’t like to talk about it much, neither did my family, but sometimes I feared that they’d look at me and see exactly what I was: a product of infidelity.
My mother had left me with nothing, so the Dubois name became my everything. At first, I’d wanted to live up to the name, but with a brother like Sebastian, why try? I’d rather be the natural screw-up than the one who tried but still failed.
I turned onto my side, punched my pillow into a different shape, and tried to think about something else.
Kim.
Her face surfaced in my mind unbidden. Dark eyes that missed nothing. Hair pulled back in that practical ponytail.
I didn't know much about her life. I’d been surprised to learn she had a daughter. But it made sense. She was pretty efficient. Almost reminded me of my mother, the real one, not the one who left me in front of the Dubois doorstep and disappeared.
Kim would make an amazing partner. She’d be kind and supportive, everything that every woman in my life wasn’t.
She didn't seem to like me much, though. Or maybe I made her uncomfortable. I wasn't sure which. That first day, when I'd turned up the charm without realizing she was my secretary, I could see in her eyes that I'd just confirmed every assumption she'd already made about me.
She was beautiful, though. One of the most beautiful women I'd ever seen, and I'd seen a lot. Not the polished, manufactured beauty of the women I usually spent time with. Realer. She didn't need expensive clothes or perfect makeup to shine through.
But that was a line even I wouldn't cross. She worked for me. Whatever attraction I felt, whatever curiosity, it didn't matter. Some boundaries existed for a reason.
My grandmother was right, though. Kim was the perfect person for me. She sure as hell would keep me in line. There wasa fire in her eyes. It didn’t need taming. It needed to be ignited. Was I the man for the job? Maybe. That remained to be seen.
If I enlisted her in this thing with my grandmother, it might actually work. Kim was smart enough to play the role convincingly. My grandmother already liked her. And Zoe... Zoe made me look like exactly the family man my grandmother wanted me to become.
But.
There was always a but.
If I spent three months pretending to be in a relationship with Kim Young, I might find myself wanting it to be real. And my heart definitely wasn't up for that. I'd kept it carefully guarded for years. I wasn't ready to let anyone past those walls.
Especially not someone who looked at me like she could see right through them.
Kim occupied my mind throughout the night, slipping into my dreams. I was still thinking of her when I woke up.
I dressed mechanically and drove to the office. But my mind was on a certain dark-haired secretary. That secretary was already at her desk when I arrived. She was typing something with that focused efficiency that made me feel like a slacker just watching her.
She glanced up when I approached. "Good morning, Mr. Dubois."
