Page 4 of Unleashed
"And I said yes, but told you you'd owe me one?"
My stomach drops. "I remember."
"I'm cashing in." He pushes off the desk and tucks his hands into his pockets. "I need a date. Tomorrow night."
"No."
The word comes out before I can stop it. Something flickers in his eyes. Surprise, maybe. Or irritation at being told a word he doesn't hear often enough.
"Hear me out," he says, rushing out his words. "It's not a real date. It's a performance. My father, as you know, has two years left to live. Maybe less. He wants to sign the company over to me before he dies. Otherwise, it gets split between my family, andthe board members all get a say. It will be a mess. But he's got conditions. He wants to see me settled. Responsible. Not the guy Page Six photographs stumbling out of clubs at three a.m."
"So stop stumbling out of clubs at three a.m.," I deadpan.
I grew up around cowboys. I fell in love with one. These guys in suits really need to learn something from them about being a man.
"I have. But he doesn't believe it. He needs to see it. And what he needs to see is me walking into his charity gala tomorrow night with a woman on my arm who looks like she can actually stand me."
I stare at him with my nose scrunched. "You want me to pretend to be your girlfriend. To trick your dying father."
"I want you to help me reassure a dying man that his legacy is in good hands." He holds my gaze. "My parents would love you, Harper. That whole…" He gestures vaguely at me. "Small-town warmth thing. The big smile. The wholeI was raised rightenergy. They'd believe I could fall for someone like you."
Someone like me. Not me. Someone like me. I hear the distinction even if he doesn't.
I should say no. Because this is fucked up. But he’s the CEO.
And he gave me the Red Creek story. He gave me the power to bury it, to keep Ace and his family safe. And I owe him for that, even if he doesn't know the real reason. And I need to stay in his good books, just in case the Sterling family pops up again.
"One night," I say. "One event. We keep it professional."
"Of course."
"No touching that isn't strictly necessary."
"Wouldn't dream of it."
"And this clears my debt. Completely."
He smiles again, and this time it reaches his eyes. It shouldn't make me uneasy, but it does.
"Completely. I'll email the details. I'll pick you up at eight. It's black tie." His gaze drops, traveling slowly from my face to my heels and back up in a way that makes my skin prickle. "You'll look stunning, I'm sure."
I turn to leave.
"Oh, and Harper?" He tilts his head, considering. "Maybe lose the nose ring?"
My hand goes to it instinctively, thumb pressing against the silver ring. I got this piercing on my eighteenth birthday in a shop on Main Street back in New Falls. Ace was in the chair next to me, getting his Jacob's ladder done, grinning at me through the pain because he knew I was nervous. Despite the fact that someone was sticking needles into his dick. He held my hand across the gap between our chairs.
"No," I say evenly.
Something shifts behind Hudson's eyes. "You're right. It suits you. Forget I said anything."
I walk out without another word and drop into my chair hard enough that it rolls. Samantha's eyes are the size of dinner plates.
"Did he fire you?" she whispers.
"No." I pull my keyboard toward me and start typing nothing, just to have something to do with my hands. "Worse."
"Worse?"
