“No need,” he answered shortly. “Tell the truth or make up whatever you want, and I’ll go along with it. Just…choose a different profession.”
My brows shot up, and I instantly went on the defensive. “Are you ashamed of my job?”
“It’ll raise too many questions with my family. We can just say you’re a consultant instead. Keep things vague.”
“Vague and boring,” I muttered, scrunching my nose. I made a mental note to think of something more fun than that by tomorrow.
Cade went back to typing on his phone. “My assistant will reach out to you to book an appointment to get your hair dyed tonight. Let him know if you have a preferred salon.”
I frowned. He wanted me to dye my hair? “Uh, no thank you.”
His thumbs froze, gaze rising from the screen. “No thank you?”
“I’m not dyeing my hair.”
Cade’s dark eyes narrowed, and I felt distinctly more like prey than a business partner. “No one will believe I’m engaged to someone with blue hair.”
“Well, that’s just too bad. Like you said, you need me more than I need you,” I said pointedly. With a small shrug, I leaned back in my chair, hoping it made me look just as effortlessly powerful as it did for him. “So, you either get me with blue hair, or you don’t get me at all.”
If there was one thing I’d learned about Cade Westbrook in the short time since we met, it was that he liked being in control. But if he expected me to just roll over and obey all his commands, then he’d hired the wrong girl.
glitter gel pen
. . .
Cade
I should’ve hired one of the actresses.
Who would’ve expected Ellie’s dealbreaker to be her hair?
It didn’t help that the shade was the most bright, attention-grabbing blue she could’ve chosen.
Like any negotiation, I had to pick my battles—even if it meant coming up with a convincing story for why my fiancée’s hair was the color of a child’s popsicle.
So, I swallowed the urge to fire her on the spot and forced a stiff, closed-lipped smile. “Blue it is, then. Any other dealbreakers I should know about?”
Ellie’s shoulders relaxed, like she hadn’t expected me to back down on this.
“Well, that depends on what else you want to change about me,” she muttered, frowning. “Actually, this is a good opportunity to make a list of boundaries we both need to respect.”
She flipped to a blank page at the back of the portfolio and pulled a giant fuzzy blue pen out of her backpack.
I stared at the pen and cocked a brow. “Boundaries?”
Ellie cleared her throat and waved her ridiculous pen through the air. “Pretending to be in love is intimate. We’ll beworking closely, and I don’t want to do anything that would break the Cuddle Code.”
She’d officially lost me. “What the hell is a cuddle code?”
“It’s a list of rules I made for myself when I joined the app.” Counting off on her fingers, she explained, “Things like no dating clients. Nonsexual touching only. No messaging outside the app. That sort of stuff. Being hired as a fiancée is already a grey area with the no dating rule.”
“There’s nothing grey about it, because we’re not dating,” I countered. “This is a business deal.”
Pink rose to Ellie’s cheeks. “Well, yes, but we’ll be acting like we’re dating. I just want to make sure the line doesn’t blur.”
I chuckled under my breath, unable to take her seriously. “Trust me, you have nothing to worry about. You’re not my type.”
Her eyes narrowed into slits. “If you wouldn’t normally go for someone like me, how are we supposed to make your brother believe this is real?”
