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I’ll have her wrapped around my finger within a day, and then we can enjoy ourselves for the rest of the trip. No one can resist my charm for long.

A sharp rap on my door interrupts my thoughts. It’s time for my meeting with Jake.

“Come in,” I call out.

Jake strolls in and sits on the opposite side of my desk. “So, you said you needed to talk to me today. What’s so urgent?”

I’m just going to spit it out. Rip off that bandaid. I know he’s not going to want to hear what I’m about to say. “I need to take some vacation time. Three weeks.”

He looks at me with concern. As the oldest brother, Jake is always trying to make sure we are taken care of, even if we don’t always want him to. Since I never take any significant time off like this, I’m not surprised when he asks, “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, everything is fine. I just need some time off. I’ve been thinking about taking a vacation for a while now, but you know how busy we’ve been. It never seems like a good time. Our business has increased exponentially in the last several years and it’s a lot to deal with. Not to mention, Ethan was out of the office for so long. Handling part of his job plus mine was stressful at times.”

Ethan is our youngest brother. He left Manhattan for several months, and I was left to pick up a lot of the slack. I’m finally caught up work-wise from that crazy time. Now that Ethan is back and working his ass off, I finally feel like I can take my foot off the gas and relax a little.

“I understand,” Jake says. “We’ll make it work. You’ve earned as much vacation as you need. Why don’t you book something a month or so from now, and we’ll make sure you’re covered.”

A month from now is a reasonable request. Too bad I can’t make that work. “I kind of already have something booked. And unfortunately, the timing is not something I can move around. I leave in two weeks.”

Jake’s brows draw together as he processes what I’m saying. When he moves his hand to massage the back of his neck, I sense his unease. “Okay. It’s not my business, but I’m curious. Why the need to leave so suddenly? Where are you going?”

I check my watch, mostly to avoid Jake’s gaze. However, I’m also wondering where that contract is. Kenneth promised to have it for me by now. He better get his ass in gear if I’m going to make this work.

I swivel around in my chair and look out at the city skyline. Jake’s reflection stares back at me from the window. “I’m going to be on a TV show, a game show. I’ll be traveling throughout the United States to compete against several other couples to win prizes.”

There’s a low rumbling sound coming from behind me. Jake’s shaking figure stares out at me from the glass. I swing around to see him holding in laughter. He doesn’t hold it in for long.

“Please tell me you’re joking?” he asks between laughs. “You’re going on a game show? You’ve done some crazy shit, but this? A game show? Why the hell do you need to compete to win prizes? It’s not like you can’t afford to buy whatever you need.”

I allow myself a half smile as he continues laughing. “If you’re done . . .”

“Not quite. I have so many questions,” he says between chuckles. “You said you’re competing against other couples. Which one of your throng of girlfriends are you picking to bring on this strange little adventure? Won’t that cause jealousy between all your women?”

Geez, you get listed as one of the city’s most eligible bachelors one damn time, and everyone starts thinking you constantly sleep around. Even my brothers believe it. I should probably stop feeding into the tabloid frenzy, but damn, it’s fun to mislead them sometimes.

“I don’t currently have a girlfriend.” Jake opens his mouth to respond, but I hold up my hand and continue. “And I haven’t dated anyone in months. For your information, Jess Roberts is doing the show with me.”

“Jess? As in Lana’s best friend. That Jess?” he asks in an incredulous tone.

At my nod, he begins laughing in earnest. He’s bent over, clutching his stomach. “Oh my God. This is great. How’d you swing that? You know she hates you, right? She told Lana you’re an egotistical manwhore.”

Ouch. Egotistical manwhore? That stings a bit. I wave my hand toward the door. “You’ve had your fun. I’m busy, so feel free to leave anytime.”

“I still have more questions. So, you’re supposed to be a couple or something? I don’t get why you’d do this.”

Jake looks very comfortable in that chair. It’s clear he won’t be leaving anytime soon. I might as well answer his damn questions and let him have his fun.

“I’m doing it to help her out of a bind. You told me about the ex-boyfriend shit she’s going through, and I felt bad. My producer friend offered us the opportunity, and I decided to help her. It’s not that big of a deal,” I explain.

“That doesn’t sound like something you’d want to do with your basically non-existent free time. You don’t know Jess all that well,” Jake says.

“Well, she’s fucking hot, too. So there’s that.”

Jake raises his eyebrows. “And there it is. I knew the truth would come out. Don’t you dare try to get with her. Lana would kill you. She’d murder you and ask me to bury the body.”

“So I probably shouldn’t mention that Jess and I have to pretend to be in love and engaged?”

Jake’s face jerks up in surprise. “Holy fuck. You’re going to pretend to be engaged? To Jess?”