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She almost choked on her own saliva. She made a mental note to ask Skylar how long he planned on faking their engagement. There was no way she could keep up the pretense for months. Watching her expression and every word that left her mouth was exhausting. She couldn’t keep doing it. If she could roll back time, she would stop Skylar’s plan before it even began.
On his way out the door, John said, “See you tomorrow.”
The door closed behind him, and she sank into her chair again, relieved he was gone. She trembled, feeling sick to her stomach and ashamed for deceiving her boss. She’d worked hard to make partner. Hopefully, Skylar’s ridiculous plan wouldn’t blow her world up.
♥♥♥
Skylar got off the phone with a nervous client seconds before his office door slammed shut. He looked up to find the murderous gaze of Anna Burkhart. If the steel daggers shooting from her eyes were tangible, he’d be a dead man. He checked his watch. In truth, he had expected the blonde tornado to storm into his office a lot earlier.
Her face had the pinkish shade of a nice blush wine. Not quite the color of a rosé, but close. She whispered even though it was obvious she wanted to yell. “Your father just invited me to Thanksgiving weekend with your entire family.”
He shrugged. “Blow it off.”
“I tried. He insisted I drive up with you tomorrow morning, and I couldn’t think of a good reason to refuse.”
Skylar reached into his top drawer and pulled out his favorite toy, a stress ball in the shape of a miniature football. He squeezed it in one hand again and again while contemplating the problem. “I admit I did not see this coming.” He leaned back in his tall swivel chair and stared at the wall over Anna’s shoulder. “Since this engagement thing was a last-minute decision we didn’t have time to think about every possible obstacle.”
Her jaw dropped. “I warned you about several possible obstacles. You wouldn’t listen. You didn’t listen to me on the Belcher case, and you’re not listening now.”
He rolled his eyes. “This again? The Belcher case was years ago, and I won, in case you didn’t notice.”
“You might have won it quicker and cleaner if you’d listened to me when I tried to point out—”
Skylar dismissed her complaint with a wave of his hand. “Can we just focus on the problem at hand?”
She folded her arms and treated him to a nasty glare. For a moment she reminded him of his hostile third-grade teacher. That woman had hated him with a tireless passion. “It’s up to you to find me a way out of this,” Anna said. “I cannot spend an entire day with your family and keep up the charade. I’m not a good liar, unlike some people around here.”
“Four days.”
She blinked. “What?”
He lifted a hand and counted out the right amount of fingers for her. “My family is expecting me... and nowyoufor four days at their house in Vermont.”
“Are you kidding me?” The blood drained from her face. “No way can either of us keep up the pretense for four whole days. One of us will slip up. We’ll give them contradictory stories of our first date or forget the other doesn’t drink coffee or one of a million other things.”
Skylar jumped to his feet. “It’s a three and a half-hour drive. That’s plenty of time to share information and get our stories straight.”
“Why can’t you just get me out of it?”
“That would make my parents suspicious. Trust me. We can do this.”
“How?”
He circled the desk to put his hands on her shoulders. Grasping her attention, he said, “We just need to make sure we don’t spend much time with them as a couple. I’ll go hunting with my dad and watch sports with him. You can hang out with my mother and sister. Girl talk.”
“What if they ask a lot of questions?”
“Be honest without elaborating.” He smoothed back silky strands of long blond hair and tucked them behind her ear. He caressed her delicate earlobe while thinking about tasting it. That would probably rob her of speech for a while. “You know, be a lawyer. Think before you speak. Don’t offer additional information. If they push too hard, plead the fifth.”
He could tell she still wasn’t totally on board, but he caught sight of his father in the outer office. Just then his father glanced up at them. Skylar leaned forward and whispered in Anna’s ear. “He’s watching us. Here’s our chance to sell the lie.”
With his hands still on her shoulders, it was easy to pull her to him and plant a meaningful kiss on her startled mouth. He worried she might slap him and make a scene. His father would put it together and guess their plan. There wouldn’t be any coming back from that.
But Anna didn’t hit him or push him away. Her hands slid up his chest, and her arms encircled his neck. She pressed her warm body against his. They melted together in a warm kiss that burned through his flesh to his very soul, and he momentarily forgot they were putting on a show for his father.
When he remembered, he took a step back and released her. They stared at each other without saying a word. Her hand went to her mouth. His gaze followed. Those luscious pink lips tempted him to kiss them again, but he resisted the urge. Every time he touched her all his good sense went up in smoke.
She smoothed her hands down her skirt. “I wish you would stop doing that.”
