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I shrugged and cut him off. “Their biggest complaint with me when I was dating Rachel was that I was too much of a flirt, and that I was immature when it came to handling my relationships. I mean, Rachel was a far cry from mature herself—and shedidcheat on me with like three different guys when she went to Italy. But that’s not important,” I added quickly. “This hasnothingto do with her. I just want that business. If I show up with a successful, charming woman—who has everything going for her, and I present myself as the perfect boyfriend. Maturity reached...”
“You thinkmysister is those things?” Josh burst into laughter. “Like, wearetalking about Ally, right? The woman you’re talking about doesnotsound like her. Ally is a firecracker.”
“Oh, come on,” I drew out. “Your sister has her shit together more than ninety-nine percent of the women we know. She’s got her own place, makes a killer living with a steady smart-person job, and she’s...you know, not ugly.”
Josh raised an eyebrow. “Are you indirectly calling my sister hot?”
I rolled my eyes. “I said she’s not ugly. I’m not getting off to your sister in my spare time or something.”
Okay, maybe a handful of times.
That shower accident would be forever burned in my brain.
Sighing, I pushed the thought away. “The point is to just solely show that I can manage a nice, successful woman as my girlfriend. I can be the mature guy that I’m supposed to be—the kind of guy that can land a multi-million-dollar company and keep it running profitably.”
Josh was quiet for a few moments, his face contorted in a mixture of amusement and disbelief. “And you don’t thinklyingabout a relationship is a little immature?”
“Why are you being so fucking unsupportive?” I groaned, running my fingers through my hair. “You know that I’m more than capable of running a business like that. I’ve been working for my dad for nearly ten years now—I’ve proven my business capabilities.”
“No, no,” Josh said quickly. “Idothink you’re capable of running the business. I just reallydon’tunderstand why having some fake girlfriend, especially mysister, is going to make the deal more plausible. Everyone knows that you’re a suave guy in the tech world. I don’t see why that wouldn’t be enough.”
“Frank Lewis is all about family—he’s the epitome of a family man. That’swhy.Back when I was dating Rachel, he would always pick the guy with the family over the bachelor, even if the latter was more deserving of the position.” I folded my arms across my Rolling Stones t-shirt, ignoring the irritation burning in my chest. Ihadto convince Josh that this was a good idea...
He was the only person standing in the way of the plan. If he wasn’t on board, then there was no way in hell I would go through with it. Not even a company like CyberSecure was worth losing my friendship with him.
“And Allyagreed?” he finally said, letting out a sigh and rubbing his jaw.
“Yeah, for thirty percent of the company.” My jaw clenched at the mention, but it was what it was. She was a hell of a negotiator, and she was also theonlyoption I had. I needed her to agree. I could give up some profit to her.
Josh laughed. “Man, I love my sister.”
“Yeah, everyone seems to—which is why she’s perfect. I just have to try and get along with her for two weeks.” I grimaced. On paper Ally really was the ideal girl, but there was never a time when the two of us had seen eye to eye.
I’ll just have to suck it up and keep my eyes on the prize.
“Okay, fine. Do it, but don’t mess with Ally—like you know,” he warned, though his expression was more weary than anything.
“I don’t think you have to worry about that,” I assured him, awkwardly shifting my weight. “She’s not really my type anyway.”
“She better not be,” he grunted, side-eying me. “Ally deserves better.”
Ouch. But seriously?
I tensed by jaw. “I’m not even going to go there with you—but I’ve seen your sister’s dating choices over the years, and I wouldn’t exactly call them top tier. I mean, who was that one guy she dated for like three years? He was the biggest douche.”
“Which is exactly why she deserves better. She has terrible taste.” Josh chuckled, and my shoulders dropped with relief. “I think you’re a solid bro, but your past with women is sketchy at best. Rachel was your only relationship that lasted longer than a handful of months.”
“I was with Rachel for years,” I pointed out, furrowing my brow. “That’s a lot more than a handful of months, so Iamcapable of maintaining a long-term relationship. I just...I realized after Rachel that I like to have fun more than I like to be nailed down.”
“And so now you’re going to convince Frank Lewis that you’re ready to settle down and be serious. Genius.” Josh shook his head and reached for a pair of my designer sunglasses. “Do you want these? Because you only have like ten pairs, and I broke mine last week.”
I glanced over to the black Gucci sunglasses—they were my favorites, but... “Yeah, you can have them.”
“Dude, you’re the best.”
“Consider it payment for letting me borrow your sister for a couple of weeks, though that sounds...weird.”
“Really fucking weird,” he agreed, before bursting into laughter. “But anyway, I know that Ally can hold her own. The woman negotiated a thirty percent stake out of you. That’s impressive.”
