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The way I show my mom I’m committed to having a personal life, without having to take any time away from work or add unnecessary complications to my life.
Violet’s still at my feet, mopping futilely away at the blue liquid. I think she’s using a tissue from her purse.
“Stand up,” I bark.
“But I’ve almost got it—”
“No. You don’t. In my office. Now.”
She rises slowly to her feet, shoulders slumped, and slushy cup clutched dejectedly in one hand as she heads into my office.
I close the door behind us.
She raises her chin, which only trembles slightly. “If you’re going to fire me, you should know that it’s actually very hard to fire someone in the state of New York. I looked it up, and you need to give me written notice—”
“Jesus, Violet. I’m not firing you,” I say.
“Oh.” She blinks. “Then what—”
“I need you to be my fiancée.”
What’s left of the slushy hits the ground, splashing across my mahogany floor.
4
VIOLET
“What?”I blurt. Gage and I have already established that we have communication problems. And I could have sworn he just said...
“I need you to be my fiancée,” he repeats, as calm and firm as if he were asking me to transfer a call or get him a new stapler.
It’s funny. Helookslike the same cold-hearted, disturbingly sexy Gage Crawford. But clearly, aliens have taken over his body. Or maybe my life has turned into a soap opera, and he secretly has an evil twin.
Except in Gage’s case, his evil twin would actually be a nice, kind human.
“Breathe, Violet,” Gage says.
I do, calming down as the air hits my lungs. I twist my hands, wondering if I misheard. It sounded like he said fiancée, but maybe...“Is that, um, a weird corporate term I don’t know yet? F.E.N.C.A.?”
Now he’s looking at me likeI’mthe one who’s been abducted by aliens.
I can feel my panic rising. “Or like yesterday, when I misunderstood you and thought you wanted me to pretend to be your girlfriend, but all you really wanted was—”
“No, I want you to be my fake fiancée,” Gage says firmly. “And I’m willing to pay.”
“Oh.Oh.” I collapse on his couch, relieved. “I thought you were actually asking...” I swallow the hysterical laughter.
Gage raises an eyebrow. “Get a lot of impromptu marriage proposals, do you?”
Rude.He’sthe one who needs a fake fiancée.
Now that I know what I’m dealing with, I know how to get out of it. “Thank you for considering me. Huge honor. All of that. But I’m going to have to decline because—”it’s batshit insane, “I already have a boyfriend. And I don’t want to break up with him to fake marry you. So...” I make a regretful face and shrug.
Gage leans back against his desk. “You don’t have a boyfriend.”
Shoot. “Did Tom tell you?”
“No. But a girl like you doesn’t offer to pretend to be someone’s girlfriend unless she’s single. Also, you just confirmed it.”
