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When Violet tries to sneak out at 6:00 p.m., I’m already waiting for her in the elevator.
“Gah!” Violet covers her heart with her hand. “Were you just...riding the elevators? Lurking?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
That would have been inefficient. I had building maintenance hold this elevator for me.
I gesture for Violet to step in. “Come on,” I say, my voice low. “You and I have evening plans.”
She sidles onto the elevator, looking at me out of the corner of those lovely hazel eyes. “About that. I was thinking maybe we could wait to move in together until tomorrow. No one will know if we don’t live together—”
“I’m not taking that risk. And that’s not your real objection.” I hit the button to take us down.
She throws her hands in the air. “Look, this whole...deal...is kind of ridiculous. Why not make it less ridiculous where we can?”
I give her the full weight of my stare. “I once made a business deal that involved brokering the release of a peacock by my business partner’s ex-wife to a mutually agreed upon animal sanctuary.”
She blinks. “What—”
“You are less ridiculous than the peacock.” The elevator doors open. “And you’re moving in with me. Tonight. Or the deal is void.”
She grumbles but follows as I lead off the elevator, outside, and into my town car.
I try to ignore the way just having her close makes my body feel more alive.
* * *
Our first stopis the two-bedroom apartment Violet shares with her roommate deep in Brooklyn. It’s a second-floor walk-up not too far from Prospect Park. I’ll send movers tomorrow to pick up the rest of her stuff, but tonight she’s packing whatever she needs in a suitcase.
I look around the living room/ kitchen, doubtfully. “I’ve had closets bigger than this.”
“Rude.” She wrestles a suitcase out of a cramped closet and heads into her bedroom. “I know it goes against your nature, but I need you to be polite to my roommate Maria when she gets home. Otherwise, she may report you for kidnapping me.”
I plop down on the cheap but comfortable couch and stare at the ceiling. “She sounds like a calm and rational woman.”
Violet ignores my comment, so I grab my phone and catch up on emails.
I’m sending one of my employees feedback on a proposed plan to maximize profits from one of our more recently acquired businesses, when I hear a key turn in the lock. The front door opens to reveal a plump, pretty woman with light brown skin and hair piled high and messy on her head. She drops a bag of groceries on the floor without looking up, humming to herself.” Then she catches sight of me and whips out a wooden spoon from the dish-drying rack. “Who the hell areyou?”
I’m contemplating how to answer that. There’s no way a roommate will believe that Violet has been secretly dating someone without her knowing. Not in an apartment this size.
Violet rushes out of her bedroom. “Hey! Maria! This is my boss, Gage.”
Maria relaxes. “Oh. You’re home early.” Then she narrows her eyes and brandishes the spoon in what is probably supposed to be a threatening manner. “Is this the boss who’s an asshole? What’s he doing in our apartment? Is he sexually harassing you?”
“Hewas invited,” I grumble. I can’t believe Violet’s been complaining about me being a bad boss. I have high standards, yes, but I’m not mean or unreasonable.
Right?
“He’s paying me half a million dollars to pretend to be his fiancée for the next six months,” Violet interrupts. “So I’m moving in with him.”
Maria’s eyes dart back and forth between us both. “You’re shitting me.”
“Nope.”
“Why can’t he get a regular fiancée? What’s wrong with him?”
I stand, starting to get irritated. “Again, I’mright here.” I turn to Violet. “Also, we didnotdiscuss telling this secret to other people.”
