AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Never too busy for you.”
“Let’s cut the crap,” she replies, giving me a sour look. “I don’t like this situation; I don’t like it one bit. But my parents’ hospital bills are too much to handle for my sisters and me, so here I am… accepting your offer.”
I flash her a cool smile. “I’ll throw in as many bonuses as you need to handle your family’s situation without a single additional effort from you or your sisters, Becky. It’s literally the least I can do to assist you, and I will do it gladly.”
“You do this a lot, don’t you?” she asks, raising an eyebrow.
“What?”
“Throw money at things. At problems. At people.”
“It usually helps, yeah. It has solved a number of big problems along the way. Not all of them, but I find that it’s always worth a shot, regardless of the situation,” I reply.
Becky takes a deep breath. “Let me see if I got this right. The amount of money you wrote on that piece of paper—”
“Plus the bonuses.”
“Plus the bonuses… it’s all so I can show up at a rich guy’s house on a Saturday afternoon with my son and pretend we’re a family.”
“Yes.”
She exhales sharply. “It’s insane…”
“But doable.”
“Yeah. Sort of. You’d need to spend time with Elliot and me. Right now, you’re a stranger, and he tends to be iffy with strangers. Especially men. The only guys he’s known and liked so far are my dad and Vincent. You’d be the third.”
“It’s an honorable position in Elliot’s life, to say the least. I’m thankful for the opportunity,” I say, smiling again. “You seem like a nice and fine gal; I’m sure the kid is just as cool.”
“Flattery won’t get you anywhere, Todd. I still don’t think it’s okay for you to lie about your personal life like this, but I’m in no position to judge nor to punish you for your decisions,” she replies. “I’m here to talk to you about how this is going to work, considering what I know about myself, about my son, and about people in general. If we’re to make Mr. Douglas-Mackie believe we’re happily married, we need to get to know each other a little better. And you absolutely need to spend time with Elliot and me in order for it to seem natural when we go to his place.”
“Fair enough…”
I like how she challenges me. It’s kind of a turn-on, actually, the resistance and the questioning. The only other person who talks back to me like Becky is Piper, but even Piper won’t go against my word in the end. She’ll do what I ask, despite any comments she might have. She alsohasto do what I ask, since she is my direct subordinate. I can’t command Becky on this matter, not even from a professional standpoint, since it’s not within her purview, so to speak. This is a personal issue that she has chosen to help me with. And so, it gives her a certain power over me.
A power she has no shame to exploit, if only to make herself feel better about taking money for it.
“I’ll spend all the time you need me to spend with you and your son. You’ll see no objection from me whatsoever,” I tell Becky. “On the contrary; it would be my pleasure to get to know you and Elliot better, like I said. And I’m not giving you empty flattery, either, just so we’re clear. I’m telling you a truth that I have become personally aware of.”
“Oh, okay,” she mumbles, her hazel eyes big and wondering.
She has questions and fears that need addressing. Despite the growing attraction I seem to be feeling toward her, I have reassurances to give her sooner rather than later. “I didn’t specify this, but it will be outlined in a separate contract between us for this job,” I say. “Should the whole theatrical project fall apart, should John smell the lie or pick up on anything, I will not hold you responsible in any way. If it fails, I will take full responsibility because it has been my lie since day one, not yours.”
She nods. “Thank you for that.”
“It’s only fair. What you’ve agreed to do goes against your moral code, and I appreciate it more than you might think.”
“To be fair, yeah, I’m kind of disappointed that you lied,” Becky says, then follows up with a mild shrug. “But I get why you did it, and I reckon I might have done the same, had I been in your shoes. I can’t say that with absolute certainty, though it’s definitely a possibility.”
“Thank you, I guess?”
She laughs lightly, her lips stretching and making me wonder what it might feel like if I ran my thumb over them right now. “I think I’ll be able to pull it off,” she says. “It’s Elliot you’ll need to win over.”
“He’s two years old, right?”
“Yes.”
“So, he’s got some words and basic concepts down. He’s walking, running, playing, right?”
