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My mom gasped at my silence.
“Is there a special someone in the picture now? Honestly, Bryce. You never tell me anything.”
“Your son has great taste, Mrs. Taylor.” I cringed at the familiar voice of the salesperson behind me. A salesperson who just made a hefty commission from my purchase could stop talking right about now. “The engagement ring he picked is the best that we offer. He’s about to make one lucky woman feel incredibly special.”
Fuck. Doesn't dropping a truck-load of cash come with some privacy? Even if their best customer was standing there? I wanted to beam myself out of this situation, stat. The salesperson seems to have forgotten his professionalism. I shot him an icy glare, to which he immediately recoiled, realizing his error.
My mom’s eyes went wide – the same dark brown as mine – just as mine closed in frustration.
“Robert,” Mom called out, without taking her eyes off me.
“Yes, Mrs. Taylor,” said the salesperson quietly as he stepped beside her.
“I’m afraid I’m going to have to delay my appointment this afternoon. It seems that my son and I need to go get a cup of coffee and have a bit of a chat.” "Robert" slunk away. No matter how bad he might have felt, it wasn't as bad as I was feeling right now.
Mom spun on her very expensive heel and walked back out the door, giving me no choice but to follow her. She marched me right into the coffee shop across the street and sat at a table. With a sigh, I went to the counter and ordered her usual. No-fat, no-sugar, no-taste, why-does-she-even-bother latte, and a black coffee for me. I was tempted to ask if they had any aspirin in the back since I was pretty sure I was about to have a headache.
I sat down at the table, feeling my mom's eyes boring a hole through the center of my forehead. Earth swallow me now. Please. We were silent, me looking down and waiting for the shit to start slinging, and my mom just looking at me, unwaveringly, trying to decide what to say first.
Finally, our coffees arrived at the table. Might as well get this started. I have shit to do.
“Mom, please don’t make a big deal out of this,” I said in a low tone. Why did I bother? “I’m sorry to say there isn’t anyone special and there will be no wedding. This is purely a professional purchase. I’m trying to reorient my personal brand for the good of my company. That’s all.”
My mom took a long, thoughtful sip of coffee and just stared at me over the rim. God help me. She was about to unleash.
“A work thing,” she repeated, slowly, allowing the words to sink in.
I nodded.
“Okay, sure.” She casually shrugged one slender shoulder as she set her mug down. “Tell me, Brycie. If it’s just a ‘work thing’ then why not just send your assistant to get a ring?”
I opened my mouth to answer and then snapped it shut. To be honest, it hadn’t occurred to me to send my assistant. Really, I could have done the whole thing just from the office, or anywhere. But I had felt the need to come here and pick it out myself. Why was that?
My mother winked as she got up from the table, pulling her signature "I'm-so-wealthy-I-can-leave-my-custom-latte-unfinished" move.
“I’ll believe this is all a hoax when I see it. In the meantime, I expect you two for dinner soon. I’ll call later to make arrangements.”
She walked out of the shop and I vaguely noticed her heading back to the jewelry store as I sat there, feeling a little dumbstruck.
I had to ask myself a very important question: Was I getting a little more involved than I should be in this fake engagement?
Chapter 5
Reyna
Ilookedinthemirror as I finished off my make-up with one final stroke of mascara, wondering if I was, in fact, losing my mind.
All day, I couldn’t stop wondering why I had agreed to this scheme. I should have ran like hell out of the conference room that morning. And I certainly shouldn’t have gone to Bryce’s office today and agreed to all of this. I shouldn’t have perched on his desk like I did. That seemed to up the tension brewing between us.
What had I been thinking?
I reached for the fortifying glass of wine sitting on my vanity and took a long, slow sip. Okay, maybe it was a small chug of wine.
Taking a deep breath, I reminded myself that there was a silver lining to this ridiculous storm thatIcreated: I could own my own firm. And wasn’t that worth this cost? Sure, I was going to get there someday no matter what, but this sped up that timeline by a lot. I just needed to keep that goal top of mind. It was going to be worth it.
I walked over to the closet and pulled out the black dress I’d picked out earlier. It fit the occasion: it was sexy, but not in an overt way, and it always made me feel amazing. I zipped it up and smoothed it out, looking in the full-length mirror. Oh yeah, I looked good. I’d also splurged on getting a blow-out of my hair after work and it was paying off. I swung around, looking at my reflection, watching my hair be its perfectly bouncing, smooth, and shiny self. The dress looked as good as I knew it would, hugging all of my curves. When I slipped into my high heels, my legs looked miles and miles long.
I grabbed the simple diamond stud earrings laying on my dresser as the intercom on the door buzzed. I frowned when I looked at the clock. It was earlier than Bryce said the car would arrive. I looked at the doorbell camera and saw my best friend Nia dancing and holding a bottle of wine and a cheese board.
