Between Marriage And Merger. Karen Booth

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СКАЧАТЬ flutters in her chest. She was overcome with pride, knowing that she’d been a frequent subject of conversation between the brothers and in such a positive light, no less. It reaffirmed her decision two years ago to focus on her career and let romance and her personal life take a back seat. This might actually end up paying off.

      “I think one percent is fair,” Noah said.

      “Agreed,” Sawyer quickly added. “It might not sound like a lot, but if the Hannafort deal goes through, it will be sizable. And it should be income that comes in for years and years. Not bad for three days’ work.”

      Lily was a bit of a whiz with numbers, so she knew exactly how big 1 percent of Locke and Locke could end up being, especially after having worked on the Hannafort projections. A nest egg to last her a lifetime? All for one weekend pretending to be enamored with gorgeous, unattainable Noah? This was a no-brainer if ever there was one. Even if the part about Noah did make her stomach flip-flop. Yes, she struggled at weddings, but she’d just endured one. What difference could another one possibly make? “I’ll do it.”

      “That’s great news. Thank you.” Sawyer’s eyebrows drew together. “I hope you know this is not something we would normally ask you to do.”

      “I’ve been here two years. I know this is not the way things work around here. Sometimes things have to be done for appearances.”

      “Exactly.”

      “I should probably get back to my desk. I have lots of other stuff to do. Emails to answer.” Lily rose from her seat, but something about this was still leaving her unsettled. Was this the right thing to do? Would it ruin her working relationship with Noah? They got along so well. She didn’t want it to be awkward later. “I do want to clarify that this is for show, right? We’re pretending. That’s it.”

      Noah’s eyes found hers and she felt naked, like he was looking right through her. “That goes without saying.”

      She smiled and nodded, like the loyal employee she was. But inside, all she could think was of course. Noah Locke was that guy and he always would be.

      * * *

      Noah closed the door when Lily walked out of Sawyer’s office. “I don’t think you’ve fully thought this out.” He paced back and forth, between the chairs and the window. “We’re talking about pretending to be engaged to each other. Do you know what engaged people do?”

      “Um, I’m pretty sure, but why don’t you fill me in.” Sawyer was still poring over the Hannafort reports, dismissing this conversation as if it was nothing.

      “Hugging. Holding hands. Kissing.”

      “Sounds about right. I know you remember how to do all of those things.” Sawyer flipped to another page.

      “But am I not supposed to be staying away from Lily? You were the one who wouldn’t stop going on and on about how I needed to pretend that she was my sister. Don’t mess things up, Noah. Stop making up excuses to be around her, Noah.” He planted both hands on Sawyer’s desk and stared him down. “This could easily mess things up with her. Then what? We lose our best employee because of some stupid stunt?”

      “Now you see the validity of my original argument? When we’re being forced to set it aside?” Sawyer closed the binder and looked him square in the eye. “I think the one thing that video proved is that you have no problem with walking away, so I’m certainly not worried about your feelings. As for Lily, she’s being rewarded handsomely and she seems completely comfortable with the idea. She’s a very strong person. I’m a little concerned, but I’m not overly concerned. How confused can two people get over the course of three days?”

      “Honestly? I have no idea. I’ve never been fake engaged before.”

      “And that’s the important thing to remember. This is fake. It’s not real. It’s not the same as if you had actually pursued her. That would have hurt her feelings when you decided to end it. Or...”

      “Or what?”

      “Or maybe she would’ve ended up ending it. Maybe she would’ve turned you down. I’m sure it’s hard for you to imagine, but it could’ve gone down that way.”

      “You think I don’t worry about that every time I ask a woman out? Because I do.” Noah had thought about that a lot when it came to Lily, if only when he was trying to convince himself that going there in the first place would be a huge mistake.

      Surely Lily dated a lot. She simply never mentioned it. In fact, she rarely talked about herself. He could only assume that she didn’t have a serious boyfriend right now. She never complained about working late and she was always doing her Friday night visit to the bookstore she liked so much. It was silly, but a few weeks ago, Noah had been dateless and bored on a Friday night, so he’d gone for a run and accidentally on purpose ended up there. He’d peeked in the window, but couldn’t see the corner she’d talked about. He’d also been too embarrassed to walk in. So he’d pretended his shoelace was untied and jogged back to his apartment, realizing how stupid the whole thing had been in the first place. What would he have said if she’d seen him? I always go for runs in neighborhoods that are totally out of the way from where I live.

      “And don’t forget, Lily’s a tough cookie,” Sawyer said. “I’m not as concerned about it as I was when we first started working on the Grand Legacy project and you couldn’t keep your eyes off her or your tongue off the floor.”

      “You act like I’m the horniest guy you’ve ever met. Have you not noticed how stunning she is?”

      “I noticed. Believe me. I’ve noticed. As have lots of our clients.”

      The worst part...or the best part, Noah couldn’t decide, was that Lily didn’t seem to know it. Or if she did, she didn’t seem driven by it or obsessed by it. She simply seemed comfortable in her own skin, which Noah found very sexy.

      “Okay. Well, I guess I’m going to go back to work with my fake fiancée. This is officially the craziest thing I’ve ever done, just so you know.”

      “I don’t want to be a jerk about it, but this was your own doing. I appreciate your willingness to make it right. It’ll all be fine. We’ll do the deal with Hannafort and you and Lily can quietly break up. I doubt it’ll even be on his radar at that point. But we need to remove any doubt he has now.”

      “Got it.” Noah reached for the door.

      “Wait. There’s more. We need word of the engagement out before we leave and Lily is also going to need a ring. Everyone will want to see the ring.”

      Noah groaned in frustration. “How do we go about announcing an engagement? Do we call the society page?”

      “I don’t think we have time for that. I’ll talk to Kendall. We’ll figure out a way to leak it to the press.” Sawyer’s wife, Kendall, was a PR master. She’d done a brilliant job on the reopening of the family’s historic hotel, the Grand Legacy.

      Noah stifled another sigh. “Let me know.” As he walked down the hall, he noticed that Lily was not at her desk. He rounded into his office. She was putting things away in his filing cabinet. He came to a dead stop. He didn’t say a thing. Lily had this habit when she was standing, but concentrating on something—she’d step out of one pump and balance on her opposite leg, rubbing the back of her calf with СКАЧАТЬ