From Fake to Forever (Newlywed Games 2)

Before the sun had set, Jason had purchased a plane ticket to Vegas, desperate to get away from the crumbling foundation of his world. Never in a million years would he have guessed the next time he’d contemplate setting foot inside Hurst would be at the invitation of a woman he’d met and married on that trip.

But he was in a different place now, thanks to that woman. And he couldn’t resist the opportunity to see inside the company that would be under his command soon. They’d have to avoid the security cameras, but it might be worth the extra care to see what was so important.

Quickly, he texted her back: Meet me at the elevator. I don’t have a badge to get past the front doors.

Meredith was waiting for him when the elevator doors split, wearing a cryptic smile. “Thought you’d never get here. Come on.”

“Do you know where all the security cameras are?”

“I never paid any attention.” Dismay pulled at her expression. “Is it too risky?”

Probably. But he couldn’t go back now, not with the dual promise of critical information at his fingertips and a chance to check out his father’s company. “I’ll keep my face behind my jacket. As long as you’re sure no one else is around.”

Half-blind, he laced fingers with Meredith, and let her lead him through the quiet office.

When he completed the merger, he planned to let Hurst’s space go and rent the floor above Lyn, which would be vacated at the end of the month. He’d already put a deposit down on it in the name of a holding company.

“You and Avery were up here for a long time,” he murmured as they passed the door marked Paul Lynhurst, CEO.

“Would have been longer if she hadn’t gotten another call and hightailed it out of here.” Meredith’s fingers nested deeper inside his as she turned a corner and pulled him into the office marked Avery Lynhurst, Vice President of Marketing.

This was Avery’s office? The antique desk and old-world decor did not mesh with the sister he knew, nor did it give the impression cutting-edge fashion happened here. It reminded him of something an eighty-year-old lawyer would prefer.

“So she left you here?” Seemed highly suspicious that Avery would jet with Meredith still in her office, with access to her stuff.

“Oh, no. I walked with her to the elevator, but I’d accidentally-on-purpose forgotten my phone so I shooed her out, insisting I’d be right behind her as soon as I retrieved it.” Meredith shrugged mischievously. “It just took a little longer to find my poor lost phone than I expected. Fortunately, she was very eager to get to her next appointment, whatever it was.”

When he’d first proposed this plan of planting Meredith in his sister’s camp, he’d hoped for a bit of creativity, but this was beyond anything he could have devised. He really owed her.

“I’m very intrigued by the way your mind works.” And who would have thought that would be so sexy? He’d long recognized that she had a potent combination of brains and beauty, but this was something else. “Were you always this good at fashion espionage or is this is a new development?”

“Totally new. You’ve inspired me.”

Her smile teased one out of him and he enjoyed it so much, he didn’t even care that they were standing there in his sister’s office, grinning at each other like idiots—and still holding hands.

“Did you have something to show me?” he prompted.

“Oh, yeah.” She dropped his hand and rummaged through some stencils on Avery’s desk. “Designs for the new line she’s working on. Very secret. Very hot. Very haute couture.”

She handed him one and he glanced at it. Instantly, his good humor drained away. “Very stolen, as well.”

To his shock, Meredith didn’t even blink. She nodded grimly. “I was afraid of that. I didn’t think Hurst designed anything like this. It’s too high concept. When you first launched Hurst House, what was that, like eight years ago? Anyway, the line was intended for the rack from the get-go. Accessible designs for real women.”

“Yeah, that was the idea. How did you know that?”

“I do my research. When you hooked me up with this job, I wanted to fit in.”

“You do,” he said shortly. Too much. She’d filled a gap he hadn’t known existed.

He stared at her with new appreciation. This was why she was so dangerous—he couldn’t stay even one step ahead of her.

But all at once, he couldn’t remember exactly why that mattered. She felt an awful lot like the solution, not the problem. She’d felt like that in Vegas, too. They’d connected then in a way he’d never connected with anyone. Why had he fought so hard to keep from repeating something so amazing?