The Negotiator (Harbor City 1)

She took one look at the emerald and diamond engagement ring inside and gasped before glancing up at him.

Steeling himself, Sawyer knew he had one shot. He had to do this right, play up that she wouldn’t be giving up her independence or her dreams. Fuck it up and he’d risk hearing a two instead of a three-letter answer.

“I know this isn’t exactly the way either of us expected things to work out, but I think it’s for the best,” he said, his heart in his throat. “I spent a lot of time thinking while I was traveling—about you, about me, and about the two of us together. We work well together. You were amazing on the Singapore deal and you would have so much more opportunities to travel as part of Carlyle Enterprises. So even if there’s not a baby, I think we should make our fake engagement real. We make a good team.”

A charged silence stretched between them as the Town Car pulled up to the curb in front of the hotel. The prickly cactus that settled in his stomach whenever he missed some little detail scratched against his stomach lining.

Finally, she turned toward him completely, her face carefully neutral. “I’m a good teammate?”

Okay, that wasn’t exactly the response he was expecting. He opened his mouth to fix whatever it was that he’d fucked up but Linus picked that moment to open the door.

Knowing time was up but desperate to fix things, he took her hand and slipped on the engagement ring his grandfather had made for his grandmother. “I know I keep saying this but… just think about it.”

Clover stared at the ring as she tugged her bottom lip between her teeth but kept the rest of her body completely still. Then, after a moment, she closed her eyes, clenched her teeth together tight enough to square her jaw, and let out a shaky breath. When she opened her eyes again, he couldn’t miss the glimmer of wetness in them or the bittersweet acceptance.

“We’d better get inside,” she said before taking Linus’s outstretched hand to exit the limo.

Sawyer got out after her and slid his hand across the small of her back, the familiar spike of lust rushing through him at the slightest feel of her, but he couldn’t shake the itching suspicion that he’d missed some detail and that while Clover might be wearing his ring, he hadn’t yet sealed the deal.

…

The ring felt weird on Clover’s hand—heavy, pokey, awkward—but zeroing in on that gave her something to focus on besides the stone-cold realization that she couldn’t do this any longer. Baby or no baby, tonight was it. She just wished she had it in her to at least enjoy the last few hours with him. Even if he didn’t love her, she could still have one last fantasy night pretending that he wanted her for more than a teammate.

Teammate.

“Quelle merde,” she said under her breath, the first inklings of indignation rising up through the hurt and disappointment.

She grabbed the anger with both hands and held tight, relishing having something crystal clear to understand after days of emotional confusion. As far as marriage proposals went, Sawyer’s second was even worse than his first. Did he want her to be his wife or an employee with benefits? She shouldn’t be surprised, though. That’s how she fit into the big-picture plan he had of his life. It wasn’t about her—or the maybe baby—at all. Yet here she was with his hand at the small of her back and a smile pasted on her face as they made their way through the crowded ballroom at the Bayview Hotel to the table where Helene Carlyle was holding court.

“Sawyer, welcome home.” Helene stood up and gave her son a hug before turning to Clover. “Doesn’t your bride-to-be look beautiful?”

“She always does,” Sawyer said, sounding genuine.

Her heart cramped because of course he was. She didn’t doubt the attraction between them, only what it meant outside of the bedroom.

“Agreed.” Hudson leaned toward her and lowered his voice to a conspiratorial level, “May I have this dance before my mom gets her claws into you to get all the latest wedding details?”

She laughed at the absurdity of it all, the sound coming out harsh even to her own ears. “A perfect idea.”

The dance floor was crowded but Hudson navigated through the couples to a less crowded corner as if he’d been doing it his whole life, which he probably had. As he led them into a turn, she took a hard look at him. He was jus

t as handsome as Sawyer only light where his brother was dark. But behind the flirtatious blue eyes and reputation as one of Harbor City’s most active players, something else was lurking. Not that it mattered. She wouldn’t be around to tease the truth out of him. Anyway, judging by the way his mouth tightened every time he glanced at the table where Sawyer and Helene sat, he had something to say.

“You might as well get it out now,” Clover said.

“Direct.” He gave her a curious look. “Good. That’ll help.”

Oh. It was going to be that kind of talk. “It always helps to speed the process along.”

“Agreed.” He nodded and moved them on a smooth path around the other dancing couples. “Is this all still fake between you two?”

Her steps faltered, but she recovered quickly. “What do you mean?”

“The engagement, you two as a couple?”

Acid gurgled in her stomach. Not trusting herself to say anything without having an emotional breakdown of a sort, she just nodded.

“Shit.” Hudson grimaced. “And I thought I’d had it all right.” He must have seen the confusion on her face because he went on. “The job ad. I was the one who pulled your resume out of the pile. Here you were, someone who seemed flighty on the outside, but every trip you took wasn’t about just having fun. You were teaching English, helping to build businesses, and saving endangered animals. Underneath all of that adventurous spirit was a woman who wanted to do good in the world, she just needed to find her purpose. It seemed to me like you’d be the perfect match for my brother who seems all fucked up in the head about his purpose because it’s not Carlyle Enterprises—or at least that shouldn’t be the sum total of it.”