Possessive Fake Husband

He laughs and lets out a breath. “Fine. But we’re prepping in the car.”

“Works for me. See you soon?”

“Give me fifteen. Now I’m in the mood for bananas.”

“Gee, wonder why.”

“See you soon.”

He hangs up and I sit down, feeling better. I know Seb wants me to keep this meeting from Josh, but he can’t really expect me to do that.

But I will go in alone. I know Josh wants to protect me from this, but I’m as involved as anyone else at this point. He can’t really think he’s the only one stressing out and taking on the burden.

It’s time for me to do my part, even if it’s a small one.* * *“No matter what, you give him nothing,” Jared says as we pull into a parking spot outside of Seb’s office.

“I know,” I say. “You’ve told me a million times.”

“Don’t mention Guava or Duncan. Don’t mention Elizabeth or anything else. Just listen to what he has to say, tell him you’ll consider it, and come back to me. Okay?”

“Okay.” I lean across the car and kiss his cheek. “I’ll be fine.”

He reaches out and catches me by the hair before I can pull away. He kisses me hard, tongue lingering in my mouth, before he lets me go. “Just come back.”

“I will.” I laugh. “I’m just going into a meeting, not into some Mafia hit.”

He grins a little. “I’m just possessive of you, that’s all. The idea of sending you in there alone drives me insane.”

“I know,” I say softly, a strange thrill running through my chest.

I open the door and step out. I head up the sidewalk and into Seb’s office. His secretary isn’t there, but the lights are on and the door to his office is open. I step down the short hall. “Hello?” I call out.

“In here.” Seb’s voice comes from the open door. I walk over to it and find him sitting behind his desk, staring at his computer screen. He looks up and smiles at me. “Ah, Miss Fyall,” he says. “I’m happy you’re here.”

“It’s Mrs. Cork,” I correct. “And I’m only here to listen and report back to Josh.”

His smile falters, but he shrugs. “Have it your way. Please, sit down. I suppose I couldn’t rightly ask you not to report to… him.”

“Yes. My husband.” I give him an odd look.

“Husband, right.” Seb takes a seat. “You married each other just recently, isn’t that right? About a week before you two started campaigning for this merger.”

“That’s right. The merger’s something we’d been talking about for a while before that.”

“Really?” He raises an eyebrow. “You know, it’s strange. I went through both of your social media profiles. You’re very active on Instagram, you know that, right?”

I shrug. “I like it.”

“Sure, sure, it’s fun.” He smiles. “I post pictures of my grandchildren and my dogs. But the point I’m making is, you’ve never posted anything about Josh before. Not a single time. You’ve posted about joining a new yoga studio, but never him. I find that odd.”

“What are you suggesting?” I say, narrowing my eyes, trying to make myself sound angry. But fear spikes through me.

“Nothing,” he says, keeping his voice bland. “Only that it’s interesting you two married so recently, but don’t really seem to know each other at all.”

“If you’re implying something, Seb, you should be careful.” I shift in my chair and am about to stand. “I’m not going to stay here and listen to you slander me. You’ve spread enough disgusting rumors as it is.”

He smiles and waves his hands. “No, no, please. Stay, I’ll cut it out. I was only curious.”

“What do you want?” I snap.

“I want to make a deal with you,” he says. “Not with Josh. Not with the board. But with you.”

I cock my head. “What could I possibly do for you?”

“You could easily make sure this merger doesn’t happen. You could talk to your father about it, or you could talk to Josh, or you could simply tell the board not to listen to Josh anymore and destroy it all on your own. I’m not sure you realize just how smitten some of the board members are with you, Mrs. Cork.”

I stare at him for a long moment. “There is nothing in this world that could make me want to ruin this deal,” I say. “It would help both my father and my husband. What could possibly make me want to hurt either of them?”

“Money,” Seb says with a laugh. “Money, of course. I’d pay you handsomely for your time. How does half a million dollars sound? Reasonable?”

I blink. “Half a million?”

“I could do more,” he says quickly. “Eight hundred thousand. I could have that in your account by tomorrow evening.”

I nearly choke. Eight hundred thousand dollars is an absurd amount of money. It’s more than I’ve ever dreamed of having in my entire life.