Possessive Fake Husband

He nods and grins. “I knew you’d pull it off.”

“So let’s eat then get a cab out there. It might take an hour with the traffic around here.”

“Got it.” He grins and leans toward me. “You’re magic, you know that, right?”

“I know,” I say.

He laughs and I lean back in the booth, basking in the glow of his smile.* * *One good breakfast and one long taxi ride across town and we end up outside of a modern house right on the beach. I double-check to make sure we’re in the right spot then head up the front walk. The house is beautiful, all modern lines and right angles. The door is large and black, the wood almost polished smooth. I knock twice and step back before it opens.

Klara smiles at me and tilts her head. She’s a beautiful woman with dark hair and light blue eyes. “Hey, Mags,” she says.

“Hi, Klara!” I give her a big hug and laugh. “It’s so good to see you.”

“I’m Josh,” he says once we break apart. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“You too.” She shakes his hand. “Nice to meet you, too. Come on in, you two. Shaun’s with Kyle. He’ll be out in a second.”

We follow her into a kitchen and she gets us both a cup of coffee. Josh looks around and grins at me. The place is immaculate and looks like it was lifted right out of a modern design book. The couches are all geometric and sparse, but made from quality materials. The rugs are simple tonal dark grays, and the walls are either glass or off-white. Colorful paintings hang in several places, adding a little splash of color. There’s no TV, but the view of the ocean is incredible, and the balcony looks like it sits right over the beach.

“Glad you two made it.” I turn and Shaun walks over, wearing gray slacks and a polo shirt. He smiles at us and I give him a hug before he shakes Josh’s hand.

“How’s Kyle?” I ask.

“Oh, you know babies,” he says. “Pooping, peeing, and spitting up. It’s his naptime, so no yelling.”

“Or I will literally murder you,” Klara adds. She picks up a white baby monitor and turns it on. The sound of white noise comes through and she smiles a little. “Down already.”

“Perfect. So uh, you two want to come out onto the deck and we can talk?”

“Sounds good,” Josh says.

We follow Shaun outside. He sits at the table, the dark red wood of the deck solid beneath our feet. A beige cloth overhang provides a comfortable amount of shade as Josh opens up his laptop.

“I prepared a little presentation,” Josh says. “I want to talk you through our financials and what I think our market position can be if we manage to go through with this merger.”

“Hold on, let me stop you there.” Shaun says. “Just so I can get this straight. You two want to merge two mid-sized telecoms to be able to compete with the big guys, right? But Josh, your company’s board is against it?”

“Right,” Josh says. “If you decide to invest, or if you find us other investors, we want to purchase a controlling stake in the company. That way, we’ll get Maggie on the board, and we’ll have the votes to see the merger through.”

He nods slowly. “Okay. I see what you’re saying. Then that stake will mean what once the companies merge?”

“Good question. We don’t have that level of granular detail yet. But I can promise you it’ll be worth a lot more.”

He laughs. “I like the sound of that.” He gestures at the computer. “All right, hit me with it.”

Josh goes through the presentation. I sit back and let him do the talking, impressed that he managed to put all this together on a plane ride, and even more impressed that he’s hiding how little sleep he got the night before so well.

“And as you can see, these projections are only estimates, but we believe the merger will give us long-term competitive standing. It’s a small gamble, I won’t pretend otherwise. But the payoff could be enormous.” Josh lets out a breath and nods. “That’s it, everything I’ve got.”

“That’s impressive,” Shaun admits. “I can’t say I know much about the telecom industry, but I did do a little research, like I told Maggie over the phone.” He crosses his arms. “What kind of investment are you looking for?”

“Right now, we’ll need about… $2 million and some change.”

Shaun whistles. “Not a small amount.”

“No, it’s not. But that’s more than enough to guarantee a seat on the board. From there, I plan on making that $2 million worth a lot more.”

Shaun nods slowly. “Hold on a second, okay?”

“Sure.”

Shaun gets up and heads inside. Josh looks at me and lets out a breath. “You okay?” he asks.