His Fake Fiancee: BBW Romance (Fake it For Me)

“Hell no, she doesn’t deserve it either. He bought a house for his mom and sisters when he made money. Once when he was there, in Manchester, he caught a tip on a property. One of those local big deal places, you know? He bought it, he was going to fix it up and sell it. His mom moved in and won’t let him sell it.”

“Are you serious?”

Tim laughs. “Yeah, every time he goes over there, he threatens he’s going to sell it. She’s a piece of work. You know how his voice is jacked up? It was because her boyfriend choked him out when he was ten years old. She didn’t want to take him to the hospital, left him on the floor there where the asshole dropped him.”

Oh my god. I don’t know how I don’t say it out loud, I’m so shocked.

“One of Ivan’s friends ran to tell his mom and the mom called emergency services for him. Ivan could have died, suffocated from the injury. It wasn’t going to heal by itself. His mom got mad at Ivan when the boyfriend ended up in jail because of it. The authorities looked into it, found out Ivan had been in for a broken arm, broken nose, two broken fingers. They ended up putting the guy away for five years.”

“Holy shit. Just five years?” It doesn’t sound like nearly enough for what the bastard put Ivan through. I couldn’t imagine what he went through. Pain, sharp and bright, flares at the idea of him hurt and no one caring enough to protect him.

“Yeah, the laws in England are way looser than in the States. They focus on rehabilitation and all that. Five years is actually a strong sentence because it was a collapsed larynx on top of all the history they found. Don’t say anything, though. He doesn’t like to talk about it or his relationship with his mom.”

A small shake of his head. “His sisters, ask all you want, he loves them and is proud of them. He basically raised them. If he’s in the right mood he’ll talk for hours about them. When we get over there just ignore the mom. She is always trying to get us to give up information on him. No faster way to get yourself fired than to talk to her.”

Tim goes still. “He’s coming.”

5

Ivan

As we exit the elevator Tim hands out keycards to the rooms. I take mine and nod at them. “Take twenty to get settled, then I want you two in my room. I want to go over what we might have missed as an argument and how to ensure when we leave there tomorrow it is with a signed contract.”

Once I am in my room, away from Christina, the tension that has been in me all day intensifies. Fuck. Out of sight should mean out of mind, and out of my fucking blood. This attraction to her makes even less sense today than it did yesterday.

When Christina stepped on the plane, the change in her appearance was jarring. Gone were her curves; they were covered in boring, bad clothes. Her long, beautiful hair was scraped into what looked like a painfully tight bun. To add insult to it all, her gorgeous face was smothered in makeup. Despite all of that, my hunger for her threatened to overtake my every thought.

Resentment rose within me, at her, at myself. This needed to end, quickly. Lusting after an employee in front of another was distasteful. I had done my best to create distance, even as I was doing it, seeing the hurt and confusion in her eyes, I called myself a bastard. Yet I could not stop, the distance was necessary. For me and her.

Starving the fever with it right in front of me is not going to be easy. I need to find someone to replace her and I need to do it now. I send an email to Denise demanding an update to the search for Rebecca’s replacement. Her response is almost instantaneous: she has two people. She has reached out to our go-to staffing firm for candidates. By the end of the day there will be more possibilities. Good. Hopefully by the end of the week I will have a viable candidate.

This is a normal evening for me and my team. We go over the day then create a plan for the next day, often working until dinner, then break for the night. Normally, I would lose my tie, suit jacket, and sometimes even change into sweats and a plain T-shirt. Today, all I do is remove my tie and unbutton my jacket. Distance needs to be maintained, any way I can do it. I felt Christina’s eyes on me often today, and it was even more annoying how much I liked it.

The knock on my door is soft. Taking a deep breath, I move to answer it.

***

Christina

Yep, he hates me. Totally cannot stand me. For the entire five hours we were all working together in his room, he barely looked at me. The few times he did, I swear there was nothing but contempt on his gorgeous face. Even when he asked me direct questions about Hungry Harvest and my thoughts going forwa

rd.

During the last two hours when Tim and I took care of regular work stuff, catching up on emails, reviewing progress on current mergers, I barely felt his eyes on me at all.

I toss myself on the ridiculously comfortable bed and wonder why I’m hurt. I had been doing better, I swear. I barely looked at him...okay, I tried not to look at him. It’s just, he was right there and I swear it was like he demanded the attention of everyone around him.

So I did my best to keep my eyes off his stupid beautiful face only to notice the strength in his thighs, the way his muscles moved beneath his shirt when he undid his suit jacket, those hands, god, those hands, large, yet nimble. Stop it, you freak.

Whatever, I was calm and cool, damn it, and he was still...just remembering the way his tone rapped against me when he corrected me, doubted me, was so fucking rude to me. He was being such a bastard. I hate him. It isn’t fair, I was trying. If it weren’t for Tim right there, I’m positive I would have lost it on him already.

My phone rings, I check the display. Anna. I answer before I stop to think about it. “Hey.”

“Hi, what’s the matter? I thought you would be all happy. You sound like you’re at a funeral.”

I lie back on the bed, kicking off my shoes. “Nothing, not a good day. Ivan is an asshole is all.”

“Ah, I’m not really surprised. I’m sorry though. I’m the one who hyped you up on how awesome it was going to be. He hasn’t said anything about you getting Simon’s job?”