Wicked Dirty (Stark World 2)

"Reimbursement? Of course."

She nodded slowly, licking her lips. "Does that mean Natasha knows? About me, I mean."

"That our engagement is a show?" he asked, surprised by how much saying those words stung. "Yeah, she knows." He hadn't forwarded her an official memo, but she'd been in the gym when he'd discussed the fake girlfriend issue with Evelyn, and Nat was more than capable of putting all the details together.

"Oh."

"In fact, we'll probably have to make up a few details for her to share. She doesn't talk about my personal life to the press, but in this case, it might be smart to let her leak a few facts. Just to build up the backstory we've invented."

"And the rest?"

It took him a second to realize what she was asking, but when he did he rushed to reassure her. "About meeting you through Marjorie? No. Absolutely not."

"So she doesn't know about you and--"

He shook his head. "No. Or, at least, if she's figured it out, she hasn't said anything." He considered the question seriously for the first time, and the truth was that Nat just might know he'd hired call girls in the past. He relied on her to run his life, especially when he was filming and had no time. She was smart and observant and--

"Hell," he said. "The truth is I never told her. And I never let myself think about the possibility that she might figure it out. I'm careful, but she sees a lot. She might know about the women, which means she might--"

"--know about me. Right. I figured."

"Is that so horrible?" He knew the answer would be yes. Hell, just the thought that Nat might know the kind of life he'd been leading all these years was enough to make his gut twist.

She stood still for a moment, then shook her head. "No," she said, surprising him. "I had my reasons, and they were valid. I'd just rather she heard it from me than from rumors."

"If you want, you can tell her," he said.

"That you hired me to be your fiancee?"

"That," he agreed. "And how we met."

"Then she'd know the truth about you for sure."

He nodded, realizing he could live with that. A close secret among people he trusted.

It was something else that ate at him--the possibility that his past with those women would go wide. Especially now that they were permanently in the past.

"You okay?" she asked. "You look pensive."

"Just thinking about tomorrow," he lied. "We should start with California Adventure," he added, referring to the other Disney park. "And, hey, I can always clear your schedule for Wednesday, too."

She laughed, but he was half-serious. How nice would it be to stay here indefinitely, just the two of them lost in this clean, shiny world with none of the drama and pain of the real world?

"I wish I could, but Wednesday's not a day I want to miss. Greg and I have work stuff."

"Greg," he repeated, his voice flat. He had the sudden urge to punch someone--ideally Greg himself--and he realized that he was jealous.

He tamped it down. "What kind of business are you and Wonder Boy starting?"

She playfully hip bumped him as they strolled to the exit. "Flipping houses," she said, then told him about a new venture with Greg and Anderson Morton-Gray.

"I worked with his husband on The Price of Ransom."

"I know. Small world, right? At any rate, I can't wait to get started, and Anderson emailed that we can go walk through the property on Wednesday. Which means I can only afford one more day here."

"Fair enough," he said, and realized he was still a little jealous. Only this time, not of Greg, but of her. Of the fact that she was diving into a job she genuinely loved.

Oh, sure, M. Sterious was a solid script. But it was solid for a superhero movie where he'd be doing most of his work in front of a blue screen. And, sadly, the script had gone through so many revisions that it had lost a lot of its heart--a fault that the producers didn't care about so long as sequels were in the works.