From Fake to Forever (Newlywed Games 2)

“You say that like I have all this flexibility.” In reality, she was doing the one thing available to her. It wasn’t like she could start her own business.

Or could she?

Her brain turned that over from all angles. If Jason gave her the money and she didn’t have a loan, the possibilities were endless. When she’d left Houston, Cara Chandler-Harris Designs had been the be-all and end-all. But Jason had expanded her worldview enormously. Maybe wedding dresses wasn’t the only thing she could do. Or the only thing that would work to get her where she wanted to be.

“Don’t you have flexibility? This is your dream, sweetheart.” He tipped her chin up and sucked her into his gaze, holding her attention like a hypnotist. “Don’t spend your life doing something that doesn’t speak to you. Lynhurst Enterprises is my heritage, built from the ground up by people who gave me life and share my blood. I’d do anything, sacrifice everything, to keep it afloat. What are you that passionate about?”

The fire in his expression and conviction in his voice mesmerized her. She loved it when he forgot to be the mastermind and spilled what was in his soul.

“I...don’t know.” But she wanted to name something in the worst way, especially if it kept them in this place of connection. Random thoughts, snippets of ideas formed on her tongue. “I love clothes, love the feel of fabrics, the art of fit and color. I’ve dabbled in design, but I think I’m better at seeing what doesn’t work than at creating something from scratch.”

“Good. What else? Talk to me more about your impressions of Hurst, like you did with Bettina.”

“Hurst is interesting.” The most politically correct word she could use to describe an environment slightly less welcoming than a room full of Miss Texas contenders when they realized you were a Chandler. “But Lyn is something else. Like Disney World for lovers of fashion. I know I was only there for a few minutes, but as soon as I walked through the doors, it hit me here.”

She touched the center of her chest with a finger, but his intent gaze didn’t leave her face.

“Why?” he prompted.

“Because the ambience was, I don’t know, alive.” Bit by bit, his attentiveness and genuine interest spurred her to articulate things she’d hardly recognized prior to this. “Like the creative spirit had soaked into the walls. I had the strangest physical reaction. Giddiness. Expectation. You probably think I’m crazy.”

“No, I think you’re speaking like a woman who has couture in her soul. Keep it up and I might throw in an executive job at Lyn along with the 100K,” he advised with a brow lift.

With a sharp inhale, she searched his expression. “An executive job? At Lyn? Where in the world did that come from? We were talking about me owning half a wedding-dress business. I’m not executive material.”

He shrugged. “I say differently, and I’m pretty sure I qualify as an expert at what it takes since I’ve hired a few executives in my life. Is it really that much of a surprise that I think you’re incredible? You naturally think strategically and you honor your commitments. You show up and work hard. Those are all qualities of successful executives. Your love of fashion is a bonus.”

“I can’t work at Lyn,” she protested and bit her lip as the image of an office with Meredith Chandler-Harris on the door materialized in her mind. And wouldn’t dissolve. “I have a job. With my sister. Besides, I live in Houston.”

But in New York, no one knew her. If she made it here, she could say indisputably that she’d done it on her own—without Cara, without her father’s money and influence, without her mother’s social connections, without the title of Former Miss Texas.

She’d never thought that would feel so necessary and important until this conversation with Jason.

“People move for jobs all the time.”

Never in a million years would she have thought she might be in a position to accept...because she’d elected to stay in New York. If she did, she’d see Jason every day. Every day.

That thought gave her a physical reaction that far eclipsed the one she’d experienced when walking into Lyn. Hope and anticipation uncurled in her chest. And then she had to squash it before it rooted too deeply. “More importantly, we’re about to get divorced.”

“What’s that got to do with anything? Divorced people can work together, if they’re both mature about it.”

“Your parents couldn’t,” she pointed out before she thought about how it would come across.

His gaze darkened. “Yeah, but they were in love once. We won’t have that problem.”