“I want the job my dad promised, a real Creative Director position. I want Stefan’s job.”
I consider her demand, and after a long pause, it kills me to say, “We already have a team in place for Master of Shadows and Ashborn. We can’t switch leads midway through the projects.”
“What else are you working on?”
I roll my shoulders. “Nothing at the moment, just finishing up with Ashborn and Master of Shadows before they go to market.”
“I know you.” She steps forward, our bodies so close I get the urge to touch her. “And I know what I want from you.” I narrow my eyes, and she continues, “You’ve been working on the same game for years.”
“It’s still in beta,” I lie.
She chuckles. “You’ve said the same thing since high school.”
“Hey, what can I say?” I hold up my hands and shrug. “I’m a perfectionist, and you can’t rush perfection.”
Unsatisfied with my response, she sighs.
“It’s not right,” I admit. “I can’t make it work.”
“Because you need me,” she challenges. “You created the world using some of my drawings. We worked on it together.”
“I lost my muse,” I say, unable to look at her.
You gave up on me.
I haven’t been able to work on the game since my friendship with Harley fell apart. It reminds me of our past and the old wounds that tear open every time I look at her sketches. We dreamed up the world together, and now whenever I think about it, my heart aches. I want to smash my fist through the screen when I try to write the code.
The unfinished game I call Project X is hers as much as it is mine. We made a good team back in the day. Despite her hatred for me, I know my best friend is still inside her somewhere. That girl is begging to come out, waiting to play. I just have to find her.
“I want my dad to take me seriously. Marrying you isn’t going to make him see me differently. But this game, us working together, could be the one thing that will get him to treat me like everyone else. Like I’m one of the guys.”
Harley has always wanted to belong. She’s tried her hardest, but tech is a male-dominated field. With the exception of one board member, none of our top-level executives are women. Jonathan is a misogynist who believes men know more about technology, and therefore, women don’t belong in our world.
“So, what are you proposing?”
Harley’s eyes meet mine. “I’ll stay married to you until after the deal goes through with Titan Tech if you let me take the lead on the design of your game. Make me your Creative Director.”
“I don’t want to finish it,” I protest. “It doesn’t even have a name.”
Harley throws her hands on her hips, drawing my eyes to her delicious curves. “I don’t want to marry you, Nate, but we can’t always get what we want.”
Chapter Seven
Harley
I have to marry Nate. What choice do I have? If I walk away from him, I might as well resign from the company now. Because we won’t have a company to run by next year.
Nate extends his hand to me, acting like a civilized adult for a change. “Do we have a deal?”
I can handle three months of marriage to Nate. After we close the deal with Titan Tech, we can have this sham marriage annulled and go our separate ways. No one would be surprised that our relationship didn’t work out.
“Some of my demands are non-negotiable,” I tell him. “I still want to wear the dress I designed, and I want a sapphire and diamond engagement ring.”
“You can have both of those things,” he says without hesitation.
“I want to choose the ring, and I want a real proposal.”
Nate’s jaw drops, and then he picks it back up. He clears his throat and tugs on his tie. “Let’s get you settled in tonight, and then tomorrow, I’ll take you to the jewelry store.”
I give him the cheesiest smile on the planet. “And you’ll get down on one knee?”
“Sure.” He sighs. “Whatever you want.”
I shake his hand. “Then, we should go over the terms of our agreement. In exchange for bailing your sorry ass out of this mess, I will be your fake wife—”
“Technically,” he interrupts, “you’ll be my real wife, legally speaking.” I roll my eyes and Nate adds, “You’ll be my future ex-wife. Better?”
I nod. “Like I was saying, I will marry you in exchange for the Lead Creative Director position, which means I get full control over the creation of every storyboard and character without any help from your team.”
“Done,” he says, confident.
“One more thing…” I hold up my finger. “You have to finish the game.”
He frowns. “I’ll do my best.”
“You will finish it,” I shoot back.
Nate’s had a mental block with his game since high school. One of the characters is a mixture of Lara Croft and me. I drew the woman I wanted to become, vicariously living through the animations Nate created with his code.