Fake Marriage Box Set

“That's so sweet,” I said. “Just from listening to you, I can tell how much you love him.”

“And that's how it should be,” Gloria said firmly as if she believed in love with all of her heart. Lofty thought for sure. “How about you, though? Do you have a sweetheart?”

I shook my head. “Not at the moment, no.” I laughed a little. “I'm lucky to have a great life in such a beautiful place, that I'm not sure I need a man!” That wasn't the truth, but Gloria didn't need to know that I was still getting over the mess of my relationship with my ex.

Gloria sighed happily. “And that's exactly the way that things should be,” she said. “So many young people these days rush into relationships that don't suit them. You just take your time, and the right guy will fall into your life almost without your even knowing it.”

Chapter Three

Christian

I would never understand why the other Sunshine Real Estate owners seemed to always schedule meetings on Friday afternoons. Granted, most of them had wives and suburban lifestyles, so it was possible that they just really didn't want to get home to that. It wasn't like we ever really got anything done on Friday afternoons anyway, though. Everyone was always too tired from the rest of the week, and anyway, it wasn't like there were that many people who came to the office to look for houses at the end of the week.

I drummed my fingers against the arm of my chair, making sure to hide the movement under the table so that the rest of them did

n't see. I knew that George already disliked me and didn't think that I was fit to be a co-owner of the company. There wasn't much that they could do about it unless they wanted to dissolve the entire company and cease to call themselves Sunshine, which would be a pretty stupid move for them given all the work we'd put into building up that name. Thank God for the legal advice that we'd got when we had first created the company; the contract terms that we'd entered were saving my skin at this point.

They needed me as the face of the company, anyway. None of them were fit for that job.

“In other news,” George said, his voice monotonous and droning as ever, but he looked sharply up at me, and I figured I'd better pay attention to whatever this was. His eyes narrowed. “We haven't seen you on the news for a week, by my count. That must be some sort of a record.” The sneer in his voice was obvious, and I couldn't help clenching my fingers around the arms of my chair.

“What I do in my private life is, as always, none of your business,” I said, even though we'd had this argument a hundred times before. And where I was partially right, I could see their side of it too. I just hated to admit it, which I never would.

“Except for when it affects business,” Alex exploded. “Which-”

“Which, there's no evidence that it does,” I interrupted loudly. I shoved my chair back roughly. “Jesus, way to ruin a perfectly good Friday afternoon.”

“Come on, guys,” Paul said, ever the voice of reason. “Is there any other business news that you'd like to discuss?” No one said anything for a long moment. “All right, then let's adjourn, finish up whatever last-minute paperwork we have to get done, and go home for the weekend. I'll see you all on Monday morning. Remember that we have that magazine coming through the office to take pictures, so try to clean up your desks as much as you can.”

He directed that last bit at Alex, who was notoriously messy, and although I was kind of grateful to hear him snip at someone else, it didn't change what George had said about me. How unprofessional did you have to be to bring something like that up in the middle of a company meeting? Even if it was only the four of us in there, and even though we'd all been working together for the past ten years now.

George caught my arm as we filed out of the conference room, and I fought the urge to deck the guy right then and there. “Maybe try to make it another week with good behavior, and we'll give you a gold star,” he said snidely.

“George,” Paul said reprovingly. He grabbed the back of my suit jacket, though, and I knew that was a warning not to engage.

George rolled his eyes and stalked off. “Come on,” Paul said, tugging me back into the conference room.

“Paul, I don't want to have some stupid conversation about my conduct,” I told him. The shit was getting old. I wasn’t going to keep my dick in my pants. There was no fucking way. “You have no right to judge me, no more than the rest of them do.”

Paul gave me a look. It was one I’d seen a million times before. “Christian, when have I ever judged your behavior?” he asked. “Take a deep breath and talk rationally to me.”

I frowned, but I did take that deep breath, trying to quit shaking with rage. “They're such-”

“I know,” Paul said, holding up a hand to stall me. He smiled a little and dropped into a seat, kicking out the one next to his and gesturing for me to sit as well. “It's been a while since we caught up. I know the Great Christian Wall has plenty of other things to do with his time, but I do think I merit a conversation occasionally.”

I snorted. “You know where my office is,” I reminded him. “It's a two-way street, buddy. Bring your ass down there sometime.”

“This is true.” He smiled and changed the subject. “So, tell me, what are your plans for the holidays, anyway?” Paul asked. “The office will be closed for nearly three weeks; I assume you'll be jetting off to somewhere in Europe?”

“I might,” I said, shrugging, and I clasped my hands over my upper stomach. “I haven't made any plans yet. Jamie and I were talking about doing another ski vacation, but I'm also drawn to someplace warmer this year. I don't know. We'll see. You know I hate making plans too far in advance. People would think I was growing responsible or something crazy like that. Being someone who flies by the seat of their pants instead of being a planner takes work. Believe me.” I gave a quirky smile.

He chuckled and shook his head. “You’re too much, man. So, what are your plans tonight? You wanna grab dinner? We'll charge it to the company. Call it a business expense.”

I laughed. “As though either of us needs to do that.” I shook my head. “Unfortunately, I have other plans for later, so I'll have to take a rain check. There's this hot new club downtown, and they've personally invited me.”

“Ah,” Paul said. “At the risk of sounding like George or the rest of them, be careful.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, always am,” I said, even though we both knew it wasn't exactly true. Being careful sounded about as fun as having the flu.