The Fake Engagement

Ten minutes after waking up, she’d still been throwing her guts up.

Real smooth.

She leaned forward, putting her elbows on the table. Then she found her favorite pantsuit, her lucky one, was for some odd reason shrunken, or she’d put on a few inches in weight, which was more or less the reason it didn’t fit.

“So stupid.”

From then, everything had just taken a turn for the worst.

Preston’s favorite coffee shop was closed, meaning she had to go to the place he hated, and of course, they didn’t have his favorite creamer either. Another bad point against her.

Next, as if that wasn’t bad enough, breakfast, the bakery was also shut for a refurbishment. Not that she could stand food. Her stomach had been turning all morning. Tequila was the worst, and she was suffering for it.

The meeting had been a complete disaster. Preston loved to impress his clients or at least his potential clients with the bakery he used. Everything was substandard, she knew that, and had apologized for it.

Preston was going to fire her ass, and it was all her own fault. Technically, it was all his fault. Yes, that was what it was. His fault.

Eliza groaned.

Nothing had gone right today.

You’re a fiancée.

Jerking up from her pity party of a bad day, she got to her feet and immediately went storming toward his office. They didn’t have time to discuss his little outburst at his sister, but she wasn’t done.

He was on the phone when she entered his office, which annoyed her, because she hadn’t been at her desk to direct the call.

“That will be all for now, Eliza,” he said.

She tapped her fingers against her thigh.

It would be so easy to walk out, to not give him a second or third glance, but something told her to stick around.

He shook his hand at her as if to tell her to get out.

Not happening.

She walked up to his desk, took the phone out of his hand, and pressed it to her ear.

“I’m so sorry, Mr. Boone will have to call you back.” She slammed the phone into the cradle and looked at him.

“I do not know who you think you are, Miss Drake, but after this morning’s performance, I’m not amused.”

“Oh, really, you’re not amused? Well, guess what, Mr. Boone, I could go right down to HR and file a complaint about you with regards to sexual harassment along with what happened this morning. So, why don’t we both agree that today is not a very good day, and you tell me what this morning was all about?” she asked. “Your sister isn’t some woman you want to get rid of, she’s family.”

Preston put the tips of his fingers together and leaned back.

“Well, seeing as you hung up on my parents, then I guess I should inform you that your presence for next Friday will be required, as my fiancée, back at my hometown of Westcliffe Heights.”

Eliza opened her mouth, closed it, and opened it again.

“You’re speechless.”

She heard movement outside the office and quickly went to the door, closing it so they could have some privacy. Whirling around, she saw he hadn’t moved.

“I’m not speechless, but there is no way I’m going to your hometown.”

“Not only will you go to my hometown, but you will also play the role of my fiancée, is that clear?” he asked.

She knew he could be a hardass. He hadn’t risen in the ranks, producing one of the best companies in the world, by being soft. Preston Boone was used to getting what he wanted.

“No.”

“You’re telling me no?”

“Pretending to be your girlfriend—”

“Fiancée.”

“Fine. Fiancée isn’t part of my job description.”

“After this morning’s performance, I have plenty of grounds to fire you.”

She burst out laughing. “You’re kidding, right?”

“I don’t make jokes about such matters.”

“Mr. Boone, you and I both know I’m the best and longest-serving PA you’ve ever had. You want to fire me and go that route, fine. One bad day out of the three years I’ve served as your PA isn’t bad. Not to mention all the years I worked before that.” She’d started in his company as a temp straight out of college. His company offered the chance to a select few students. She applied, got the job, and worked up the ranks.

Getting the job as PA at twenty-six had been a huge achievement, but she’d always been a firm believer in hard work, and this time it had paid off.

“You need this job.”

“And you need me,” she said. The truth was, with her skills and how closely she’d been working with Preston Boone, there would be plenty of job opportunities available to her if she wanted them.

There was a reason she was with Boone though. He was the best of the best at what he did.

The only way to succeed in this world was to learn from the best, and that was exactly what she was doing.