people telling her what to do – there had been enough of that from her parents. Whenever someone ordered her to steer right, the gut reaction was to go left.
She sat back on the passenger seat of his car and crossed her arms, annoyed and pretty damn pissed at the fact that she realized she was being a brat.
“Don’t run out in the middle of a conversation again, Brooke,” Shane said, his voice cautioning. “We were talking. I know I landed us in this mess, but we’re in it together. Your father might be an ass to you if things don’t go his way, but do you know what he’d do to me? ”
She did: he would do nothing. Patrick respected men; he’d just think she’d mess up, somewhere. Besides, hurting Shane’s business would affect Jack, his perfect son.
“Look baby, we are pretty close to dating, anyway. Let’s give things a try. Eventually, there will be some sort of drift, and we can explain that we’ve parted ways because of that.”
In what universe had they ever been close to dating. Ok, he’d fucked her with his finger and kissed her – once – but he hadn’t shown any interest before or after. She was pretty certain that if that had happened in New York, he would have high tailed it out of there and avoided her. Again.
“Two conditions. First, no one knows about this.”
At least, then, there would be no witness to that impending shitstorm.
“No dice. Jack needs to, and you’re kinda supposed to be planning a wedding.”
“Long engagement,” she blurted out. “You want to make it to billionaire first.”
Shane thought it out, before nodding reluctantly.
Why was he reluctant? Damn. She so needed to invent a mind-reading helmet.
“Ok, then. Stupid long secret engagement. As long as we tell Jack, that’s a deal. Second condition?”
“If you’re dating me, you’re dating me. And that’s it. I won’t share,” she announced, thinking back to his sultry phone call. “And I want that ring off your finger.”
Shane turned to her, pretty shocked, from his expression. She guessed she knew why; until then, he’d only seen the fun, teasing, light-hearted brat who loved to incite laughter.
Now he met her. Brooke Barnes. The crazy bitch who was pretty damn possessive about her hot boyfriend-slash-fake-fiancée.
He pulled his wedding bang off, threw it above his shoulder, before removing his seatbelt and diving on her, imprisoning her lips, pretty much crawling on top of her, until…
“My little pony…”
•
He rarely saw clients – Jack was the public relations guy, and Shane, the brain of the operation.
Yet today, he received someone Brooke definitely would have pegged as a big shot client.
Colton Colburn. She wasn’t into the whole celebrity thing, but well, he was the kinda guy a girl would notice.
Brooke lifted her head and took in the two guys in front of her; one blonde with dreamy eyes, the other one darker, rocking the whole Italian roots thing. Yeah, she might very well have been drooling a little bit.
“That’s Brooke,” Shane told him in an exasperate sigh. “Ignore her if you can. Her brother and I are business associate; he lives here while his home is getting refurbished. Brooke also believes she lives here, apparently.”
She flipped him off and he gave her a wink behind the guy’s back as they retired towards his office.
As soon as he’d closed the door, she ran to her bedroom, got her weighted hoop and blasted some music, taking a clue out of the many things her brother didn’t want her to do.
Sure, pretending they didn’t have a relationship had been her idea… but passing her off as an unwanted guest? He would pay for that shit.
They took a while, so she got a good workout out of the hour or so they spent discussing their business. When they came out, her t-shirt was clinging to her as much as it had after the little pool incident.
Take that.
He quickly ushered his guest out of there, before storming back in the
She sat back on the passenger seat of his car and crossed her arms, annoyed and pretty damn pissed at the fact that she realized she was being a brat.
“Don’t run out in the middle of a conversation again, Brooke,” Shane said, his voice cautioning. “We were talking. I know I landed us in this mess, but we’re in it together. Your father might be an ass to you if things don’t go his way, but do you know what he’d do to me? ”
She did: he would do nothing. Patrick respected men; he’d just think she’d mess up, somewhere. Besides, hurting Shane’s business would affect Jack, his perfect son.
“Look baby, we are pretty close to dating, anyway. Let’s give things a try. Eventually, there will be some sort of drift, and we can explain that we’ve parted ways because of that.”
In what universe had they ever been close to dating. Ok, he’d fucked her with his finger and kissed her – once – but he hadn’t shown any interest before or after. She was pretty certain that if that had happened in New York, he would have high tailed it out of there and avoided her. Again.
“Two conditions. First, no one knows about this.”
At least, then, there would be no witness to that impending shitstorm.
“No dice. Jack needs to, and you’re kinda supposed to be planning a wedding.”
“Long engagement,” she blurted out. “You want to make it to billionaire first.”
Shane thought it out, before nodding reluctantly.
Why was he reluctant? Damn. She so needed to invent a mind-reading helmet.
“Ok, then. Stupid long secret engagement. As long as we tell Jack, that’s a deal. Second condition?”
“If you’re dating me, you’re dating me. And that’s it. I won’t share,” she announced, thinking back to his sultry phone call. “And I want that ring off your finger.”
Shane turned to her, pretty shocked, from his expression. She guessed she knew why; until then, he’d only seen the fun, teasing, light-hearted brat who loved to incite laughter.
Now he met her. Brooke Barnes. The crazy bitch who was pretty damn possessive about her hot boyfriend-slash-fake-fiancée.
He pulled his wedding bang off, threw it above his shoulder, before removing his seatbelt and diving on her, imprisoning her lips, pretty much crawling on top of her, until…
“My little pony…”
•
He rarely saw clients – Jack was the public relations guy, and Shane, the brain of the operation.
Yet today, he received someone Brooke definitely would have pegged as a big shot client.
Colton Colburn. She wasn’t into the whole celebrity thing, but well, he was the kinda guy a girl would notice.
Brooke lifted her head and took in the two guys in front of her; one blonde with dreamy eyes, the other one darker, rocking the whole Italian roots thing. Yeah, she might very well have been drooling a little bit.
“That’s Brooke,” Shane told him in an exasperate sigh. “Ignore her if you can. Her brother and I are business associate; he lives here while his home is getting refurbished. Brooke also believes she lives here, apparently.”
She flipped him off and he gave her a wink behind the guy’s back as they retired towards his office.
As soon as he’d closed the door, she ran to her bedroom, got her weighted hoop and blasted some music, taking a clue out of the many things her brother didn’t want her to do.
Sure, pretending they didn’t have a relationship had been her idea… but passing her off as an unwanted guest? He would pay for that shit.
They took a while, so she got a good workout out of the hour or so they spent discussing their business. When they came out, her t-shirt was clinging to her as much as it had after the little pool incident.
Take that.
He quickly ushered his guest out of there, before storming back in the
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