Page 54 of Hula Girl

“Anyway, I really couldn’t believe the news,” he says, his voice dripping with mock disbelief. “I mean, everyone knows you’re married to your job. You’re too busy climbing up that ladder in your high heels, pulling twelve-hour days, six days a week to have a love life.”

She smiles tightly. “I am dedicated to my job, that’s true. Even in heels.”

He ignores this, saying, “And I really couldn’t believe that Randall—your backer—was just as shocked by all this as everyone else. Who knew you were prone to such flights of fancy?”

Now I have a real sense of the uphill battle for career respectability Ava had just described to me. One of the partners in her own firm has laid out all the reasons why this “engagement” is a bad idea. It will make her look shallow and not worthy of being taken seriously. At least by men like him. And he’s a pretty important one for her job.

Fuck. What have I done? Before I can sort out how to fix this, she puts up a defense I wasn’t expecting.

“You’re just angling for an invitation to our engagement party, aren’t you,” she says, cleverly changing the focus.

“Well, that’s the other thing, dear,” he says, “I had already been invited to Ford’s dinner party. It was never billed as anengagementparty.”

“Can you fault us for wanting to keep the happy news to ourselves for a time?” she asks, batting her eyelashes in a way that I intuitively know is not who she really is.

This pretense she’s putting on gets ignored as Manny tells her, “Oh, don’t get me wrong. I’ll be delighted to attend your engagement party. In fact, I’ll spread the word that Ava Ruiz is part of a new power couple. Good for you, really, since old Randall won’t be in his position forever. It’s smart that you have a backup plan, isn’t it?”

She levels a withering gaze at him. “Thanks so much for your congratulations, Manny. We really appreciate it.” The smile that comes to her face is so phony, it makes me laugh.

“Right. Sure,” he says. He nods at me before slinking away.

“What a creep,” I say, surely loud enough for him to hear before he’s gone too far.

Ava leans toward me across the table. “Okay, this engagement thing of ours is on. I’m in. We’ll pretend to be engaged at that party, tell everyone we’re going to have a long engagement and then go our separate ways. After a while, we’ll quietly let it be known it didn’t work out. But in the meantime, you and I can both use this to get what we want.”

I laugh at the wonderful absurdity of all of this. On impulse, I slide my hand into the hair at the nape of her neck and seal her words with a lingering kiss.

I’m relieved when she kisses me back with the same level of passion.

20

Ava

The first thing I do after pulling away from Ford’s kiss is order another drink. I’ve already had one too many, which is likely why I’ve just agreed to this fake fiancée charade. Well, that combined with Manny provoking me. He and I have never been friends. Our animosity started the same day as my interview when he was sure I was covering for Randall. I’m almost certain it was because he didn’t like that a young woman with no power suddenly had the tools to best him in his attempt to expose Randall’s weakened state. We’ve had words over the years, but he’s always been at a loss for how to push me out. I won’t deny that Randall has a lot to do with that. But so does the fact that I absolutely pull my weight in that firm. My so-called reputation for being married to my job should prove that, if nothing else.

“So … congratulations to us?” Ford asks when our third round of drinks are served.

I laugh. “You mean on our engagement?”

He nods. “I really gotta get you a ring.”

The thought throws me. I wonder just how invested we’re going to get with this thing. “No, you don’t.”

“It’s all anyone cares about when you say you’re engaged. We’ll find something for you.”

“This is so weird.”

His expression is warm, accepting. “It is.” After taking a sip of his drink, he says, “Thank you for doing this. I know it’s not ideal. But I really appreciate it.”

“Well, I’ll probably regret it later, but for now, you’re welcome.”

Laughing, he watches me for a moment. “I really hope you don’t regret spending more time with me, Ava. Especially because I’m so looking forward to getting to know you better.”

That makes my head swim. Or maybe it’s the alcohol I’ve overindulged in. Either way, I do know that letting someone in, letting someone reallyknowme, isn’t something I do easily. Doing so as a pretense for our fake engagement sounds even more unpleasant than it normally would.

As if sensing the thoughts going on in my head, Ford takes my hand over the table and draws his fingertips across the sensitive skin on the inside of my wrist.

“It’s okay,” he says softly. “We’ll figure this out together.”

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