Page 22 of Faking It With My New Boss

“Dance with you?” I asked. “There's no music.”

“I know,” she said, wiggling her finger toward me like they would help get me to her faster. “We don't need music. We can pretend.”

“I assure you, I need music,” I told her.

“Not for this. Come on.”

I walked over to her and took her into my arms.

“See?” she asked. “It's magical right here. The lights. The chandelier. It's the focal point of the room and that's what it should be when people are dancing. They should feel beautiful and impressive.”

I wanted to tell her those were words I would absolutely use to describe her and that she felt so good in my arms, but before I could say anything, a grumbling voice came at me from the door to the space.

“Is this why things are delayed around here?” Grandfather asked, stalking toward us across the space. “You're in here just having fun when you should be working?”

“I am working,” I said, reluctantly stepping away from Courtney. “I'm trying to finish planning the gala fundraising that is so precious to you.”

He scowled at me, then looked Courtney up and down.

“And who is this being so kind as to play the part of your date for the evening?” he asked, the sarcasm and judgment nasty and bitter in his words.

“This is Courtney,” I said, gesturing toward her. Something suddenly came over me. “My fiancée.”

Chapter Fifteen

Courtney

His what?

I felt like I had just gotten hit by a truck. I couldn't believe what I heard come out of Bryan's mouth. I was completely flabbergasted and confused, but for some reason I also had the sense I needed to go along with it. I had no idea why. I didn't even know who this man was, but when I looked over at Bryan for some sort of clue as to what was going on, I saw the pleading in his eyes.

He had a smile on his face, but he was looking at me with a sense of desperation, like something critical balanced on me just accepting what he said and playing along. The older man in front of us looked suspicious as he eyed me. There was something about him that was familiar. He looked vaguely like Bryan in that kind of way that if I saw them in two different contexts, I never would have thought they looked alike, but now that they were in the same space, I could see vague hints of each other in their faces.

That made me wonder if this might be the grandfather he told me a little about the night before. He hadn't gotten much into it, only that his grandfather was still very much in power and had a lot of expectations for the younger generation.

Bryan reached over and wrapped his arm around my waist, and I smiled, leaning my head against his arm and wrapping my other arm around to rest my hand on his.

“Courtney, this is my grandfather. Grandfather, this is Courtney,” Bryan said.

“Hi,” I said cheerfully. “I'm so glad to finally meet you.” I looked up at Bryan with what I hoped were adoring eyes. “Bryan has told me so much about you. I feel like I know you already.”

“Hello, Courtney,” he said. “I don't think my grandson has told me anything about you.”

“Of course, I have,” Bryan said. “I talked about her to you just the other day. Remember, I said that she is very private and wanted to keep our relationship to ourselves for a while before we went really public with it.”

His grandfather's eyes widened slightly as realization seemed to settle over him.

“This is her? And the two of you are engaged to be married?” he asked.

Bryan looked down at me and I looked up at him again. He nodded.

“Yes. It's very new, but we are so looking forward to it.”

New was an understatement. This was confusing as hell. I really needed to know what was going on, but it didn't seem like the grandfather, whose name I didn't even know and who didn't seem the type for me to call Gramps, was going to be leaving us on our own any time soon.

Suddenly, he looked happy. All the suspicion and frustration were gone from his face and he looked excited and maybe… relieved? I wasn't sure what that was all about, but I was going to add it to my list of questions that were coming out of my mouth as soon as I had a chance.

“Tell me everything,” the older man said. “I want to know how the two of you met. How long have you been seeing each other? Do I know Courtney's family? What kind of plans have you made for the wedding?”

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