Page 48 of The Player + The Pact = I Do

She winces.

“What?”

“I used to go in early to work on my plans for The Mayfair.”

“So? You were still working.”

“Yeah, I work hard,” she admits. “But I bet Caroline Hammond doesn’t. And so you want a fiancée on your arm when you meet her because, why? You’re a self-made billionaire, you’re handsome as all holy fuck. Any woman in American would want to marry you. What could you possibly have to prove to her?”

I push my hand back into my hair. “Yeah. I just…”

She looks at me, her gaze dipping to my mouth and then back up to my eyes. “What?”

“We never had much money growing up,” I say. “Wehad a roof over our heads and food on the table, but we never had anything spare. I was happy, don’t get me wrong. I never felt like… I never felt small in the way Caroline managed to make me feel. And you’re right, I have the money, but I want her to know that I share a life with someone who made the right choice.”

“No,” Jules says. “You want to prove to her that she didn’t crush your soul. That she didn’t break you.” She pauses. “And in order to be able to prove that, you need to lie, because there’s still a part of you that’s a little bit broken.”

I blink, and blink again. I wonder if I just imagined what Jules just said.

“I think it’s just… I don’t want any chinks in my armor when I see her. I don’t want her to be able to point to anything in my life and say, ‘I did better than you.’”

“I vote for my theory,” she says. “Either way, I’m right there by your side. And I’m going to Bergdorf’s this week to buy something that will make her look like she’s wearing the housekeeping uniform from The Mayfair.”

She sounds like she’s coaching me back into the boxing ring. The corner of my mouth turns up. Right here, right now, Jules Moore might be my favorite person on the planet.

“Whatever you wear, you’ll outshine her.”

“What about the pantsuit I wore when I was your assistant?”

“Oh, your asshole-repelling outfit?” I shrug. “Never worked on me.”

“It kinda did,” she says. “It’s not like you ever made a pass at me.”

“Because youworkedfor me, not because I didn’t find youattractive.”

She shrugs. She clearly thinks I’m lying. “If you say so.”

“I say so. I have a strict policy of not dating women I work with. So yes, I tuned out that side of you.”

She starts to laugh. “You tuned me out?” She wrinkles her nose and brings up her shoulders as if she’s hugging a teddy bear or something. “You say thecutestthings to me.”

“What are fiancés for?” I ask. There’s no way I’m getting out of this hole. The only thing I can do is stop digging.

The fact is, I’m tuned all the way into Jules Moore, no matter how she’s dressed.

SEVENTEEN

Leo

Despite having to share air with Caroline Hammond, I had a great night tonight. I follow Jules out of the restaurant, enjoying the sight of her as I do. As soon as we get outside, she stops and turns so suddenly, I almost run into her.

“Can I suggest something?” she asks, her eyes full of mischief.

“What?” I ask.

“Promise you’ll say yes?”

Her smile is infectious and I can’t help but grin back. God only knows what she’s up to. But right now, I don’t care. I want to be carried along by her enthusiasm. “Okay, I promise.”

---