Page 112 of The Billionaire's Fake Fiancée

“Kidding!” She stands. “I’m heading back before I lose all my fake fiancée super strength.”

I see Clark beelining toward us from the stairway, expression dark.What now? “This isn’t over,” I say.

“Did you get my texts?” Clark asks. “Have you seen?”

Eyes on her, I say, “No.”

“What, did you turn your phone off?” Clark says. “ABCs are in full meltdown. Futures are going crazy. Rex—” He glances between us. “Sorry, this is important—”

“I was leaving,” she says, and she heads off without so much as a fake fiancée kiss.

“I turned off my phone. Give me the worst.”

Clark pushes away a coffee mug.We’ve been in full-on disaster management mode for two hours with the team—three guys in New York, a woman in Oakland, and Clark working to offset the effects of a meltdown on my precious Tokyo exchange, as Tabitha would call it. Really, I’ve been only half here. The other half is back on that deck chair.

Numbers run across the bottom of the screen. We’re ninety percent back. Another tick upward and we’ve hit our goal.

“There it is,” Cheryl in Oakland says.

“Yes.” Clark claps once. “Anybody can run funds. The art is all in turning this shit around when it goes south.”

Four out of four team members on the screen, and also that we can’t get that new algo running soon enough. We would’ve headed off a lot of this hell if it had been in place. It’s late on a Monday night; lord knows what plans they scuttled to help intervene. Even I have somewhere I would’ve rather been for once.

Cheryl gives me a quick update on her backend work, but my mind snaps to the sound of the shower shutting off in Tabitha’s room. To the mental image of her warm and wet and naked, drops running down her long, sleek legs.

And to the echo of my idiotic words. Kryptonite? Why would I call her that? I couldn’t have said something nice?

“Good job,” Clark says to the team.

“Yeah, excellent work, guys,” I say, feeling strangely emotional. “I really appreciate you. I don’t say that enough.”

Clark gives me a surprised look. It’s not like me to congratulate people. I hire the best people and pay them ridiculous amounts, that’s what I always say.

“You all gave up your night for me,” I continue. “It means something.”

My people are falling all over themselves to say that they’re happy to do it, and it’s nothing. They seem to love that I said it. One of the guys looks downright touched. Jesus, how little gratitude do I show to people?

Chapter 18

Tabitha

I dry myself off,listening for the soft murmur of voices from the middle room.

I like when I can hear them working. I like being with other people, being in a group, feeling like I’m part of something, even if it’s through that stupid door. Maybe it’s a weakness, not wanting to be alone—sometimes I worry that it shows I’m not deep or something—but I can’t help it. I’m not a solitary person; I’m a social person. I love people.

I pull on fresh panties, picking Rex’s voice out of the group—it’s not hard; Rex’s voice is deep and velvety; confident and calm. I feel it inside me, some sort of sympathetic resonance.

I could listen to it forever.

I’ve been trying really hard not to think about Rex acting like the hate list might not be a hate list, but it secretly made me happy.

I pull on my PJs and grab my notebook where I’ve been writing down ideas for how to run the focus group. I really want it to go well. That’s what I should concentrate on. I won’t have access to Gail forever.

But a few minutes later, I’m thinking about Marvin’s room. Rex was so cool about getting in—he got the lock open like such a pro. Where did he learn to open a lock like that? It was a little bit bad boy and a whole lot of competence porn.

And our kiss in there was the hottest thing ever. What if I hadn’t pushed him away? Did he truly want to have sex in Marvin’s room? I was tempted—I thought I might burst right out of my skin, just from him touching me. I didn’t know things could be so hot.

And I believe he would’ve been able to handle it if we’d gotten caught. I feel like I can count on Rex for things. It’s a new feeling.

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