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I saw lips moving, but didn’t hear any words. I’d officially shut down.

* * *

Reddington

Jade didn’t seem to be blinking as frequently as one should. Was she going to pass out? Die? Shit, Jade, get your act together.

“My wife and I are celebrating ten years with a vow renewal in Newport,” Mark said, narrowing his eyes as though contemplating the rest of his thought before coming right out with it. “You should both come. Who knows? That could be you one day.”

I cleared my throat while Jade looked like she was going to shit a pickle.

Once again, Mark shouldn’t be able to tell, but I could.

She licked her lips at a rapid pace, and her eyes grew wider—not too wide, though.

It was the little things like that I couldn’t stop myself from noticing, no matter how hard I’d tried.

You think I wanted to have these feelings for her? Feelings that made me crave sticking my fingers inside her and watching her eyes roll back in her head as she dripped down my hand? Far from it. But here we were.

I moved my hand down her back, slowly rubbing circles on it to try to calm her nerves.

Hopefully, it worked because I was about to say something that might increase her evidently strong desire to choke me to death.

“That’s quite the invitation. We’ll be there,” I finally replied, nodding. Fake it till you make it, right?

As I expected, Jade’s eyes flashed wide the hell open, and she chuckled nervously before shooting me a look that would’ve killed me if looks could’ve done that. Then she turned to Mark. “We couldn’t possibly,” she said, backpedaling on my previous acceptance, and I tightened my grip on her.

What was she doing? I needed him on board. This was good for business. As my assistant shouldn’t she care about that?

Her tongue darted out to wet her lips—damn it, I wanted to know what it was like for that tongue to be entwined with mine—and she inhaled, then exhaled.

“I just mean, we can’t confirm we can attend when we don’t even know the date.

” She angled her body toward me and placed a hand on my chest. “Surely you have a packed schedule, honey.” Fuck, the way that last word came out, I could tell it wasn’t intended to be as sweet as it sounded.

I grinned, my pulse quickening as her hand remained touching me. Why did her touch feel so damn good? Shaking my head, I tried to save it. “I’m sure most of my meetings can be rescheduled or handled virtually.”

Mark clapped his hands together. “Great. That’s what I like to hear.”

Sherrilyn nodded and smiled politely. “You’ll have the best time, Jade. My event coordinator promises it’ll be the event of the decade.”

“In that case, I’m sure it’ll be the event of the century,” Jade responded, offering a smile before letting the corners of her lips fall again.

Oh, geez. I laughed just in case Sherrilyn didn’t take that as a joke.

But Sherrilyn lightly chuckled. “I like this one, Red.”

“You’ve got yourself a keeper,” Mark insisted, pointing at Jade like we didn’t know who he was referring to.

I gave him a curt nod. “I happen to agree.” That may have been one of the only things I’d said tonight that was entirely factual.

If Jade and I were a real couple, then I knew without a shadow of a doubt that she would’ve been the best thing to ever happen to me, and I sure as shit wouldn’t be as stupid as my brother and let her go.

He was the world’s greatest goddamn example of what not to do.

“I’ll have my assistant email you the details,” he explained. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, we plan on enjoying ourselves tonight, Red. This is a party, after all, isn’t it?”

“Of course.” He was the whole damn reason I hosted this dinner party in the first place, but okay.

When Mark and Sherrilyn were out of sight and earshot, Jade hit me with her purse.

What the fuck was in that thing? Rocks? Piled on top of more rocks?

My arm ached for a beat. What was her problem?

You’d think she was the one who needed to impress that guy for her business with the way she was acting.

No, no, that was me. “What’s the matter with you?

” I asked, dropping my hand from her back and slipping it in my pocket so I couldn’t succumb and immediately find a whole new reason to touch her.

Her nostrils flared, and her lips narrowed. Okay, so she was definitely pissed. See, I knew I could read her like a book.

She looked every which way, her eyes darting at an extremely rapid pace as she studied the room.

“You—” Back to studying the room. “You—” she started again in hushed tones, her eyes flickering back to me.

A fiery inferno, that was what her gaze was reminiscent of.

Heaving a sigh, she grabbed my hand with force and tilted her head to the right. “Come with me.”

Did I have a choice? It was either follow her or have my arm pulled out of its socket.

Apparently, her plan was to lead us into the coat closet. She closed the door once we were both inside and turned on the overhead light. “Are we going to play seven minutes in heaven?” I asked, narrowing my eyes and cocking a brow.

“Please.” She let go of my hand and brushed me off, rolling her eyes. “You wish.”

No, what I wished for was more than to suck on her lips.

I wanted so much goddamn more. I was a greedy man in almost every way.

But especially when it came to my desires for this woman.

“Why are we in here?” I crossed my arms and leaned against the door, having a feeling this was going to take a minute.

She ran her hands through her hair and exhaled. “What were you thinking? Fiancée? ” Her voice shrieked as it hit a new high. “This charade ends now.” She was stern and no-nonsense, her eyes flashing with an intensity I couldn’t quite describe.

Damn, she was a ball of passion, wasn’t she? “It’s not that simple.” I scratched my chin. “Mark can help me bring the company to new heights.”

“Yeah, well, I’d like to reach new heights, too, and having a fake fiancé is going to put a damper on that, so thanks but no thanks.

” She was talking in a double entendre, but I caught her drift, and I didn’t care for it.

She crossed her arms, too, and pursed her lips.

“Looks like you’ll have to come up with a new plan. ”

I gritted my teeth and resisted the urge to punch a wall. The thought of her fucking other men made me see red. Cool down, Red, you aren’t really engaged, and she’s NOT YOURS. “I’ll make it worth your while if you play along like a good girl.”

“I don’t want anything from you.”

“Maybe not, but I can give you anything in the world.” Please ask for sex.

She swayed her head back and forth and exhaled loudly. “Fine. You gave me a chance and hired me when I couldn’t find any other job. Seriously, it was a bitch job hunting.” Then she gave me a lopsided smile. “So, I’ll scratch your back since you scratched mine when I needed it.”

Another double entendre? I arched a brow, trying to follow her logic on this one.

“I didn’t know you had an itch, but thanks?

” I uncrossed my arms and cleared my throat.

“It won’t last forever. As soon as I get Mark on board, we can call it quits.

We’ll have an argument, call the whole thing off. He won’t be the wiser.”

“We’ll need to have a public disagreement, right? That way it’s believable.”

I liked the way she thought. I snapped my fingers. “Brilliant. That’s just what we’ll do. The Cavallos won’t be able to second-guess whether it was all some great big lie for their sakes.”

She laughed, an adorable snort following with the intensity of her laugh. She covered her mouth. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. I think it’s cute.”

Her cheeks reddened, and she swallowed. “Anyway, I’ll have to find a new job.”

I put a hand up, trying to stop the insanity. “Don’t be ridiculous. I’ll continue to pay you as my assistant. It’s just your responsibilities will have changed.”

She shook her head. “No. I can’t accept your money like that. I won’t.”

“Don’t be stubborn.” Didn’t she need the income? What was she thinking?

Her eyes narrowed. “Don’t tell me what to be.”

“Feisty thing. Now what?”

“Now you fuck yourself, and I clean up the mess you’ve made for me,” she quipped frustratingly.

I smirked. “My hand is pretty talented, but I much prefer being buried in a woman when I come.”

She rolled her eyes. “You’re a pig.”

“I don’t think so, but if you do this, then I’m your pig.”

“Not for long.”

“For now.” And that simple fact seemed to bring me immense joy. Not that she needed to know that.

She exhaled, combing a hand through her hair. “I can’t believe this. I came here to drop off your dry cleaning, and now we’re engaged, and I’m out of a job.” She snort-laughed. “Well, it’s official.”

I rolled my tongue over my front teeth, wondering what she could possibly be talking about now. “What is?” I asked, hoping she got on with it so I could get out of this closet. Being confined in a small space with a woman I wanted to bang—and wasn’t going to get to—was my idea of torture.

“Hell froze over,” she responded simply, as though that was a good enough answer.

It wasn’t, by the way. “I wonder which news station will pick up the news first because that’s definitely groundbreaking.”

“Shut up.” She rolled her eyes rather dramatically and licked her lips. Damn it, stop licking your lips unless you want me to go over there and take them between my teeth.

I had to get out of this tight space. I wasn’t claustrophobic, don’t get me wrong. I was just losing my fucking mind in here with her. Every little thing she did was making my cock twitch. I needed air and a cold shower. “Don’t mess this up,” I advised as I opened the door and began walking out.

She growled. “Screw you,” she called after me, a hostile undertone lurking behind her words.

Riling her up was a definite benefit to this whole ordeal. Although, the more I riled her up, the more turned on I got. Was there a word for that? Yes, yes, there was—twisted. Not that I’d ever admit to being that. Sometimes. Frequently. Fine, more than I cared for when it came to Jade.

Let’s call it like it was, shall we? Life just got a hell of a lot more intriguing.