Page 9 of True Honey (The Hornets Nest #4)

SHORE

F inding myself in Hilly’s during the day for the second time that week was going to cause some irreparable blows to my ego but I was on a mission.

It had been two days since I’d seen Drew and the irony of having her in my thoughts wasn’t lost on me.

I had spoken to the guys upstairs about creating a secondary secretary position to help out Susanna until retirement, and none of them had batted an eye at the request.

I knew they wouldn’t. I’d been running that office for three years—no title, just word of mouth.

But Drew could change that. I just need to convince her that it was a deal worth taking.

A quick, flirty phone call with Kayla had secured whatever job Drew thought she was losing, at least for the time being.

The hope was that once I offered her the job at the stadium she would stop working here… around grabby hands.

It had taken everything in me that night not to ask who touched her, but it wasn’t my place. She wasn’t mine to defend. Yet.

Besides, it would be easier on both of us if I didn’t have to explain to my mother that I was marrying a waitress from Hilly’s, especially since I was already fighting an uphill battle.

It was like climbing Everest, or at least, that’s what my heart rate kept insisting.

.. I hadn’t been sleeping, eating wasn’t important and everything was work.

Constantly. If I stopped working then I had time to panic about everything else going wrong in my life and I didn’t have the spare time to panic. So I worked.

“Hey Si,” Kayla cooed and waved from the table she was serving.

“Is Drew around?” I asked and her face turned sour before she pointed to the back hall that led into the kitchen.

I followed the sound of crashing dishes through the back to where Drew was filling out paperwork in the back office.

“Hey Georgie, can I steal your office?” I asked as I walked by him cutting vegetables, he looked up momentarily before giving me a silent nod and going back to work.

I slipped into the office and shut the door behind me before Drew even looked up from what she was writing.

“You never came to see me,” I said to her as I sat down in George’s chair on the other side of the desk. She looked up at me, fire flashing behind those glassy green eyes and I watched her jaw tighten in disbelief of my presence.

“You’re too persistent for your own good,” she said under her breath and looked back down at her papers.

“It’s for the good of Harbor, I promise,” I said and she trained her eyes on me again.

“That sounds ominous,” she said.

“I have another question to ask you and you’re probably going to think I’m insane but I need you to listen to me before you run out of here screaming or calling the cops on me,” I said.

Drew paused, an awkward, nervous laughter falling from her lips.

“It’s a business proposition,” I told her and she eased a little.

“Haven’t you handed out enough of those in the last few days?” She questioned.

“One more,” I said, inhaling slowly and preparing myself to tell her everything. It’s just a total stranger , I thought. What’s the worst that could happen?

In an instant about fourteen worst case scenarios flashed before my eyes.

I watched as she set the pen down and gave me her undivided attention.

In the harsh light of the office I could count the freckles of brown that danced around in her irises and it was distracting.

Drew’s lips pressed together in a tight, pensive line and she crossed her arms over her chest as we sat in silence.

She was waiting for me to ask my question but I couldn’t seem to word it properly in my head without making an absolute fool of myself.

“I’m sure by now you’ve googled my name,” I said. That sounded pretentious.

“Nope,” Drew said. Yep. Definitely pretentious. You idiot .

“Bad start,” I said, “Well if you had you’d know that I’m Silas Shore, and my family owns the majority of this town.”

“I thought you were a doctor?” She questioned and for a second I missed the sarcasm in her voice and thought she was serious.

“Right, I mean I am, but…” I relaxed a little bit as she teased me.

“The next part is going to freak you out,” I warned and she waited, still sitting quietly.

“My father is in jail for embezzlement, fraud, tax evasion among other things… currently he is the sole heir of my Grandfather’s share to our fortune. ”

“You’re right, that is a little concerning. What does renting me an apartment have to do with any of this?” She asked and I huffed, eyeing her for a moment. “Sorry, I’ve always been the kind of person that asks questions about the movie…”

Her confession was sweet and funny, it eased the tension that resided between my shoulder blades without warning or trouble.

“I’m slated to take over those shares, we’re trying to cut my Father out of the deal. He can’t be trusted, that much is proven. But there was a condition made on the contract by the board of shareholders that prevented my Grandfather from just changing his will.”

“Why are you telling a complete stranger all of this?” She asked me.

“Because I need your help,” I confessed.

“The condition that was presented insisted that I show the board I can be responsible, that I can handle the majority shares. And although I’ve been taking care of every aspect of the business for my Grandfather and Father for years they decided that wasn’t enough.

I need to prove that I’m serious about my future, about my… lineage.”

“What?” Drew choked, her fingernails dug into the skin of her arms in shock. “I’m still not following…”

“I need to find a wife.” I said in not so many words and as softly as my panic would allow me to.

“A wife,” she sounded confused and anxious, like she had that night she cut her hand. “Oh…” She said when she finally clued in to what my plan intended. “ Oh !” She inhaled sharply and stiffened in her chair.

“Exactly,” I said. I was sweating through the dress shirt I had put on that morning. I’d gone through three exhausting meetings before coming over here and none of them had made me as nervous as her stare did.

“Like Pretty Woman?” She sounded offended but she smiled and a small bout of laughter tumbled from her. “You know I’m not a hooker right?”

“There’s that humor again,” I said, nearly choking on my own spit at her joke. “It’s simple, I need someone to play my wife at dinners and a few banquets over the next couple weeks. It has to be someone that my mother has never met but who can be believable.”

“Those are some standards you set,” she scowled. “Is this why you offered to let us rent your empty rooms?” She asked.

“No,” I said quickly, lying through my teeth.

I had hoped it would be easier to convince her than this.

But she was stubborn and it resonated with me, “you needed a place to stay and I have room… What I’m offering in exchange for your help is a job at the stadium, with Susanna,” I said and leaned forward on the desk.

“The secretary?” she asked, and I nodded. Drew’s face softened in response and I could see her actively thinking about it.

“I just need you to pretend to be my wife until all of this is over,” I practically was begging her now.

The office we were sitting in felt suffocating and small as she sat in silence, considering the options I was laying out.

I liked that I could see the process on her face, but I couldn’t tell what way she was leaning.

I was ready to get on my knees when she finally spoke again.

“No other…favors?” she said. The implication was very clear.

“I don’t pay for my sex,” I scowled. “Besides, it’s not my place to judge sex workers, we’re all just trying to make a living.

Most of them are really nice people,” I said and Drew looked at me like I was insane.

“Pretty Woman is actually a terrible depiction while you’re stuck on the topic.

” I rolled my eyes. “I’m not asking for sex, Drew…

I just need you to put on a big ring and a smile. ”

“For a job?” She narrowed her eyes on me and I felt the burn from her gaze.

“Yes,” I said. “You can quit working here and you can go work at the stadium. The hours are good, you can still pick up your son from school every—”

“Oh god, Auggie…” she exhaled sharply and shook her head. “How would I explain all of this to him? He already resents me enough on a day to day basis,” she grumbled.

I could see it all spiraling out of my control the moment she started to dump her trauma in my lap for the second time in a week.

“Slow down,” I said, trying to get ahead of it with solutions. “He doesn't need to know the details. As far as he’s concerned, we’re just roommates. Simple as that.”

“Nothing about the situation you’re proposing is simple,” Drew argued.

“It’s the exact opposite of that, it's messy and silly. Frantically it’s a little dramatic.

Why not just tell your grandfather no?” she asked me.

It was insane how much she sounded like Arlo in that moment and I wanted to groan but I kept my frustration to myself.

“You don’t tell Seymour Shore, no.”

“Well now we’re encroaching Godfather,” Drew said, her tone tight. “You need to pick a lane, Silas.”

“Harbor, that’s my lane. I’m just trying to protect everything my Grandfather has built,” I explained to her. “I just need your help. I know that it’s insane, but I need you to understand that I wouldn’t ask this of anyone unless it was important.”

I leaned closer to her, the silence pulled tight. Her eyes traced over my features and I could see her chewing on the inside of her cheek. I wanted to reach out and touch her face, get her to stop fidgeting in the midst of her anxiety. The urge was there and then just as quickly, gone again.

“ Please ,” I said, the word quietly rolling off my lips to hover between us.

She blinked slowly, her jaw ticking in thought.

My mouth had gone dry and in an effort to distract myself from the quiet decision making I started to count each long eyelash that framed her worried stare.

I had laid it all out, giving her every best case scenario and still it felt like I had lost the fight.

I was going to have to figure out a new way to pull this off.

But I wanted it to be her, she was perfect. Quiet, calm, friendly.

She was the one I needed .

I couldn’t explain to her why without sounding insane but I knew it with every bone and in the pit of my stomach. Drew was the answer, even if she didn’t know it yet.

“I want it in writing,” she said and my heart stopped beating at her response.

“Are you serious?” I blurted.

“Were you not?” Drew said nervously, “was this a joke?”

“No, no.” I put my hands out toward her to get her to settle, “I just didn’t think that you’d actually go for it.”

“I haven’t said yes,” she warned. “I want a contract, a real one and a few days to decide.”

“I can do that,” I nodded.

“Alright,” she said. Her hair fell over her shoulder as she looked back down at what she had been working on before I interrupted her.

“What are you filling out?” I asked her to break the tension. I was still feeling sick to my stomach.

“My doctor told me to fill out an incident report form,” she said to me.

I couldn’t stop the smirk that formed. “I’m yours now? Moving a little fast aren’t we?”