both shocked at our own outbursts. And our copious dropping of f-bombs.
He cleared his throat and adjusted the cuffs of his sleeves. “I’ll pay you.”
Damn right he was going to pay me.
Wait, was I considering this? I couldn’t be considering this. Going to a gala was not a big deal. In fact, it had been kind of fun. And his dad had seemed super nice. Seeing him again wouldn’t be the worst. But posing as Shepherd’s girlfriend? Living with him? How would that even work? It was a disaster waiting to happen.
My phone vibrated in my hand and I glanced at the screen. It was a text from Annie.
Really, universe? Really?
If I did this, he’d owe me big. Huge. Enormous. I could forgo whatever bonus he offered me and ask for his swimmers instead. Be the Fairy Sperm-Mother for my sister and Miranda. Make their genetically perfect baby dreams come true. Granted, I might be dooming them to raising an emotionless robot child. But if that was what they wanted…
But Shepherd wasn’t necessarily as emotionless as I’d thought. I’d seen glimmers of something in him on Friday night. Maybe it had just been the drinks, or maybe I’d imagined it. But I had a feeling there was a teeny-tiny, minuscule little crack in Shepherd’s emotionless façade. A hairline fracture. Maybe he wasn’t the only person in the world impervious to my sunshine.
And if it meant I had a good case for asking him to donate his baby batter…
I opened my mouth to reply and had a sudden out-of-body experience. It was like I was floating, looking down into Shepherd’s office from above. Listening to someone else talk.
“All right. I’ll do it.”
9
Everly
“You’re what?” Nora asked, her drink clutched in her manicured hand. She looked at me like I’d just told her I was moving to Mars.
“I’m going to temporarily stay at my boss’s place. Just for a few months. So not permanently. It’s temporary.”
“You mentioned that,” Nora said, giving me the side eye. She wasn’t buying my story.
I was trying to avoid telling them about the fake girlfriend thing, but I could see it wasn’t going to work.
We’d gone for our usual run and were sitting in the bar at Brody’s. I’d ordered a martini, but I wasn’t in the mood to drink it. Ever since I’d said yes to Shepherd’s offer this morning, I’d been wallowing in the assistant who’s just agreed to be her boss’s fake girlfriend version of buyer’s remorse. It might mean I could get what Annie wanted, but the reality of it was starting to overwhelm me.
“Okay, circle of trust?” I held my hands out and they each clasped them, nodding.
I took a breath and told them about what had happened Friday night. And about our conversation in the office this morning. I didn’t give them the details about what was happening with Shepherd’s father. I simply told them that for personal reasons I couldn’t disclose, he was moving in with Mr. Calloway. I knew I could trust Hazel and Nora, but confidential meant confidential. I didn’t mess around with that when it came to my job.
They were properly horrified by Svetlana whoring her way into Richard’s life. And I thought maybe they’d understand and be supportive about my decision to go along with this admittedly insane and probably too-elaborate plan.
“You’ve lost your mind,” Nora said when I finished. “Why the hell did you agree to it so quickly?”
“I don’t know. What would be the point of waiting?”
“To run it by us,” Nora said. “We could have talked some sense into you.”
“It won’t be that bad.”
Hazel adjusted her glasses. “Actually, the potential for this to go wrong is exceedingly high.”
My shoulders slumped. “You think?”
“Everly, sweetie, you just agreed to be your boss’s fake girlfriend for the next few months,” Nora said. “And you’re going to move in with him. You already say he’s difficult to work for. What’s it going to be like living with him? You’ll be together twenty-four seven.”
“Yeah, I know, I thought of that.” I ran my finger along the rim of my glass. “And I don’t know how it’s all going to work.”
“Is sex included?” Hazel asked.
“No.” I sat up, almost knocking over my drink. “No, it is not. He’s not asking me to be a prostitute. The girlfriend part is fake.”
“Richard Gere was sleeping with Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman,” Nora said.
“Yeah, but he picked her up on a street corner,” I said. “She was an actual prostitute.”
Nora shrugged. “If he