did.
I set my jaw. But fuck, I didn’t want to work for the company. I could give her this thing I’d held back. Put the last piece of myself on display for the media. I just didn’t want to. It would be worse than going back to Kensington Corp. and dicking around with investments for a few months.
“There’s nothing,” I lied.
She frowned back at me. As if she could see my lie this time.
“I think this could work. If you’re willing,” she finally said.
“Fine,” I said on a sigh. Serving up my life on a silver platter. “I’ll do it.”
12
English
I knew that Court didn’t want to go back to work for Kensington Corporation. But once he was all in, he was all in.
We’d met with his mother, who had been ecstatic about the decision. She’d wanted one of her boys to take over the company ever since their father died seven years prior. But neither of them had had any interest. Leslie saw this as the first step toward that dream.
She’d even spoken to the board for us and secured him a position. I didn’t even really know what they did precisely. Something to do with investments and banking. They made a lot of money. That was for sure.
Court would have a corner office on the top floor. Apparently, it had been vacant for years, as it was reserved for a Kensington. I wondered how long it would have stayed open before they decided against that. But I was glad for it now. It would look better to do the announcement tomorrow out of his office, which I’d hired an interior designer to whip into shape.
“What do you think?” I asked Court as we walked around the space with the designer.
Court shrugged. “As long as I have an enormous desk and a full library, then I’ll be happy.”
The interior designer took notes. “I wasn’t sure about the library, but I’ll have my people in right away to begin.”
“It will all be ready by tomorrow?” I asked.
She nodded. “Definitely. I’ll have the entire staff on site, working all night to get this set up. Anything else?”
I checked my watch. “No. We’re running late. Come on, Court. We need to get to your next appointment.”
He stood in the center of the room, gazing out the enormous glass windows to the city streets below. He was in a black suit and blue tie that matched his eyes. His demeanor seemed to shift in the space. It was as if I was seeing the man who had bent me over the side of the couch and held my hair back so I’d arch into him. The commanding man who could run this business if he chose and not the one we were pretending could.
“This will do,” he finally said.
Then, he turned to face me. Strong, assertive, powerful. This was Court Kensington.
He smiled at me. My knees went weak. All my own bluster and strength fled in the wake of that smile.
“Shall we, English?”
I nodded.
But he led the way out.
Evelyn Rothschild obliged us with a second interview for her society magazine. I was pretty sure that she would do anything to get at Court again. Our first interview had been a tour of Kensington Cottage in the Hamptons. A chaste affair where I’d dressed him like a prep-school knockout. All class and charm. The video had gone viral, plastering his pretty face all over the internet.
Evelyn had wanted to see more of him. I’d cashed in that favor.
“Remember, keep it casual. Stick to the prepared questions,” I told her. “Your readers will eat him up.”
“I know how to do my job,” she said with that Cheshire cat smile that said I didn’t really want to get in bed with her.
“I’m well aware.”
“But off the record, was he really involved with his ex’s schemes?”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “If you ask him that, I will pull this entire shoot and blacklist you from celebs in all of New York City.”
“You don’t have that sway,” she bit out.
“Try me,” I snarled.
Fear pricked at her. It helped that I was at least six inches taller than her and could stare down at her over my nose.
“I wasn’t going to ask,” she said hastily. “It was just a joke between two girls.”
I was saved from answering by the appearance of Court Kensington. Evelyn wasn’t the only one who stared helplessly as he stepped into the room as if straight off of the cover of GQ.
I’d hired the same