“Yes,” I jerked my head in agreement, slightly irritated. “Mine involves providing clean water to a village of people, and yours is not upsetting the old ladies at city hall.” Once the words were out of my mouth, I cringed. Not a great way to start our meeting, but he couldn’t compare our two situations.
He lifted an eyebrow and smirked, letting me breathe a sigh of relief I hadn’t ticked him off too much. “We both have issues, but I think we can help one another. I’m proposing a bargain.”
“What kind of bargain?” I had nothing a man like Pierce needed.
He smiled and something in my gut told me to run. I’d never been great at listening to gut instincts, so I kept my butt in the chair. “You help me win over the town and you can have the money.”
What? “Oh?”
Did he expect me to give a presentation in City Hall at the next town meeting? Winning over locals wasn’t exactly my forte, but if it meant getting water for my village, I’d do whatever it took.
Pierce smiled, but something was off about it. “My father believes if I came across more as a family man, I could quiet the dissenters.”
“It makes logical sense.” Statistically speaking people—voters—see married men as less threatening than their counterparts. One of those weird facts you learn while running a large company.
“Pretend to be my doting fiancée for one year and the money is yours.”
“What?” I asked as I blinked repeatedly. Did I pass out on my way into the room? Surely he didn’t say what I heard him say. The idea was crazy. Ludicrous, even.
Pierce shrugged as if he expected my reaction. “People see me as a villain in town. You ease their fears and let me successfully take over the bed-and-breakfast. Once I’ve transitioned and they see I don’t plan to change anything major to the façade, your job will be finished.”
“You want to pretend we’re getting married?”
He nodded as if what he was asking me wasn’t crazy. He looked sane when I walked in, so what the hell happened? “For a year.”
“Six months,” I blurted out in a quick counteroffer. Fuck. I hadn’t used my negotiation business muscle in so long the retort popped out. Half of the original asking price is usually a good starting negotiation, but I should have taken time to stop and think what my words meant.
Pierce’s grin grew into a full-out smile. “Deal.”
Oh no. What did I just do?
Pierce stood from his chair and leaned across the desk, holding his hand out for me to shake. My palms were sweaty as I took his and sealed my fate on a sunny afternoon in Pelican Bay.
I swallowed thickly as he sat and pulled a checkbook from the top drawer of his desk, hastily scratching on the top one before he ripped it out with a flourish and passed it to me.
Two million dollars paid to the order of WaterWays Organization. The date on the check read six months in the future.
I folded at the substantial check with the weight of our townspeople’s expectations and slipped it into my portfolio. When it came to getting fresh water for those families, I would do whatever it took—even play the fake fiancée to a town billionaire so he could fleece its citizens.
Pierce dusted off his hands on his pants and walked around his desk. “Let’s get lunch. The bakery has a wonderful sandwich, and I can’t wait to introduce my new fiancée to the town.”
1
Mari
Pierce held the bakery door open for me, and after we walked in, I looped my arm through his and smiled widely. He didn’t mention why he chose the town’s small bakery as our first public event or why it had to happen so quickly after our agreement, but I didn’t plan to question two million dollars.
My gaze swept the bakery, not stopping on anything in particular but trying to take it all in. The space was bigger than it looked on the outside and warmer—not only in temperature but in atmosphere. People stationed themselves at the various seating options, each of them having their own private conversations over cookies and muffins. The only glaring item in the entire place had to be the bright pink paint on the walls. The jeweled tone chairs and tables were a pleasant touch and softened the place, but someone definitely loved Barbie as a kid.
From what I’d learned about Pierce, which granted wasn’t much, this wasn’t an establishment I saw him frequenting often. In small circles, people called him the reclusive bachelor billionaire. The mouthful told nothing about him, though, and from the way everyone’s eyes met his as we stood by the door of the bakery, he wasn’t reclusive. The town knew Pierce Kensington, so why didn’t New York? What would make a man give up the glitz of the city to settle in Pelican Bay, Maine?
The chatter, which sounded loud as we walked in, lowered as people continued to take in Pierce… or as it dawned on me as we approached the counter, me. They didn’t find Pierce surprising in the bakery, but the new woman on his side. Maybe I played up the looping our arms together bit too much. We hadn’t worked out the details of our supposed engagement. Should I be madly in love or standoffish?
Pierce walked us to the edge of the counter, and while I let my attention get pulled to the delicious items behind glass, he didn’t spare a glance to the treats. Two women stood behind the counter wearing bright pink aprons, which matched the paint color. One of them balanced a tray of cookies on one hand as she watched us.
Everyone watched us. I swallowed and then leaned into Pierce, going so far as to lean my head on his shoulder. So doting new fiancée it would be then.
The woman with the cookies and the name Katy embroidered into her apron glared at Pierce. Her mouth opened at the same time her eyes narrowed as if she planned to chew him out. But why? From what I saw, we’d done nothing but walk into a bakery. Was Pierce not welcome here?
