“Don’t ever say anything like that in my presence again, Najah.” His words were clipped, and his lips were flattened into a line. “I never treated you like you were less than me because I came from money, and you didn’t. And I never once allowed any of the assholes in our class to disrespect you in front of me either. You were my girl, and if they had a problem with you, they had a problem with me.”
She let out a breath, relaxing into her seat before lifting her eyes to his again.
“You’re right. You always treated me well. I shouldn’t have spoken to you like that. It’s just, this cruise has gone well up until now. I don’t want anything to mess it up. Landing Excelsior as a recurring client would be huge for my business.”
She could see the anger bleeding out of him as he leaned forward.
“Sweetness, I just want to reconnect after all these years.”
He smiled at her. It was sexy and brilliant, warming her to her core, and as inviting as a fire on a cold snowy night.
“Tomasso?”
She folded her arms and tilted her head. She might be slightly buzzed by his sex appeal, but she wasn’t stupid. No one went this hard over their high school sweetheart.
“You were always too smart for your own good, Najah.”
“What’s going on, Tomasso? You didn’t come all the way on this boat just to rekindle anything with me. Be straight with me. What’s happening?”
“I’m in need of a fiancée.”
Her mouth dropped open.
“And there’s no one else I’d trust to take on that role other than you.”
She burst into laughter. She leaned back in her chair, placing a hand on her stomach as she continued to chuckle.
“As much as I’d love to continue this…whateverthisis, I can’t afford the distraction.”
“Distraction?”
He placed his hand on the outside of her thigh. It wasn’t overtly sexual, but it was intimate, and it was definitely making her skin tingle.
“That means you’re interested in me too?”
Najah shook her head at his silliness. “I think the fact that I kissed you in front of a room full of people was evidence of that.”
“Mmm,” he hedged. I don’t know, I think I might need a little more convincing on the matter.”
She leaned forward, meeting him over the corner of the table, and as soon as she was within reach, his lips were on hers.
The hand on her thigh moved up swirling circles over her bare skin, adding to the electricity that seemed to ignite the longer he touched her. He ended the kiss, placing his forehead against hers.
“Are you convinced now?”
“I’m certainly on the way.” His answer made her smile, and the mirthful gleam in his eye put her at ease. “Come on, Sweetness. I really do need your help. All you have to do is pretend to be my loving fiancée for six months so that my father will name me as his successor in the company. If you help me out of this jam I’ve found myself in, I’ll sign you on as the event planner of record for Triple M for the next year. You’ll make a shit ton of money. Being able to put that on your resume, with a positive reference from me, and it’s like the checks will write themselves for you.”
He stretched out a hand, and she let it linger in the air. She didn’t know the details and she was sure it wasn’t as simple as Tomasso was making it out to be. But making that kind of money and having a reference from Tomasso, that was career, hell, life changing.
She closed her hand around his and tried her best to ignore the voice in her head that warned her nothing in her life had ever been this easy, and this probably would prove to be the rule instead of the exception.
Fuck it. A win is a win.
Chapter 4
“So,tellmewhyexactly do you need a fake fiancée in the first place.”
Tomasso looked over at Najah sitting next to him in his Range Rover.
