Ina, the woman who made my life run smoothly, had been rejected by my own company’s algorithm because we’d set income requirements that I’d personally approved.
And now Heidi wanted to parade her around as my fake girlfriend to boost our Valentine’s Day sales numbers.
“Everybody out,” I said.
Heidi blinked. “I’m sorry?”
“Out. Now. This meeting is over.”
“But we haven’t discussed the details.”
“Out.”
My tone left no room for argument. Heidi’s marketing team scrambled to pack up their materials, shooting nervous glances in my direction. Lucas gave me a long look that said he had questions we’d be talking about later, then followed everyone else toward the door.
Ina started to stand.
I reached out and put my hand on the table in front of her. “Not you.”
She froze and looked at me with shock and maybe apprehension.
The door closed behind Lucas with a soft click, and suddenly we were alone in the conference room.
CHAPTER 9
INA
Istared at Dane with my stomach attempting to try out for the Olympic somersault competition. My mouth felt like I’d been sucking on cotton balls. My deodorant was about to be put to the test. If I didn’t walk out of here with pit stains, I would personally write a letter to Proctor and Gamble and thank them.
I couldn’t get a good read on him. Was he mad? At me? He had to know it wasn’t my idea.
“So,” Dane said, breaking the silence. “Are you okay with this?”
I could tell from his tone that he expected me to say no. Expected me to stand up, march straight to Norma’s office, and file some kind of complaint about being pressured into a fake relationship with my boss for the sake of a marketing campaign.
Part of me wanted to do exactly that.
But another part was thrilled at the prospect of spending more time at his side, pretending my attraction was fake. When I looked into his eyes, the hot ache between my legs was intensely real.
I shrugged, trying to look more casual than I felt. “Honestly? Some publicity might be good for me.”
Dane’s eyebrows shot up. Clearly not the response he’d been expecting. “Good for you how?”
“Part of why I moved to New York was to find my future husband,” I said simply. “That’s always been the plan. Small-town Wyoming wasn’t exactly overflowing with options, so I took a risk and came here. If being in a fake relationship with you gets my face out there, I guess that increases my chances of meeting someone real. That’s not the worst trade-off.”
I paused, then added, “Of course, if you really wanted to sweeten the deal, you’d give me access to my own Cupid’s Arrow account.”
Something flickered across Dane’s face. But I had yet to be able to read the man. He was the opposite of an open book.
“You shouldn’t have been rejected from the app in the first place,” he said, his voice tight. “The income requirement is—it’s arbitrary. Outdated. We built it into the algorithm years ago to attract a specific demographic, but it’s really limiting our database.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I’ll give you a raise.”
I blinked. “I’m sorry, what?”
“A raise. Enough to qualify for the app organically.”
“Are you serious right now?”
He looked up at me, and his expression was completely serious. “You’re good at your job, Ina. Better than Elise ever was, and she had three years of experience. You’ve reorganized my entire professional life in a month. You deserve a raise regardless of this complicated situation.”
