A part of me felt petty and satisfied that Stacy believed Blade had chosen me. Then I thought,Wait, this could turn out badly. No one took the woman who slept with the boss seriously. I barely had the interns under control as it was. They would be throwing themselves at Blade now with all the force of a fly at a window. Something about a man in a relationship attracts the home-wrecking bitches like nothing else.
Another part of me worried that maybe I had broken the dam on Blade’s romantic life. What if, after pretending to be in a relationship with me, he decided he wanted a real relationship with a real girlfriend? What if he ended up falling in love with one of the interns or a cute barista or a mysterious girl on the train? I could not allow that to happen. I needed that house.
“Weston, I don’t even need to ask if you have a date,” Greg said.
“I sure do!” He grinned.
I was only half listening. Inside, I was starting to freak out about the dinner. For one, I didn’t have nice clothes. Two, I did not want to sit through a long, formal dinner with my father. He was going to make cutting remarks at me all night long.
“That’s settled then,” Greg said, shutting his laptop and standing up. “Weston and Blade, don’t fuck this up.”
Blade followed his brothers out while I cleared off the table.
“You little hussy,” Stacy hissed when the men were out of the room. “After all of that, you were keeping us away so you could have him for yourself.” Kitty was behind her, nodding along like a demented puppet.
“I can’t help it if he has good taste,” I told them.
“It’s not good taste!” Stacy snapped. “You manipulated him, then sank your claws into him. I bet you put out for him the first night you were here. You’re trash. Just like your mother.”
“Don’t you dare,” I warned.
“Don’t try and deny it; I did research on you. What your mom did was criminal. Lying to poor Chad, trapping him in a pregnancy he didn’t want, then getting arrested for drugs. I bet you’re just like her. Just watch,” Stacy said to Kitty. “Little Mrs. Wannabe Svensson is going to end up pregnant.”
They flounced out. I was so furious and humiliated that I was seeing red. I had a different last name from my mother, and a part of me had always hoped that people doing only a basic Google search wouldn’t put two and two together.
When I slunk out of the conference room, it seemed like everyone was watching me and whispering.
I’m doing this for my house and my friends.
But it was like being back in high school, during one of the worst times of my life. He had been a football player and a senior—tall, handsome, and the guy every girl wanted. I had been a junior and had tutored him in English at the preppy high school my father begrudgingly sent me to only because he didn’t want people to talk. The football player had been kind and funny and actually not a bad writer. I had wanted a fake date to prom. In exchange, I had told him I’d write his college application essays. He had told me he thought I was cute. He kissed me in his car, and stupid teenage me had decided then and there I was in love with him—that was, until I went to school the next Monday and had found out he’d told everyone that I had begged him to go to prom with him in exchange for giving him a blow job.
People in the office were whispering about me just like they had been back then.
This isn’t high school,I told myself.You will not be working here after the wedding. You will be in your lovely house planning weddings. Blade isn’t going to lie to people, you’re not going to sleep with him, and you certainly aren’t going to fall in love with him.
“Do you want to grab coffee?” Blade asked me when I returned to my desk after putting away the tray and pitcher from the meeting.
Did I want to do the walk of shame back through the office? Not really, but I did want coffee. Actually, I wanted coffee, a pastry, and a brand-new life.
“Sure,” I told him, putting on my coat. When we were in the elevator, I slumped against the wall and picked at my nails.
“Hey,” Blade said, tilting my chin up. “I’m really sorry about this morning. Let me know if anyone gives you any trouble.”
“Yeah, because tattling to the boss that the other girls are being mean to me is really going to make the situation better,” I snapped.
Blade sighed. “Just hang in there. The wedding’s in what, a couple months? It will be fine,” he said, his deep voice reassuring. He rubbed my back.
“No PDA without an audience,” I said unhappily, causing Blade to snatch his hand away. I felt like a bitch, but I did not need to get hurt, and this fake relationship was showing all the signs of potentially blowing up in my face.
Blade was as cold as the air outside when he held the door open for me.
“Do you want to go toPatisseried’étoile?”I asked Blade. “They have pear tarts. I feel like I need baked goods after the morning I had.”
“Avery!” someone yelled. I looked up and squinted as bright lights went off.
“How did you snag a Svensson, Avery?” another reporter called as a second flash went off.
“What the hell?” I said.
