He pauses. “I was going to get you some water.”
“I’m not thirsty.”
He gives me an odd look, then leans back in his chair, his fingers steepled. “Remember what I said in Tokyo?”
I blink at him, feeling like a kid taking a pop quiz she isn’t ready for. “You said a lot of things in Tokyo.”
“Right. I mean about being a fake girlfriend.”
“If you’re wondering about Gabriella, she wants to make sure she’s the one dumping you, not the other way around. She said nobody gets to dump her.”
He looks at me like I’m spouting nonsense. “Gabriella? I was thinking about you.”
“Me?”
“Yes, you. Remember? I asked, and you said no because you had a boyfriend.”
“Oh. Right.” My face scrunches.Fucking Jeffrey. I defended him to Rhys, only to be proven wrong. Although Rhys didn’t say, “I told you so,” he might as well have. The universe certainly said it for him.
“I’m asking again.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Rhys
Max bites her lip. I steeple my fingers to avoid tapping them on the desk and betraying my agitation. With the old boyfriend out of the picture, there’s no good reason for her to say no…but she went AWOL for two whole weeks. She could’ve found herself another boyfriend by now.
Damn it. Should’ve thought of that before staying silent. Why the hell did I engage in that pointless ego contest?
“Do you have a boyfriend?” I ask.
“No.”
My tie feels less constricting.
“But I don’t know what your offer entails or why we should do it,” she adds.
“It’s the best solution to our problems.” She cocks her head, so I quickly lay out my pitch. “Without a boyfriend in the way, the timing is perfect. And the best way to show your old flame is by dating somebody better. Which I qualify for—I’m taller, better looking and richer.” I pause, giving her a chance to raise questions or concerns.
“We have an anti-fraternization policy.”
“No, we don’t,” I say firmly, glad that’s the most pressing point for her.
“Yes, we do. I saw it in the HR policy handbook.”
“That was the old version. I revised it.”
“When?” she asks dubiously.
“The day after hiring you.”
She gives me a long look. A lovely flush creeps into her cheeks. “Are you telling me what I think you’re telling me?”
I meet her eyes. Time to put my cards on the table. “Of course. Before you take anything the wrong way, I hired you because I believed you’d be good at your job—and you haven’t disappointed me. But I also found you hot as hell.” I pause, letting it sink in.
Her lashes flutter as her mouth forms a small O. Not sure why she didn’t realize how attractive she is all this time. Slick said some shitty things to her, but she’s had other boyfriends. Didn’t they tell her how magnificent she is? Just what kind of failures has she been dating?
I continue: “I wanted to ask you out, except you were always in a relationship.”
