Faking Ms. Right (Dirty Martini Running Club #1)(59)

“Hi, how are you and Miranda?”

“We’re doing well. What’s up?

“This is going to sound complicated, and also strange, but hear me out, okay?”

“Um, sure?”

I took a breath. “I’ve been pretending to be my boss’s girlfriend.”

“You what?”

“I know, I know. Like I said, hear me out. His dad started dating his ex, who’s a gold-digging harpy. But his dad doesn’t know she’s Shepherd’s ex, and Shepherd is pretty sure he’ll break up with her soon, because his dad has flings with younger women sometimes. But this woman, the gold-digging harpy, is actually trying to get to Shepherd. He didn’t want her to think he’s single, so he moved me in, and I sort of made things more complicated by telling her that Shepherd and I are getting married. So now I’m fake-engaged to my boss. And his dad is throwing us an engagement party and it would help us both so much if you and Miranda would come.”

“I…” She trailed off. “I have no idea how to reply to that. Are you joking?”

“No, I’m serious. I’m pretending to be marrying my boss, and now there’s an engagement party, and it would be odd if all the guests were Shepherd’s. The thing is, Shepherd’s dad, Richard? He’s such a nice man. He has terrible taste in women, but he’s like a big teddy bear. And he’s so excited about this. Shepherd has done a lot for him recently, and I think this is Richard’s way of thanking him. He keeps asking me if my family is coming, and I don’t want to disappoint him.”

“Everly, what were you thinking? Do you realize how crazy this is?”

Oh Annie, you have no idea. “It’s fine. Really. It’s not that big of a deal.”

She took a deep breath. “So, you need me and Miranda to come to an engagement party and pretend that we think you’re marrying Shepherd Calloway?”

“Exactly.”

“This is probably the weirdest thing you’ve ever asked me to do. But sure, we’ll come.”

“Really? Oh my god, thank you so much. But don’t tell Mom and Dad.”

“Oh god no, I wouldn’t dream of it.”

I smiled. “Thanks, Annie.”

“You’re—” She stopped talking and I heard the faint sound of Miranda’s voice in the background. “It’s what? Oh no. Everly, I’m sorry, I have to go. The toilet in the bathroom we just finished is flooding.”

“That’s not good.”

“Hang on, Miranda, I’ll be right there. Oh god, I can smell it from down here. I have to go. Love you, sis.”

“Love you, too.”

I could hear her calling up to Miranda again just before she hung up. Flooding toilet. Yikes.

She’d had to go before I could talk to her about Shepherd, but maybe that was a good thing. If they met Shepherd in person—in a non-work setting, where he was less likely to act like a robot—maybe they’d see him as more than just a potential source of DNA. He was a person. A man.

A man I happened to be crushing on, hard, but that was beside the point.

For now, I texted Richard to update him on my guest list. Then I decided I was going to treat myself to a nice hot bath.

Shepherd came into the bedroom and paused, looking me up and down. “There you are.”

“Hey. I was just talking to my sister. She and Miranda will come to the party. And, you know, go along with everything.”

“Good.” His eyes were intense—predatory. I loved it when he looked at me like that. “What are you doing now?”

“I was thinking about taking a bath, but I could do something else.”

“No, take the bath.” He started cuffing the sleeves of his button-down shirt. “I want to watch.”

Nibbling my lip, I got up and darted into the bathroom, already thinking about ways to make this fun. Lying in the water did make my boobs look amazing. He came in and dimmed the lights while I started the bathwater.

I slowly peeled off my clothes while he watched.

Oh yes. This was fun.

Was this still fake? Was it just sex? I really didn’t know. And, for the moment at least, I was okay with that.





25





Shepherd





My focus shifted as soon as I got to the conference room—from work, to Everly. I’d been reading an email from my CFO, but as soon as I heard her voice, I stopped outside the door.

That sweet voice made me feel like I was unraveling. Suddenly all I could think about was the taste of her lips. The feel of her skin. The sting of her nails on my back. No one would suspect what the girl with the sunshine smile was capable of in the bedroom. I still had her bite marks on my chest.

I was an addict, and she was my secret dealer.

I’d never indulged with a woman the way I did with her. She bit and clawed at me and I fucking loved it. I couldn’t get enough. My body craved the powerful sensory stimulation. It wasn’t pain to me, so much as raw intensity. Every bite and scratch cut through my emotional paralysis and made me feel.

I worked hard to keep my personal life out of the public eye. The fact that the elusive business mogul Shepherd Calloway had a thing for pain in the bedroom would spread like wildfire in the gossip columns if it ever got out. Until Everly, I’d never trusted a woman with that. I didn’t like trusting people too far—it made me vulnerable.