Bet On It: An Age Gap Billionaire Office Romance(46)

"I noticed you had a great deal of fans last night. I would've thought they were there because you played hockey so well."

He grinned. "You noticed." Bo had this charming ability to say something cocky, and at the same time, his down-home, boyish charm made it endearing.

"The thing is that at home, it's making my mama crazy. She thinks I need a woman to help settle me down. She’s actually started vetting some, and it won't be long before she sends someone from home out here to drag me to the Chapel of Love to get hitched. I don't need that right now. So, I was thinking, if I started dating a good woman, my mama might cut me some slack. I know for sure that my mama would like you."

"Thank you, I think." Where was this going?

"My proposition is . . . would you be willing to pretend to be my girlfriend? The media is already speculating, so it wouldn’t be hard to pull off."

My jaw dropped. "I don't think that's a good idea." I wasn't sure what being a pretend girlfriend would entail, but I got the feeling I wouldn’t like it.

"Like I said, it would all be fake. I mean, it would have to look like we're dating, so we’ll go out. But it will all be platonic. Friendly. Just like drinks the other night."

"But the press would have to see us, right?"

He nodded. "There would be some of that. That's how my mama keeps up on my antics. But chances are I'm still going to misbehave, so over time, when I do something stupid, you can drop my sorry ass. But I figure over the next few weeks, I can behave better, especially hanging out with you."

I really should tell him no. Along with the fact that I didn't want to be in the media, I still felt uncomfortable with how it would look considering my relationship with Drew. Granted, he was my boss, and nothing could develop between us. Sure, we couldn’t seem to not have sex when we were alone together, but that was all it was for him. Maybe if it was more for him, I could consider giving in because the truth was, I was falling for him. Because of that, pretending to be in love with somebody else felt wrong.

"I have to think about it, Bo."

He nodded. "Of course. I understand." He reached into the front pocket of the flannel shirt he wore. He pulled out a scrap of paper. "Here's my phone number. It's my personal cellphone. That's how much I trust you, Analyn. If you have any more questions or you’re going to give me the blowoff, or maybe you'll agree to a few fun dinners, call me and let me know."

"I will. I'm sorry, I can't just outright agree to it."

He waved my concern away. "No, I get it. It's a crazy request." He grinned at me. "I'm kind of a crazy guy." He walked over to the door and opened it. Then he turned and looked at me with concern in his expression. "Am I stepping on Reed's toes? I could tell he didn't like the attention I was paying to you last night. I figured when you were leaving the rink alone and then agreed to come for drinks with me, it meant the feeling was unrequited on his side."

Unrequited? "No, there's nothing between Reed and me." The lie was burning a hole in my gut. Or maybe not a lie since Reed and I weren't a couple. But it still felt wrong.

"Okay, good. Listen, even if you decide not to be my pretend girlfriend, if you ever want to go out for drinks again or hang out, let me know. It was nice to talk to somebody who was from close to home."

I laughed. In my mind, Chicago, Illinois wasn't really close to his tiny hometown in Wisconsin. But maybe our both being Midwesterners made us kindred spirits with each other.

"I'll keep that in mind."

When he was gone, I returned to the kitchen, but Betts wasn't there. I went to her room. The door was open, and I saw her laying outfits on the bed. Surely, when a couple was engaged, deciding what to wear didn’t need to be such an ordeal. I wondered if I could use that as a start to questioning whether she should marry Paul.

"Who was that?” she asked.

"He's just somebody I met when I went to the hockey game last night. What are you doing?" Like I didn't know.

"Paul said that he had work he needed to do tonight, but apparently, he was able to get out of it, so he and I are going to one of the casinos."

"Paul was going to work?" I wasn't sure exactly what Paul did, but it seemed suspicious that he’d be working on a weekend night. Then again, everything Paul did was suspicious to me.

"Yes."

"Betz, there's something—"

"I'm going to take a quick shower and get ready. He said he'd be here in twenty minutes, and I'm running out of time."

She didn't wait for me to answer as she headed toward the bathroom.

I scraped my hands over my face. I couldn't let this go on much longer.





25





Reed





By Monday morning, I had written Analyn off, decided to plead my case again, and now was sitting at my desk continuing the tug-of-war between moving on and begging. Who was this woman who one minute would charm me and fuck me and the next minute run off?

I’d been thinking that she felt the pull between us but was worried about her career. But seeing her with Bo had me questioning all that.

Had I misjudged her? Was her leaving with Bo the other night her way of breaking free from me, or had she been playing me the whole time? And if the latter, what was her end game? What reason would she have to torment me like this?