Fake Fiancé Read online

  “What?” He looked at Ralph, shocked, as though I’d just told him he needed to become a monk in a traveling circus.

  “Blake, you’re going to get engaged.”

  The look on his face changed to horrified as he turned toward me. “Why would I do that?”

  “Because fairy tales always sell.”

  “Sell?”

  “We want the public to buy your story. While partying and living his blessed life, Blake Collins met a girl and finally fell in love. You met her and now you’re so crazy for her you decided to quit chasing tail and settle down. You’ve reformed. Been redeemed. Will do anything to make her happy.”

  He put his hand to his chest. “Me?”

  I smiled and pointed. “You, Blake.”

  “Congratulations, son,” Ralph said, chuckling.

  He was stunned. “Engaged? To who?”

  “We make it news. You’ll make appearances with your fiancée, be seen out on the town. You can go to parties, saner ones than your normal, but she stays by your side and you pretend you love your new life and wouldn’t do anything to hurt her.”

  “So, I have to get married to play hockey happily ever after?”

  “This is just a story for the press, Blake.” It surprised me that he didn’t get it. “It’s a three-month fairytale episode in the life of Blake Collins. We announce the engagement and you play the loving fiancé for three months. Once the contracts are signed, you can stage a break-up. You can dump her, she can dump you…it doesn’t matter and won’t be my problem.”

  “And this will work? Love conquers the bad boy?” His tone was incredulous.

  “Right. She loves that he’s a brute on the ice and a cuddly teddy bear in the bedroom—just for her.” I batted my eyes at him to make sure he knew I was making my point.

  He nodded, although most likely not out of agreement. “And who am I supposed to be in love with?”

  “We need someone to play a public role. My company will hire an actress who will do it because it will make her famous.”

  “An actress?”

  “For this to be believable the woman needs to be hot—hotter than or at least as hot the girls you’re normally seen with―but she has to follow my script. I’ll work with her and create her story of how you two met and all that.”

  “But we don’t get married?”

  “No. It’s a game, Blake. Just keep up the pretense that you’re totally in love and have settled down until after the playoffs and you’ll have done your part. After that you can do what you like. Marry her, break up…we can spin it however you like. The message will have taken and will carry over into the off-season.”

  Ralph grinned. “See, Blake? This lady’s the expert. Play along for three months and by then we’ll have both a multiyear contract with the team and the product endorsements. And one endorsement leads to others, etcetera and so on.”

  “And I can be myself again?”

  I sighed. “I don’t care what you do after that, Blake. You won’t be my concern.”

  Blake sat back and folded his arms. The look he gave me shifted. When I first walked into this conference room he’d been checking me out, letting me know that he wasn’t going to pretend not to stare at my ass, legs and breasts. Something had changed but I couldn’t decipher what churned behind those eyes. I did have the upper hand, I knew I did, but this change left me unsettled.

  “We convince the world that love changed me. The wild-assed hockey star meets the love of his life and now he’s playing by the rules like any pussy-whipped sucker who’s afraid the hot chick will dump him if he fools around. That’s your fucking plan?” He looked into my eyes, unflinching. It was a challenge.

  I nodded once. “A crude way to put it, but yes. That is exactly my plan.”

  “And people will fall for this shit?”

  “It’s my job to make sure they do, and if you do what I say, follow my directions, it will work.”

  He started at my ankles as he ran his eyes over me again and smiled when he reached my eyes. “I get final approval on the woman?”

  “Within reason.” I returned his stare and maintained my resting bitch face, not about to fail this test and look away first. “I’m going to be arranging the play you’ll be acting in and casting the parts. Your fake fiancée will play the role in public only.”

  Blake broke our staring match and got up from his chair to walk to the window. My office sat on the twenty-first floor of the building and had an impressive view. It gave me a good look at his broad back and I found the way his shoulders seemed wider when he moved rather delicious.

  “So, Ralphie, you’re telling me that without this crazy stunt, I’m done?”

  “Not done for sure, but not on the way up either,” Ralph replied. “Without something happening, even if the team renews your contract, it will not be for the money you should get, and forget the endorsements. The market is for athletes who are good role models.”

  “So, she’s worth what I’m going to pay her?” He glanced at me, then back to Ralph.

  “I’d say so.”

  “Do I buy the girl an engagement ring?” He turned and faced me.

  “Of course. We could even stage the proposal so that the media are there,” I said. “You’ll tell her you’re giving up other women for her. It will be dramatic.”

  “Dramatic bullshit,” he said. I nodded. “I got where I am by being who I am. I won’t change.”

  He didn’t need to tell me that.

  “We’re just modifying your image. You can still be a tough guy—they want that. Think about the game—you know how to fake it on the ice, like pretending you’re tripped or took a high stick. It’s bullshit with a purpose.”

  “I don’t like it.” He sighed, but the ire was gone from his voice. I had him, I just had to reel him in.

  “Understand that in business being a bad boy only takes you so far. You’re at the top of your game. Staying there will mean learning how to play the game both on and off the ice. You need some new skills and I can teach them to you.”

  He tipped his head, looking at me. “You want this gig, don’t you? It would be another feather in your cap.”

  And money in the bank. “Sure. It’s my job. This is what I do.”

  “Then we’ll do it together.”

  “Of course.”

  “I mean really together.”

  I caught a devious sparkle in his eyes. “What are you saying?”

  “I’ll follow your game plan, do what you say, but only if you become a player-coach.”

  “I still don’t get it. Try it again in English.”

  The cocky grin was back. “I want you to be my fake fiancée.”

  Chapter Two

  Blake

  I rather enjoyed the look on Chloe’s face when I insisted she play the role of my fiancée. She was sexy-as-fuck and the dumb jock had surprised her. Of course, then she’d surprised me right back by agreeing and here I’d just been yanking her chain. She called my bluff and now I had to go along with it. Go with her.

  I didn’t like the plan at all, but given that the team owner and the companies with the bucks for endorsements all had their minds set that we needed to create a brand new and improved Blake Collins, I didn’t have much leverage.

  At least this Chloe presented a challenge—a lovely, leggy challenge who didn’t seem to fall for my charms in the slightest. In fact, I was pretty sure she didn’t even like me. She looked at me with a thin smile that said You’re just a client, not the millionaire hockey player with expert moves on and off the ice.

  Wanting to wipe that smug look from her face had been my half-assed reason for insisting she play the girlfriend. No, fiancée. Now, since the game was on, I’d have time to make her mine. It didn’t seem like a bad plan; guaranteed access to a gorgeous woman that I’d wanted from the moment I first shook her hand.

  I didn’t date professional women and damn sure never planned to make one my fiancée, but if I could get her to sprea
d her legs for me I bet I would be in for a wild ride. She’d give as good as I gave her. She’d be passionate, wild. Hell, beneath that prim suit her body curved in luscious directions. And if I had to play this stupid game, then I could use the time to get to her, break down her resistance, strip off that trim pencil skirt and modest blouse. I imagined having her beg me to fuck her. Only then would I.

  I shifted, trying to hide my growing hard-on.

  She agreed to the job and moved toward the door. “We can start right away.”

  “Now?” I hadn’t expected her to be quite such a ball buster. Yeah, she needed to chill the fuck out and a few orgasms would help with that. It would be so much fun to see her all sated and sweaty from my fingers, my mouth. My cock.

  “Tonight,” she said, breaking me from my lusty thoughts. “If you have anything planned, cancel it. You’re taking me out to dinner. We’ve met and had an instant rapport. We’ll be seen a few times and then Saturday I’ll be at the game and we’ll go out after.” She frowned. “Next week you’ll buy me a ring and we’ll make an announcement.”

  “That fast? I might have you in my bed. That would be believable, but a ring? That quickly?”

  I saw her blush and had to wonder how far down beneath her blouse it crept. “We can’t see how well it’s working until after an official announcement, and convincing the suits will take time. And you will not have me in your bed.”

  Ralph nodded. “It needs to be quick.”

  She shot a look at Ralph. If looks could kill, old Ralphie’d be dead.

  “The ring.” Ralph stammered. “Not the bed.”

  She handed me a card. “There’s my cell phone number and address. I’ll expect you to pick me up at seven.”

  “Where am I taking you?” I figured, fuck it, she’s the pro, let her make the call outside of the sack, but in it, she’d be listening to my commands. No matter how deadly the looks, I will have her. The electricity between us was palpable…and in this area, I was the professional.

  “To The Stanley Cup,” she said. “You make the reservation.”

  I laughed. Her choice made sense―the restaurant was owned by Johnny Lance, a former Blizzard. As the restaurant name suggested, it was a hangout for hockey players, team owners, and fans.

  Ralph approved. “That will get the word out fast.”

  She nodded. “To the right crowd.”

  I stood and looked at Ralph. “I’ll do my part, Ralphie, and you do yours.” He nodded. “I have some work to do before our date tonight.”

  “Seven then,” she said, holding the door to her office open for me. “Dress nice.”

  I did have work to do. I went home and called Johnny’s restaurant, made a reservation for two, then watched some videos of Winnipeg playing their last two games. Saturday, we were the home team for game one of the playoffs. I studied the moves of my opposite number, looking for body language cues that would tell me what to expect.

  But I struggled with distraction, a certain curvy, long legged blonde distraction.

  When I turned off the clips—only able to pay partial attention anyway—I made a call. “I won’t be over tonight,” I told the luscious redhead who answered. “Business problems.”

  “When will I see you?”

  I sighed, thought about the next three months that loomed before me. “I have no idea, but not for a while.”

  “Asshole!” she said and hung up.

  She was nothing but a pretty face, a sexy body and a girl who’d slipped me her phone number. There were plenty of those, but I still felt a twinge. She was a sure thing. But that wasn’t part of the plan and I couldn’t afford to risk fucking up this very expensive operation. The only woman I could have right now was Chloe and with her cold professional exterior and she appeared to have better defenses than the Winnipeg’s back line. I sighed, rose from the couch, stretched and smiled.

  I did enjoy a challenge.

  Chapter Three

  Chloe

  When I laid out the idea, I should have expected that Blake would dig his heels in and make some sort of unreasonable demand. That was his nature, to be a bad boy who had to make things as hard as possible. He had to act out and be a pain in the ass. He wanted to be in control.

  Fortunately, he miscalculated. He’d accidentally come up with what was going to be the very best solution. By spinning the story that he’d fallen in love with his PR person, we started immediately on his image rehabilitation and I had total control. He might have thought he was smart, but I was smarter.

  It wouldn’t be easy, though. I’d have to spend a lot of time in his smoking-hot company without melting, without ruining every pair of panties I owned. I had no idea how I could feel so much sexual intensity for one person, a complete and total irritating man at that.

  After the initial meeting, I’d stayed at the office and made my report. Frank, my fast-paced, driven, exhausting boss had found it hysterical. He survived on black coffee and energy drinks. I respected him and we had a good working relationship, for the most part. I felt as if I had to stretch the truth sometimes to keep him happy, but so far it had worked just fine. And my arrangement with Blake, Frank loved it.

  “Marrying the client wasn’t exactly the way I understood your plan was supposed to work,” he said. “It will simplify the billing though.”

  “No one will expect us to marry except for the public,” I countered. “We don’t care what happens after the three months are up.”

  “You’re comfortable playing the fiancée?”

  “Sure,” I told him. I often lied to my boss. It was efficient, tidy and I had no interest in going back and forth about it, especially with Blake as my fiancé. He wasn’t some random guy in trouble with his boss. He had a long trail of women’s panties behind him and damn it all, scorching hot looks.

  Frank bought the lie, or at least had the good graces to pretend he did. And why not? No matter how I set it up I’d be putting one-hundred percent of my time into this one account until the job was finished. That’s how I worked. It was the only way I could do things—focused, either all-in or all-out. Type-A all the way, and I wasn’t going to change the way I worked best for anyone. Frank knew that, so he stayed quiet.

  “We’re having dinner together tonight,” I told him, sharing the first part of the plan. “We need to be seen out a few times, then make the announcement this week.”

  “Before the next game.”

  “It should be on the news when the potential ad agencies are looking at their options.”

  He nodded. “Good. It’s in your hands. Don’t fuck it up.”

  I didn’t intend to, but didn’t appreciate his tone with me. I’d realized long ago it was the name of the game. No one ever said it would be easy being successful as a woman in this business.

  I tried to balance the girlfriend look with style as I got ready and when Blake showed up his eyes showed he was pleased with my choice.

  “You’ve cleaned up well yourself,” I teased and he laughed. At least he had a sense of humor.

  The restaurant was nice and, as I’d hoped, we were seen by a lot of the right people. I noticed a social columnist, although I couldn’t be sure he’d know who Blake was or thought he was newsworthy, but he’d remember seeing us. A sportswriter for the Chronicle had been at the bar when we came in and he gave us a second look, nudging the guy he sat next to with his elbow, and pointing, probably asking who I was. We were already seeing reactions of this plan, and that was perfect.

  We could use all of that we could get.

  Chapter Four

  Blake

  When I picked Chloe up, she’d looked stunning in a slinky, sparkly black dress that made it impossible to ignore her luscious curves. My cock had pulsed behind my dress pants. He certainly approved. Her blonde hair hung loose down past her shoulders, framing her face and I itched to run my fingers through it. I had no idea how she made it look so wavy and perfect. I pictured myself fucking her from behind while I grabbed a good fist f
ull of it. That train of thought was getting me nowhere, although my cock didn’t seem to mind.

  “Time to go to work,” she’d said, distracting me from my thoughts of fucking her.

  Walking beside me to the car, I’d noticed she was taller than most women, but she only came up to my nose, even in heels. A girl with long, slender legs always made my dick hard, and she was no exception.

  My heart had begun to race and I felt a rush of heat spread over my body that I wasn’t used to having when I was with other women. From what I’d seen of Chloe, she was a spitfire, and I loved the challenge.

  Desire had bubbled up inside me as she moved like caramel to get into my sports car. I caught a glimpse of her creamy thighs as she settled down in the seat and had to wonder how soft they’d feel against my lips. I gulped as I suppressed a feeling of longing that overcame me. I wanted her in my bed, her taste on my tongue.

  When we were seated at the restaurant, Johnny, the owner, came to our table. I introduced Chloe and he gave her a big smile. “This is my girlfriend,” I told him. “Hands off.”

  His stunned expression said it all. “Girlfriend? As in a girl you can be serious about for more than one night?”

  “Looks like,” I said. Shit. Why did I feel like such an asshole by his question? And in front of Chloe. She knew I was a man whore, but having Johnny point it out?

  He smiled at me. “Keep an eye on this one, sweetheart. You have a real challenge on your hands.”

  The fucker. It was one thing to have a new girl on my arm every night, it was another for Johnny to make me look like such a dick. I didn’t make any promises to any of the women I fucked and was careful to extricate myself before moving on to the next. They knew the score.

  I held up a hand. I felt like I needed to explain myself to Chloe, as if I wanted to impress her even if it was all pretend. “This is different, Johnny.”

  Johnny looked stunned for a moment, then nodded as if he’d heard it all before. As if he didn’t believe me. “Like I said, Chloe, good luck with this one.” He winked and, thank fuck, walked away.