A CONTRACT ENGAGEMENT

She looked down at her hand that was still underneath his. His thumb pressed into her palm, and his fingers lay still over hers, but the warmth of his touch spread up her entire arm and into her chest.

She liked this man. Genuinely liked him, stupid ambush aside. He hadn’t sugarcoated any of it. And above all else, she liked honesty. He hadn’t shied away from how the entire situation made him look. It certainly didn’t make him appear very noble, but she couldn’t get beyond thinking he was just that. Noble and honest.

The ring on her finger sparkled and glinted in the light. For just one moment, she allowed herself to imagine what it would be like if it were all real. Two seconds later she mentally slapped herself silly and told herself to get over her foolishness.

She had a job to do. She had to impress this man with her brains and her creativity, her drive and her determination. She could do all that. And if it meant she had to go beyond the call of duty to do a personal favor for him, then she needed to suck it up and just get the job done. Too many people were counting on her.

It was silly. She felt like an idiot and she was sure Julian didn’t feel any better, but it wasn’t up to her to question his motives. For whatever reason, he didn’t want his cousin and his fiancée to see him bleed. She could understand that. She would have died rather than let her dad see if she was having any difficulties after leaving his company. She didn’t want to hear him say ‘I told you so’

“All right, Julian. I’ll do it.” She said.

Triumph mixed with relief flared to life in his eyes. “Thank you for not bashing my skull in and leaving, but more than that, thank you for not reacting in front of my family. It was more than I deserved given how I sprang it on you. I swear, that was not the way I wanted to approach you with my proposition.” he replied.

“If we’re done with all that, can we eat? I’m starving. You can tell me all I need to know about your family as your fiancée and also when and how you proposed, but not until I get something to eat.”

He leaned forward, caught her jaw in his hand and turned her toward him. Their lips were so close that his breath blew warm over her mouth. She swallowed nervously, wondering if he would kiss her. And then she wondered if she’d let him. Or if she would kiss him instead.

“Thank you… So much for doing this. I really appreciate it,” he murmured.

Slowly, he withdrew, and to her chagrin, disappointment washed over her.

“Good” she managed to say as she moved away from him. “Don’t forget. We also have to find a way to explain this to Abby… and that…” she pointed at him, “…. Is your job. Abby is going to kill you.”

Julian couldn’t help a smile.

———————–

Julian watched as Nina sat sideways on the couch, her back against the arm and her knees doubled in front of her. She looked comfortable and completely relaxed, which was more than he could have hoped for given how stupidly he’d sprung the whole engagement thing on her.

After her initial fury, though, she’d calmed down and had taken it well. Damn, but he liked this woman. He had always liked her. Oh, he was definitely attracted to her sexually, but beyond that, he genuinely liked spending time with her.

If he was smart, he’d take that as a huge warning sign to stay away and not become involved, but he’d never claimed brilliance and he wasn’t sure if staying away was the best thing to do here. Somehow he had gotten a second chance with her. Was he going to let the opportunity pass?

She’d changed into nothing more glamorous than a pair of sweatpants and a jersey. Her shoes had long since been shed, and her toenails, painted a delicate shade of pink, teased him. Hell, he was even attracted to her feet. Small and dainty.

He was officially losing his mind. Never before had he lusted after a woman’s feet.

She forked another bite into her mouth then sighed and made a low sound of agony before putting her plate down on the coffee table.This content belongs to Nô/velDra/ma.Org .

“That was fabulous. I’ve eaten so much that I won’t fit into that sparkly dress I bought for the wedding.” She said,

That statement brought a whole host of splendid ideas to mind. Namely that they could both skip the wedding and stay in bed where clothing was entirely optional.

He shifted in his seat and wondered for the sixth time why he was so bent on torturing himself. He shouldn’t be entertaining those thoughts.. At least not now.

“So tell me something, Julian,” she said as she leaned farther into the sofa cushions.

Her eyelids lowered and she tucked those pink toes underneath a throw pillow. “What made you walk away from your family’s business and start your own in a field that was so different from the jewelry trade?”

It didn’t surprise him that she knew so much about his background. She grew up with them and she would have researched him tirelessly as she wanted his company’s account. Still, he debated how much to tell her.

Their gazes locked, and he saw only simple curiosity. No ulterior motive, just interest.

“There were several reasons,” he finally said. “Emotion has no place in business and yet I find myself making emotional decisions.”

Her eyebrows rose. “I’m surprised you’d admit that. Doesn’t jive with your big, bad, ruthless businessman persona.” She said,

He smiled ruefully. “Okay, so part of it was emotion based. The company belonged to my grandfather and my dad and uncle, Sam’s father managed it after he died. I didn’t agree with their style of management. The fact is the company is in trouble. I saw it coming years ago and they were in flat denial. They saw no reason to change the way they ran things since it had worked for decades before. And also, I have always wanted my own company. The other reason was I don’t exactly get along that well with Sam and managing the business with him didn’t sound like such a good idea to me.”

“You don’t say,” she said drily.

He chuckled. “Yeah, I know, hard to believe. Sam….. there are lots of more appropriate words for him, but I’ll go with the fact that he’s a lazy, unmotivated brown noser. All his life, he’s never had to actually work for anything. He’s been handed everything since he was a child. As a result, his sense of entitlement is huge. I would work for something and he would want what I had worked for.”