Not her. Fake fiancée her.
She would pay him back for the clothes, but they would be returning that ring.
“Let me know if you need anything.” The salesperson stopped at the door, her voice going low. “Just so you know, your man is the sweetest thing. He told us to bring you anything you wish and to treat you like you’re the most important person in the world. Because that’s what you are to him. So sweet.”
Yep, he was a charmer. He was sweet and gorgeous and rich as sin. He seemed to genuinely care about the people around him, and he was thick in both head and cock.
“He’s the best.” She shut the door and took a deep breath.
He was definitely the best at making her crazy. He’d been beyond attentive. He’d held her hand at lunch, his thumb stroking the pulse point on her wrist, making her go all soft and gooey. He’d claimed they should do it because their stalker might be watching.
He made her wish this was something more than cover for an op.
Why can’t it be? It’s obvious he’s into you. You’re crazy about him. Why not let yourself try again? Yes, you made a mistake with Roger, but that doesn’t mean you punish yourself forever. JT isn’t Roger. He wouldn’t lie to you.
She barely knew the man, but she was already certain he would never lie to her. Maybe she was the naïve one.
Her mobile buzzed and she looked down at a text from Big Tag.
Your stalker is a pro. PI named Howard Benson. Someone’s looking into you. We’ve had hits all over on your cover. Expect that he’s got eyes on you. Fun fact—he’s worked for Malone Oil before, so ask your new boy toy if he’s told the parents the happy news. Congrats on your fake engagement. Try not to get fake pregnant.
Damn it. She would bet on the admin. It hadn’t taken her long to start looking into the new girl. The question became was Deanna protecting her boss or her own turf? It would make a big difference in how she handled the woman.
She needed to pick a couple of dresses and get back to the office. The office would be an excellent place to hide from JT. She might even be able to hole up in one of the offices and get some advice from the ladies on how to lose a guy she really, really didn’t want to lose.
Of course, if she went back to the office, the PI would know something was up. It made perfect sense to go there once. Her fake fiancée’s brother worked there. They could play it off that way. But spending hours up there on her own would be suspicious.
Things had gotten much more complex. No one would have thought about David Malone’s assistant. She would have been one more worker. As JT’s fiancée, she would be center stage.
Should she pull out?
“You doing okay in there?” JT’s deep voice came through the door of the dressing room.
“It depends,” she whispered. “Do you know a man named Howard Benson?”
“The private investigator?”
She opened the door because this was a conversation they needed to have very quietly. “Yes. Why do you need an outside private investigator? You have a whole firm of them.”
He walked in and closed the door behind him. “I didn’t hire him. Deanna did during her divorce. She didn’t want to use McKay-Taggart because they’re damn expensive. I offered to help pay for it, but she can be stubborn. She thought her husband was cheating. He was. On her and his girlfriend.”
Well, at least she knew who’d hired the PI and why Deanna was so touchy. “He’s the man following us. Are you sure your relationship with this woman is strictly professional?”
His eyes had gone innocently wide. “I’ve never touched her. Not once. I don’t think I’ve ever even helped her out of a car.”
She stared at him.
“I’m serious. Never touched her. Never been anything but professional with her. She’s abrupt but effective,” he explained.
“She’s rude.”
“She’s direct. I wanted to fire her in the beginning and my dad took me aside and asked me why. I told him she was abrasive. He asked me if I would say the same thing about a man in her position. I gave her more time and looked at her differently. She’s good at her job. I don’t care that she’s not what a female assistant is supposed to be. If I asked her to get my coffee there would likely be poison in it, but if I direct her to push through a multimillion-dollar deal with a jackhole who’s trying to tie me up in red tape, she gets it done. I can get my own coffee.” He seemed to deflate. “All that said, she did seem jealous today.”
She’d seemed more than jealous. “I think we can assume she set the PI on us. Have you talked to your parents? Would she call and ask about me?”
“Turn around.”
“Why?”
“Because you still need to buy swimsuits,” he said. “Let me help you try these on.”
She sent him a pointed look.
“I’ve already seen everything, and we should talk about this in private in case the PI is lurking.”
He was right. And he had seen everything. She turned and let him deal with the zipper she always struggled with. “Fine. Talk.”
She could see him through the mirrors. All three of them. She watched as he smoothed his hands across her shoulders before he slowly eased the zipper down.
“I called my mom earlier today,” he said. “She’s been sent a bunch of information about you and how we met. She and my father will support the cover. If they get reporters calling, they’ll hold the family line of ‘we do not discuss our personal lives in the press.’ They’ll move on very quickly because there are far more interesting people out there with even more money. We’re boring.”
His
