Inexplicably, the lawyer brightened. “Hey, you know you could ask Morgan to be your pretend boyfriend. Ex-military, upright sort of guy, wholesome looking… these guys will eat it up. It’ll be believable. You guys are always together anyway.”
I blinked at Leyland a few times in honest disbelief. “Uh, Leyland? I’m straight. So is Morgan.”
He waved a dismissive hand. “Details. We just want to show these guys that you’re a stable sort of guy. If you ‘break up’ after you have the job, there’s not much they can do.”
I gave him a look. “And you don’t care about the dishonesty of it?”
He practically snorted. “Nobody cares about honesty in the big leagues, buddy. They care about image and money. You have the right image; show that you can make them money, and you’re in. You do want this job, don’t you?”
I swallowed, for a moment feeling out of my depth. He did ask a legitimate question though.
How badly do I want this job?
I lowered my eyes and did not answer him, picking up the proposed contract instead and looking it over, yet again.
“The terms of your contract would be out of this world. The power they propose to give you? World-changing.” The persistent bugger was not one to give up his point easily. I nodded my agreement. It was an incredible deal. A once-in-a-lifetime offer.
I took a deep breath. “Hey, uhhh, why don’t we put a pin in this tonight, let me brainstorm some options and I’ll get back to you tomorrow?”
The bastard smiled. “That sounds great. I’m glad to see you’re taking this seriously, Dom.”
“Yeah, yeah.” I waved dismissively at him and he collected his papers, his suitcase, and got the hell out. I got to my feet, going to the window to look down at the city spread out before me. I could clearly see the Brooklyn bridge from my vantage point, still busy even on a Sunday evening.
“Penny for them?”
I turned to see Morgan standing in the middle of the room. It came as no surprise to me that I hadn’t heard him come in. The man was a ninja. Even before he’d joined the special forces, he had been a stealthy bugger. Now he was practically invisible when he wanted to be.
I shrugged, shaking my head. “Business.”
“Mmhmm, I got that from the hunch of your shoulders and the whole looking-out-at-your-kingdom thing you tend to do.”
I smirked. “My kingdom?”
“Please, dude, don’t even act like you don’t think of yourself as the King of Brooklyn.”
“Brooklyn?” I exclaimed indignantly, grabbing my jacket from the back of my chair and following him to the lift. “Try the whole of New York.”
“Of course.” He sketched an elaborate mocking bow. “Apologies, Your Majesty.”
I snorted, feeling a little better about my life. I’ve known Morgan since he was fourteen and I was sixteen, just two lost kids looking to stay out of trouble and not succeeding. All I knew about him then was that he’d hitchhiked his way from Texas to New Orleans because he’d thought he had an aunt who lived there. Go figure, once he’d arrived he couldn’t find her.
We got to the basement and Morgan clicked the key to unlock the car. He always acted like we were being chased by an enemy, always ready to get out at a moment’s notice. I suppose I couldn’t blame him. Not when his life and then his training had taught him to always be hyper-vigilant.
We swung into the car and tore out of the garage at rapid speed, Morgan heading for our favorite coffee shop without consulting me.
“So what was all that about?”
“What?”
“The brooding. Like you’re doing now.”
I laughed, suddenly remembering Leyland’s words. “Well, apparently, my lawyer wants us to be pretend married.”
Morgan almost swerved.
Almost.
He cast me an incredulous glance. “Excuse me?”
“Yeah, so he thinks I’d read better with these blue bloods if I had, you know, a significant other? And considering you’re like, the one constant in my life, he was like, ‘pretend you and Morgan are dating.’”
My bodyguard threw his head back and laughed. “What? Who’s ever gonna believe that? I am way out of your league.”
“Thanks.” My reply was dry as the desert, but Morgan just kept laughing.
“So uh…like Lady Sanders or someone?”
“Ugh, can you imagine having to hang out with Lady Sanders for more than five minutes?”
Morgan shrugged. “She smells nice at least.”
I gave him a massive side-eye. Lady Sanders was one of the first socialites I’d met on the New York circuit. Let’s just say her voice was shrill and she was tiresome to boot. Especially since she followed me around like a hopeful puppy. I didn’t know how else to tell her that it was not happening between us. I was pretty sure she had more STDs than Paris.
“So how bad is it then? If you don’t have some arm candy – is it over for you or what?”
I shrugged because at that point what could I do about that shit? Morgan sighed, shaking his head. “Hey, don’t give up just yet. We’ll find someone.”
He eased the Range Rover into a parking space before we both got out, walking to the coffee shop in contemplative silence.
“Damn.”
I looked at Morgan. “What?”
“I was just thinking about what Leyland asked you to do. That’s some crazy shit, huh?”
“Yeah, I mean,” I started with a shrug, feeling a bit embarrassed. “It’s not like I don’t want a family or to fall in love – it’s just that…”
“It’s hard finding someone who can match your energy?” Morgan finished for me.
“Exactly. I mean, you mentioned Lady Sanders? She has no clue about life, you know? I come from the school of Hard Knocks. I’m different than these rich kids I hang out with. It’s not easy to connect.”
“Mmm,” Morgan responded, looking thoughtful.
