Chapter 4
Ethan
No flirting! That should be easy, right? But ever since Nelly gave me that rule, I keep thinking about her and how she’s changed in the five years I spent in Germany. I never had the courage to visit Nelly all these years because I believed staying away was best for us both.
I thought my feelings for her would have vanished in the years of absence, but there's still a warmth that comes to life inside me each time I see her.
I spot Nelly in the conference room before she knows I’m there. She’s wearing a black dress, and leaning over the conference table, discussing something with Tom.
My gaze drifts over the dress sitting snugly on her hips and the sweet curve of her body. Adrenaline shoots right through me as I admire her. The tightening of every muscle in my body is shocking. I’ve never felt anything like it before.
She looks at Tom, says something, and smiles. Boom! My heart smacks against my ribcage and sends my pulse racing.
I’m still staring at her when someone taps my shoulder and smiles. “Miss Sinclair is ready for you, sir,” the secretary says in a smooth tone as her lips widen into a sheepish smile.
“Right.” I exhale and walk into the room.
We’re signing our fake marriage contract today, but we’ll get married at the courthouse after we meet with my grandpa.
I’ve also made arrangements with a friend who works with a popular gossip column to put out some pictures of us together, and my social media handler will do the same after we take a few pictures together at the courthouse.
It should be simple. Once we’re done, we’ll travel anywhere she wants for our honeymoon.
Most importantly, I need to think of a story for my grandpops, who’s the only one that matters.
I’ll tell him we’ve had a thing for each other for years, and I’ve always wanted her. During my time abroad, we kept communicating, and Nelly even visited me a few times over the years. One thing led to another. We started dating, and I fell in love with her. Since then, she’s had my heart, and I didn’t tell you because I wanted to keep things low-key for now and get her brother’s approval before pursuing the relationship officially.
My grandfather should buy that story. I think. The man is smarter than anyone I know, so he’ll look for holes in the tale. We just need to make sure our story matches and fake the chemistry.
How hard can that be?
Nelly smiles at me, and I have the answer to my question.
Not hard at all.
Her eyes light up the room. Their intensity is enough to make me forget everyone else in the room.
She’s never made me feel that way before.
“Let’s get to business, shall we?” Nelly asks, and walks over to me, her heels clicking on the ground as her hips sway from side to side in a mesmerizing way.
I clear my throat, trying to regain my focus. “This business is simple. We have both agreed to the terms and my lawyer has prepared a contract which we would sign before anything else. After that, we’ll meet with Grandpops, get married legally, then travel to anywhere of your choice.”
“St. Barts,” she tilts her head to one side as she looks me in the eye. “We will go to St. Barts for one week. We tell your grandfather that you fell for me hard, and you always had a thing for me. You tell him you’re solely and utterly in love with me and will do anything to be with me, including merging with our company to save my parent’s legacy.”
A tiny laugh sneaks out of me. I find it amusing that she’s dictating terms to me right now. It makes her look … Hot. “Is that all?”
“We’ve agreed on no flirting of any kind, and no actual falling in love, but I also need to add that whatever happens in my personal life is none of your business and likewise. We keep it strictly on paper.”
“Deal. I already had my lawyer add all this to our contract,” I agree with a light shrug, then hand her the envelope of documents with me.
In a few minutes, we wrap it up, and Tom is quiet until Nelly excuses herself for another meeting and heads out of the conference room. It’s not my first time in Sunny Aerospace’s headquarters, but each time I’m here, I’m amazed at the view from the sixteenth floor.
The sixteenth floor is the upper management floor. I’ve been in this conference room many times with my grandfather to sign deals with Sunny Aerospace.
Hart Holdings has partnered with Sunny Aerospace in the past, so owning an additional aerospace engineering company is a nice expansion.
I’m sure it’ll be easy to sell it to my grandfather because he always liked Nelly’s parents, Ken and Harper Sinclair.
“I’ve always liked the view from up here,” I say to Tom as I stare out of the window, admiring the heavy flow of traffic on the streets below.
I love the bustle of LA. Attending Stanford with Tom gave us the chance to explore the state together, and I didn’t think Tom would ever want to leave until he finished law school and decided to work in Manhattan where he would be closer to Robyn, the girl he fell in love with and later married.
“Remember all the fun we used to have here? You and me back in the day?”
Tom laughs as I turn to him. “I do,” his eyes light up as he adds. “You had that silly mohawk when we first met in freshman year, and I was so skinny that you teased me all the time until I finally worked up the courage to join you in the gym. It’s been ten years, man. A lot has changed since then.”
His comments make my smile solemn. “Yeah, yeah, seems like a lifetime ago.” The memories are fresh in my head. We were college freshmen at the time, and we quickly became best friends, happy to explore L.A. together like we didn’t grow up here.
My own parents were long divorced, and my grandfather didn’t want me too far away even at eighteen, so I chose to attend Stanford.
After my dad passed away in my sophomore year of college, the Sinclairs quickly became family.
Tom walks over to where I’m standing by the window. For a long moment, neither of us says anything as we stare outside. “I’ve thought about applying to the DA’s office here a few times because I miss this city.”
“I missed it too. The good ol’ memories,” I laugh as we turn serious again.
“You know all of this is crazy and fast too, Ethan. You can talk things over with your granddad and get him to change his mind.”
“That man’s hard like a rock. If there’s one thing that I’ve learned about him, it’s that the man never changes his mind. Not when I wanted that bike for my tenth birthday and he refused, not when my dad decided on a divorce and left me with him even after gaining sole custody, and not when I told him I didn’t want to go to Germany for five years. The man’s a tough nut to crack, and he rarely ever changes his mind on anything.”
“It’s why all of this won’t hold anyway,” Tom answers with a slight shake of his head. “And Nelly … she’ll do anything for the company to stay afloat, but it’s not going to be easy for her to be fake married to you.
“I mean, we both know there’s no part of you that can keep to the terms of this—” He pauses and waves a hand. “Farce.”
The smile on my lips widens, and the familiar rush of warmth floods me. “You’re family to me, Tom,” I say to him as we face each other, and he holds my gaze.
“You’ve seen me through my worst moments and the best ones, too. I want to help, and I would do it if I didn’t need anything in return, but I do need this. I need Nelly because she’s the only one my grandfather would ever believe I would fall in love with after …” I trail off, unable to complete that sentence because of the slicing ache that cuts right through me.
It’s been over eight years, and I haven’t been able to forget what she did to me.
Julia Brene’s memory is like a thorn that still hurts each time I remember it. And most times, I prefer not to remember it. I met her in my third year of college and I thought I would spend the rest of my life with her.
“You know why Nelly chose St. Barts?” Tom asks. The smile on Tom's face is gone now. “It’s where she was born,” he continues when I don’t reply. “Mom and Dad were on a vacation, and she went into labor right there on the sandy white beach. I can’t forget the first time I saw her cute little face. I was a toddler myself, but I already knew I was going to protect her, so I stayed awake most of the night watching her cot in my mom’s private hospital room while my mom and dad slept.”
“Nelly is like a sister to me too, and I’ll never hurt her,” my words laced with emotion. “I care about her.”
“I know that. And I also know that she cares about you. I’d hate to see either of you get hurt, so just please … Try to be less you?”
“Are you trying to say I’m insufferable? And no woman wants to live with me?” This time my laugh spirals free, and he taps my shoulder before adjusting the lapel of his suit and heading towards the door.
Alone now, I drag in a deep breath, give the city outside one last glance, and head out the door too. Nelly is in her office, engrossed in a phone call, making hand gestures as she paces around in those killer heels.
I pause to admire her for a bit, letting the waves of adrenaline sweep through me.
She’s stunning.
My heart does a quick tremble as she suddenly turns and spots me watching her.
A sassy look crosses her face as she walks to the office door, tugs hard to close it, and shuts me out. A tiny chuckle escapes my lips. Nelly Sinclair is going to cause me a lot of trouble.
I make my way out of the office building, and a valet brings my Mercedes S-class to the front. He hands over the smart remote, and a familiar voice calls for me.
“Joe Storms,” I say through half-clenched teeth, turning around to meet the smug smile I know will be staring back at me. The last time I saw those green eyes, I was close to sucker-punching the man in the face and leaving an imprint of my hands on his smug features.
The same irritation boils in me now as I look at him, and the gleam in his eyes is mischievous enough to let me know that the only reason he’s here is to cause trouble.
“So, the rumors are true then,” he continues, slipping his hands into his pants pocket in a striking pose that makes me look him over. “Hart Holdings is poking around Sunny Aerospace, looking to acquire what’s left of their failing business for itself.”
“Whoever gave you that information, lied.” Joe Storms always has been the guy to get interested in whatever I wanted. At first, I didn’t pay attention to this because we were roommates and friends to an extent. I soon noticed a pattern after I caught him with my fiance.
We were enrolled in the same classes, played the same sports, and even hung out at the same locations. It didn’t mean much until he deliberately started picking fights with me.
After my break-up with Julia, Joe’s true colors became more evident. I recall the argument we had that night and the things he said.
You’re not better than me, Ethan … If you were, she wouldn’t have chosen me over you.
Joe’s voice draws me back to reality. “Did they?” He arches a brow. “Because Aerospace is going under one way or the other, and if you’re interested in picking up the pieces, then I am too. It’ll be just like old times … You and I are fighting for the same prize.”
Joe takes a step closer to me before adding in a low baritone. “And we both know I’ll win this one, just like I did in the past.”
It takes a lot of effort to control the surge of anger pulsing through me. I clench my jaw, determined not to give him the satisfaction of a reply.
The entrance doors slide open, and Nelly sashays out with her assistant trailing steadily by her side, speaking to her in rushed words.
“Mr. Storms,” Nelly says, once she spots him standing in front of me.
Joe turns around and greets her with a kiss on both cheeks. When Nelly grins at him, the bleak surge of jealousy makes my stomach tighten.
“Excited about lunch?” Joe asks her, and she nods before sparing me a glance.
“I’ll see you later,” she says before focusing on Joe again.
He holds the door open for Nelly, closes it after her, turns and salutes me before walking to the driver’s seat. Joe Storms is one man Nelly should stay away from. I’ve known him long enough to know that he wreaks havoc wherever he goes.
And I have firsthand experience of what that’s like.
***
A few days later, Nelly and I are going to have lunch with my grandfather at his condo in Bel Air to discuss our future plans. Robert Everhart is still the agile businessman he has been for most of his life, and it is always straight to business with him.
“Nelly, sweetheart,” he greets us when we arrive. “How long has it been?”
“Five years, Grandpops,” Nelly responds as they chuckle together.
The tension brewing in me since we arrived fades a little as I watch them together. Grandpops has always had a soft spot for Nelly.
“As always, you charm my heart,” he laughs. “Come, lunch is served in the garden.”
“How have you been, Grandpops?” I ask after we settle down for a minute and his waiter serves us a glass of water each.
“I haven’t seen you since our last discussion.”
“Did you think I wouldn’t think about what we discussed?” I ask when he smiles at me. “You know me, Grandpa. I never run away from a challenge.”
“Of course not. You’re an Everhart. I thought you better than to run away from anything,” Robert answers with pride before we both burst into laughter.
Nelly has a smile on as she watches us, and I clear my throat before speaking again. “What we discussed is why I’m here for lunch, Grandpa. Nelly and I have something to tell you.”
I place a hand over Nelly’s. “We’re getting married.”
Grandpops pauses for a moment, then he shifts his scrutinizing dark eyes from mine to Nelly’s.
“Nelly and I have been dating for a while, and thinking about what you said made me realize waiting was a waste of time. We’re ready to do this.”
“Ethan and I kept things private because it's what I wanted, but now I’m ready to be his wife, Grandpops. I think it’s the right step.”
“The right step?” Grandpops questions, and I fear he will say no before he looks at me again.
“Yes, Grandpa,” I reply, and he scrutinizes me again before his next question lands.
“Are you really in love with her?”
The question comes as I’m taking a sip of water, and I burst into a loud cough, choking on it a little.
“Easy … Sorry,” Nelly murmurs before handing me a napkin.
“Thanks, babe,” I whisper to her, then glance at my grandfather to find his lips pressed into a thin line.
I turn back to look at Nelly and find her eyes are still on me. The intensity of her look drowns me in a wave of heat, and my throat tightens.
A palpable tension sizzles in the air around us. Time stills and everything fades away while we stare into each other’s eyes. Her eyes are a warm sanctuary and I can get lost in them all day.
“I’m in love with her, Grandpops. Nelly’s the most dedicated soul I’ve ever met, and that makes me fall deeper in love with her every single day.” I lift a hand to stroke one side of her cheek tenderly. Time stills for me, and everything fades as we stare into each other’s eyes.
I wonder if Nelly feels the same things rattling through me.
“I love her,” I continue when I finally take a moment to breathe. “It took me a while to realize it, Grandpops. It took a long time because I didn’t think I’d ever be able to open up to anyone.”
“But with Nelly, it’s different. She’s such a dedicated and loving soul. She’s the only woman who’s made me feel like I can trust someone and not get hurt.”
“You know how hard it’s been for me to take relationships seriously, Grandpops. I was a kid when mom and dad got divorced, but that experience cemented something in me. Nelly made me fall for her without even realizing it, and I’m hoping we get to do this for a long time.”
A flush grows on Nelly’s cheeks while I peer deep into her eyes, and she doesn’t blink or look away. My answer should be a lie, but yet my pulse hammers with a rush that’s hard to ignore.
“And you Nelly? Being married to Ethan is what you want?”
When Nelly places a hand over mine, I nearly gasp from the shock of feeling her warmth seep into me. Hot air blasts through my lungs and heightens the sensations she stirs in me.
“Ethan’s the only man for me, Grandpa, and your blessing will mean everything to both of us.”
She adverts her eyes from me and turns to look at Grandpops. I’m forced to do the same and ignore the flush zapping through me.
“Then you have my blessings,” he announces to my shock after the long silence passes. Relief floods me, and Nelly releases a short laugh of excitement.
“Welcome to the family, Nelly.” Nelly gets on her feet to hug him, and our lunch arrives a few minutes after she settles down again.
“You know this will be good for you, son, and for the company’s image. Your father, God bless his soul, also needed a little push to marry your mother. Even though it didn’t last, she still made him a better man. A woman like Nelly is just what you need.”
He turns to Nelly this time, and his smile stays steady. “What are your plans for Sunny Aerospace once you two get married? Ethan has mentioned a merger to me. What do you think Nelly? How will this merger benefit your company and what will you provide to Hart Holdings?”
“I’ve given it a lot of thought, Grandpops,” Nelly answers and her deep sigh makes me turn to her. “If we merge, Sunny Aerospace will have the resources to continue operations. We can venture into manufacturing engines for other vehicles as well and perhaps expand internationally. Of course, any decision made will be in benefit of Hart Holdings.”
“I agree,” I nod, then touch Nelly’s hand again before meeting her gaze with a grin. “We are a team now, Grandpops. Nelly and I.”
My grandfather seems very pleased as he digs into his meal with gusto. The scent of spices mingling in our grilled flank steak served in soy sauce and vegetables tantalize my nostrils. My mouth waters even before the side baked potatoes arrive with another glass of sweet cherry wine.
“Let me tell you something about marriage,” Robert says after a pause. “It’s just as tough as it is beautiful. You should know that it won’t be an easy ride the entire time,” Grandpops begins while we enjoy lunch.
He pins his eyes on me and adds. “There will be moments when you wish you hadn’t done this. Moments when you want to back out. That is real life, Ethan. In real life, relationships don’t last solely on the sensations you make each other feel.”
“I think Ethan is worth the effort, sir,” Nelly answers before I can, and I’m grateful that she’s playing this part so well.
The light conversation continues after we toast to love, and we spend the rest of the day with him. Nelly and Grandpops play a game of chess and he laughs harder than I’ve seen him do in years before it’s time for us to leave.
It’s dark outside when I walk Nelly to my car. The skies are dazzled by stars when we leave the penthouse. I don’t let go of her hand until I open the front passenger seat door for her.
“That went well,” I exhale as I sit down, a smile cracking my lips.
She angles her head to look at me, her smile tipping the corners of her lips ever slightly. “Yeah, it did,” she agrees before letting out a heavy sigh.
“Hey,” I whisper, noticing her calm demeanor. “Are you alright, Nelly? You look flushed.”
“I am flushed,” she answers.
“Nelly …”
“What you said back there during dinner, you said it so easily, like it was the truth. You could have fooled me … Could have fooled anyone. How did you do that? Looking him in the eye and lying about something so important?”
“It wasn’t all a lie, Nelly. You’re the most dedicated woman I’ve ever met. You’re kind, smart, and talented … You have a big heart, and you care about everyone regardless of what they can offer you. Any man would fall in love with you.”
“Any man, but not you.”
My silence marks the end of the conversation, and it stretches on the entire drive back to her house. Nelly stays on my mind after dropping her off, and I ponder the ease with which I said those words to my grandpops.
Lying to him wasn’t so difficult because it wasn’t all a lie. Nelly was everything I said she was. Not loving her was solely on me.
It has nothing to do with her.
I can’t risk getting hurt again.