Chapter 15 Negotiations #2
“If you don’t mind.” Brendan turned the now-edited contract to face me and flipped to the last page, where the line above my printed name still awaited my signature.
I picked up one of the fancy black pens on his desk and hovered it over the line. Then, before I lost my nerve, I signed my name with a flourish and turned the contract back to him.
He followed suit, then placed it in a drawer, which immediately locked after he closed it.
“Thank you,” he said with a smile that suddenly lit up the entire office.
He stood and pressed the button that changed the glass walls back to transparent.
I gawked as he straightened his lapels, then rounded the desk as he once again reached into his jacket pocket.
But it wasn’t until he rotated my chair toward him and sank to one knee that I realized what was happening.
“You’re doing this…now?”
“We have an audience now, angel. It’s time for your first shift. So smile and try your best to look overjoyed when you agree to marry me.”
Some of the last rays of sunlight falling over the city caught on the facets of the diamond, sending rainbows scattering around the room. I honest-to-God gasped. It was beautiful before, but now the ring was blinding.
“That’s good,” he said. “Engagements are supposed to be surprising. Now. Simone Bishop, will you please do me the honor of becoming my beloved bride?”
So many thoughts flew through my head.
How could my finger even hold that ring up?
Why did he have it waiting in his pocket to whip out at a moment’s notice?
How in God’s name were we going to pull this off?
“You need to say something, angel.” Brendan spoke through his teeth. “They’re watching.”
Beyond the glass walls, everyone had stopped moving.
More than one were standing up from their cubicles, and several others were watching from a neighboring conference room, three of them identifiable as Brendan’s siblings.
Everyone wanted to see the spectacle of Brendan Black on his knees, apparently proposing to a perfect stranger.
This was it.
The first test.
I couldn’t bomb right out of the gate.
As if caught in a trance, I found myself leaning forward to take the ring. The moment the delicate band fit around my ring finger like it had been perfectly designed for it, something in me clicked.
I sprang from my chair and into Brendan’s arms, allowing him to pick me up and whirl me around as my response leapt from my chest.“Yes, yes, yes!” I shouted, blinking back sudden tears.
Over what?
That this wasn’t real?
Or that a tiny part of me sort of wished it were?
I honestly wasn’t sure. But shock lent itself well to my new job as an actress.
Brendan set me back on my feet, then cupped my face between his hands, adoration appearing on those stern features like a freshly drawn sketch. His thumbs traced my cheeks, back and forth.
“You’re doing great,” he murmured. “Keep it up while I kiss you.”
Before I could respond, his lips covered mine, warm and wet and soft. Just as quickly, I found myself kissing him back, tongue meeting tongue, a connection through this strange charade.
I didn’t need to count the seconds to know the kiss lasted exactly ten.
Why, then, did it feel like something had been taken from me when he stepped away?
Brendan grabbed my hand and led me from the office into a crowd of onlookers. “Everyone, this won’t come as a surprise now, but I’m delighted to announce this beautiful woman has just agreed to be my wife. Please meet Simone Bishop, my fiancée.”
Cheers and chants broke out as people swept toward us, though most stepped aside for his siblings. I remembered them from the hospital. The woman and one of the men had dark hair tinted with red and similar coloring to Brendan, while the other man had hair and an expression to match his last name.
“Congrats, brother.” The black-haired man shook Brendan’s hand like everyone else, but when he spoke, ice tipped every word. “Simone, it’s lovely to meet you.”
His lips were cold as they brushed my cheek.
“Simone, this is Owen,” Brendan said. “And this is my other brother, Ronan, and my sister, Shea.”
I accepted perfunctory kisses and congratulations from the other Black siblings, both of whom were looking at me like I was a snake with two heads.
I didn’t blame them. Obviously, this was a surprise. Of course it was, since I’d only met my fiancé a few weeks ago?
“Charmed,” said Ronan, whose slicked hairstyle couldn’t quite tame the curl in his hair and the humor in his expression his siblings didn’t appear to share. “Candy striper, right?”
I blinked at Brendan, who just chuckled as he pulled me closer. “That’s right.”
Ronan smiled in a way that didn’t entirely meet his eyes. I was frankly shocked any of them recognized me. Brendan was the only one of their family members I’d actually spoken to besides their dad, and none of them had been paying attention.
Ronan was smart. That much was already apparent.
And the others were catching on quickly.
“Welcome to the family.” Shea reached out a manicured hand to shake mine. Diamonds twinkled on a bracelet on her wrist, and her lips curved into a mischievous red smile.
Owen, however, was still watching me with a barely hidden sneer that sent goose bumps racing up my back. “What an unexpected addition.” That cold, knife-sharp gaze turned to Brendan. “Dad will be thrilled.”
Brendan drew me closer. I wasn’t entirely disappointed to be there, protected by his imposing frame.
He kissed the top of my head and slipped a hand around my nape. “Dad likes anything special, and Simone is priceless. He couldn’t ask for a better daughter-in-law.”
All three siblings turned with speculative looks that made me feel like a perp walking into a lineup, not their brother’s newly betrothed.
Brendan brushed his lips against my ear. “I knew you’d be perfect.”
I looked up. “Perfect what?”
His smile was blinding. “A perfect fiancée.”
As he turned away to accept more congratulations, doubt stabbed through every smile I was forced to make.
A perfect fiancée?
No, a perfect fake fiancée.
And with his family looking at me like I was a puzzle they were dying to solve, a challenge they were ready to conquer, God, I hoped he was right.