Chapter 12
JACQUELINE
“He did what?” I squealed with laughter as Miranda recounted her terrible dating experience from this past weekend.
She made a face. “I kid you not. He told me that I had to meet his mother before he could agree to a second date.”
I laughed again, generally in a good space this morning. The hangover was finally gone, I was getting the hang of the complicated espresso machine we had in the break room instead of just a normal coffee pot, and it really felt like Miranda was becoming a friend.
She shook her head as our laughter subsided, cocking a hip against the counter with her fingers wrapped around her own tiny cup of caffeine and her eyes curious on mine. “What did you get up to this weekend?”
I almost told her about Jesse but bit my tongue at the last moment. While it truly did feel like we were becoming friendly, we weren’t quite there yet. “I didn’t do much. Just went out with someone I know in the city and explored a bit. It was fun.”
She opened her mouth, presumably to ask who the person was, but we were interrupted by her paralegal before I had to say anything else. “Miranda, I’ve got Jackson Bowler on line two. He says it’s urgent.”
Every trace of humor vanished from her features as she nodded.
“Duty calls. Tell him I’ll be right there.
” She shot me an apologetic smile. “I’m glad you got to explore a bit, but I have to run.
Jackson’s in the middle of a nasty divorce and his wife wants half his company, which means she wants him to buy her out for over ten million.
If I don’t take this call, he’ll probably have a stroke. ”
“No worries,” I said, meaning it more genuinely than she could possibly comprehend. “Good luck.”
“Yeah,” she said. “You too.”
One graceful spin on her heels later, she was rushing out of the room and I picked up my coffee, carrying it back to my office with me. I was ready to settle in on a rather easy breach of contract case when my own paralegal, Beth, peeked in.
“Did you add a meeting to your schedule for today?” she asked. “For now. At lunch?”
I shook my head. “No. Why? Marian handles all of that for me.”
Clicking into the calendar on my computer, I saw that, sure enough, my secretary had neglected to mention that I had an hour-long lunch meeting with a JW carved out at one. In five minutes from now, in other words.
It took me all of two seconds to figure out who JW was, and even though Marian, my secretary, was a fierce woman well past retirement age who refused to let go, it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out how he’d bypassed her.
The Westwoods had some serious sway wherever they went and Jesse was a charmer.
Even as I sighed, I was already gathering my purse and pushing my chair back. “Thanks, Beth. Will you take notes on the Minnie case for me? It’s that breach of contract I’m working on at the moment.”
Beth nodded when I swept past her out of my office, heading to the cafe on the second floor. It was a sharp, slightly chilly day, the weather finally fading toward fall, and sure enough, my hunch had been correct.
Jesse was already seated at a table overlooking the balcony when I walked in.
As soon as I crossed the room, I realized said table also overlooked the spot where I’d caught him reading up on himself in the newspaper.
My heartstrings wanted to stir, but I firmly reminded them that we weren’t doing that anymore.
Not even for Jesse, who looked roguishly gorgeous today in jeans with a black leather jacket over his white button-down. As always, his dark hair was just mussed enough to make it look like he’d simply rolled out of bed with it looking that way, but not actually messy enough for it to be true.
He smiled when he saw me, rising from his seat as if he knew what chivalry even meant, but the gesture immediately put me on guard. Perhaps I didn’t know him well, but I was a reasonably good judge of character when Thomas wasn’t involved.
“What are you up to?” I asked when I reached him, my head tilting as I looked up into his eyes. “Don’t even bother trying to deny it, Mr. Westwood. I hate to ruin your fun by calling you out on it right away, but I’m afraid it’s a rather busy day for me.”
His mouth dropped open, but I couldn’t tell whether he was being deliberately dramatic or if he was truly that shocked. “I can’t believe you sniffed out my plans so quickly. I was going to seduce you a bit, but since you ruined that, you’re now stuck with me being myself.”
“Seduce me?” I sat down in the chair opposite his, genuinely amused. “Hard pass.” I smiled. “Why don’t you just tell me what you want and why you snuck a meeting onto my calendar?”
“I didn’t have your number and I needed to talk to you without waiting for the universe to decide to randomly cross our paths again.”
The universe had seemed rather intent on doing that to us recently. “Alright, I’m all ears. What is it you needed to talk to me about so urgently? I’m sure the universe wouldn’t have made you wait that long.”
“I have a proposition for you,” he said. “A little issue I could use your help with and I’m willing to pay for your services.”
Instantly, my brain switched to lawyer mode.
This had to be some kind of grand scheme, like fraud or whatever the hell the Westwoods did to keep their wealth growing so consistently for so long.
My hackles rose, my spine growing rigid.
“I’m sorry, Jesse. I think you got the wrong idea the other night when I told you I needed your help to commit a crime. I’m not actually—”
“It’s all perfectly legal and mostly innocent,” he said. “I would like you to accompany me to a dinner later this week, and on a trip next week. As my date.”
It took me a moment of studying his features to decide that he was being completely sincere. I shook my head, wondering if somehow I was still drunk. “Are you out of your mind? I’m not some prostitute you can hire by the hour.”
Jesse looked me in the eyes. “No, but you are an attorney I can hire by the hour.” His nose wrinkled. “Fair warning, the dinner will be boring as hell. It’s an investor thing. I would skip it entirely if I had any choice in the matter.”
“So you want me there as your legal counsel?”
“I want you there as my friend,” he said, shrugging. “Well, more specifically, I would like you to pretend to be my girlfriend—temporarily, to be clear. Then there will be an engagement. So that I can look like a stand-up gentleman, keep the family image up.”
I narrowed my eyes in confusion. “You think being engaged to me will help your family’s image?”
Jesse frowned at me, his turn to be confused. “Are you kidding? A bad ass corporate attorney with a cute as hell accent? Having you at my side classes me up like ten levels.”
My cheeks heated, and I hoped they weren’t as red as they felt. “Obviously,” I said.
He nodded enthusiastically. “I’m so happy you understand. See, nothing criminal about it. Although, can I just say that when you asked me to commit a crime, I was all in. No questions asked. Like a true friend.”
“Yes, but an international dog heist seems less risky than pretending we’re getting married. Won’t that be awfully public?”
“Well, yes, that’s sort of the point.”
I let out a long breath and shook my head. “You’re known for being an absolute dog, Jesse. I’m not sure having me on your arm will change that. I fear your reputation is already as good as branded on your forehead.”
“And you’re the woman who put a leash on that dog,” he said with a smile.
“Why me?” I asked, my voice not as steady as I would like. “You could choose anyone. Literally any woman in this café would take that offer without a second thought. What kind of game are you playing, Westwood?”
“No games,” he said, holding his palms out innocently. “I’m asking you for a couple reasons. First, you understand NDAs and confidential contracts. You can keep a secret. Also, you can keep things between us professional.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah, you told me you’re done with relationships. Which is perfect. There’s no risk of you falling for me.”
I scoffed and shot him a withering glare. “You’ve got that right.”
“See?” he asked. “You’re perfect. We’ll fake a relationship in public. You pretend to be my girlfriend for a few months.”
“Months?!”
He held up his hands like I was a lioness about to pounce, as if that would stop me. “Not the whole time,” he said. “Just a few times. It would not get in the way of your new job, aside from maybe the trip out of town. We can work out the details if you say yes.”
I shook my head, almost at a loss for words. “Why would I say yes? This feels like an entirely one-sided favor.”
“I’ll happily pay for your time,” he said.
“I don’t need your money, Westwood.”
“You’d be helping me out?” he said, his eyes pleading, which was downright unfair. “You might have a little fun?”
I gritted my teeth, but the thing was that I enjoyed Jesse’s company.
He had a strange, almost charming sense of humor and I liked that he didn’t take anything—including himself—too seriously.
If I was being honest, the thought of someone needing me and wanting to involve me in his life, even if we would be playing pretend, wasn’t nothing either.
For a moment, I thought of Thomas, who’d left me so coldly that it still stung, even now, so many months later.
We used to be like that, involved in each other’s lives and enjoying doing things together.
He’d painted such a beautiful picture of a future that had never come to fruition.
All because it was his career that had taken off, his life that had mattered when it had come to where we lived, who our friends were, and how we spent our shared time.
“There’s one more thing, though,” Jesse said, a mischievous twinkle in his eye.
“What?”
“I can’t keep up with you when you’re drinking,” he said, grinning. “You English ladies don’t mess around.”
I scoffed. “You were the one who kept ordering rounds. You’re the bad influence. Not me.”
He chuckled. “That tracks, actually.” He leaned close to me over the table and took gentle hold of my hand. “In that spirit, Jacqueline Calhoun. Would you make me the happiest man on the planet and agree to never fall in love with me while we fake a relationship for a couple of months?”
Laughter seized me, so hard my eyes started watering.
“There’s the reaction every man dreams of,” Jesse muttered. “A simple no would suffice.”
I wiped the moisture from my eyes. “It’s not you. It’s just that I realized something sad. Of the two proposals I’ve gotten, this was better than the first one.”
His eyes widened in horror. “What? No way.”
“I’d rather not go into it,” I said, waving dismissively.
“Yeah, I don’t think I want to hear it,” he said, glancing at me with an impish smile.
I tossed my napkin at him. It’s really unfortunate how handsome that smile is.
“I suppose I do get some serious PTO with this cushy new job and Miranda is already bugging me to schedule it,” I said, more to myself than to him, but Jesse’s eyes brightened while I considered it out loud.
“Am I going to have to dress up in tight dresses and six-inch heels, or whatever the women you’re into wear? ”
“No,” he said quickly, still smiling. “I need you just exactly as you are.”
“Fine, then I’ll do it,” I agreed without overthinking it like I would’ve in the past. Jesse was fun and I needed some of that in my life. “But you have to pay for wherever you’re taking me on this trip.”
“Done,” he said.
“And I want a damn good ring. If you’re going to show me off, let’s give them something to look at.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I stood up. “Now I really have to get back to work.”
I walked off, happy with myself, until I heard him call my name. “Jacque?”
Turning to look at him over my shoulder, I nodded, waiting for him to tell me what he wanted. “Can I at least have your number?”