Chapter 7B – Nicholas
NICHOLAS
“Is this dress too much?” Laura whispered as we rode up to the top floor of my building a few nights later. “It’s vintage, so I’m not sure.”
I was barely paying attention to her; all I could focus on was the fact that tonight was the final test.
Seeing if she could even halfway convince Marshall we were an item before we did a few more rounds of work—before her introducing me to her family and me inviting her out with a few of my other friends.
“Um, hello?” She waved a hand in front of my face. “Do I look okay in this dress or not, Nicholas?”
“Sorry about that.” I glanced at her reflection in the doors’ glass.
“You look good,” I said, examining the deep green V-cut and the way it gripped her hips, the way its fabric threaded deliberately through the pearls at her throat.
Why does that dress look extremely familiar, though?
“Don’t take this personally,” I said, “but I feel like I’ve seen that dress somewhere before.”
“Probably on Miss Dawson.” She shrugged. “I stole it from her wardrobe when she was showing me countless examples of what you like and don’t like.”
“I see…” The memory of the first time I’d seen it suddenly struck me.
Last year’s Christmas party. Her entering the lobby. Taking every single man’s breath away.
The sight of her in that dress, with her deep brown hair pulled up high in a bun I wished I’d had the chance to run my fingers through, had fucked up my focus for the entire night—so much so that I’d barely managed to look away long enough to finish my speech.
The doors glided open with a BING!, and I reached for Laura’s hand, escorting her off the car and into the grand hall.
“Good evening, Mr. Saint.” The host smiled, then tipped his hat at Laura. “Who do I have the pleasure of seating you with today?”
“This is Laura Hayley,” I said. “My fiancée.”
Confusion flickered across his face, but he quickly cleared his throat.
“Nice to meet you, Miss Laura,” he said. “Your guest is already waiting at a table.”
He led us through the room of empty, white-clothed tables directly to Marshall and a table that was preset with chilled wine.
I pulled out the chair for Laura and immediately uncorked the bottle.
“It’s so nice to meet the beautiful woman that Nicholas has fallen in love with.” Marshall extended his hand to Laura.
“The pleasure is all mine.” She smiled. “It’s humbling to meet his best friend and confidant.”
“Tell me something,” Marshall said. “How did you know that Nicholas was the one?”
“Well, I mean, I don’t know he’s the one.” She laughed, then shot me a panicked look. “Wait a minute… am I supposed to be pretending right now? Does your best friend know about this ruse, or no?”
“He knows.” I downed my wine. He definitely knows…
“Oh,” she said. “Well, in that case, let’s save the pretend play for when we have to do it for real.”
“Tonight is a much-needed practice session,” I said. “We’ve been through this like eight times today…”
“Yeah, and up until now, I’ve aced every moment.” She crossed her arms. “Unless you’ve been lying to me about how much of a ‘fine job’ I’ve been doing. Have you?”
Yes. “I would like it if we could advance from ‘fine’ to ‘good’ by practicing some potential conversations tonight.” I tried to remain calm.
“Well, I’ve already promised away the next three weeks of my life to you, and I’m tired.”
“You’re also getting paid.”
“Fine then.” She stood up. “Give me twenty minutes to get some dancing out of my system, and then I’ll be fully in character. Is that alright with you, honey bunny?”
“I told you to stop testing out pet names.”
“Couples without pet names are most believable.” She shrugged and stepped back. “I’ll be right over there until my time runs out.”
She winked at Marshall before slipping away onto the empty dance floor.
“I’ll be back in twenty.”
By the time I’d blinked twice, she was twirling around the room alone, holding up her cell phone.
“You know, you could easily just hold off on this for another five years.” Marshall shook his head. “It’s not like you’re going to fall into poverty between now and then.”
“If I hold off for the next chance, the terms escalate,” I said. “The next clause calls for a baby—or proof of one.”
“You’re kidding.”
“I really wish I was.”
“You know, I’m starting to think your father might’ve secretly hated you.”
“Me too.” I downed another glass of wine and sighed. “Putting aside Laura’s unnecessary outburst tonight, do you think that she could—”
“Fuck no.”
“You didn’t even let me finish my question.”
“I don’t have to.”
“She’s not believable as my fiancée at all?”
He sighed and looked over at her right as she started backing it up against a high table.
“That’s okay,” I said. “You don’t have to answer that anymore.”
“Thank you.” He signaled for the check. “On the plus side, you get more time for planning, and we can fake a pregnancy test for the appointment with the compliance officer if we’re strategic about the timing.”
“I’m not letting go of this just yet,” I said. “I can’t… I can’t afford to—in more ways than one, and you know that as well as I do.”
He nodded, looking as conflicted as I felt.
“I need to take a break,” I said. “Is your pilot off for the holidays?”
“Not when I’m paying extra for him to be on standby.”
“In that case, can you call and ask him to fly me somewhere for a day or two so I can clear my head?”
“Sure. What do you want me to do with your might-be wife?”
I glanced at her as she continued dancing.
“Pay her triple what we agreed on, make sure the NDA is airtight, and then make sure our paths never cross again after today.”
“Sounds perfect.” Marshall stood. “Just don’t forget—the compliance officer will be here on Monday, no matter what you decide to do.”
“I know,” I said. “Hopefully, I’ll have an answer long before then.”