Chapter 4

Isabella

DAY 3

I wake up with the weirdest feeling.

“I’m Grayson Fairfax II’s fake fiancée.” I say it out loud.

Well, there’s a sentence I never thought I’d say.

I get up and dress for work like I’m in a parallel universe. One where Grayson Fairfax isn’t one of the most objectionable, irresponsible human beings on the planet who should be avoided at all costs.

Thankfully, I have a meeting with Natalie Gonzales, our regional manager, which should help me take my mind off this. She’s a close friend, too, so I’ll be relaxed around her. It’s hard to find women as ambitious and straightforward as me, women who feel comfortable with a go-getter mentality.

She’s a lifesaver, to be honest. I was feeling a bit lost in a sea of women who wanted to talk about marrying rich dudes, or what their rich husbands were getting them from Tiffany’s for their birthday. I was a fish out of water for the thousandth time in my life.

But Natalie gets me. Sure, she encourages me to loosen up and have fun sometimes, which can get a bit annoying. But she accepts me for who I am. That’s rare to find.

When I get to the office, she’s already there, watching one of the inspirational videos she likes. She has her eyes closed, her dark ponytail of thick waves swishing down her back as she moves her head from side to side, enraptured by whatever her YouTube guru is telling her.

“Morning,” I say.

“Hey!” She jumps. “You just dragged me back from the cosmos.”

“Welcome back,” I say with a grin and take my seat at my desk. “I like you here on Earth.”

“Trust me on this.” She closes down the video. “If I don’t escape into the stars from time to time, I turn into a bitch. You have to let me get my stellar fix.”

“Go right ahead, space woman.” I get my papers out of my briefcase. “But can you wait until business is concluded?”

She gives me a wink. “If you insist.”

All through the meeting, I’m desperate to tell her it’s going to be OK—we’re going to get a massive cash injection, very soon. But I can’t. It’ll open a whole can of worms.

I eventually say, “I think we’re going to get a new line of credit.” That’s not a lie. Not really.

“Ooh,” she says, her eyes lighting up. “The bank finally listened?”

I smile cryptically. “Something like that.”

She presses, but I keep it mystical. I have to. But it’s frustrating. Grayson Fairfax, dictating my actions. Visions of his ripped, muscular chest swim around in my mind, making me feel like maybe he’s not such a waste of space after all. He’s quite funny. Certainly interesting. He’s gained more depth since school.

“Isabella? What do you think?” Natalie’s big doe eyes blink up at me.

“Oh, sorry. Come again?”

Natalie stares, incredulous. “Isabella Price zoning out in a meeting? Impossible.” Then she leans back, and a wicked grin spreads over her face. “Aha! It’s a guy, isn’t it?”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” I look down and shuffle the paperwork unnecessarily.

“It is, it is!”

Oh, shit. It’s already showing. Do I have that much power over you? I remember him saying it, clear as day, his eyes dancing with the fun of it. Like it’s all a big game to him.

“Bullshit,” I tell Natalie. I can’t let him have any kind of power over me. I’m a strong, capable businesswoman, not a schoolgirl with a crush, doodling “Isabella Fairfax” all over my yellow legal pad. “Now, the figures for quarter three are—”

Natalie crosses her arms across her chest, her eyebrows raised. She smirks. “You can’t fool me, Iz.”

“—looking optimistic with this new line of credit,” I press on.

“I’m not going to let this go. I want to hear every single juicy detail.”

“There are no juicy details!” I blurt out. I sound angrier than I meant to. “And there never will be.”

She giggles. “Oh, right. Well, you seem pretty passionless about it. There’s obviously nothing there. Nothing there at all.”

Ignore. Ignore. Ignore. I push papers around, unable to focus. All the numbers swim. What the hell is happening to me?

Natalie’s still laughing. “Well, I want to meet this guy who’s making Isabella Price lose her cool.”

“I’m not losing my cool,” I stress. “I’m focusing on business.”

“Trust me. He’s got you losing your cool. Come on, we’ve talked all the figures. Just tell Auntie Natalie.”

The way she grins at me has me dropping my guard a little.

“All right,” I say, allowing a smile to creep up into my lips. “There is a guy. But he’s just an entitled, arrogant, jerky bad-boy type.”

“So, the sex is great then?”

“There is no sex! And there will never be any.”

“Sure. That’s why he’s messing with your head so much you can’t think straight at a meeting.”

That’s like a punch in the gut. I flop back in my chair and realize it’s true. My mind’s racing and my palms sweat. I’ve started to think about him all the time, even if just to think of how big a jerk he is. He’s a complete asshole. But there is something special about him. Kind of exciting.

Argh. What am I thinking? This is probably one of his ridiculous mind games. He probably did that to all the girls at school. Some special manipulation. I didn’t fall for it then. Maybe I’ve gotten weaker now.

“Earth to Isabella?” Natalie tips her head to one side and frowns. “Are you all right?”

I swallow. Natalie’s much more experienced in dating than me. “What do you do if… you want to stay around a guy…” I can’t possibly tell her about the money and engagement deal. “But you don’t want to catch feelings.”

“What, like, friends with benefits?”

If benefits are millions of dollars, then yeah. “Something like that.”

“Tough one,” she says. “If you do the needy thing, you’re fucked. If you do the Ice Queen thing, more often than not, he falls for you.” She grins. “I haven’t perfected that art yet.”

“But what if the guy is like, really intense?”

“Intense like what?”

I sigh, thinking back to the hotel room. “Intense like he owns every room he walks into. Like he wants everything his way. Like he can say anything he wants. Do anything he wants.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa there,” Natalie says. “Major red flag. Are you sure you want to be around this guy? He doesn’t say anything bad to you, does he?”

I shrug. “Well, he isn’t Prince Charming. But he’s not abusive. It’s hard to explain. I just feel like he’s in control all the time. And I’m trying to play catch-up.” I shake my head. “No wonder I stayed away from him in school.”

“But now you’re drawn to him,” Natalie states. Like it’s a universal fact, and there’s nothing that can be done about it.

“A little.” It is just the money, right? Why does my mind feel like fog?

Natalie gets up and starts organizing the papers, something that’s usually my job.

“Oh, shit,” I say. “See how he’s got me? I’m not thinking straight.” Fury flows through me, and all the fog is gone. I stride across the office, power pumping through me right to the ends of my fingertips. All of a sudden, an idea swerves into my mind. “I know what I’m going to do.”

“Surrender to his arms and his cock?”

“No, Natalie! I’m going to take back control. If we’re going to do this, I’m going to be the one on top. He wants to play games? Well, I’ll play. And I’ll win.”

“And exactly how are you going to do that?” Natalie’s by the filing cabinet. Sounds like she doesn’t believe a word.

But I do. I feel it. Power. “I’m going to sex this thing up. Make him beg for me. Make him fall for me. And then I’m going to get what I want and leave him. Play him at his own game.” And be fifty million dollars richer.

“Ooh, you bitch!” Natalie says through a laugh.

I laugh back like I rule the world. “No more ‘Miss Nice Girl.’ I’m going shopping.”