“Andrea Copeland for you,” Lana’s voice chirps through the intercom on my desk.

Andrea Copeland? She’s on the panel for New York’s Best Couple. Or she’s rumored to be, at least.

“Put her on,” I grunt.

“She’s here in person.”

“Send her in then,” I say, trying to sound as friendly as I can, but really my stomach is churning.

I’d somehow compartmentalized everything in my mind. I’m still glowing from last night, and I’d walled off everything to do with the fucking bet. Until now.

Andrea walks into my office. She’s wearing a pantsuit with very expensive shoes. She’s pushing fifty, but doesn’t look a day over thirty-five—in the kind of way only the very wealthy can pull off.

I stand up and shake hands with her, and then I gesture for her to have a seat. I sit in the chair across from her rather than behind my big—and imposing—desk.

“Mr. Prince,” she says, “I know you’re busy, so I’ll get right to the point. I know it’s supposed to be something we just decide, and you’re not supposed to be ‘on call’ for it, so to speak, but I want to let you know that the panel for New York’s Best Couple—you’ve heard of it, right?”

“Hmm…” I say non-committally. “I believe so. I didn’t realize you were on the panel though.”

“I’m rumored to be,” she says. “And the panel is—all rumor of course—hungry for more about you and this girl you’re dating.”

“Why’s that?” I ask, playing dumb.

“Because they are considering you two, of course,” Andrea says.

Her eyes lock onto me, and I can tell she’s trying hard to read my reaction.

“You don’t seem surprised,” she says flatly. “You know, I was telling everyone you wouldn’t be interested. We wanted this to be something that just was announced rather than something candidates would ‘perform’ for, but you kind of put a wrench into that.”

I put up my palms. “How’s that? Andrea, how did I put a wrench into this, I didn’t even do anything knowingly.”

I notice she dropped the pretense of “rumor,” and has effectively told me she is on the panel. And she speaks for them too, apparently.

“I know,” she says, “But I had serious doubts you’d actually want to win this, and we can’t have the winning couple be ungracious winners. How would that look? We want this to be a big annual thing, and we can’t have the first winners shrug the whole thing off like it’s no big deal.”

“And you think that’s what I’d do?” I ask.

She looks at me as if to say that’s exactly what she thinks I’d do.

As much as I wish I could back out of this bet and this whole fucking contest, I need to try to win. It’s the only way I can spare Ruth the bloody details of the fucking bet I made with Dmitri.

“You’re wrong,” I say, leaning forward and looking at her seriously. “I would very much be interested in winning.”

She furrows her brows at me. “Why’s that?”

“My reputation is a bit in the tank,” I say. “I’m known as ruthless in business, which helps for certain types of deals, but I’m also known for being aloof and a player, which cuts me out of many markets. This could change that.”

Andrea narrows her eyes at me. “So is this Ruth Biederman in on it all then?”

“In on it?” I ask, genuinely confused.

“It’s not like we’d ever have considered you if you’d just been dating another brainless debutant who summers in the Hamptons.”

“So you think I hand-picked someone who would give me better chances?” I ask, waving my hand dismissively. “Andrea, I wouldn’t mind winning this, but I also don’t have time to dump a lot of resources into it. I met Ruth by chance, and I’m pleased to hear that the panel thinks we’re a good couple. That’s as far as it goes.”

Andrea smiles politely and begins to stand. “I don’t really believe it’s so simple with you, Eric, but knowing that you would like to win is all I really need. So thank you for your time.”

“You’re welcome,” I say, standing up. “And I don’t really care if you believe me or not. I’m happy with where we are.”

She gives a stiff nod of the head. “That’s exactly what I’d say if I were trying to win, but if I also didn’t want to come off too strong.”

I shrug, and Andrea steps out.

So the panel is talking about us? Not only that, but Andrea thought the likelihood of me winning was high enough that she blew the panel’s cover and told me? Is she telling everyone who might win the same thing, or just me?

I’m going to need to get Ruth out in public more. As much as it pains me to think like that, I need us to win this thing to avoid Dmitri’s wrath when I refuse to dump her publicly. As soon as we’ve won, I can just cool it and date her like normal. For now though, I need to make sure we stay fresh in people’s minds, and that we keep making the same splash we did when those photos first leaked.