Her jaw dropped, just like I’d been expecting.

“Wait, what?” she shot out. “You’re not seriously the CEO of the company?”

“You think I’m squatting in here?” I asked with a wry smile.

“No,” she said, her milk-white skin turning a deep shade of red. “It’s just… I don’t know.”

“You weren’t expecting the man who you’d been ranting to in the elevator to be the owner of the company.” Then I raised my finger, remembering her exact words. “Wait a minute—the ‘heartless CEO’ of the company.”

She let her head drop in defeat, and I decided that I’d let her squirm enough—I wasn’t a sadist.

“Did you bring me up here to fire me in person?” she asked, that fire from before returning to her eyes. “If so, just get it over with so I can start putting my résumé together.”

I gestured to one of the high-backed chairs in front of my desk. “A seat, please.”

She regarded me skeptically for a moment before sliding her slender body into the black leather chair and folding her hands on her lap.

“I didn’t bring you here to fire you,” I said.

I could see the tension melt out of her shoulders.

“Then just to chew me out, to teach me a lesson about running my mouth? I have to say—lesson learned.”

“Damn,” I said. “You’re really ready for the guillotine blade to drop, huh?”

“I acted like an idiot,” she said. “I’ve barely been here half a day and I’m already putting my foot in my mouth in front of the CEO. Maybe that’s a sign that this place isn’t for me.”

I walked over to the other side of my desk, unbuttoned my suit jacket with a deft motion, and took a seat on the edge.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” I said. “I didn’t bring you here to fire you or scare you or put the fear of god into you or anything like that. I brought you here to make a proposal.”

The last word of my sentence forced a small smirk to my lips. I hadn’t intended it, but my word choice had been quite literal.

Chelsea shifted in her seat.

“A what?”

“But you know what?” I asked. “I haven’t even introduced myself.”

I rose from the desk, made my way over to Chelsea, and extended my hand.

“Bryce Carver, CEO of Carver Holdings. Soon to be Carver Conglomerates.”

She glanced at my hand for a moment, as if this was another trick. Then she took it and gave it a quick shake. Her skin was warm and soft, and I felt my cock twitch in my trousers at the feel of it.

“Chelsea Lane,” she said as I released her hand. “But you already knew that.”

She sat back and crossed her legs, giving me a glimpse of the ripe flesh of her thigh. I knew she was a stunner—it was part of the reason why I’d chosen her for what I had in mind—but I wasn’t prepared for exactly how distracting she was going to be, seated in my office. My mind filled with images of her bent over my desk, that round, perfect ass bare in front of me as I shoved my cock into her again and again.

I shook my head, bringing myself back to the moment. “Chelsea Lane,” I said. “Anyone tell you your name sounds like a reporter’s?”

“You wouldn’t be the first,” she said. “It’s the ‘Lane.’ Gets people thinking about Lois.”

I smirked. Now that the initial shock of it all was beginning to settle, I could see that her sharpness and quick tongue was coming back. “Anyway,” I said. “You didn’t recognize me when I was in the elevator with you.”

“I didn’t,” she said. “I mean, I know you’re the CEO of the company and all, but I’d never seen your face before.”

“That’s on purpose,” I said. “I’ve been trying to keep a low profile for the last year or so, staying out of the spotlight.”

Her face lit up. “Wait a minute,” she said, sticking a red-nail-tipped finger in my direction. “I have seen you before! Not in person, but on all the tabloids.”

I winced at this reminder of my past. “I’m a little surprised to see that you’re the type to read those things,” I said.

“Well, I don’t,” she said. “But the girls in the office—the old office—did. I heard your name all the time, but I’d only seen your face in passing. You were quite the ladies’ man, if the rumors are true.”

“Rumors” had to be my least favorite word in the English language.

“Some are, some aren’t,” I said. “That’s how those things go.”

“And let me think—the last one I heard about was you and Felicity Hargrove, that British actress. Then nothing.”

And now she was talking about my sort-of-ex-girlfriend, the main reason I decided to drop off the radar.

Chelsea was controlling the conversation a little more than I liked. I decided to get it all back on course.

“I’ve been making a special effort to stay out of the public eye for a while, which is why you didn’t recognize me right away.”

She scrunched up her pert nose in a mildly adorable way. “Because of that actress?”

“That, and I’ve been focusing on business matters.” I gestured to the building around us. “Towers like this don’t get built in a year if the CEO of the company is spending all his time at the places where the paparazzi are taking pictures.”

She sat impassively, waiting for me to go on.

“But now I think I’m ready to be back out there, but without my old reputation dangling like an albatross around my neck.”

“Is that so?” she asked. “And why’s that? Just a change of heart? Is the playboy CEO ready to turn over a new leaf?”

She leaned forward in her seat, the single undone button of her blouse giving me a tantalizing hint of her cleavage. Damn, this girl was a magnet for my eyes.

Then another curious expression played on her face. “And why are you telling me all of this?”

I figured at that moment it was time to get right to the heart of the matter. “If you’ll be patient,” I said, raising a finger, “all will be revealed.”

She crossed her arms under her breasts again, causing them to strain against her blouse. As much as I loved the sight of Chelsea in her sexy business wear, she sure as hell was making it hard to stay focused.

“Carver Holdings is in the middle of a major expansion, as you can see. We’ve strained ourselves a bit buying up smaller companies in the city in an attempt to diversify.”

She scoffed.

“Yeah,” she said. “Very familiar with that part.”

I went on, not wanting to get bogged down in a fight.

“My long-term plan is to make this company into a true conglomerate, with a tech division rivaling Apple, a pharmacy division that’s the cutting edge in medical research, and a manufacturing and distributing base to put it all out on the street.”

“Very capitalist of you,” she said.

“I do my best,” I retorted. “Right now our company is one of the biggest in the city, but I want to make it one of the biggest in the world. And that’s going to take planning on my end, but what’s more, it’s going to take money.”

“If you’re looking for a loan,” she said, crossing then recrossing her legs, putting the other thigh on display, “then I’m sorry to let you know that I’m pretty stretched right now. Rent’s not cheap in this city, you know.”

She finished with a sly smile, and I couldn’t help but chuckle.

“No, Chelsea,” I said. “There is something I want from you, but it’s not money. Are you familiar with the name Damien Winter?”

She tightened her face into a thoughtful expression.

“Sounds vaguely familiar. One of those old-money rich people, right?”

“Very, very old money,” I said. “And very, very rich. So rich that it almost beggars belief. See, there are plenty of rich tech-types in the city, but if you’re looking for the big money, guys like Damien are who you want.”

She said nothing, apparently very curious where I was going with this. My eyes did a quick sweep of her mile-high legs, the imagined sound of those pantyhose being ripped off playing in my mind.

Focus, focus, I told myself.

“The thing with these old-money guys is that they’ve got old-fashioned values to go along with their fortunes. They’ve held onto their money by being conservative in just about every way you can be.” Now it was time to cut to the heart of the matter. “And conservative men don’t do business with single playboys. They do business with stable, married men.”

Chelsea sat back, her eyebrows furrowing. “But you’re not married, right? You’re not even engaged. Hell, I don’t even think you’re dating anyone.”

“And that’s why you’re here, Chelsea.”

“I don’t understand,” she said. “Not even a little.”

Still seated on the edge of the desk, I folded my hands on my lap. “What I need right now is a beautiful young woman, someone who’s just recently come into my life, to play a role for me. It’ll be a very careful performance, but one that, if performed well, would be an incalculable benefit to both myself and to hers.”

“And that role is…?” she asked.

I placed my hands on both sides of the desk and leaned forward.

“I need you to pretend to be my wife.”