I sat down in the uncomfortable office chair behind the thin, wooden desk my lawyer Mike had arranged for. I was sitting in the bottom floor of some office building downtown. Mike and I thought it was best to conduct the interviews somewhere completely unaffiliated with the investment firm or Paris Inc. It would just be easier to compartmentalize things, keep them out of the limelight that way. Because of the high risk of the operation, we couldn’t risk doing anything that might result in anyone finding out. Who knew what would happen if my uncle found out that I had lied about the whole thing. He’d take the company away, but what else?

So, in the interest of saving my ass, I had agreed to spend two whole afternoons in this dusty hole in the wall. I glanced around at the bare white walls, scarred and marked with the plethora of things that must have been hung on them over the years. The place was so small; I could reach out and touch the wall on either side of me from where I was sitting in the middle of the room behind the desk. It was completely devoid of any kind of character or mental stimulation. The walls were obviously bare, and there was only one window above my head to the right. For several reasons, I just wanted to get these interviews over with.

The door opened and Mike poked his head through before opening the door all the way and stepping in. “How are you liking the rented space?” He asked. His big frame took up the entire front part of the office. His bald head glinted in the afternoon sun.

I shrugged. “It’ll be over soon.”

Mike nodded. “Right you are.” With that, he opened his briefcase and pulled out a stack of papers. “This is for you.”

I glanced down at the stack of several NDAs. I raised an eyebrow. “And how many interviews do we have for today?”

“Six… oh and one lady who signed in at the last second… so seven in total.”

I sighed. “Then let’s get going. The sooner I start the sooner we finish.”

Mike nodded. “If you say so.” With that, he left. I only waited a couple of seconds before the first woman was ushered in. She was nice enough, stunning with big blond hair and blue eyes. She was currently studying to be an accountant and was rated most trustworthy by her coworkers during her internship at the LA Times. But her voice was grating, she had no idea what was going on in current events, and she was barely twenty-one. I let her go with a sigh.

The rest of the five women were either too old, too young, or just damn too unbelievable as companions. I needed someone that could actually pass as a woman that I have been dating for months, a woman that I was in love with and wanted to spend my life with, a woman that could fit in with my family. It couldn’t just be anyone, because I was well-aware that at this point, the wrong woman could be even worse than no woman at all.

Mike came in after the sixth woman left and shut the door behind him. “So…?”

I threw my hands up.

His eyes widened, his head ducking in disbelief. “Really? None of them?”

“I don’t know. I just wasn’t satisfied with any of them. They’re not good enough.”

Mike nodded. “I get that. It’s a bit of a risk.”

I grimaced. “Exactly.” I glanced at my watch. “Didn’t you say there was one more?”

Mike nodded, but then glanced at his own watch. “Yeah, but she’s already ten minutes late.”

I sighed. “She’s already late for the first thing…”

“Already a bad sign.” Mike said.

I frowned. “You’re not wrong.” I stood up, gathering the signed agreements and handing them to Mike. I held on to the blank one, hesitating. “Okay.” Then I handed it to him. Mike was already halfway down the hallway, heading towards the lobby of the building, when I heard someone cry, “Mike Verrazano?! I’m sorry. I’m just really late.”

I stopped in my tracks.

No.

Within seconds, Nancy came flying around the corner, her brows furrowed in concentration, a frown on her face. She looked uncharacteristically serious in her pinstripe suit. Her eyes were heavily lined and her lips were covered in bright, red lipstick.

“Nancy?” I asked, not believing that it was her.

Mike stopped, turning around. “You know her?”

I blinked as she came to a stop in front of me. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Our conversation a couple of days ago left me feeling uneasy about us. Something about the way she had reacted to the idea of me pretending to be engaged to another woman cast a shadow on my mind. I didn’t know what my plans meant for us. I didn’t know what kind of chance we’d have. But something told me that doing this would strain us. “Yes.” I said.

“Yes.” she echoed.

“Nance…”

But she shook her head, still breathless. “Just hear me out.”

I gazed down at those wide open, almond eyes, and I knew I couldn’t deny them. I nodded. “Come into my office,” I said, leading her back into that pitiful rented space.

She stopped in front of my desk when I shut the door behind her, glancing around. “I gotta say,” she said, “I just thought you had a better sense of interior design.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “It’s just a rented space.”

“For discretion?”

I nodded. “My real office is… different.” I said with a dry laugh.

She sat down in the chair on the other side of the desk. “I’d like to see that.”

“You probably will. One day.”

Her gaze rested on mine, and I found myself lost in her stare yet again. In that moment, I had to let myself acknowledge how sexy she looked in that suit. I loved the way her breasts pressed against the buttons of that white shirt. I could see the outline of her bra through the white fabric. I couldn’t stop myself from imagining how she’d feel in my arms, her skin under my touch, her shudder at my tongue.

She broke the trance first, looking away and clearing her throat. “Look, we have to talk.”

I nodded. “We do.”

“I know you’ve interviewed a billion people probably.”

“Six.”

She paused. “Over the same thing?” and then kept going, “But I’m the one you should go with.”

“Why is that?”

“Because we already know each other. We already have chemistry. I know you like me… and I like you. You’re best friends with my brother, so there’s a believable meeting story right there.”

“You’ve been thinking about this a lot.” I said. I narrowed my eyes at her. Truth be told, I was already imagining her in the dress, wearing the ring, but I couldn’t be sure if that was entirely because of this plan, or because of my own feelings for her.

“I have. Look, I need the money.”

I couldn’t understand what was happening. “I thought there was something happening between us.”

But Nancy just bit her lip. “Me too.”

“So, how do we do this? How do I pay you to pretend to be my fiancée?” I couldn’t wrap my head around it.

Nancy shrugged. “I know. It’s weird. God, it’s so weird. But I need this money for my studio… and you need someone so you can get this company. We are the best people to help each other out.”

“But Nancy… you can’t ignore that something is happening between us.”

She nodded. “I know and I wish I didn’t need to. But this is my dream. And I’m so close to it. Plus you can trust me with keeping a secret. You know you can.”

I stared down at the NDA, opened to the signature page. I gazed down at the blank line. “This is my dream too.”

Nancy leaned towards me, resting her arms on the desk.

When I looked up at her, she was inches away from me.

“So then let's help each other get there.”

“This feels dangerous,” I said.

She nodded. “That’s because it probably is.”

I stared at her. I couldn’t deny that she was perfect. If she had walked into my office and I didn’t know her at all; if I was just meeting her, she would win the bid hands down. She was classy, but soft, and down to earth. She was kind, could hold a conversation, had real aspirations that didn’t conflict with mine. I could already see my family falling in love with her. “Are you sure?” I couldn’t think about how this would end, and I doubted she could either.

She nodded. “Completely.”

I sighed, pursing my lips because I had to do the hard thing. “If you sign this contract, it can be the only relationship between us for as long as this goes on.”

She nodded again. “I know. I agree.”

“And what about everything else? What about the real thing?” I asked.

She folded her hand on the desk, a hard look in her eye that told me she was completely sure with her decision. “This is friendship. The only way we can make it through this and get what we both want, is if we keep our feelings out of it. Just box it up, pretend it doesn’t exist.”

“All right. Then I guess we have a deal.” I said, not one bit sure about this.

She stood. “Okay.” She sighed. She reached her hand out to shake mine.

I took her hand, unable to take my eyes off of her. It wasn’t until she had turned to walk away, before I remembered, “Nancy…”

“Yes?”

I pointed at the NDA, sliding it towards her. “I have to… I have to make you sign this.”

Her gaze shifted from me to the agreement and back again.

“It’s not that I don’t trust you- …”

“No. I know,” she said, bending over.

As I watched her put her name on the line, I couldn’t help but feel like we were making a mistake.