“—I’m sorry, but Mr. Grant has asked not to be disturbed, and—”

“I’ll tell him you tried to stop me.” The familiar laughter is what breaks me out of my thoughts about the acquisition agreement I’m reviewing. The terms do seem a little harsh, now that I’m seeing them again. “Hostile takeover” would be accurate.

Is it really worth it?

I click out of the agreement on my screen. I’ll come back to this later, when I’ve had time to think.

My secretary does her best, but the door to my office swings open in spite of her protest. She gamely tries to block Gideon’s entrance, her face a fiery pink, and he gives me a wave over her head. “Mr. Grant, I explained to this gentleman that—”

“I heard. Hawke, don’t be such an ass to my executive assistant.”

He turns toward her. “I’m sorry….”

“Sarah.” She supplies, and I see her stifle the urge to cross her arms over her chest.

“Sarah. That was out of line.” Then he looks at me, another grin on his face. “Do you have a moment?”

“Now that you’ve interrupted my day, I do.”

Gideon slips in past Sarah and closes the door behind him. She turns on her heel and goes back to her desk, almost managing to hide the expression on her face—half frustration, half infatuation. Gideon Hawke has that effect on women, and this isn’t the first time he and Sarah have butted heads over unscheduled visits.

He sits down in the chair across the desk from me and puts his feet up on the edge like he owns the place. “I’m dying to know.”

“Dying to know what?” I swivel toward him and knock his feet to the floor. “You know, you really can be insufferable.”

“Don’t change the subject. Tell me about the waitress.”

I give him a level look. “What waitress?”

“The one you introduced us to at the Rose the other night. The one you’ve been chasing since the bachelor’s party. Did you finally pin her down?”

Oh, in more ways than one.

“What’s it to you?”

“I saw the whole thing play out before my eyes, and then you come back all—” He mimics a desperate look of concern. “What happened with her? Are you still seeing her? When are you going to announce your engagement?”

I laugh out loud. “Engagement?”

“I’ve never seen you look so lovesick in your damn life, Grant. I can only assume that—”

“Don’t.”

He drops his mouth like I’ve gravely offended him. 

“Don’t assume anything.”

I rub my hands over my face. This started out as a joke, but now—

“You hungry?” Gideon checks his watch. “This is lunch hour, right? In which case, why the hell are you making that poor Sarah guard the door?”

I roll my eyes. “Lunch hour is whenever I want it to be.” I sneak a glance at my own watch. It’s quarter to one. “But yeah. Is this an invitation?”

“Only to lunch, Grant. Don’t get any ideas.”

We go down the block to a pub that has a hidden gem of a chef and order steaks and whiskey, and Gideon sips his as he considers me across the table. “Things aren’t going well, then?”

“I don’t think we need to have a heart-to-heart about this.”

“I think we do. I’m leaving at the end of next week.”

“Things are great.”

Gideon leans forward on his elbow, his fist beneath his chin, and blinks at me, eyes wide. 

“I’m seeing her. Is that what you wanted to hear?”

He leans back again. “That’s a start.”

“It’s different, though.”

My instinct is to lie to him, because the closer we get to the two-week mark, the more time I spend pretending that it’s not going to come. Or pretending that I have a way to keep this game—though it doesn’t feel at all like a game—up in the air. “What if it is?”

Gideon laughs out loud. “What are you afraid of, Wes?”

“Getting dragged into this conversation against my will.”

He spreads his hands out in front of him. “You’re here already. And there’s going to be steak.”

“It started out as a fucking game, okay? That night at the Rose. It was just a game. I wanted to see if I could get her to talk to me, and I couldn’t. And then she’s there in the front row when I spoke at the law school.” The words tumble out of me and I can’t stop them.

“Wait—stop. The law school? She’s a law student?”

“Yes.”

“What’s she doing working shifts at the Rose?”

“Saving money to pay for her dad’s medical bills. Except she should quit because I paid them off.”

Gideon covers his face with his hands. “You did what?”

“I paid the medical bills. It wasn’t a big deal.” I let out a long exhale. “Until she found out. And now she’s insisting on paying me back. Unless—”

“Do not tell me there’s more to this.”

“We have an…arrangement. For two weeks. She—” I can’t bring myself to say that she’s mine to Gideon—not now, not sitting in this pub. 

“What the hell?” Gideon laughs again, slapping his palms down on the table. “You’re playing that kind of game with a woman you’re clearly falling for?”

“It’s worse than that.”

“There’s no way it could be worse than that.” Then his eyes go wide. “You’re kidding me.”

I nod like it’s just a simple statement of fact, but the truth is that I’m lost in Juliet James. I don’t know if I’ll ever find a way back to a reality where I don’t love her. I’m not sure that I’d want to, even if I could.

Gideon shakes his head, looking out over the pub. “You’ve got to stop fooling around, Wes.”

“I know.”

“Sooner, rather than later.”

I could. I could get out my phone and call her right now. I could tell her that a two-week deal—a fucking game—is not nearly enough for me. I could send Dave to go pick her up from wherever she is and bring her to me so that I can tell her in person. 

But I don’t take out my phone.

“I know.” I say it as firmly as I can.

“Do you? Because it looks to me like you’re planning to stay in this city and run out the clock, and try for some Hail Mary shit right at the end.”

“Who, me?”

Gideon leans forward and stabs a finger in the air at me. “Get her out of here, away from that ridiculous club, and away from law school, and get beyond that time bomb you’ve set up for yourself. I see the look on your face, Wes. You’ve only got the one chance.”

My heart shifts into overdrive at the words, and my gut turns over.

The waitress arrives with our steaks.

“You two could be brothers.” She looks from Gideon to me, then smiles. “Anything else I can get for you?”

“Not now, Linda.” Gideon can charm a woman with three words. The waitress leaves, blushing. “So…where are you going to take her? I have a few places in mind.”