“What just happened is I secured a multimillion dollar ad account for our agency. I just saved both our jobs.”

She snorts delicately. “You just lied to a potential client and to our boss! Besides since when have you ever cared about my career?”

There it is again, the veiled accusation that I’ve hurt her somehow. I move closer, noticing how her eyes focus on my lips.

“Why would you think I don’t care about your career? Tell me, I can see you’re dying to since you keep bringing it up. What did I do that was so bad?”

That seems to take the cork out of whatever was holding her back. Arms flying, she gets all up in my face and damn if it isn’t the sexiest thing watching her march around while that clingy dress drapes around her.

“You stole the Adler account after I told you how much I wanted it! Six months. That’s how long I spent researching them and planning for how we would approach them. And then James just gives it to you.”

By the time she’s finished, my mouth is hanging open and I’m experiencing something that I don’t feel often. Remorse.

“Mya, I’m going to tell you something. And you probably won’t believe it. But I need you to understand that I’m being 100% genuine.” I pause. “I’m a clueless jerk sometimes.”

She crosses her arms. “I won’t have trouble believing that.”

“But you might have trouble believing that I didn’t realize you wanted the Adler account for yourself.”

Her eyes fire up again but I hold up a hand before she can respond. “Just let me explain. When you first told me about the Adler account, I was already handling two other jewelers, remember?”

She nods reluctantly.

“We used to do that all the time, right? I’d see an account that I thought would be perfect for you, so I’d mention it. You’d do the same for me. We were friends once. Or at least, I thought we were.”

The anger on her face has softened somewhat. “We were friends. That’s why it hurt so much. I thought you knew how much I wanted that account.”

“I truly didn’t but that’s on me. Because that means I wasn’t listening well enough and I’m sorry.” Then because I know it will make her laugh I add, “but if it makes you feel any better Owen Adler has a serious flatulence problem. So you can take over those update meetings if you really want to.”

Mya covers her eyes with her hands. “No, thank you. I got a little preview of that the last time he was in the office. Maybe the universe was doing me a favor in this particular case.”

“Probably. So many things make sense now. I had no idea you wanted that account. No wonder you hate me.”

Mya blushes. “I don’t hate you. Not really.”

The tension in the room goes down several notches but I can sense that I’m still on thin ice with her. Not surprising since she’s spent the last two years thinking I fucked her over on purpose. And she just saw me lie to our boss, a potential client and several of our colleagues.

“Look, this thing with the Lavin team is a win- win situation. He likes us and that’s half the battle. Now that we’re in, he’ll schedule another meeting for us to present how we’d handle marketing for the new line.”

“This is never going to work! James and everyone else know that we’re not actually together.”

It’s amazing to me that she has this much faith in people after working in advertising for so long.

“Mya, have you forgotten what we do for a living? We make people see what we want them to see. People will believe whatever we tell them if we put on a show. Reality is what we say it is. If we say we’re together, then we’re together.”

She shakes her head and sits on the edge of the bed. “It’s that simple for you, huh?”

I reach down and adjust the bulge in my pants which has been stuck at an uncomfortable angle ever since I kissed her downstairs.

“Believe me, nothing about this is simple. This is going to be the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” I add putting extra emphasis on the hard.

She laughs but her cheeks darken slightly again. Damn messing with her is fun. It’s so easy to get her flustered. Mya is such an interesting personality, equal parts ball buster and blushing schoolgirl.

“Don’t think you’re distracting me from the most important thing here. Who gets lead on the account?”

I grin, knowing that she wasn’t going to forget that. That’s my girl, all flash and fire and tough as nails. She might blush when I tease her but she’s not going to let anything slip by her. Mya loves to win just as much as I do, something that I never would have thought would turn me on in a woman. But competing with her is almost as sexy as the thought of…

She narrows her eyes at me as if she can hear my thoughts.

“We’ll each come up with a full campaign to present to the Lavin team. That’s usually what we do anyway, right? Well in this case, no one will know except for us who created each campaign. Mr. Lavin will choose whichever one he likes better and that’s who will lead the account.”

She appears to be thinking about it. “We let the work speak for itself. James is happy. The client is happy. I like it.”

“It’s the best way. Lavin Fashions deserves the best that Mirage has to offer and obviously that’s going to come from either me or you.” I sit on the bed next to her, noticing how she goes still.

“You really believe that?”

I nod. “Yes. We may not always agree on our methods but your work is exceptional, Mya. What you did for Fallen Angel Cosmetics was brilliant.”

She smiles. “I liked your campaign for Murray’s Tires, too. Who would have thought tires could be sexy.”

I laugh at that. “This is what I miss the most from when we were friends. When you love what you do, that’s a reward in and of itself. But there’s nothing like being able to share it with someone else. To explain the methodology behind why you made a certain design choice or went in a certain direction and then know that they understand, it’s thrilling.”

Mya looks shocked and I’m suddenly self-conscious about being so open. But it’s true, everything I said. That kind of synergy is definitely not something I’ll find with the Brittany’s or the Jessica’s of the world.

That’s something I’ve only ever had with Mya, actually.

“I like talking to you, too. Well, not when you’re trying to drive me up the wall. But those other times, before everything. It meant a lot to me, too.” Mya’s eyes soften, like she’s remembering and I like that look on her.

While we’ve been talking we’ve subconsciously moved closer to each other and when she peeks up at me, she’s so close I can feel her soft breath on my chin. All at once, she seems to realize how close we are and stands suddenly.

“I should go!”

“Not yet. Some of the Lavin team are staying on this floor, remember? We want them to believe we’re really in l’amore.”

Mya throws up her hands. “Well, how are we supposed to convince them of that?”

“For starters they would expect us to share a room. They would expect us to want to share a room.” I wiggle my eyebrows at her. “Maybe we should rock the bed and scream a lot.”

I’m expecting her to laugh with me, maybe make a joke about screaming my name. But instead she just looks skeptical. Uncomfortable.

She shakes her head. “Like that’s believable. That only happens in the movies.”

“Are you saying you’ve never screamed during sex before?”

Now I don’t want to overstate my case here but I don’t think it’s a secret by now that I know my way around a woman’s body. There are few things more satisfying than watching a woman lose hold of her inhibitions, melt against you and yes, scream your name. So when I see that look on Mya’s face, the truth of the situation hits me in the face with all the subtlety of a two by four.

Prim, prissy Mya Taylor has never had that kind of sex in real life.

And every part of me is dying to know how that is possible.

Fuck me.