When I get home from work, I find Leah lying on her bed in the guest suite, tapping away on her phone. When we lock eyes, she gives me a look I haven't seen before. It looks like she just woke up. She looks raw, lustful, energetic, and sexual.

It makes me want to claim her as mine.

"Hey," I say, and she looks at me with her stormy bedroom eyes. My cock throbs. There's no way she knows, but it made me feel like a damn kid on Christmas when she showed up on my doorstep, ready to become my fiancée. And I intend to make the most of the time we'll have together here.

I don't know what she's hoping for… but I do know what I'm hoping for.

She sends me out of the room for a few minutes while she gets dressed. When she comes back out into the hallway, she's wearing skin-tight high-waisted jeans and a knitted sweater that's too good at hiding everything beneath it. I just want to strip it off her body and explore what's underneath.

"I have something for you," I say. I take her hand. I practically have to will my palms not to sweat, my cock not to harden in my pants. I reach into my pocket, dig around, and pull out a small felt-covered ring box.

Her eyes widen in surprise. "You have to be joking," she says.

"I wouldn't joke about something this serious," I say. "No fiancée of mine is going to have anything on her finger that's less than six carats."

She rolls her eyes. "No, I mean you must be joking that you thought I'd want a ring at all."

"Excuse me?"

"Fake fiancées don't wear real rings," she says, playfully shaking her hand and showing me her bare ring finger.

I grin. "Surely you haven't forgotten already."

She frowns. "I don't know what you mean."

"You signed a contract. You do what I tell you." I wink at her.

She frowns, her face turning red and pouty, in just the way that drives me crazy. "Fine. You're right. You win. I'll wear your stupid ring."

She sticks her left hand out at me, and she also sticks out her tongue at me, making a face. I grin, and I open the box lid, showing her the ring. She pretends not to react, but I see the way her eyes drop down to it.

"It's big, huh?" I say.

"It's actually… really pretty," she says. She smiles. "Well, then hurry up and put it on. I don't have all day."

I remove the ring from its box and slide it onto her finger, holding her hand in mine.

Her fingers feel so delicate on mine. As fake as this is, it feels more real than any of the relationships I've ever had before.

Once the ring is on her finger, she holds her hand out, studying it.

"So," I say. "We have somewhere to be tonight. I hope you're ready to make your debut as my fiancée, because there's no time to rehearse this."

She swallows hard.

"Let's get you dressed up."

* * *

The event is a gala. It's held at the NYC Convention Center downtown, starting at 10pm that night. It's a conference for all the heads of the major media companies, like Comcast, Netflix, Time Warner, and of course all of the major publishing houses.

Both me and Rex are giving speeches after the dinner. My plan is to introduce Leah as my brand-new fiancée, and give a speech about how I'm ready to settle down and lead the new company. Rex may think he has this on lock, but I'm going to ruin his night and show him that he doesn't.

We arrive in my limo fashionably late. Literally fashionably, because it took my beauticians a full two hours to cut Leah's hair, curl it, and get her sewn into the custom dress I had waiting for her.

She sits next to me in the limo, looking nervous. I smile at her to diffuse the tension.

"Is that… an actual red carpet?" she asks, peering out of the limo window.

"It absolutely is."

"I didn't realize this is what I would be getting myself into."

I smile at her. "You'll be just fine tonight."

She gulps. "So… what's the story?"

I grin. "We've been dating in secret for a year. We got engaged two months ago. I did it on one knee at Dorsia. Just follow my lead."

"Well," she says. "Here we go."

* * *

Somehow we struggle through the photo op on the red carpet with a minimum of questioning. When the photographer takes pictures of me and Leah together, I put one hand around her waist, my fingers resting on the curve of her ass.

To my delight, she huddles in closer to my body when I do it, and she puts her hand through my elbow just like a real fiancée would.

I like the way it feels.

Inside, the entire convention center has been turned into a ballroom. Round tables are set up throughout, with a main stage and a podium at the front of the room. People mingle in the lobby, sipping glasses of champagne and picking hors d'oeuvres off of platters carried around by waiters.

I lead Leah by the hand, and I like the way she follows me. I squeeze her hand to reassure her, and I feel her six-carat diamond dig into my palm. I like the way it feels, and what it represents—that I own her. At least for now.

We head for the table where we've been assigned seats. Dinner passes by quickly and is filled with eating, drinking, and plenty of questioning from both men and women alike. The women want to know who my new fiancée is and how I met her, and the men are downright jealous of me.

Who could blame them? Leah looks absolutely stunning in her dress, and she's handling the table like an old pro.

When the food finally stops coming and the flow of alcohol slows down, a jolly old-looking fellow wearing a monocle takes the stage. He introduces Rex, whose speech is scheduled right before mine.

My jaw clenches and my teeth grind together inside my skull. I have a feeling he's going to take a shot at me tonight during his speech. The entire board of directors is in attendance tonight, and he's going to try his hardest to make me look bad in front of them.

"Thank you, everyone," he says, "for coming out tonight."

The mic whines.

"As you all know, the big news in the industry is the merger of Diamond House and McMaster Publishing. Two publishing powerhouses, joined as one."

The audience applauds.

"And there will be only one CEO in the new company. The board of directors will pick either myself, or the CEO of Diamond House, Mr. Luke Steele."

More applause. I grimace at the sound of my name coming off his lips.

"But there's something you should know. Mr. Luke Steele, the CEO of Diamond House Publishing, has been hiding something from you. I didn't want to reveal it like this, but I feel that I have no choice now."

My eyesight flashes red, and I feel like my teeth are going to snap off inside my mouth. I knew he would take a shot at me, but I never expected it to be so blatant.

I brace myself for what he's about to say. Next to me, Leah reaches out and puts a hand on my leg, with a worried look on her face. The crowd murmurs, and everyone sitting around me turns to us. Some of them cock their eyebrows.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Luke Steele has a dark past that he has been hiding from all of you. His past is nothing but womanizing, drinking, and worse. He is a playboy who's not to be trusted with the world's largest publishing empire. TMZ will be running a full report in the morning, based on a full archive of photos, videos, and eyewitness accounts. I encourage you all to educate yourselves about the character of your colleague. In addition, the woman sitting next to him, who he claims to be his fiancée, is nothing but a hired escort meant to deceive all of you."

The audience gasps.