“He’ll believe whatever I want him to. You just need to play along convincingly.” I nodded to the file. “Memorize that brief by tomorrow, and my PR team will come up with a relationship timeline for us tonight.”
“How romantic,” she muttered dryly, flipping through a few more pages with a frown. “This thing is missing a lot of info. It doesn’t include anything personal. There’s nothing here about how you take your coffee or what your favorite midnight snack is or your love language. Not to mention your hopes and dreams.”
“Black coffee. No midnight snacks,” I rattled off. “And I don’t have a love language.”
“Everyone has a love language.” Her frown deepened. “What about your hopes and dreams?”
I couldn’t tell if she was joking or not. “I’d rather focus on my reality.”
Like this promotion.
I lifted my mug to take a drink, and she heaved a big sigh. “Well, at least when people ask how two complete opposites ended up together, we can just tell them the sex is phenomenal.”
I choked on my coffee and had to clear my throat. “What?”
Ellie shrugged. “I assume in this imaginary scenario, we’re having lots of good sex,” she said matter-of-factly.
I really hoped Mac couldn’t hear her from his spot in the corner. “There’s no chance my brother will bring that up.”
“Well, we can always mention it if he starts asking too many questions.”
I shook my head in disbelief.
“If this portfolio and your penthouse are any indication, I assume we’ll have an imaginary prenup if the topic comes up?” Her nose wrinkled. “Rich families on TV are usually nosy about that, and I don’t want to come off as a gold digger.”
It took all my effort to plaster a neutral expression on my face and not ask if she’d lost her mind. My security team was actively running a background check on her, and it couldn’t be completed soon enough.
“I hadn’t considered that,” I answered slowly, “but if it makes you more comfortable, I can have my lawyers draw up something that looks official.”
“It would, thank you.” She pointed her fuzzy pen at me, face serious. “But I’d like it clearly noted in our fake prenup that I get to keep my cat in the event of a divorce. Nonnegotiable.”
I held up both hands. “No arguments here.”
Seemingly satisfied, she bent her head over the file again and leafed through the pages. I nursed my coffee and went through emails on my phone, waiting for her next ridiculous request.
Ellie was still reading through the brief when Nate arrived—running into the café with a tomato-red face, blond hair slick with sweat, and breathing heavily. He beelined straight to us,pulled a stack of papers from his messenger bag, and placed them in front of me.
“The contracts, sir,” he wheezed, setting a sleek black pen on top of the pile.
The pages were still warm from the printer.
“This is my assistant. Ellie, Nate. Nate, Ellie,” I introduced them as Nate caught his breath. “Any problems?”
He shook his head and sucked in air, straightening. “That’s the contract and NDA. Should be good to go.” His gaze moved to Ellie and lingered on her hair. “Nice to meet you, Ellie.”
“Back at you,” she said with a smile. “Thanks for the speedy delivery. Want to join us for a drink?”
Nate’s brows rose at the offer, and he glanced at me. I gave the barest shake of my head, making his lips spasm with humor. “Wish I could, but I need to run. I’ll text you later to get more info that’ll help pull this off.”
“Cool,” Ellie said before Nate hurried off. She shifted in her chair, facing me again. “Just how many people know about this plan? I thought it’d be more of a secret.”
“Not many. Mac, Nate, my lawyers, my PR team, and a few other employees,” I listed off, thumbing through the stack of papers. “They’ve all signed nondisclosure agreements.”
She whistled softly. “It feels like a full-on operation.”
“Something like that.” I scanned the contract and NDA, quickly verifying they contained everything important plus Ellie’s requests. Nate had placed little tab stickers where we needed to sign, and I filled in my signatures before sliding the stack over to Ellie.
She started reading through the contract just as I got a call from the office.