“Good luck,” he said, and resisted the urge to reach out and move a strand of hair that had drifted across her face. “I’ll see you Saturday.”

“Yeah. Thanks, Jake.”

They turned and walked in opposite directions down Sierra Street, but when Jake glanced back at her over his shoulder, she was looking back too. His chest got a funny feeling inside it and he lifted a hand in a casual wave before striding down the sidewalk away from her.

Shelby.

Huh. He’d just wanted a quick break from the monotony of work and ended up with a date.

No. Not a date. He was doing a good deed, helping a damsel in distress. A smile tugged at his mouth. Him, doing a good deed? But hey, she was hot and cute. Spending a few hours with her wouldn’t be a hardship. He didn’t do relationships after the disaster his last one had turned out to be. Ironically, the only relationship he’d ever really had. Thinking about how his girlfriend and his best friend had betrayed him still made his gut cramp. He’d been an idiot to get involved with someone. He knew anyone he cared about would leave eventually. That’s why he was the one who left. Always. And he planned to continue that way.

But man, there was some kind of spark between him and Shelby. They’d made eye contact lots of times, awareness shifting between them. Maybe he would’ve asked her out at some point. Maybe this was a perfect excuse.


“What’s wrong with boinking the boss?” Shelby’s friend Myra demanded. She sat across the table from Shelby in the tiny sushi restaurant where the two of them, along with Shelby’s two other best friends, Riley and Kiara, had just finished dinner on Friday evening. “Where else are you going to meet men at our age, when you spend more time at the office than you do anywhere else?”

“You don’t really believe there’s nothing wrong with it,” Kiara said mildly to Myra. “It’s a bad idea. Isn’t it, Riley?”

Riley twirled a strand of brown hair around one finger. “Well. It could be a bad idea. But Myra is right in one way.” She shrugged and narrowed her exotic dark eyes. “It’s hard to meet men. Once you’re out of school or college, where else are you going to meet them?”

“That’s right.” Myra smiled. “Forty percent of people have had office romances.”

Shelby shook her head. Myra and her numbers and stats and spreadsheets. “I don’t want an office romance. Especially with my boss. Look what happened to me at RBM,” she pointed out, her stomach going tight at the memory.

“You just got involved with the wrong guy,” Myra said, tossing her auburn hair behind her shoulder.

“I don’t want to do that again,” Shelby replied, frowning at the chopsticks she was turning over in her fingers. “I lost my job over it last time. Plus had my heart broken. And besides, Andrew is married. That makes him totally off limits, even if he wasn’t my boss. Not happening.”

“Dating the boss is tricky,” Myra conceded. “And okay, yeah, a married man is a big no.”

“I also really, really want to keep this job,” Shelby said, leaning forward. “I had a hard time finding it and I really like it there. I don’t want to piss him off.”

“Well,” Myra said. “You don’t have to sleep with him. Just…take advantage of his interest.”

Shelby shifted her gaze to Riley then Kiara. They too exchanged glances. Then Shelby snorted. “I can’t do that.”

“He just gave you a primo project,” Myra pointed out. “He gave you tickets to Riverdance. He lets you leave early whenever you need to. There are all kinds of advantages to having a boss who wants to boink you.”

“Myra!”

“You know what I’m saying. And you said this project could lead to a lot of attention from the big shots. Maybe a big promotion. Take advantage of it.”

Shelby frowned. “Yes, I want to hang on to my job. But not that way!”

“I get it, Shelby,” Riley said with a sympathetic smile. “You want to be judged on your work.”

“Yes! Exactly. I just want to do a good job.”

“And you don’t want people talking about you.”

“Yeah. Like at RBM. Apparently they used to make bets on how long it would take Mark to leave after I did every night.” Bitterness edged Shelby’s voice. Her fingers tightened on the chopsticks.

Riley reached out and covered Shelby’s hand, giving it a brief squeeze. Riley still worked at RBM Pharmaceuticals, which was where they’d met and become friends, so she knew all the ugly details of that debacle. “I understand why you don’t want people talking like that. And Mark’s an asshole. There are already rumors about him and the new girl.”

Shelby grimaced. “Really?”

“Yeah.”

“We tried to tell you…” Kiara began.

Shelby groaned. “I don’t need another lecture about my pathetic love life.”

She knew they did it because they cared about her, but she’d heard enough of her friends’ analysis of all her romantic disasters, even as far back as high school when Myra had been her best friend. Myra, the analyzer. “And I can’t believe you’re telling me to take advantage of Andrew’s interest in me,” she said to Myra with growing heat. “What kind of friend are you? That’s exactly what I would have done in the past, all desperate for male attention!”

Riley intervened. “Shelby, you know you can’t take half the stuff that Myra says seriously.”

Myra sat back in her chair. “Yeah. You’re right. Sorry, Shelby. I wasn’t serious. I didn’t think you’d get so worked up about it.”

Maybe she was a little oversensitive about the issue. And she should know Myra didn’t always think about what she said. She was a great actuary, but not always so great with people, even though she had a good heart.

“Telling your boss you have a boyfriend was a great idea,” Kiara said, taking pity on Shelby, no doubt, and diverting the conversation. Shelby sent her a grateful smile, watching her friend sip her soda.

“It won’t work,” Myra stated.

Shelby lifted a brow. “Why not?”

“If he’s married, he’s a cheater. He’s not going to worry about you cheating on your boyfriend.”

Damn. She could have a point there.

“And the other problem is you don’t have a boyfriend.”

“Well, actually…I do.”

All three women gaped at her, mouths open wide enough to drive a truck in.

Shelby laughed. She loved when she could shock the unshockable Myra, who’d say and do just about anything.

“Shut the front door!” Myra said.

“Well. Not really.” Shelby had to relent and tell the truth. She related what had happened at the coffee shop earlier in the week with Jake.

“He offered to pretend to be your boyfriend?” Riley asked.

“Yes.”

A broad grin broke out on Myra’s face. “Wow. There’s a new pick-up line.”

Shelby still couldn’t believe she was doing something so ridiculous. She was sure she’d read a dozen romance novels where a man and woman pretended to be boyfriend and girlfriend, or even husband and wife for some crazy reason, but stuff like that didn’t happen in real life. Not with a freakin’ gorgeous guy like Jake.

“Maybe he was just kidding and he’s not going to show up.” And if he didn’t, that was probably just as well, because she had no idea if they were going to pull this off. They didn’t even know each other, for god’s sake!

“Why would he do that?” Riley asked.

“I have no idea.” Shelby grimaced.

“I’m telling you, he’s hot for you!” Myra grinned. “So what does this guy look like?”

“He’s really tall, and big.” Shelby licked her lips, warming inside just thinking about how Jake looked. “He has dark hair and eyes.”

“That doesn’t tell us much,” Myra said, with her usual let’s-just-get-to-the-point impatience. “Is he hot?”

“Yeah.” Shelby frowned. “Sort of.”

“Sort of?”

“He’s kind of…scary.”

“Scary?”

She hitched one shoulder and looked down at her drink. “He’s really good-looking, but whenever I see him, he looks really serious. Intense.”

Myra looked disappointed.

“Wait. I thought you just met him,” Riley said.

“Er…well, we’ve seen each other before. Chatted a little in the coffee line-up. You know.”

“Uh-huh.”

“So he looks like a stick-in-the-mud,” Myra said.

“No, no! Not like stick-in-the-mud serious. Just like someone who’s maybe had some hard times. Maybe been hurt.”

“Ooh.” They all nodded, feminine interest piqued by that. “Interesting.”

“But he has a nice smile, and when we talked he was really listening. Not fake listening, you know? You can tell when people aren’t really paying attention. He’s always dressed to the nines. Expensive suits. Gorgeous ties.”

Myra lifted a brow. “Gay?”

“No!” Shelby would stake her life on that. “Not even metrosexual. Just very…well-groomed.”

“That is metro.”

Shelby had to laugh. “I’m pretty sure he doesn’t go for manicures and pedicures. Although, he might use styling products in his hair.”

“Well then, this is perfect!” Myra leaned forward.

“It’s not real, My,” Shelby reminded her. “He’s just doing me a favor.”

Her cell phone buzzed in her purse and she reached for it without thinking. She blinked at the call display. Jake. As if he were someone who actually belonged in her contacts list so his name popped up when he phoned.

“It’s him.” She looked up at her friends.

The other three women made little noises of surprise and pleasure. The phone buzzed again as she studied it. Was he calling to cancel?

“Answer it!” Riley urged her.

Taking a deep breath she answered the call. “Hello.”