The Bachelor Pact

Five

Gage had to hand it to her. Andy knew what she was doing.

A week later, he sat at a conference table with Flynn and Reid and his right-hand guy on his sales team, Bruce, reviewing the numbers. The numbers were good.

Really freaking good.

“Bonuses will look great this quarter,” Bruce commented, his smile wide. A thirty-nine-year-old father of seventeen-year-old twins, he could use the extra money. Both of Bruce’s daughters would be graduating and going to college soon.

“Share the good news,” Gage told him. “That’s all I have. Flynn? Reid? Anything?”

“Not on my end,” Flynn said. “Just, good job.”

Reid echoed the sentiment, shook Bruce’s hand, and then Bruce left the executive floor with some really good news for the sales team.

“She’s as good as she claims,” Flynn commented to Gage. “Andy.”

“She is.”

“And bloody fast,” Reid commented. “I’ve never seen anyone swoop in and offer suggestions that work immediately.”

“She’s amazing,” Gage admitted. She was also all business. She strode in here Monday through Friday to train, observe and then meet with Gage on her findings. He’d done some observing of his own—of her—and he couldn’t escape the idea that she’d walled part of herself off.

Last week, when he’d walked into this very conference room, she hadn’t been determined and all business. She’d been flustered and embarrassed. She’d been human. He liked witnessing that human side of her—the flush to her cheeks as her seriousness chipped away leaving her open vulnerability visible. She was able to get shit done, took no crap from anyone, and yet he’d noticed a shier, more withdrawn part of her.

“Are the two of you still on for the wedding arrangement?” Reid asked, a troublemaking twinkle in his eye.

“I agreed to help her out so she wouldn’t walk. You’d have done the same thing. It’s only a weekend.”

Four days, technically, but he was trying to downplay it. He’d agreed so she wouldn’t walk out, yes, but he’d also agreed because learning that the woman from the bar and Andy Payne were the same person had intrigued him in a way no other woman had in years. He wanted to cash in on his fantasy vision of her beneath him, sure, but he was also curious as hell why she felt the need to pay someone—him, specifically. She’d hinted that day in the conference room that there was something about him that had drawn her in. Why him? What had she seen across that bar that made her approach him?

In the time she’d spent at Monarch he still knew next to nothing about her. She was as uncrackable as a sealed safe. He still wasn’t sure what he was supposed to “do” at her side at the wedding. What role was he to play other than a date who danced with her or fetched her a glass of champagne? He needed to find out, but in order to do that he had to get her out of Monarch and into an environment where she wasn’t so...distant.

“She’s not light and bubbly like the women you’re used to seeing. Maybe a wedding will loosen her up.” Reid stood.

“She’s serious about her job but that’s not a bad thing,” Gage said in her defense. He rose from his chair and Flynn followed suit.

“It’s not,” Flynn agreed. “She’s a hard-core professional. Does everything she says she’s going to do, and follows through like a boss.” The description sounded like Flynn himself.

“I was just pointing out that she’s the opposite of the type of woman you gravitate toward.” Reid narrowed his eyes. “Lately.”

What Reid was not-so-subtly hinting at was that Andy was, at first glance, a lot like Gage’s ex-fiancée.

He didn’t want to talk about Laura any more than he wanted to bring up politics at a dinner party. He’d admired her strong work ethic and serious nature. In the end, he’d believed in them more than she had.

She’d broken the engagement, coldly stating that he wasn’t enough like her. He had a case of the “toos.” He was too likable, too fun and too easygoing. She’d claimed she needed someone “serious” about the future. The corrosion of that engagement was his biggest failure.

Gage hated failure.

He’d been sure that Andy was that same kind of woman—cold, calculating—until he’d witnessed her flustered. Seeing that chink in her armor had drawn him in rather than pushed him away. He hadn’t completely understood it. After the hell Laura’d put him through he’d be smart not to pursue Andy at all.

But he’d never been one to back down from a challenge, and Gage sensed there was warmth and gentleness underneath Andy’s rigid exterior that had yet to surface. The more of her flaws he exposed, the more he proved that the attraction wasn’t some masochistic repeat of the past with Laura, but some new, fascinating layer to Andy herself.

He liked that she had an imperfect, human side that rarely showed, that she was a mystery waiting to be uncovered. That she didn’t have it together 24/7. Plus she was downright sexy. If he found an opening to show her how sexy she was, he’d happily oblige.

Not that his agreeing to be Andy’s wedding date had been totally magnanimous. He’d needed her to stay on at Monarch for both appearances and results, and a few days in Ohio seemed a small price to pay.

Flynn and Sabrina had left the office around five. Now that Flynn had a girlfriend in Sabrina, he rarely worked as late as he had before. Reid had a date as well, so he’d packed up and followed them out. That left Gage alone in the executive corner of the office, waiting at his desk for Andy’s daily report, which came at around 5:30 p.m.

She strolled in wearing her office attire of black pants, low shoes and a silky white shirt. Her gold jewelry was simple and understated, except for the large-faced watch, which she glanced down at before she entered.

Mouth a flat line, determination in her eyes, she stalked toward him like a hungry lioness. Much like the first time he’d seen her, he watched her approach with an even mix of intrigue and attraction.

Could he uncover the fun, flirty girl under that armor? Was there one?

“Your team is exceptional, Gage,” she said, skipping over a greeting. “Which is in no small part thanks to you being a dedicated, earnest leader.”

His eyebrows lifted at the compliment he wasn’t expecting. But then she spoke again and made it obvious that she’d come in here with an agenda.

“I have an itinerary, your plane ticket and a few other details to cover for this weekend’s wedding if you’re available for a quick rundown. I know it’s last-minute, but I’ve been busy.”

All business, he thought with a smile. He’d always enjoyed a challenge but, he was realizing, lately he’d pursued challenges professionally rather than personally. He hadn’t chased women who’d challenged him since Laura left. Then again, Andy had been the only one who’d tempted him to do so since.

“What are you doing right now?” he asked her.

“Now?” Her eyes widened slightly.

“Yeah. Now. Dinner?”

She shook her head like what he was saying didn’t compute.

“Are you hungry?” he pressed.

“Yes.”

“Are you busy right now?”

“I’m always busy.”

He waited.

She shrugged and affected an unaffected expression. “Fine.”

“Great. I’ll drive.”

“Where are we going?”

“Why? Are you picky? Have allergies?”

“No.” She frowned.

“Then don’t worry about it.” He winked, enjoying throwing her off-kilter.

He needed a little more fun in his life and Andy definitely needed a little more fun in her life. He liked that she seemed unused to a man strong enough or willing enough to take her on. He just liked her, dammit, though he wasn’t yet sure why he liked her this much.

* * *

In the immediate seconds following Gage’s invitation to dinner, Andy wanted to blurt out that she needed to change first. Thankfully she resisted that very female urge. Just because Gage was playing her date at the wedding didn’t mean he was one tonight. She would pretend they were an item, enjoy the reprieve from her family’s judgment, and relish showing up an old ex-boyfriend who thought she’d been carved from a block of ice. But she’d keep the boundary lines very clear in her head. Gage had agreed to be her date for one reason: because he’d needed her expertise at work.

Without something to gain, he wasn’t interested in her—he’d turned her down that night in the bar, after all.

Still, being around him was a rare exception she admitted she was tempted to enjoy. She was a hard sell to any man—even without the offer to pay him. A man who was both professional and not intimidated by her success was a rare commodity. Like finding a unicorn.

Even though her arrangement with Gage wouldn’t last any longer than her sister’s reception, Andy figured it’d be good to get to know him so that her family wouldn’t suspect she’d bribed him to come. The only thing more humiliating than showing up at her sister’s wedding with a fake date would be everyone learning that she was faking it.

But the stray thought about changing for dinner with Gage had rocked her. Why would she care what he thought of her appearance if they weren’t doing this for real? She’d long ago accepted that a forever-and-ever relationship wasn’t going to happen, and yet something about Gage—about his charm and kindness—made a small part of her wish this was real.

He wasn’t intimidated by her. If anything, the more prickly she was, the more laid-back he seemed to become. Laid-back and yet more than a little commanding.

It was an odd mix. She didn’t have him figured out yet.

Which was why she’d spent the weekend writing up the wedding itinerary and finalizing the details of their arrangement. She needed to get them on the same page, and fast, if they had any prayer of pulling this off.

At least she’d have Gage by her side when she inevitably bumped into her ex-boyfriend Matthew. The thought of him smugly pointing out that she was as frigid as she’d always been irritated her.

She wished she didn’t care. Wished she didn’t want to rub her ex’s nose in her business success—and her relationship success—in spite of the label he’d given her years ago. But she did.

She was only human, after all.

Gage chose a fairly high-end restaurant downtown for dinner. With its black tablecloths and dim lighting, candles in the center of the table and à la carte menu, it was a touch more romantic than she’d counted on. Maybe she should’ve insisted on going home to change rather than continue in her casual work attire—if only to fit in with the well-coiffed crowd.

The host pulled her chair out for her and she sat, lifting the menu to study the options.

“Wine, Andy?” Gage asked. “Or should I call you something else in public to protect your secret identity? Bruce Wayne, maybe.”

“Ha-ha.” She lowered the menu to give him a slow blink. “I’ll stick with sparkling water, but thank you.”

When their waiter came by, Gage ordered a bottle of Cabernet alongside her sparkling water.

“We never finished the first drink we had together,” he pointed out. “Tonight would feel stuffy if we didn’t indulge.”

She did indulge—one glass had the rigors of her workday melting off her shoulders like butter in the hot sun. There was something about Gage that brought out her relaxed side. Maybe it was his own casual attitude. How he could wear a suit in a fancy restaurant as well as he did and still smile as genially as if they were lounging on his sofa together...it was beyond her.

Andy had accepted that she simply wasn’t the fun, carefree type. Outside of this agreement with Gage, she couldn’t imagine snagging his attention. And yet being around him felt strangely comfortable—which was probably why she didn’t hang around him at work. She didn’t want to be unduly comfortable and slip up—she had a job to do. She couldn’t pretend to be able to live up to his fun, easy-going standards. That simply wasn’t who she was. Except that she needed to be really comfortable around him at Gwen’s wedding for this charade to work.

After they’d eaten their dinners, they settled in to finish off the wine, Gage resting one masculine hand on the rim of his glass. He lifted it the same way and gestured to her with the stem.

“Let’s hear the plan.”

Was it any wonder he was fantastic at his job? He exuded confidence and charm, and if she were a twitchy CEO in search of a consulting firm, she’d buy an air conditioner from Gage in the wintertime. Just to urge forth that sincere, pleased smile.

To please him in general.

That thought brought forth another, one of pleasing him in a physical way. With her touch, with her kiss.

Alarming, since Andy had just tasked herself with keeping things between them strictly professional. Why did he have to be so damned attractive? Why did he have to be so damned likeable? Why did he act as if he liked her so much in return? That was the real lure. He seemed to like her just as she was—prickly and unapproachable, rigid and serious. She really wished he’d have let her pay him so the lines weren’t so blurry.

“I emailed you an itinerary,” she told him, firmly setting the conversation back on solid ground.

“When?”

“In the car on the drive over. Do you want to cue it up so we can review it together? It covers the schedule in detail, including what time each event starts and where we’ll be staying. I left your airline ticket at my apartment but I can bring it to Monarch tomorrow.”

“Those aren’t the kinds of details I need from you, Andy.”

“No?” She wasn’t sure what else there was. Unless... “I did type up a detailed family member list, but that seemed like overpreparing. If you and I were really dating, you wouldn’t necessarily remember all their names.”

“Those aren’t the details I need, either.” He shook his head, took a sip from his wine and swallowed.

When his tongue stroked his lip to catch a wayward crimson drop, she pressed her knees together under the table. His mouth might be the most distracting part about him.

“I need to know,” that mouth said, lazily pronouncing each syllable, “how much physical affection you’d like from me.”

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