Page 25 of Until I Find You

And she sounds mad.Reallymad.

The sound of her chair scuffing backward forces me to open my eyes to find Camilla leaning over the island, teeth bared. “You think thatI’mgoing to pretend to be your girlfriend? Did I hear that right?”

I give her a hapless smile. “Please. Let’s just…talk about this.”

“Oh, my freaking god…” Camilla’s eyes shut. “You’ve got to be freaking kidding me.

“I told you it was complicated.” I sigh. “She wouldn’t see me any other way.”

Her eyes fly open. “So, you lie and say your business partner is yourgirlfriend?”

I think of the right thing to say. Nothing comes.

Her eyes narrow to slits and she stomps her foot. “You’ve got another thing coming if you think I’m going to agree to this.”

I circle the island toward her. “Please, Camilla. I know it’s not in the purview of a normal business agreement, but–”

“Don’t use business jargon to try and erase just how insane this is!” She backs away from me.

I take another step toward her. “You were the one insisting I call her. That she would want to see me. Please. You have no idea how much it’d mean to me if you’d agree, Camilla, seriously.”

She steps back again. “I-I did not take this job to play house with you, Jack. We’re starting a business here!”

“No one will know except my mom and her family! It won’t ruin your reputation or–”

“That’s not the point! The point is we are working together, and this is–this would–” She stops and huffs. “This complicates things.”

I don’t respond right away, letting the temperature cool down. “I know it’s not in the job description.”

“No, definitely not.” She crosses her arms over her chest, pouting as she frowns. So cute.

“But it’s only for the week,” I say. “And like I said, you have no idea what it would mean to me. I just want to see my mom.”

Camilla’s face softens, her full lips growing heavy.

“I wouldn’t have done it if it didn’t mean the world to me to see her.” And that’s the honest truth.

I might have issues with the way she ignores my existence most of the time, but she’s still my mom. And I do love her. That’s why it would be so painful not to see her at all.

“There’s a line, Jack. You know, a professional line. You can’t just cross the line because then you never know what might happen.”

“Then this probably isn’t a good time to say she wants us to stay with them.”

Camilla groans.

“I can tell her no. I can–”

Her eyes are closed now as she shakes her hanging head. “This is a disaster.”

I take another step toward her. This time, she doesn’t back away. “I think we’re both adults, we can keep things professional.”

Her gaze fly to mine. “But we’ll have to act like a couple in front of people. We’ll have to touch each other and probablykisseach other. Ohgod.” She covers her eyes with her hands.

“I didn’t know I was so unappealing to you,” I try to joke.

Camilla throws her hands up.

“The problem isn’t that you’reunappealing, the problem is you’re–” Her eyes widen as her lips press firmly against each other, forming a line.

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