Page 14 of The Dating Contract

She’d seen it millions of times before, but never tired of it. It was the story of two people who agreed to date for a contractually obligated period of time. They were boss and secretary, but as time went on, it was revealed that they shared a secret past. And as time went further on, they realized they’d been in love the entire time.

Childhood sweethearts only got together when they both had intestinal fortitude and grew together, matured together in the same direction.

But something was drawing her and Samuel back into the same orbit, and the last thing she wanted to do was to revisit her past. She didn’t have the time to do that kind of emotional work.

But what about…fake dating? Contractual obligations, public appearances, dealing with her interfering family and whoever was driving him batty, all solved in one fell swoop.

And unlike the people in the drama, she was very well aware of what a disaster she and Samuel had been together. She’d be in no danger of being a fake-dating fail.

Perfect.

If anything was a sign she was going on the right path, it was the email sitting in her inbox from him saying they had to talk. She dashed off a quick reply with her cell number, asking him to call her at around five when she was finished at the office.

This, she decided as she watched the drama’s hero impress the heroine’s family by gathering clams on the beach, was going to be a walk in the park.

Chapter Five

There was somuch going through Samuel’s head on Tuesday morning as he headed toward the subway. He hadn’t fully processed the weekend’s events, and he knew there’d be more when he saw his brother.

It was a quick walk to the office space his brother rented, and the summer air wasn’t that oppressive yet. The air conditioning blasted out of the office building as he opened the door, making Samuel long for the sweatshirt he’d forgotten back in Queens.

But he now was in Manhattan, hoping his brother would be some degree of sane with the temperature. Unfortunately, the second he opened the door, all he saw was his brother, harried as usual in a sweater, random scattered scraps of paper all over his side of the office and at least three coffee cups. “You look like you belong in December,” he said, still longing for his sweatshirt.

“Don’t ask me to turn it down or turn on the heart. This is as warm as I could make it.”

Which didn’t bode well for him later. “Thanks,” he said.

“I assume that thanks is for managing most of the aftermath of the expo yesterday.”

Samuel looked up to see an expression on his brother’s face that meant business. “How did it go?”

“Going through the information, I logged a few more ketubah commissions than normal, and some requested mezuzahs. You also got an email from the poster people.”

The poster people—the company that had requested his services to letter the Goldstone Saga posters. Could they want another poster or—?

But all he said to his brother was: “Yeah?”

“They want you to sign the Goldstone posters at comic con, and gave you a pass for yourself and a guest. Tommy and I are busy.”

Signing at comic con.

Wow.

Like the people who lettered for the comic publishers, like BP.

Wow.

But all he managed in front of his brother was: “Interesting. I’m in.”

“Good. And yes. I saw the email about the logo. Some awards event.”

Which meant Liam must have emailed his business email, and that meant it was serious. “Yeah. It’s for Liam so I need to block time on my calendar. Any things I should watch out for?”

Aaron nodded. “One of the ketubahs has some interesting design notes, which are a little…bonkers even though I negotiated them down.”

“Really?”

Aaron nodded. “You’ll see it when you look through everything.” And then he paused. “Not much else happened after thehot soferannounced he had a girlfriend. Especially fascinating was that the girl is Leah Nachman.”

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