Page 43 of An Engagement for Erica

He reached his hand over and laid it on hers in his office.

The heat she felt on her skin and up her arm couldn’t be measured no matter how much she tried.

Not sympathy, but she felt it’d be horrible on her part to say it was arousal with everything Tucker was going through.

“I’m just doing my job,” she said.

“You’re doing more than your job. Why can’t you just drop that part of it and be a friend right now? I thought maybe we could have had more than that before this happened.”

He wasn’t saying anything she hadn’t been thinking about herself.

“Do you think now is the time to talk about that?” she asked.

“Considering I just asked you to be a pretend future wife, it could be the time.”

It was the smirk on his face.

She wanted to say no, but he’d said more than once that he’d do anything for his grandfather.

And because she was working for him and had seen the mess he was trying to clean up, she knew he would need his grandfather’s help.

It would go a long way if Tucker would be able to say that TC was recovering well too.

“I can go with you tomorrow. Let me know later tonight if he’s still confused and asking about it. You can make something up today that I’m at work if you want.”

Her father wouldn’t be at the hospital tomorrow with any luck.

If they were going to do this, she wanted no witnesses to it.

“Thanks,” he said, squeezing her hand. “It’s only short term. Maybe it will be fun to be something we aren’t for a short period of time.”

“Like a distraction?” she asked.

“Sure, if you want to think of it that way. Once he’s home and recovering, I’ll have a better idea of where things are at. Even your father said that the confusion could be medication related. It could be all sorts of things.”

“And you don’t want to stress or worry him,” she said. “I completely understand. It’s very admirable.”

“Besides,” he said. “He might get a kick out of it when it’s over with.”

“Sure,” she said, forcing a smile.

“Hey,” he said. “It’s a joke. I’m a little raw so try not to hold anything I say right now against me.”

“I won’t,” she said, standing up. He stood up with her.

“Can I get a hug?” he asked. “You know, so if my grandfather asks or says something about it, our interactions aren’t very forced.”

She snorted. She didn’t think his grandfather was going to notice if anything was forced.

What she was more worried about was how it was going to affect her and if she could keep it hidden away.

“I suppose we should practice,” she said, smiling.

“There you are turning left.”

She laughed. “No comment.”

She opened her arms in an exaggerated style and he moved in and gave her a hug. A tight one. And held on for longer than she expected.

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