Page 11 of Some Like It Royal

The attorney looked to Daniel for approval, then sighed when he nodded. “You realize you’re both certifiable?”

Daniel laughed, surprised and pleased when Alyx joined him. “I would say we’re a perfect pair.”

“Hmm.” Martin hedged his response. “I’ll draw up the papers and the checks. I’ll meet with you both in the morning.” He snapped his briefcase closed and left, disapproval hovering in his wake.

“Hereallydoesn’t like this plan.” Alyx propped her chin on her hand and stared after him.

Filling two glasses with wine, Daniel shrugged. “He doesn’t have to be happy. He just has to do the job.” Carrying the glasses over, he held one out to her. “A toast.”

“Question first.” She took the glass and shot him quizzical glance. He didn’t miss the flash of indecision in her eyes. Buyer’s remorse was always a problem—it was up to him to keep her calm until all thet’s were crossed and thei’s dotted.

“Okay. Shoot.”

“Why the hell is this important to you? Five million? A pretend engagement to a virtual stranger? Stalking me? Setting up the elaborate audition? Now a contract that makes your attorney squeamish. That’s a hell of a lot of overkill just to sell some software. So—why?” She held the wineglass, her gaze sharp and assessing.

Intelligence was an attractive thing in a woman. Even when it pinned him to the spot like a target on a dartboard. “Because my company is on the cutting edge of every major security software development of the last five years and I can’t get a meeting with these people. They do business with their own kind, it’s not what you know—it’s who you know.” The knowledge wore at him like an ill-fitting shoe and rubbed him raw. It didn’t matter how innovative his work was—hewasn’t good enough. “I’m going to be creative, get my foot in the door, and then my work will do the rest.”

She pursed her lips and he worried he’d said too much, pushed too hard. “I get that.”

Another surprise in a day filled with them. “Do you?”

Lifting her shoulders, she gave him a bittersweet smile. “I’ve been the kid on the outside. It sucks. So yeah, I get it.”

Maybe she really did understand… He didn’t want to pick at those wounds. Not when Martin didn’t seem to grasp why it aggravated him to be blocked at every turn. But a company that didn’t grow, that didn’t expand, would eventually stagnate. To stay on the edge, he needed to push his boundaries everywhere.

“To new beginnings.” He held his glass out.

She stared at him for a long moment. “And a successful ending.”

“I’ll drink to that.” Their glasses clinked together and he washed down his uncertainties with the California white.

Seven days from first meeting to signed contract. It beat every other business deal, hands down.

Hopefully, it would be all the more successful.

Chapter5

Alyx

Waking in the king size bed didn’t get any easier. Four days and nights spent in Daniel’s sprawling estate, occupying a bedroom easily twice the size of Rhonda’s entire apartment, and she still jerked awake. She slept on the far right of the bed, closer to the door than the twelve feet of ceiling-to-floor windows looking out over the garden below. A six-foot dresser and nightstand lined the brick wall next to the bed and a desk and sofa sat along the opposite wall.

Sitting and pulling her knees to her chest, she rubbed the sleep from her face.

The weirdest part of the room, however, was the spiral staircase that extended upward to the deck on this side of the house. The patio or salon was for her exclusive use. Daniel promised that although his bedroom next door shared similar access to it, he would cede the area to her for privacy.

What the hell was I thinking?She stared around the room, always a little lost for what to do when she woke in the palatial suite.

A knock on the door sent her scrambling off the bed and she pulled the comforter to her chest. “Come in.”

Daniel stepped inside, carrying a tray with coffee and croissants. The man delivered it every morning, like clockwork. “Good morning.” He always looked so put together and delicious, from the open collar of his button-down shirt to his pressed slacks and casual loafers. Even his hair didn’t have the decency to be tousled.

She caught sight of herself in the mirror and immediately wished she hadn’t. Her hair’s natural curl took over when she slept—like Gremlins fed water after midnight—and turned spiky and stuck straight toward the ceiling.

“Morning,” she mumbled, glad this was a job and not an actual date.

The first morning he brought coffee, she hadn’t been able to muster a greeting. He’d strolled into the room with a knock, set the coffee on the nightstand and gave her that heart-stopping grin before sailing out again. The second morning, he’d brought the coffee and spent a minute waiting for her to get out of bed and accept it.

Yesterday, he’d joined her for coffee.

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