Page 60 of A Very Titan Christmas
“Had they known, they would’ve been.”
Jared slowly stepped back as if their group had stumbled upon a minefield.
“Mr. Westin?” the aide called, realizing their group had fallen behind her.
At the sound of his name, the girls froze mid-spin, and they all cringed and groaned, their actions as synchronized as their dancing had been.
“Back away slowly,” Jax murmured. “Like we were never here.”
“Mr. Westin? Would you like to come this way?” The aide waited for them to join her.
Jared and his men complied.
Giggles erupted behind him.
The Titan men followed the senator’s aide away from the main lodge and toward a conference center as Jared tried not to think about how much he hated social media. It was as fake as the phony relationship between Bryce and Rachel Porter that Titan Group had been forced to work into its security plan. Jared guessed his meeting with Senator Porter would clue him in as to whether or not Bryce and Rachel had been able to pull off the charade.
*
Bryce had neverbeen asked to meet with Senator Porter, and he hadn’t seen the senator since the dinner at the Porters’ house. Now, he was summoned. The timing of the summons coincided with the arrival of his boss and other members of Titan Group, and Bryce didn’t know if this meeting was more of a formality or, with the summit looming, if changes would be made to the security plan.
On top of that, a concerned voice at the back of his head whispered that he was being called to the principal’s office after spending days snowbound in Rachel’s cabin. No one would have briefed the senator on Bryce’s location during the snowfall, but that didn’t stop gossips—specifically, Eloise—from talking.
He rubbed the back of his neck, trying not to think about where he’d been—and what he’d been feeling—for the past few days, and walked into the conference room. Jared and Senator Porter were already there, casually chatting.
Greetings were exchanged. Hands were shaken. Bryce surmised that this gathering had nothing to do with him andRachel, but that didn’t make sitting with Rachel’s father and Boss Man more comfortable.
“Let’s get Parker on the phone.” Jared reached for the speakerphone set up in the middle of the table. “Parker Black’s our tech expert. His wife is a professor at MIT,” he explained to the senator, “and they won’t bring the family here until she finishes grading exams for the semester.”
Parker came on the line. “Let me patch in the senator’s detail,” he said, and other voices came over the line. “All right. We’re all here. Rhonda, give us an update.”
Rhonda, one of the women Parker had added to the call, offered a situational assessment of the summit participants. Representatives from two countries had arrived under the cloak of the snowstorm at the same private airstrip that Titan Group’s jets had used. Any members of the press who had traveled with the representatives were under a gag order.
Uninterested in the politics of rare earth minerals and metals, Bryce semi listened and waited for the updated threat assessment.
It didn’t take long, and the list was concise. The classified nature of the talks helped. While the summit wouldn’t focus on polarizing topics like war and weapons, it would result in incredibly lucrative deals for both private citizens and their respective countries. Most people wouldn’t care about this summit, but there were very wealthy players in the rare earth metals and minerals industry who would be furious to be excluded from the discussions. Whoever left with a signed deal could essentially start digging for barrels of money.
Bryce’s assignment wouldn’t change. It was all Rachel, all the time, which was fine by him. Snowbound, they’d ignited flirtatious sparks into a full-fledged wildfire. Bryce couldn’t get enough of her—and he wasn’t ready to think about what wouldhappen between them after Christmas. That the concern had even come to mind was eye-opening.
He had fallen for her.
Again.
But this was different. They were adults with real-life experiences and real-world responsibilities. That didn’t change how he felt, though.
He loved her.
The meeting wrapped up. Dazed, Bryce had barely noticed. His feet felt clumsy as he pushed out of his chair.
“Bryce,” Jared said, “give me a minute. Alone.”
Well, hell. That was enough to clear away the fog. There wasn’t much that Boss Man would want to talk about privately other than the woman occupying Bryce’s thoughts. “Yeah. Sure.”
The room emptied, and Jared gestured for Bryce to retake his seat. Tension crept up his spine. He didn’t know Jared Westin well enough to guess what he thought about faking the relationship at Rachel’s request and then keeping that information from the paying client. Bryce assumed Jared’s opinion wouldn’t be welcome news.
Jared cracked his knuckles and leaned back in his chair. “Relationships can be a real fuckin’ pain in the ass. They have good points.” He frowned as if considering all he knew about them. “Sugar would chew my ear off if I said anything otherwise, but they’re messy.”
Bryce nodded. “If you’re talking about thefakeone with Rachel—”
