Page 42 of Boss's Baby: A Fake Fiance Romance

“Doesn’t have to be a worry. Could be a way to unwind after a hard day of lying.” I flashed a smile, letting her know this wasn’t exactly a high-pressure sales tactic.

“Trust me, it’ll be a worry. And while I’m sure you’re more than capable of making a convincing case for it, I want to take it off the table.”

“Sure—the lady wants no sex, she’s getting no sex.”

“Good. And that’s not the end of it. I don’t want there to be any kind of physical stuff that goes beyond what’s absolutely necessary for the plan. No extracurricular kissing or hugging or backrubs or anything like that.”

“What about high fives? I mean, if we’ve had a particularly good day of deceiving.”

The hard look I got in response let me know she wasn’t in the mood for screwing around. I decided to put a lid on it before I lost an eye—or something more important than that.

“Seriously. This thing is hardly professional, but I want to try to make it as no-messing-around as possible. We can be all lovey-dovey-kissy-face couple in front of people who need to see it, but behind closed doors, we’re all business.”

“OK, I think I can handle that. Anything else you got in mind?”

Her expression darkened, and I got the impression she had something worse to lay on me. “Yes. After this is all said and done and you’ve fulfilled your end of the bargain, I think it’s best that you and I go our separate ways.”

This was a shock. “What? Why?”

“Because, to put it simply, my life was a lot less complicated before Josh Taylor decided to show up and make things all…messy.”

I almost, almost made a crack about how “messy” I’d made things last night. But I managed to keep that one back. Not to mention her saying that, well, kind of hurt.

“You want to never talk again?”

“If it’s all the same to you, yes. We’ll end our business relationship, and that’ll be that. You can run your company, I can run my firm, and never the twain shall meet, as they say.”

I didn’t know what to say. I mean, it’s not like I had any big plans with Cassidy. But hearing her say she wanted to basically delete me from her life was, well, I mean ouch. I got it, though—we’d be going through a hell of a thing together, and maybe parting ways afterward wasn’t the worst idea in the world. Besides, our plan would involve a breakup at some point, and not like former fiancés were known for being buds after such a thing.

There was a brief silence, as if both of us were considering what her final term would really mean. Cassidy broke it with a throat clearing.

“Anyway, how are we going to end this thing? Or begin it, really?”

“Don’t you worry about that. You’re down for it, and I’m not going to waste any time putting this thing in motion. What’re you and your family doing tonight?”

“Tonight? Um, maybe going to the Lucky Dragon for some Chinese. Hadn’t thought about it much further than that.”

I shook my head and smiled. “You and your family are coming to Pine Shades Country Club with me and mine. We’re going to announce this thing in style.”

“‘In style’? Please tell me you’re not planning on doing a public proposal. Those make me uneasy. Even if it’s for pretend.”

“Nah, only want to announce it tonight. We can say we were out together and I couldn’t resist. But I want both of our families to be there for it.”

The woman looked positively seasick.

“Are you OK?”

She nodded, composing herself. “Yeah, I think. Still getting over the lying thing.”

“It’ll be fine. Your family will be thrilled to hear you’re tying the knot. And when you break it off, they’ll understand—they can hate me for being a total asshole. It’ll be a good family bonding experience.”

“And I suppose it’ll get my mom off my back about getting married for a little while. But that brings up the other point—how do we end it?”

“That we’ll do out of the public eye. Maybe we can both drop off the map for a few days and come back with the bad news. Then you can tell your family that the whole almost-marriage was just the thing to get you motivated to start your own firm. It’ll be the perfect cover, and they’ll probably be so excited for you they’ll forget I even exist.”

She shook her head. “This is easily the craziest thing I’ve ever done in my life. But if it gets me started on my firm—”

“It’ll do more than that—a year from now, you’ll be one of the biggest names in town. I know it.”

I wasn’t lying. Cassidy was good, and she definitely had what it took.

“Fine. I’m in.”

“Perfect. Then there’s one thing we need to do.”

---