Page 8 of The Fake Dating Plan

“What about drinks? Eats? Is he coming alone or with a team of people? What should we prepare?” Kira asked.

“The same we did with Heron,” I said to her and took out the company credit card. “Buy expensive. Don’t be cheap.”

“On it,” she said and sprinted out of the room.

Dylan got off the phone. “What do we know about this guy, besides he’s a hot manwhore who spends his time with supermodels and influencers? I tried to find information on him yesterday, but apart from the normal billionaire shit, I couldn’t find anything.”

Laura’s gaze landed on me. Her eyes seem to say, ‘you should explain your history with him.’

“Don’t worry,” I said to Dylan, “I know enough about him.”

Laura cleared her throat.

“What I mean is, we used to know each other in college.”

Dylan leaned back and raised his eyebrows. “Know each other as in waves from across the room kinda thing or?”

“Uh…”

“Friends?” When I was silent, he added, “More?”

“We had a thing in college. It ended. Nothing more.”

I could tell he wasn’t buying it. “Okay. I’ll make sure everything else is in line,” he said and walked out, but not before he gave me another look as if he was seeing me in a different light.

“I’ll go see to my tasks,” Laura said. “I hope this goes well.”

I did too. We barely had time to make the office and the factory downstairs presentable before he came in at ten o’clock on the dot. I made sure everyone was deep in their tasks and to make sure they acted as natural as possible, but even that was hard when the person was Ax. When he came in, he was too magnetic to not notice. I could see all the women and Dylan get heart eyes when they laid their gaze on him.

His suit was obviously tailor-made, because how can one wear a suit that good without it being made for you? As he waltzed in and was being led by Kira towards me, the reception was directly opposite my office. His gaze arrested me in such a way that the three other people he came with all fell into obscurity. I wore my second-best slay-them outfit. A white linen dress with embroidered black roses on the sides. It hugged my curves perfectly and offered a little cleavage. I paired it with black pumps and my favorite necklace, a black chunky metal chain. It was my armor.

“Mr. Reid,” I said. The office was so quiet, I practically echoed, “Welcome to our humble premises.”

Ax looked around the bare-brick industrial building. I knew it looked like any other startup office. I added a little flair of my own by painting two white and black lines running around the walls.

“Impressive,” he said after his gaze was back on me again. “I see you’re wearing the Axe Can F* piece.” He pointed to my necklace. He said it so nonchalantly, betraying none of the ire that had been in his voice yesterday.

“Do you like it?”

“Looks good on you.”

“Thank you. It’s our best-selling item.”

His gaze poured through me as if he could see beyond my dress. I felt hot under his gaze and I couldn’t look away, much as I tried. It was mere minutes, and he had destroyed my armor with a stare. I felt my cheeks heating and remembered where we were. I cleared my throat and made the introductions. I gestured to Laura, who was standing beside me. “This is Laura Jennings, she’s the Chief Operations Officer, and this is Dylan Brown, our Community Manager.” They both greeted him. “And this is the rest of our office staff.”

I began walking around, taking him to all the important people. The e-commerce manager was first, “Our retail business is currently ninety-five percent online and has been very profitable though we do plan on expanding our physical stores.” As I walked, I could feel his steps eating mine. I could not help but be aware of his presence. Even though he was at a safe distance, I could smell his scent, and it enveloped me and made me want to lean back in his arms. I had to concentrate on every word I was saying to focus. “Would you like to follow me to the factory,” I said to him and the rest of the team.

“Let them stay here and discuss with your C.O.O. and your community manager. I’ll go with you,” he said.

That’s not part of the plan. That’s not how previous tours had gone. I glanced at Laura, and she seemed to reassure me. I gave him a small smile. “Of course.”

I led him to the vintage elevator. While already small, now felt too small even for two people. We stood side by side, with him a little behind me. When it reached the ground floor, I jolted backward and almost fell into him as if it weren’t for his hands clutching my waist and holding me upright.

“Are you all right?” he sounded like he was whispering in my ear. Heck, he was close enough to whisper, and when I turned to face him, he was a little more than an inch away from me. That’s when I noticed I was leaning into him. I righted myself and had to remove his hands when they lingered. Part of me wanted them to stay there, and I had to remind myself who he was.Focus, Em.

“Yes. Thanks.”

He immediately shoved his hands into his pocket as if he had touched a hot potato. Gosh, Was I that repellent to him? I had to remind myself of how he sees me if I was going to work with him. I was a pawn to him, nothing more. A pawn he hated.

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