Page 37 of His Perfect Woman

“What’s this about a press conference?”

“What!?” I barked.

“I just got an alert that Victoria called an urgent press conference regarding your engagement? What the hell is this about?”

I laughed and shook my head. She wasn’t wasting any time. “Unbelievable,” I groaned.

“We don’t need this right now, Lucas,” he warned. “I don’t know what’s going on, but if she’s flying off the handle...you need to do damage control.”

With the phone to my ear, I stood there cluelessly, glued to the sidewalk. But then a window display of sparkling diamonds pulled me in. I stepped closer, studying the bands and engagement rings. Victoria was right. So was Camille for that matter. I wasn’t wrong for proposing something, I’d just proposed the wrong thing. I understood that now more than ever.

“Don’t worry, Jack. I’ll handle it.” I hung up before he could argue. I couldn’t blame everyone for questioning my judgment lately. But for the first time in months, I felt like I finally had it right.

I looked back through my phone to catch the same alert Jack had been sent, but the sneaky little vixen had carefully left my name off the invite list. That was okay. I knew her like the back of my hand, and it wasn’t going to be too hard to figure out where she was holding this conference.

Victoria may be a stubborn, intolerable woman, but she was my stubborn, intolerable woman—always had been. And if I had my way, she always would be.

21

Victoria

The second Lucas walked out my door, I flew into my bedroom and changed into a suit. Next, I had to fix my face and hair. Within a half hour, I had my makeup done and was summoning the press while I curled my hair.

The nerve of that guy! Lying for as long as he did only to try and turn the tables back around on me! I’d show him. I didn’t love him. He was just a friend...and a sperm donor. It wasn’t my fault he harbored some unrequited love for me.

I was fuming to myself as I raised the lipstick to my reflection in the mirror and stopped. Licking my bottom lip, I was hit with the surging, heated memory of that kiss. My mouth still tasted like his, and my lips still burned with the longing for more. I almost didn’t want to let the sensation go...because after this press conference, there would be no going back. This would be the last time I would ever taste him on my tongue.

I couldn’t be in love with him. I would never be so foolish as to fall for someone so unexpectedly—against my will. So why did it break my heart to think of burning that bridge between us?

My stomach started to turn with the pregnancy nausea I was becoming all too accustomed to. It was just the reminder I needed. Lucas could have done a million different—better—things. He could have told me how he felt and let me choose for myself. Or just let me go and stood back while I had my own baby my way, without his help.

But no. He’d tricked me into getting all tangled up with him, and now I was hurt, angry, and distracted. All because of him. I hated feeling that way, and I was convinced the only way to put a stop to it was to end this arrangement once and for all. It should never have started to begin with.

I stared down my reflection, painting on my lipstick with a determination to cover up every trace of him. I had already gotten used to living life without him after he started pulling away from me. I could do it again.

Feeling more defensive and determined to assert myself than I ever had in my life, I grabbed my things and marched out of my apartment.

It was the same auditorium where it had all begun—where Lucas first decided to will his own desires into existence, whether I felt the same or not—and it was buzzing with cameras and reporters by the time I arrived. They snapped pictures of me as I headed backstage to wait in the wings.

I could see Camille, Jada, Jack, Joshua, and even Trent filing into the back of the room. They looked on edge, afraid of what a woman scorned by Lucas Meadows might do. I wished I could tell them this was my own score to settle and that I wouldn’t let their company go up in flames just because its CEO was a jerk.

My gaze rested on Jada for a minute as I remembered what she’d said at brunch. How absurd to imagine a young Lucas pining away in his room. All those times we hung out, he never gave a single hint of how he felt. Or...was it that I’d been so afraid of getting thrown off course from my plans that I’d refused to see it? Because if I’d seen it, I might not have been able to stop myself from admitting I loved him, too.

I shook it off. It was too late to let Lucas win now. I had called everyone here, and now all there was left to do was to finish it.

Clearing my throat and bracing myself, I marched up to the podium and microphone, straightening my jacket along the way.

“Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for assembling on such short notice. As most of you know, I’m Victoria Sloan. I was called in to do PR for my friend’s company, Heartstring. And, as you’ve all reported on, we decided to announce our engagement in the process. But…” I paused for a moment. It was my last chance to change my mind.

“But...I regret to inform you today...that I have been dishonest about something.”

“No kidding.” A guy’s voice rang out from the back of the room.

I squinted my eyes against the lights to see Lucas leaning in the entryway, looking suave as ever. If I could have breathed fire in that moment, I would have sent flames shooting clear across the room until he was a blackened crisp. But something in my heart still fluttered at the sight of him, which was horribly annoying...not to mention, inconvenient. He had me all off track of what I was going to say. I looked back down at my notes and tried to recompose myself.

“But what you were dishonest about...what you’re still being dishonest about,” Lucas persisted, strolling up to the front of the room, “is nothing compared to the lies I’ve told.”

He stopped in front of the podium and addressed the crowd. “You fine people were right about something. I was a playboy who was trying to sell love when I had no desire to obtain it and keep it for myself. And oddly enough, you calling me on that was what brought Victoria back into my life.”

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