Page 7 of The Wedding Hoax

“Are you always this self-righteous, Simone? Will your head explode if I tell you that life has a shit ton of gray areas?”

“Are you always this obnoxious? Why can’t you just say sorry for doing something wrong?”

“How about we both apologize on the count of three?” I suggested.

“Not going to happen.” She scoffed. “Only one of us owes the other an apology, and it’s not me.”

There she went again, talking to me in a way no one did.

It was such a turn-on.

In that moment, I wanted to kiss her, to crush my lips against hers, just to see if she’d push me away or kiss me back.

I couldn’t deny that I was attracted to everything about her—her defiance, the way she stood her ground, even her self-righteousness, too.

There was something so raw about her. I wasn’t used to people being that way around me, especially not as a CEO. People were either kissing my ass or trembling in fear.

But not Simone. Simone was refreshing, like a glass of ice water on a hot summer day.

“Can I buy you a drink?” I asked, my eyes raking up and down her delicious frame, spending a little too long on her chest.

“If that’s your way of saying you’re sorry, sure,” she shot back.

I smirked as I once again called for the bartender’s attention.

I wasn’t sure what it was about this woman, but she drove me crazy.

In a very, very good way.

3

SIMONE

“Tell me about your family.”

“What?” I’d been sipping on a whiskey sour, half-distracted. I was keeping an eye on Taylor as she moved throughout the room, hoping that she’d circle back to the bar any second now and rescue me from this awkward situation.

I was having drinks with my boss.

Seriously?

I was dying on the inside. It didn’t help that I’d decided to idiotically stick up for myself, either.

“Tell me about your family,” he calmly repeated. “How’s the drink, by the way?”

“Great. Really great, actually. And as for my family…”

“I get it. You don’t want to go first.” He chuckled. “Keeping your cards close to your chest.”

He took a deep breath before he went on. “My family is ruining my life.”

“Really?”

“Really. They’re so obsessed with following tradition they can’t see the forest for the trees.” He pinched the bridge of his nose, frustration rolling off him. “I love them. I do. But they’re so close to turning everything into shit and they don’t even realize it.”

“Sorry. I’m confused.”

“Confused?”

---