Page 24 of Fiancé for Hire

“But you’ve thought about it,” Drevon said.

“I have, but as soon as I consider it, I think about that we dated. In hindsight, it probably wasn’t one of my best decisions.” She shrugged. “Actually, it was a stupid thing to do when I knew we weren’t compatible. He caught me at a weak moment in my life.”

Drevon grunted. “Yeah, been there. I know exactly what that feels like.”

“Unfortunately, while Edward has said his share of inappropriate things to me, I’ve done the same. Our verbal sparring has been filled with insensitive and unacceptable comments. So I’d feel like a hypocrite complaining about him when I haven’t done much better. Besides, I hate the idea of reporting him. Edward might be a stupid jerk, but he’s excellent at his job.”

“I don’t give a damn how good he is at his job. He can’t go around talking to people any kind of way. If he’s saying inappropriate things to you, he’s probably saying it to other women.”

Frustration stirred inside of Antika as she considered Drevon’s words. She agreed with him, and she’d hate to find out that he was verbally abusive to any of the other women.

“You’re right. I’ll talk to him and point out that even if we don’t like each other, we need to conduct ourselves professionally at work.”

Silence fell between them as they ate their lunch. Eating in the car was normal for her, but Antika couldn’t imagine Drevon doing it on the regular. She was also surprised that he ate fast food but kept that thought to herself.

His cell phone rang through the SUV’s speakers. Instead of a name showing on the dashboard, a telephone number popped up. He didn’t answer. Two minutes later, his phone rang again with the same number.

Antika glanced at him, his handsome profile tense. “If you need to answer that, I can plug my ears. Or make myself smaller and pretend I’m not here and give you some privacy.”

Drevon chuckled. “You’re funny, sometimes even without trying to be. There are moments, like now, where it feels like we’ve known each other longer than a few days.”

Antika had to agree. It had been a long time since she felt this comfortable with a man.

His phone rang again. Same number.

“Or if you’d prefer, I can always step out of the vehicle to give you privacy,” Antika said, wondering why she hadn’t thought of that in the first place.

Drevon growled under his breath. “That’s not necessary. I think it’s Kendall, my ex,” he said dryly and continued eating. “For whatever reason, she’s been calling a lot lately.”

“Why don’t you just talk to her? See what she wants.”

“I don’t give a damn what she wants,” he said, disgust dripping from each word. “She’s the last person I want to talk to.”

“Then why not block her number?”

“I did. She’s either using a burner phone or has a different number. I’m not positive it’s her, but I have a feeling it is.”

Antika nodded. He had mentioned previously to her about how Kendall had been calling for the last few weeks. Even though he accused her of stalking and had threatened to get the cops involved, she was still calling. Or at least he thought she was, but he might never know for sure if it’s her if he didn’t answer the phone.

“If it was someone else, like a couple of potential investors I have calls into, they’d leave a message. It’s her. I’d bet money on it.” He finished off his sandwich and grabbed the peach milkshake that was sitting in the cupholder. “Want some?” he stretched the cup out to her.

“No, I’m good, but thanks,” she said, as she finished off her fries.

“I just thought of something.” Drevon wiped his mouth with a napkin and turned to face her. “This fake engagement might help us both.”

Antika snorted, then quickly covered her mouth. “Sorry, but how can anything good come from a fake engagement? We’ve set up a lie and at some point, we’ll have to come clean.”

“Hear me out. If we move forward with this, you’ll have a plus-one for the foreseeable future.” He wiggled his eyebrows, and she laughed. “And I’ll be able to get Kendall off my back without getting the cops or a court involved. It’ll show her what I’ve told her more than once; that I’ve moved on. She’ll see that I’m crazy in love with someone else who I plan to marry.

“Also, I have a couple of meetings with investors over the next few weeks. I know of one that I’d love for you to attend with me. It’s in New York. The investor will be in town a few days with his wife, and he suggested that I meet them for dinner.”

As he continued talking about the meetings and what he was expecting, the more excited he became about the possibilities. He was thinking that him being in alovingrelationship might come across better to those who were considering investing in him and his movie project.

Antika could attend the meeting he had in New York. Not only because she loved the city, but also because she had a ton of vacation days that she needed to use before she lost them. She also liked the idea of helping him out since he was helping her by basically being her built-in date.

She mulled over all that he was saying, but there was one part that she couldn’t wrap her brain around—Kendall. There was no way the woman would care or believe this charade. She’d assume that the relationship wasn’t serious, or that it’ll be over soon. Then she could go back to chasing after Drevon.

But all of that was beside the point. Antika wondered what would happen when Drevon was ready to get back to his life—the bachelor’s life that he was living before she hired him.

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