Chapter Eleven

Wyatt

There were more than a few fires I had to put out since getting into the office, but now that those were done, I was able to sit back and enjoy the cup of coffee I just poured for myself in the break room. Paperwork from the accountant was waiting for me, but if I looked at another damn spreadsheet, I swore my eyes were going to bleed.

I closed my eyes and waited, for what exactly, I wasn't sure, but it felt good to just sit in silence for a second. When I finally opened them, there was a head peeking around the doorframe to my office. And not just any head, but Brandy's with that beautiful blonde head of hair I couldn't stop staring at.

Dammit, it'd been almost two years and suddenly I was seeing her twice in one week. "Don't you work?" I asked as she strutted in and made herself comfortable in one of my guest chairs, dropping her big black purse in the chair next to her.

She cocked her head to the side and regarded me closely, crossing her long legs.

"You were late to our meeting yesterday," I explained, "and now you're here."

"Oh, that," she acknowledged, brushing off my comment, "well, we need to talk."

I picked up my coffee cup and sipped, waiting for her to go on. Finally, I asked, "About?"

She uncrossed her legs and sat forward, hands resting on the top of my desk now. I took another sip of coffee as I waited for her to talk. "I have a proposition for you. I want you to be my boyfriend," she announced and I nearly spit my coffee on her.

"What?" I tried to keep my expression straight, but I knew my eyes widened from sheer surprise over what just came out of her mouth. Was she for real? Maybe I didn't hear her right.

"I need a boyfriend for my mom and I'd like you to be that guy. I'm prepared to pay you if that'll help convince you," she explained.

"Stop!" I said, putting my hand in the air. Where was the woman from the night in the bar because this one certainly lost a few screws since then. "What?" I repeated. "I thought you said you needed a fake boyfriend. Now you want me to fake date your mom?" I narrowed my eyes and waited for her to answer, hoping whatever she was going to say was going to make a lot more sense than what she previously said.

She waved me off and stood. "No, silly. I want you to fake date me. For my mom. She hates my boyfriend and I need a fake boyfriend for a family event. That's where you'd come in."

I nodded slowly as if everything was suddenly crystal clear. It was not. "Have you been drinking?" I asked, my eyes flittering between hers. I didn't see any tells when she walked in that she'd been day-drinking, but clearly something wasn't right.

"What? No. Of course not." Her lips formed an "O" as she gave me a shocked expression. As if it was out of the blue that I would ask her that. It was a reasonable question, unlike the proposal she had for me. She began pacing in front of my desk and then brought a finger to her lips. She stopped just long enough to ask, "Why would you ask that?"

I watched her carefully and then answered, "Just curious because clearly you're not in your right mind."

She threw herself back into her chair and looked at me, her eyes intent on mine. "Look, I'm serious. Very serious. My boyfriend and I need this. My mother is going to tear us apart if I don't do something and I don't want to lose this man."

I tried to process what she said, but I kept coming back to how ridiculous this all sounded. She wasn't a teenager, she was a grown ass adult. Couldn't her mother leave her to make her own decisions? Then I thought back to all the family dinners I sat through where everyone insisted they knew what was better for me than I did. But still. "You're out of your mind," I decided, knowing I couldn't be of any help to her. It didn't matter if I was attracted to her or the idea of her having a boyfriend practically gutted me. I couldn't do it, period. I narrowed my eyes and looked into hers, before finally saying, "I have a lot of work to do, so you can leave any time now," hoping she'd leave.

She pointed a finger in the air and grew serious. "You have no idea how hard this was for me, Wyatt. To come here and make myself look like a fool. I wouldn't ask if there was any other way. I just figured at least you weren't some lunatic stranger from the Internet."

I raised an eyebrow. I didn't remember her being so melodramatic.

"I don't know anyone who could do this for me but you," she confessed and I could've sworn she was going to start crying right then and there in my office.

What did I ever do to deserve this—a woman near tears in my office who all I wanted was to hold in my arms while the guilt of my feelings ate me alive. "Why me?" I asked, regretting it almost as soon as the words escaped my lips.

"Because," she started, "you're you." I cocked an eyebrow as she went on, "A good guy. A very clearly single man who lives for his work."

"How do you know I'm not seeing someone or engaged, or better yet married?"

She lifted up her ring finger and pointed to it with her other hand. "No ring."

She looked at my finger to see if I was married? The thought of that stirred up feelings in me and I tried to shut them down as I shook my head and focused back on the topic at hand. "That doesn't prove anything."

Now she cocked an eyebrow and studied me closely. "Fine, then are you?"

"No," I answered honestly, decidedly leaving out the part about being married once before.

She rolled her eyes. "Then what is the problem?" When I didn't answer, only stared at her, she slapped her hands together in prayer position and sat forward again. "Please," she begged. "I'd owe you one."

I pushed my coffee cup aside and lifted the lid on my laptop again. "I'll think about it." That was just noncommittal enough to get her out of my office, right?

She pulled her purse back over to her lap and stood, smiling. As much as I loved to see her smile, I couldn't help but wonder why she was. It wasn't like—

She broke into my thoughts. "So that's a yes," she ventured. Incorrectly.

"Get out," I said, pointing to my door.

"Okay, but we should meet up after work. Plot this out. We really should have a plan. My mother might not buy it if we don't get our stories straight. Good?" she pushed as she turned to leave and if it was any other dude sitting in my position I would've actually laughed. The problem was, I forgot how intriguing this woman could be.

"Go!" I repeated, wondering how the hell I got myself into this situation.

Hand on the doorframe, she stopped and spun around to face me. "Oh, but, Wyatt, if we do this, you can't fall in love with me," she said before finally walking away.

I thought about her words. There was little chance of that happening. I didn't think I could love anyone ever again, not after Susan. In fact, I all but swore off relationships, so this was definitely not going to become real for me and she had nothing to worry about.

Maybe she was right, I mused, perhaps I was the perfect person to help her out.

I shook my head. No way.

It was too nuts to even consider.

Wasn't it?