Scandalous Engagement

Josie pushed her hair from her face and stared at the mess of blooms and greenery. “I do feel bad putting them all in the trash.”

“Then don’t.” Reese reached for one stem and picked it up, examining it before glancing back to Josie. “We can make smaller arrangements and take them to the cardiac unit where Dad was. We could give some to the nursing staff and some to the patients.”

Josie granted him the widest, sweetest smile. “I would have never thought of that. You’re sweet sometimes, you know.”

Reese shrugged, not really needing compliments for just trying to find a solution to this mess.

“He had excellent care there, so maybe these would brighten their day. And I know they always have patients with no family.”

“Always thinking of others.” Josie reached up and rested her hand on the side of his face. “One day you’re going to find the right woman. She’s going to be damn lucky.”

“You’re the only woman who puts up with me,” he joked.

She dropped her hand and glanced to the flowers. “Well, you keep up with those sweet gestures and you’ll be taken in no time.”

Taken. The only place he wanted to be taken was to a bed with Josie. Or here in the kitchen would work.

But Josie had everything and everyone in a particular slot, and he was in the friend zone, which hadn’t been an issue…until now. The structure in her life stemmed from her retired military father. Her mother had passed away when Josie was a toddler, so she didn’t remember her and Reese had never met the woman.

“I’m not looking for marriage,” he stated honestly. “Being engaged was enough of a scare to make me realize I prefer being married to work. That’s a relationship I can feed into and grow, not to mention control.”

“Ah, yes. Control. Well, that is why you’ll always be alone. Women don’t want to be controlled,” she scolded. “Don’t you want to have someone to come home to? Someone to share everything with? Someone to grocery shop with?”

Reese laughed. “First of all, I don’t grocery shop. Second, I tell you everything. And when I come home, I have a glass of bourbon. All my bases are covered.”

Josie rolled her eyes. “That sounds so lonely.”

“And in my defense, I’d never want to control a woman,” he told her. “I know not to fight a losing battle.”

“You really are a great guy,” she stated again.

“Are you vying for a new position?” he asked. “We are engaged, after all.”

“We’re not engaged,” she laughed. “Though I might need to convince Chris you were telling the truth because clearly he didn’t believe us or he just doesn’t care.”

“Or he’s an idiot, which is my vote,” Reese added. “Pack a bag and come to my place.”

Josie’s eyes widened. “What? I’m not just coming to your place. My house is falling in, if you haven’t noticed.”

“Your house isn’t falling in. My guy will be here to fix everything and you don’t want to be here during that construction anyway.” Reese reached for her and raked his thumb over her ring finger. “We need to get a ring.”

Josie pulled her hand away and laughed. “Can you focus for two minutes?”

“Oh, I’m focused.”

She rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to the flowers. “Let me find some tissue paper and ribbon. I’m out of vases.”

“Just gather them all up and we’ll find vases at my house,” he told her. “Grab a bag of whatever you need to stay the night.”

“This is silly, you know.” Josie started gathering the flowers. “I can stay here.”

“You can, but why?” he countered, helping her gather everything. “We’ll do a movie night like we used to.”

She stilled and gave him a side-eye. “I get to choose the movie?” she asked.

Reese cringed. “Don’t tell me.”

Josie squealed and a wide grin spread across her face. “Oh, you know it.”

Yeah, he did. Her all-time favorite movie was An Affair to Remember. She’d first introduced it to him when they were in high school and he’d absolutely hated it. Since then, any time she chose the movie, that’s the one she went with. He didn’t hate it now—hell, he could say the thing word for word. If she enjoyed it, that’s all that mattered.

“Go pack your stuff and I’ll take the flowers,” he told her. “I’ll meet you at my house.”

“Deal.”

She practically skipped from the room and Reese couldn’t help but feel a niggle of worry deep in his gut. Spending more time alone with Josie had never been an issue before, but his hormones had never entered the picture before, either. At least, not like this. Now she was coming to his house for the night and Reese couldn’t help but wonder how much more he could take before he snapped and crossed the line they couldn’t come back from.

He was a jumble of nerves—between the mysterious closet she hadn’t explained, the letter he’d received and the fact that he wanted Josie more than anything he’d ever wanted.

One night. He just needed to take this fake engagement one night at a time. Surely he could control himself for one night…right?

Josie pulled through Reese’s gate and wondered how she’d let him talk her into this. Granted, she hadn’t put up much of a fight. She’d been tired, worried about her roof, and she really didn’t want to be present when workers started banging around and making more of a mess.

Still. Was he going to parade around in those little black boxer briefs again? True, she’d seen him in swim trunks, but that was before something had shifted in her mind with the words my fiancé.

That was before he’d pulled her into his side and caressed her hip like only a lover would do. There was something so possessive, so damn sexy about the way he’d taken charge. Her entire life she’d prided herself on being independent. Yet the way Reese had claimed her had done something to that friend switch and she wasn’t sure she could flip it back to the way it used to be…the way it was supposed to be.

Ugh. This entire situation had gotten out of control so fast, she was both confused and frustrated. For someone who always had every damn thing in order and under control, her mental state was a complete mess.

Josie pulled around the circular drive and stopped right in front of the steps leading up to Reese’s insanely large beach house. The man never did anything in small proportions. His house was easily four times the size of hers and he lived alone. His chef and maid came and went—they were hardly ever seen, yet the house remained immaculate and there were always fresh dishes in the refrigerator.

Reese treated his employees like family and they remained so loyal and went above and beyond to please him. He might be a billionaire mogul, but he was literally the only person she knew with a selfless heart of gold.

Josie’s cell chimed just as she put her car into Park. If this was another text from Chris…

She’d totally downplayed how much he’d texted and called because she didn’t want Reese to go complete Neanderthal on her…though proclaiming upcoming nuptials had been pretty caveman of him.

She opened the text, relieved to see it was from her editor, Melissa, but that relief quickly turned to dread.

Congrats on the big engagement! We just posted a blog teaser, but I want a Q&A with you and Reese ASAP! This is so exciting!

With her breath caught in her throat, Josie reread Melissa’s text. Josie had confided in her assistant, Carrie, earlier that morning, more joking than anything, that Reese had claimed they were engaged and her world had been flipped upside down, but she was still getting that column in on time.

Josie had thought they were just having random chatter and now this? A teaser blog post had already gone up on the site…the site that had hundreds of thousands of hits per day. There was no pulling back from such a dramatic announcement without tarnishing the stellar reputation of not only Cocktails & Classy, but of her own image as well.

Josie stared at the message, unsure how to respond. She did, however, know who was responsible for this leak. As if following up with her somewhat new assistant constantly to make sure things were done properly wasn’t annoying enough, now she couldn’t trust her.

And here they’d thought getting rid of Chris would be the biggest issue.

Obviously, Josie’s assistant would have to be dealt with first thing in the morning. Right now, though, she had one other matter to handle.

She had to actually fake an engagement to her best friend. This had gone beyond just lying to her ex. Now the public was aware of her personal life, too.

Josie hit Reply and chose her words carefully. Thankfully, she wasn’t responding in person and dealing with Melissa seeing her shocked face.

Thanks. I had no idea you would find out this way. We’re still processing the news, so the Q&A might have to wait.

Josie knew her fans would want the scoop, especially since she was coming off a divorce only six months ago. The outpouring of love and kindness had overwhelmed her and left her feeling a little guilty, considering she hadn’t loved Chris. He’d been a nice guy who’d come along at the wrong time. Why wouldn’t he just let her set him free?

She prided herself on being available to her readers and really interacting with them, so it was quite understandable that Melissa would want to share the happy news with the world. Unfortunately, the last thing Josie wanted was another public relationship…another failed public relationship. Because this fake engagement certainly wasn’t going to last.

Josie didn’t wait for a reply. She grabbed her purse and suitcase and headed up the steps to the front door. She was going to have to tell Reese about all of this and then she’d have to see how he felt about a real, fake engagement.

Good heavens, he’d probably do something stupid like really go buy her a ring. And knowing Reese, the thing wouldn’t be subtle or cheap.

If only she’d kept her mouth shut earlier on the phone. But in her defense, Josie hadn’t had any reason not to trust her assistant. And maybe Carrie was just chattering and not thinking when she told Melissa. Still, the lie was out there and Josie was going to have to deal with the consequences.

The front door flew open and Reese reached for her suitcase. Josie jumped back at his abrupt greeting.

“Why didn’t you use the elevator?” he scolded. “I would’ve gotten this for you so you didn’t have to lug it up the stairs.”

“It wasn’t a big deal,” she replied as she stepped into the open foyer. “I’m quite capable of carrying my own luggage.”

He muttered something about her being stubborn, but she let that roll off. She was well aware of her stubborn side and she wasn’t apologetic for it.

“You ready for that movie?” he asked. “We can set up in the theater room or we can go out onto the patio.”

The outdoor patio with a viewing screen was quite impressive, but she couldn’t focus on the niceties of his house right now. All she could think about was how fast this fire was spreading and who else knew she and Reese were engaged.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, reaching for her hand. “Chris—”

“No.”

Well, he had texted, but that wasn’t the problem.

“Then what is it?” Reese insisted.

Josie smiled and pulled in a deep breath. “How do you feel about picking out that engagement ring?”

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