At Your Service Read online

  “Major,” he interrupted.

  Fine. She could call him by his first name. He was sitting just a few inches away from her, in a hotel room. This was a pretty familiar setting, so first names made sense. Or at least she wanted all of this to make sense.

  “Why do you need a fake fiancée, Major? And why do you think I’d fit that role?”

  Because she didn’t. Before her meeting, she’d done preliminary research on the family executives at Ronald Gold Fashions. She knew the father, Ron Gold, Jr., in addition to being CEO, was also the chief designer at RGF. She knew what his three sons did for the company, and that the youngest, and only girl in the family, was Riley, chief executive of market research and product development. She’d read about the matriarch, Marva Gold, who held a master’s degree in education, served on RGF’s board of directors and was currently developing several scholarship programs for underprivileged students across the US.

  Nina’s focus on the family had been solely on where they’d gone to college, what job they did, and how much the company made in just clothing sales last year. She hadn’t bothered with any of the tabloid stories that had come up in the search; they didn’t matter to RGF’s bottom line. And she’d paid even less attention to the many pictures of each of the Gold children that filled the internet. It didn’t matter how they looked—all Nina needed was for them to agree to work with her. It was that simple.

  Yet now, Major was sitting too close and the task of focusing on business was becoming much more difficult than it had ever been before.

  “Look, I’ll be totally honest with you. The reason I want you to do this is because of how you look.”

  Okay, he was going to be candid. Well, that was refreshing.

  “And how do I look?”

  “Great.” He said the word as if she should have already known.

  “I’m not the only great-looking woman in the world. Not even in New York. And you of all people surely know that. You can have any woman you want.”

  “I want you,” he said. “I want someone who doesn’t want me and isn’t trying to fool me into getting what she really wants.”

  “I would like to work with RGF on a long-term basis, but if I can work with your company, for even six weeks, other larger fashion houses will take that as a gleaming recommendation. My business will take off. That’s all I’ve ever wanted.” Because she could be candid, too.

  “Then say you’ll be my fake fiancée for six weeks. Agree to take this assignment and I’ll have contracts ready for you to sign first thing tomorrow morning.”

  He was serious. She’d been sitting there waiting for him to tell her this was all a joke and just go back to talking about her app, but that’s not what was happening. This was real. His offer—every part of it was real.

  “What do I have to do? As your fake fiancée, I mean?”

  She sat back against the couch and crossed one leg over the other.

  “Attend some functions with me, act as if you’re planning a real wedding. Try on lots of gowns from the Golden Bride line, select bridesmaids gowns, and a host of other wedding stuff that our marketing department has planned.”

  “That’s all. No kissing. No touching. No...nothing?” She needed to know all the terms, especially since she’d decided earlier that he had very kissable lips. Now, with him talking about fake engagements, kissing him had quickly popped into her mind again.

  He paused and chuckled. Then he rubbed a hand over his mustache, down to his clean-shaved jaw, as he shook his head slowly.

  “Ah, no, I don’t think any of that’s on the agenda.”

  “Then how will people believe we’re really engaged? I’m guessing you want this to be believable. I mean, if not, then what’s the point?”

  A few seconds of him giving her a very heated glare only increased Nina’s awareness of the sexual attraction buzzing between them since the first moment they’d met.

  “The point of this arrangement is to boost sales for the new line. Our marketing department is convinced that seeing a Gold actually planning their wedding and selecting items from the bridal collection will encourage others to check it out for themselves,” he said.

  “And what happens at the end of the six-week period? After this wedding has been planned?”

  He shrugged. “I’m told we’ll have a huge and very public argument, followed by a press release the next morning announcing the unfortunate demise of the relationship. In this industry, negative publicity can sometimes work just as well as positive, as I’m sure you saw a few months ago when that ridiculous story about RGF stealing a design from King Designs surfaced. Marketing and sales are convinced that story, even after it was debunked, was partially responsible for the Golden Bride’s phenomenal debut.”

  She was the one nodding now as the concept of “any publicity is good publicity” came to mind. “How very dramatic. Suits the Gold brand perfectly. So, like I said, you’re banking on people buying this act, without kissing or touching. Do you not like to kiss and touch, Major?”

  His gaze immediately moved to her lips. As if they were suddenly under pressure, she licked them slowly before clearing her throat. She should think of something else to say, to ease this awkward moment... Too late, he’d found her eyes again and now they were staring at each other, speaking that silent but knowing language of physical attraction.

  “To the contrary, Nina. I like kissing and touching very much. I especially enjoyed the way you touched me earlier today.”

  She swallowed as the combination of his proximity, the silky tone of his voice and the blatant memory of her hand brushing over his magnificent erection shot to mind.

  “Is that the type of touching you’re referring to?”

  “I’m not convinced we have to go that far,” she said, because that was definitely going too far with a man she’d be entering into a business deal with. “But something along the lines of holding hands in public, perhaps a few chaste kisses...those might go a long way to creating the façade your company is banking on.”

  His hands had been resting on his thighs, but she could now see them moving to his knees, his fingers clenching slowly and releasing. If she dared to trace her gaze back just a little more she was certain that erection she’d felt earlier was making another appearance. Her breasts had begun to feel full and she barely resisted the urge to clamp her thighs together to keep the throbbing that had increased in her center at bay.

  “I think—” he cleared his throat “—we’d just play it by ear in that regard. See what’s needed and when. Go with the flow.”

  “Is that what the contract is going to say?” She prayed disappointment wasn’t apparent in her tone.

  “What would you like the contract to say? That we’ll kiss five times in six weeks, hold hands ten times, hug twice?”

  “If you think five kisses will be enough.” Nina wasn’t so sure anything would be enough where this man was concerned.

  This time he licked his lips at her words. She did the same.

  “Maybe we leave out a number. I wouldn’t want us to be committed before we’ve considered how much we may like it.”

  “You think I’ll like kissing you?” There was absolutely no doubt in her mind that she would.

  “No,” he replied. “I know I’m gonna like kissing you.”

  * * *

  Nina couldn’t stop thinking about kissing him and she had no idea why she’d even brought up holding hands or kissing in public. Especially since she wasn’t a fan of PDA. Holding hands, touching, ogling, and yes, kissing, were reserved for behind closed doors. That’s the way she’d been brought up and it was a rule she’d stuck to.

  Your personal business is your personal business. Nobody else’s.

  Jacoby Fuller had said that more times than Nina or her sisters could count. But not for the same reasons that Nina had decided to adopt them. He
r father didn’t like public displays of affection because it reminded him of how much he still loved and missed his wife. Nina didn’t like them because it reminded her of how quickly a happy couple could become a lonely man raising three daughters on his own.

  Which was precisely why she didn’t do relationships. The thought of investing her time, emotions and trust into one person who could potentially walk away without a care in the world, wasn’t something she liked to entertain. But that wasn’t what this was.

  Major Gold had come to her with a business proposal, one she’d spent the bulk of last night contemplating. If this fake wedding was going to bring publicity—good and bad—to RGF, then what was she going to get out of it? Besides the six weeks to work with the company and the possibility of a longer contract, there was a measure of exposure here that Nina couldn’t ignore. For every public appearance she made with Major, she was adding a face to her brand. The Nina Fuller behind At Your Service would be up close and personal with the industry she’d dreamed of working in all her life. And while she totally understood that any publicity was good publicity, she wanted as much of her exposure to this industry to be as positive as she could manage. Creating the most believable fake relationship possible was a must.

  Her traveling outfit was jeans and a T-shirt with her school mascot—a mustang—on the front. She couldn’t wear that to what technically was her second interview at RGF, where she knew she would be receiving and accepting a job offer. After a quick run to Macy’s and the purchase of a gray pantsuit and white blouse, at exactly nine forty-five in the morning, she walked through the glass doors of RGF again.

  Major was already seated at the same end of the conference room table as yesterday. Across from him was Maurice. Twins, not identical, but who favored each other enough that she hadn’t needed Google to tell her they’d been born together. But the internet had informed her that Major was older and, while he wasn’t as brash and indiscriminate as his younger brother, he was still quite popular with women. A fact that made no difference to her—this was a temporary assignment. One she’d spent some time plotting out.

  She’d used RGF’s online sales figures—retrieved from an article in a top financial magazine that had compared the fashion industry’s growth from five years ago to the present—to approximate how many new accounts At Your Service would obtain and the percentage she would earn from each of her vendors once the app had successfully accessorized each customer. It would bring her more than enough to pay for her father to move into an assisted-living facility and remain there for at least two years. In that time, she would land more clients. King Designs, RGF’s biggest rival, was next on her list to approach, and there were others. All of which would be impressed by her work with RGF and would pay her even more for the use of her app.

  “Good morning, Ms. Fuller,” Maurice was the first to speak when she entered the boardroom.

  “Good morning. Please call me Nina,” she said and watched as he stood and walked to her. When he extended his hand, Nina accepted it for a quick shake.

  “Thank you for agreeing to meet with us again on such short notice,” he said.

  “It was no problem,” she lied. She was going to miss her train and the ticket was nonrefundable.

  “Yes. Thank you very much for coming back. Now, let’s get down to business. We don’t have a lot of time before our first event.”

  The woman who talked while entering the room hadn’t been in the meeting yesterday. She wasn’t as tall as Nina’s five-foot-eight height, but she was dressed just as sharply. Probably sharper since Nina was certain the woman’s skirt and jacket were RGF originals from their Make the Woman professional-wear line. The outfit was a bold royal blue and she wore a pale yellow blouse beneath the fitted jacket and patent leather slingback pumps. The blond-frosted tips of her black hair fell in big curls to her shoulders as she gave Nina a quick look and then closed the door behind her.

  “This is Desta Henner, our marketing director,” Major said.

  Nina looked from the focused woman to Major. He wore another black suit today—this one with a more casual jacket that zipped—and in place of a dress shirt and tie he was wearing a butter-colored pullover that molded against his muscled chest.

  “Our legal department worked double-time to get these two contracts drawn up,” Desta announced. “Have a seat, please, and we’ll go over everything.”

  Maurice had returned to his seat and this time Major was the one to stand, pulling out the chair next to him.

  Nina took the seat, dropping her purse into the empty chair to the other side. “Yes,” she said in a voice she knew sounded as levelheaded and professional as Desta’s. “Let’s go over everything.”

  * * *

  She’d signed both contracts.

  A part of Major hadn’t thought she would.

  Nina Fuller was an entrepreneur. She’d graduated top of her class from the Harrisburg Area Community College in York, and had taken additional online classes to obtain her master’s in computer technology and engineering. She’d used those degrees to build a sophisticated app that could be groundbreaking in the fashion industry. That is, if it didn’t almost mimic some of Brand Integrated Technologies’ functions, a fact that could potentially become a conflict of interest between them. Initially, he’d felt the urge to be honest with her about the possible overlap of their companies, but then he considered that by the time this fake engagement and her trial period at RGF were over, they could go their separate ways and their companies could exist as a form of healthy competition. At least, that’s what he was telling himself.

  Major had spent most of last night going through her app as a user, easily figuring out every step she’d taken from coding to debugging and creating the user interface. It was intricate, but Major had a master’s degree in computer technology and engineering, as well. A degree he’d also used to help keep RGF three steps ahead of their competitors where technology was concerned.

  “Well, that’s done,” he said when they were the only two remaining in the conference room.

  “Yes, it is.” She’d stored her copies of the contracts in her case and now stood a few feet away from him. “So, are we heading to the tech department to get started on the integration now?”

  He couldn’t help but notice that the suit she wore fit her nicely. The pants flawlessly molded the natural curve of her hips, accentuating thighs that were thicker than the models he was used to seeing. The jacket was an acceptable fit, the wrap blouse beneath hugging her full breasts tightly. But it wasn’t an RGF ensemble.

  “Ah, no, not just yet. My assistant, Landra, will be emailing you a copy of our itinerary for the upcoming weeks. There’s a cocktail party scheduled for tonight at the Midtown Loft & Terrace. I believe you’ll be assigned a stylist, but I’m not sure who that will be. Landra or possibly Desta will take care of that.”

  She nodded slowly.

  Her hair was pulled back from her face again, this time held at the nape of her neck with a black band so that she looked almost demure. A look that was perfect for this campaign but didn’t begin to touch the fiery passion he’d seen brimming in her eyes last night. Heat instantly began to stir through his veins as he thought about sitting on that couch with her in the hotel talking casually about how she’d felt him up only hours before. If he was half the Fashion House Playboy he was dubbed to be, there was no doubt Major would have spent the night in her bed, bringing them both the pleasure he knew they’d been thinking about.

  “An itinerary. A stylist,” she said and exhaled slowly. “I guess that’s part of the agreement. Should I just wait here or return to my hotel? How do we play this?”

  Major stepped closer to her.

  “I think we start by getting this out of the way.”

  His hands, which had itched to touch her all night and throughout this morning’s meeting, rested on the tops of her arms as he pulled he
r against him. The motion was quick and her hands came up to slap against his biceps as she tilted her chin to meet his gaze.

  “You asked about kissing last night?” His voice sounded unfamiliarly gruff.

  She blinked, long, natural lashes brushing her skin before he was afforded the sight of her gold-flecked eyes once more. “You said it wasn’t required.”

  “Not required,” he whispered. “Desired. At least on my part. If you’re not interested, say so now.” Before he combusted from the desire that had boiled inside him all through the night.

  “I’m interested.”

  The words were barely out of her mouth before his lips crashed down over hers, heat soaring through their connection, a force unlike anything Major could have ever imagined taking over every part of his body.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  NEVER BEEN KISSED.

  The three words floated around in her mind as his tongue moved salaciously over hers. Not like this, anyway.

  Major’s hands had slipped from the tops of her arms to her waist until he was holding her tightly against him. It was a stern and commanding hold. A you’re-not-going-anywhere type of hold that she actually enjoyed. So much so, that Nina laced her arms around his neck, pulling his head down farther so that she could sink deeper into the kiss. A kiss they probably shouldn’t be sharing since there was no one to see them and hence wasn’t moving their fake relationship forward.

  But hell, she wasn’t complaining.

  When they finally broke contact, both breathing as if they’d just run a race, he rested his forehead against hers and Nina let her eyes remain closed for a few seconds more.

  What the hell is going on? Twenty-four hours ago, she’d been preparing for a meeting she’d known could change her life. Never in her wildest dreams had she thought of how drastically things would change in such a short amount of time.

  “Okay, that was...” He paused, searching for the words.