Instrumental music played softly in the background, not encouraging her to wake up very quickly. “No problem,” Phil said quietly.
She blinked hard, but nothing outside the window looked familiar. Whoa, maybe she had been asleep for a minute or two. “Why are we on the freeway?”
Phil cleared his throat. “I have a favor to ask.”
Her gut response was hell no, but before she could say anything, he spoke in that calm, reasonable tone of voice he used oh so often in board meetings.
“I’m up for a promotion.”
Nice for him, didn’t answer her question about where the hell they were. “What does that have to do with—” She spotted a highway sign, and swore. “Why are we heading toward Monterey?”
He continued as if she’d never interrupted him. “Jeffrey Bigelow is the executive director of Connect International. They’re the ones who own Bay City Press and a dozen other newspapers up and down the West Coast. If I get in on this position, I’ll be able to green-light the digital program you’ve written. Which, of course, means you will receive a raise, and quite possibly be put in charge of the entire division.”
As much as Lynn loved her job and was keen about her program, she was still trying to find the real answer she needed right now. “Why are we going to Monterey?”
Phil flashed her his most enchanting smile. “We’ve been invited to spend the weekend with Mr. Bigelow while he works out his final considerations.”
“I never got any invitation, and I never accepted an offer to go to Monterey on a moment’s notice.”
“It’s the career move of a lifetime,” Phil pointed out. “You’ve got to see that. No, you didn’t get the invitation, I did. So I took the initiative to make a decision that would be good for both of us in the long run. All we have to do is spend the weekend with the Bigelows, let them see what a fine, upstanding couple we are—”
“But we’re not a couple,” she interrupted. The longer he spoke, the more rapidly her heart beat.
“One weekend. Just for one weekend,” he begged. “I promise there will be no funny business, but Mr. Bigelow is known for being the most dedicated family man ever. There is no way he would approve this promotion unless he knew I was happily married, or on the way to being settled down with a fine woman.”
It was the craziest thing she’d ever heard. Lynn slipped her hand toward her pocket in the hopes of grabbing her phone on the sly. “You want me to pretend to be with you so you can get a job promotion, so you can put my program into place, and all of this based on a lie? Do you think everyone around us is stupid?”
So much for all his bullshit talk about honesty this morning.
“Of course I don’t think people are stupid. But Bigelow is retiring in six months, so as long as he puts me into position and nothing untoward happens in the next short while, I’m good. I mean, we’re good.”
This was unbelievable. “Phil, come on. This is a disaster waiting to happen. Everyone at work knows we broke up and that I’ve been seeing someone else.”
“Someone who lied to you.”
And everything became crystal clear.
Lynn held onto her temper by the thinnest of threads. “So you expect me to lie not only for this weekend, but potentially for the next six months.”
“The weekend is not a problem. I grabbed some things for you. They’re in a bag in the back. And after this weekend—”
“You grabbed some things for me… From my apartment? Did you go into my apartment?” The idea made her nauseous. “This is beyond unbelievable. Turn the van around right now and take me back. Drop me off anywhere, and I’ll get a taxi home. You do it now and this will end right here. I swear I will never mention it again.”
She slipped her hand into her pocket and felt around for a phone that wasn’t there.
Phil had one eye on the traffic in front of them, the other on the phone she was looking for. He held it in the air away from her. “I will give it back after the weekend.”
“Stop this stupidity. No. I will make my decision very clear now. I will not pretend to be your little woman.”
He sighed. “I thought you were smarter than this. I’m not asking for much.”
“You kidnapped me, you broke into my apartment and stole my clothes. You’ve taken my phone.” Lynn leaned forward in her seat and gave him the stare of doom. “Do not think for even one second that I will be reasonable about this. You take me to the Bigelows, and I will turn around and come home on my own power. You should have grabbed one of your other chickies from the office. I’m sure one of them would have been happy pretending to be the future Mrs. Shotelle without you having to watch your back.”
“None of them are you. Enough with your complaining. I truly didn’t want it to come to this, but it seems I have no choice. You are going to do this for me, and I’ll tell you why. If you don’t, I’ll make terrible things happen to your friend.”