He was almost to me and yet not any closer to an explanation. “I’m not seeing how this is—”
“I’m getting there.” He stopped, two feet away from me, and stuck his hands in his pockets. “The problem is that Elizabeth is twenty-five. Her inheritance doesn’t give her full ownership of the company until she turns twenty-nine. Or until she marries.”
“Or until she marries,” I echoed slowly, everything becoming blindingly clear. “I see.” I sank down onto the couch. “How archaic.”
“Elizabeth was as desperate to get control of the company as we were to buy her out,” he continued. “It was a win-win situation.”
“So. You’re engaged.”
“I’m engaged.”
I tested the taste of the words, the sound of them, using them to poke at my emotions. How did I feel about this? Definitely disappointed. It was a change in plans, and while I wasn’t a rigid person, I’d come to New York under one pretense and this was going to take some adjusting.
Weston seemed to sense this, and he gave me a minute before going on.
“The wedding is in two and a half months,” he said eventually. “After we’ve been married a month or so, we’ll get an annulment, we’ll buy the advertising subsidiary, and Reach, Inc. will automatically move up a couple ranks in terms of competitive power. We’re still a young company. This kind of merger is important for us.”
I leaned back into the seat and sighed. It wasn’t the kind of business move that I’d necessarily pursue, but I wasn’t an aggressive player. Which was why I preferred marketing to sales and operations. It didn’t mean I didn’t recognize the benefit of a merger such as the one Weston was proposing.
“I get it. I do.” I sprung up from my seat. “But why did it have to be you? Couldn’t it be someone else? Didn’t she have a boyfriend or someone else she could marry to get her fortune?” Why did she have to take my boyfriend?
Not that Weston was my boyfriend. Just.
I was bitter. I couldn’t help it.
“No boyfriends. The girl’s a real piece of work. I don’t think she even has friends. She’s kind of…” He rubbed his forehead, seeming to search for the word he was looking for. “A spoiled brat.”
Somehow I had a feeling that wasn’t what he’d first intended to say. “That sounds fun. Are you sleeping with her?”
His eyes widened only slightly. “No, I’m not.”
“I’m sorry.” I hung my head, ashamed of the question. “That wasn’t any of my business.”
“No. It’s fair.”
Honestly, I wasn’t even sure I cared. So what if Weston was sleeping with her? The only reason it bothered me was because it meant he wasn’t available to be my armor. I needed a relationship with him so I could stay safe from my thoughts and my feelings. Especially now.
I paced along the window. “If this is all just to get her inheritance, why don’t you go to the courthouse? Why an engagement? Why a party?”
“Believe it or not, her inheritance forbids elopement. And Elizabeth has a cousin on the board of Dyson Media who is ready to contest anything to stop her from getting control of the company before her twenty-ninth birthday. So. We have to make it real.”
His tone of voice said the situation was making him miserable. I threw him a bone. “That sounds terrible.”
“It is. Thank you!”
“But not too terrible.” I faced him, sternly. “You still chose this. I’m guessing you weren’t forced into this. I don’t feel too bad for you, Weston.”
“You’re right. And I accept my fate.”
I wanted to keep scolding him, but it was hard when he was taking his blows so willingly. And he was my boss. My new boss. There was probably a line that I didn’t want to cross. Somewhere. Hell if I knew where it was at this point.
I pivoted and walked along the window, and the view made me think of Donovan. “What did…everyone else think of this plan?” Why it mattered, I didn’t know.
“Who? You mean Donovan and Nate? Those guys?” He waited until I nodded. “It was Donovan’s idea. Everyone else thought it was awesome, though I think they’re taking bets on how long I can last without getting laid.”
I snapped my head toward him. “You’re not—? With anyone?”
“What did you say about a true professional always being on show?”
Weston King not getting laid was huge news. That man had a voracious sexual appetite. I knew from experience.
And now he looked truly miserable. I almost felt sorry for him. Almost.
I leaned my back against the glass. “How many people know about this?”
“Just the guys. Elizabeth, of course. And, now, you.” He said you preciously, tenderly, and I realized how much trust it took for him to let me in on his secret.
“Well. Thank you for telling me.”
“I had to. I couldn’t let you think I wasn’t interested anymore.” He took a few steps, and then he was right in front of me. Carefully, he ran a hand along my upper arm. “I should have told you before you got here, but I was afraid you wouldn’t have come.”
His touch felt wrong, his fingers cold on my skin, but I didn’t pull away. “I didn’t take this job because I thought something was going to happen between us, Weston. I did wonder where things would go, but it wasn’t a condition of my acceptance.”
“Good. I’m glad about that.” He used his other hand to tip my chin up to look him in the eyes. “Does that mean in the future, when I’m single again, there might be a chance?”
I did the mental math. He’d said two and a half months until the wedding, another month or so before he was free. “I can’t wait for you. Are you asking me to wait for you?”
“No. That’s not fair. I’m just saying that if you’re still available…”
“Then we’ll see what happens, I guess.” With my track record, I’d still be single in five months. Then, we’d see. “Meanwhile, you are engaged. Whether it’s real or not, and I can’t be doing…this.”
“Doing what?”
I looked down at his hands that were now both on my shoulders. “This. Letting you touch me. You have to stop.”
“I know.” He dropped his hands to his sides and took a step back. “I’m sorry, Sabrina. About all of this. But I am glad you’re here.”
It sounded believable enough, but the offer paid so well, and he’d gone to a lot of trouble to bring me to New York. Had it really just been to give me a job?
I cocked my head. “Tell me something—when did you decide to hire me? What was the timeline of all of this?”
He leaned a shoulder against the glass. “I started working on hiring you the minute you left town. I didn’t know what might happen between us, but I knew you belonged here. It seemed like fate that we were losing our director of marketing anyway. There was just a delay with his transfer. Then all of this Dyson bullshit delayed things further.”
So Weston had already planned to hire me before he decided to marry someone else. At Donovan’s suggestion. Had Donovan known Weston wanted to hire me?
It was stupid to wonder if there was a connection between the two, but still I had to know. “When did you tell Donovan you wanted to hire me?”
My skin began to tingle before he even answered.