“We really don’t.”
“It’s just...he has a good point.” I stepped free of his hands and turned around to face him. In the close confines of the linen closet, we were both remarkably close. Close enough that I could see every dot of water still clinging to his lashes from the shower. Every cloud of steam that rose off his bare chest. “There’s a lot riding on this merger for the company.”
His eyes narrowed, but I knew him well enough by now, to know that none of the anger was directed at me. It was rarely, if ever, directed at me.
“And why should my social life have anything to do with my father’s company?”
It was a naïve question. One that both of us knew he didn’t really mean.
To start, it wasn’t his father’s company—it was the family’s company. Meaning that one day, like it or not, it was going to be his.
On that note—image and perception were everything. Nick had grown up in the spotlight long enough to have learned that lesson better than anyone. Long enough to see the wisdom in what his father was saying now.
Of course, that didn’t mean he had to like it.
“How are you not on my side with this?” he demanded quietly. “A fake relationship? He really wants to bank his big merger on me having a fake relationship with some random—”
“I’ve snuck you into palaces pretending to be a foreign prince. Last summer, you claimed to have ‘unique diving experience’ just so an insurance company would let you explore those underwater caves. You once snuck into a royal polo match under the guise of being the Duke of Sorbinshire—which I swear, Nick—I think is a completely made-up place.”
“...you wouldn’t be wrong.”
“The point is, this isn’t about the truth of the matter. You’ve played so many parts in the past, I know for a fact this doesn’t bother you now.” I hesitated, knowing I was approaching a line that even I was not permitted to cross. “This is about your father.”
His eyes flashed, and another chill ran down my spine. One that felt entirely different from the warm, tingly ones that had done so before.
“Listen to me very closely Abigail, you may have worked for my family a few years now, and for families like mine before. But that does not mean, even for a moment, that you have any idea what it’s like to be a part of one.”
I flinched bac
k, stung by every word. I couldn’t remember the last time he’d called me Abigail. But he wasn’t finished yet.
“This part of my life—this one part—should have nothing do to with my father, or his company, or his damn board of directors. This one part should belong to me.”
A chilling silence rang out between us. One that was broken only by the sounds of Louise bustling around in the kitchen, putting our old dishes away.
But as moving a speech as it was, as much as I believed he wanted to mean it, as much as the words cut to my core...I was Abigail fucking Wilder.
“That’s bullshit.”
His eyebrows lifted dangerously, and he opened his mouth to speak, but I beat him to the punch. His turn to lecture me had passed. It was my turn now.
“We’re talking about you fucking a beautiful girl for the next four months, and letting the press take pictures of you eating breakfast together afterwards. Face it, Nick, it’s probably exactly what you would have been doing anyway. The only difference now is, one: you’re going to have to hide the rest of the girls you’re fucking at the same time; and two: your father is actually going to approve.”
Despite the massive height difference between us, I pulled myself up as tall as I could.
“And let’s be honest here, you’re not worried about trying to secretly balance your different women—you’ve had more practice than anyone I’ve ever seen. What’s really going on here is that you don’t want your father to approve—even if you know it’s the right thing to do.”
This was why I was at the top of the PR game. This was why his family had hired me.
“But like it or not, this company is about more than just you, Nick. There are thousands of people working in dozens of different countries all around the world who rely upon the Hunter Corporation to make their living. You’re looking at one of them now. It may be all fine and good for you if this merger goes up in smoke—but it won’t be that way for the rest of us.”
My voice rose in volume as I stretched on the tips of my toes.
“So why don’t you get over yourself, pull it together, and use that insatiable libido of yours to do something good for a change!”
Okay...that last part might have been pushing it.
Whatever Nick was thinking, it was impossible to say. He simply stared at me in a state of mild shock, lips parted speechlessly, probably wishing he was wearing something with a little more gravitas than a jellyfish towel. For a split second, a flicker of what looked like genuine respect flashed through his eyes. But before he could say a word, the door crashed open.