She let out a breath and looked up at him with soft, grateful eyes. “That was so brilliant. I’ve never gotten a win like this before. Not with my family. Thank you.”
“No problem,” he answered with an unbothered shrug. Like proposing to heiresses was something he did every day.
Then he signaled the flight attendant for a bottle of champagne.
And she sobered to ask, “So, how exactly does this work? We stay fake engaged until the sale of the company goes through?”
“Yep.”
“You’re aware that might take months.”
“Yep.”
“And you don’t mind pretending to be happily engaged for that long?”
“Nope,” he replied.
He’d kept his answers purposefully short. He wanted to make this as uncomplicated for Olivia as possible.
But she went quiet in a way he didn’t like.
“O?”
“Hmm?”
“You want to tell me what’s on your mind?”
She quickly looked away. “It’s nothing….”
And by nothing, she meant something. “Okay, then tell me what you’re thinking, and let me decide for myself if it’s not worth talking about.”
“It’s just…I know this is fake. And a man like you has real-life needs. But…” She fretted her hands. “I don’t want to get cheated on again. Even if the relationship isn’t real.”
He stilled. “I’m not him. I’m not going to cheat. I wouldn’t do that to you.”
Olivia fretted her lip. “Even if it takes months for that deal to go through?”
“Even if that shit takes years,” he vowed.
Olivia let out an audible breath of relief. “Thank you. I know I’m being silly and ultra-moral—but thank you.”
“Alright,” he answered. “But O…?”
“Yes?” she answered, visibly bracing for whatever he was going to say next.
“That goes both ways. No other guys.”
She widened her eyes. “Oh, I wouldn’t…I wouldn’t do that to you either.”
Right answer. But Phantom shook his head because he needed her to understand: “We’re going to announce this engagement. Act like this is serious. And I’m going to use this deal to make my triad legit. But my version of New York is real fucking small, so you got to play your part. No other guys. No friendly dinners with exes, even if they’re married. None of that. Because anybody who knows me knows I wouldn’t put up with that shit. I’m possessive as fuck.”
She blinked, and Phantom wondered if he was pushing her too hard.
He knew that she occasionally met up with her ex-boyfriend from undergrad whenever he was in town. And even played doubles tennis with one of the guys she dated during her break from Garrett. She was modern as hell when it came to that let’s be friends shit.
But he was old school.
Possessive as fuck didn’t even cover it.
He wouldn’t blame her for having second thoughts about attaching herself to a guy like him. He wouldn’t let her out of their agreement. But he wouldn’t blame her.
“My best friend is a guy. His name is Eric—”
“He gay?” Phantom asked, acting like he didn’t already know.
She nodded. “And even if he wasn’t, I’m so not his type. He only dates biracial people, and even then, he prefers bad boys.”
Phantom laughed. “Eric’s cool then.”
“Okay, we have a deal. No cheating.” She smiled—probably because she still didn’t understand how bad the guy she’d just agreed to marry was.
Wayne, one of the old Red Diamond guys he’d recruited to join The Silent Triad years ago, picked them up from the airport.
Usually, Phantom would take it from there and do the driving back to his place. He wasn’t one to get chauffeured.
But instead of grabbing the keys from Wayne, Phantom jogged to the back seat door and opened it for Olivia. Then slid in to sit beside her.
That made it easier to open the door for her again when they got to her place.
“Thank you,” she said, following him to the trunk, where he grabbed her luggage. “I can get my suitcase up the stairs myself.”
He pretended he didn’t hear her and carried it up the steps to her door.
And when she joined him at the door, she said, “Thank you” again, and held out a hand. A goddamn hand.
He took it anyway, enveloping her long elegant fingers in his giant mitt.
But when she tried to take it back, he held on. Pulled her to him and asked, “You really think I’m going to let you get away with not giving me a goodbye kiss?”
She lowered her eyes to the side in that way that let him know she was blushing, even if he couldn’t see it on her ebony skin.
Then she leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his cheek. His goddamn cheek.
And how was this for crazy? Even that little bit of contact made his dick roar inside his pants. Made him hungry to do things to her she probably wasn’t ready for.
He let go of her hand. Not because he wanted to but because he didn’t trust himself not to slam her into the door and take her right there.