“He’s a genius, right?” Jackson asked.
Derrick was getting tired of hearing that excuse. He knew a lot of really bright people and none of them ever stole from him. “I guess you think that explains his behavior.”
“Let’s find a new topic. Have you seen the Insider today?” Jackson took his cell phone out of his jacket pocket and tapped the screen a few times.
“There shouldn’t be anything worth reading about me since I didn’t leak a story.” Which made him realize he really had ignored Ellie and their arrangement. He should be two steps from putting a fake engagement announcement in the paper. Yet he couldn’t pull that trigger, at least not until his brothers hit town and they were on their way.
The hesitancy wasn’t based on fear. It was something else…a feeling he couldn’t name. This flashing warning signal in his brain that told him to slow down and think things through.
He never expected to want her. This deal was supposed to exist on paper only. He should be able to leave her and not think about her. This whole thing where he wanted to drop by and see her, to call her and talk with her about nothing, made him desperate to create distance between them.
“That’s the point. Someone did leak a story and it’s not all that flattering to Ellie.” Jackson turned his phone around and slid it across the desk toward Derrick.
“What?” Derrick glanced down, skimming the post. Then he read it again. One phrase stuck out: “nasty whispers out there about the lady’s last job.”
“Damn it.”
“You’re not the type to let details slip by you, so I’m guessing you knew about Ellie’s job issue before you entered into your agreement?”
“Of course. It’s all bullshit.” He’d made it a point to investigate Ellie before offering her the agreement.
At first, he’d hoped to win her to his side with logic or even bribery, if needed. But the more he’d studied her photo and some bits and pieces of her history, the more the PR firm’s offhanded comment about needing an old-fashioned, fake-relationship arrangement to make the Noah problem go away had sounded like the right answer.
And that’s how he’d ended up in this mess, wanting her in his bed and at his breakfast table. Smelling her, touching her…tasting her.
“It still sucks for Ellie to have it out there, so public,” Jackson said.
“I’ll take care of Ellie.”
* * *
“Did someone mention my name?” Ellie smiled at how the sound of her voice made two grown men freeze in their chairs. Just a handful of words and she had them spinning around and stopping. Now, that was power.
A few seconds later they both continued to stare at her. Jackson recovered first and returned the smile as he rose to his feet. Derrick’s reaction was not as welcoming.
“How did you get in here?” Derrick practically barked the question.
Every single day she came up with more things she should have added to their ridiculous agreement. Today? A “no shouting” clause.
“I walked.” And she did that again after closing the office door. In a few steps she joined the men by Derrick’s desk.
“I’m serious. The protocol and security lapses are starting to annoy me.”
Derrick’s voice sounded low and growly. She refused to find that sexy. “So, I’ve been subjected to your nonannoyed personality to date?”
“Ellie.” That’s it. He said her name in a flat, monotone voice.
He truly was exhausting.
“A very nice woman showed me back. I told her my name and said we were dating—it’s weird how much attention that attracted, by the way—and that I needed to talk to you about what was posted in the Insider.” It had been the first time she talked to anyone about dating Derrick. The way the words had rolled out of her scared her. The lies should have caught in her throat, but no. “I think she took pity on me, probably because I said the part about us dating.”
Derrick picked up his phone. “Who was it?”
“Why?”
“She should have called me first.”
Truly exhausting. “Then I’m not telling you.”
Derrick lowered the handset again. “The person works for me.”
Every conversation with him turned into a debate. The few days apart hadn’t done anything for his bossiness. She’d hoped he’d also magically turn less attractive. No luck there, either. “The person helped me. I’m not tattling on her.”
“Tattling?”
She sighed, letting him know she was done with this topic, then glanced over at Jackson. “Did he really forget about dating me like the gossip post said?”