Between Marriage And Merger

Noah opened his binder. There was no time to absorb all of the information in this report, but one quick glance at a few spreadsheets told him one thing—they were going to make a lot of money if this deal went through. And his actions, which had been perfectly innocent at the time, could end up taking it all away. Charlotte, and Sawyer in particular, would never forgive him. Or if they did, it would take a very long time. There was already enough acrimony in his family from their dad. Noah refused to be the cause for this blowing up in their faces.

“Wow.” Sawyer flipped through the pages. “These numbers are impressive.”

“They are.” Charlotte closed her folder and chewed on her nail. “Can’t let this get out from under us.”

“No, we can’t.” Noah racked his brain for a way to make himself seem less like a Lothario.

Charlotte narrowed her vision on him, then her sights drifted to Lily. She sat a little straighter and turned in her chair. “Lily, can I ask you a question?”

“Of course.”

“Would you have any interest in going to a wedding with all of us? This weekend. I don’t know what sort of personal obligations you have, and I know it’s short notice.”

As the words out of Charlotte’s mouth found his ears, Noah quickly realized what she was doing. She was setting him up. With Lily. The woman who he’d been fighting to keep in the friend zone. Noah bugged his eyes at Charlotte, but she shot him a steely look right back.

“A wedding? Do you mean Annie Hannafort’s wedding?”

Charlotte smiled effortlessly, like this all made perfect sense and would not cause a single problem. Noah already had a dozen reasons not to do what Charlotte was about to suggest. The reasons were already stacked up and waiting, and he’d only been living with this realization for less than a minute. “Exactly. It’s just that we would need you to be Noah’s date. Well, more than his date. We would need you to pretend to be his fiancée.”

Two (#u3ea596b3-0433-5051-8b11-16de5b69bbd4)

Lily mustered the strength to hold her smile, but only because she was fairly certain her face was frozen. She managed to blink, so her eyes were working. That was good. Her mind, meanwhile, was frantically running around like a chicken with its head cut off. Had Charlotte Locke just said those words? Pretend to be Noah’s fiancée? At a wedding, no less?

Lily’s worst nightmare and her most closely held fantasy had decided to make sweet love to each other.

“Are you serious?” She realized how terrible the question must sound to Noah, but she needed clarification and she needed it now. This felt an awful lot like the moment her biggest high school crush asked her out in front of his friends, only to burst into peals of laughter. That was the day Lily learned how apt the word crush was when it came to love.

“I know it seems a little strange, but there’s a reason behind it and you would be helping the company immensely.”

Noah stepped closer and sat on the edge of Sawyer’s desk, crossing his long legs, facing her with a look that could only be described as raw embarrassment. His expression was difficult to endure, which spoke volumes about how real it was. Noah was ridiculously easy on the eyes.

“You don’t have to do this,” Noah said. “This is not part of your job.”

Lily couldn’t decide if he was saying that because he desperately wanted his own out, or if he was simply being kind. She hoped for the latter, if only to save her pride.

“We would pay you, of course,” Sawyer said. “We’ll have to come up with a number. Maybe you should sit down and think about what you would need for three days away from home.”

“Acting as Noah’s fiancée.” Lily wanted to be sure she’d heard that part right.

“Yes. There was a very unflattering video of Noah that turned up on a gossip website and we’re trying to curb its effects. Mr. Hannafort wants to know that the Lockes aren’t a liability when it comes to publicity.”

“Unflattering video?” Lily could only imagine what Noah’s sister was referring to.

“Do you want to see it?” Charlotte asked.

Noah grumbled. His straight shoulders dropped. “Don’t show her the video. It’s demeaning. Lily and I need to work together. I don’t want her to think of me that way.”

Charlotte leaned over the arm of her chair. “It’s about the stable of women he’s been dating lately.”

Lily could feel her lips mold into a thin line. Oh, she knew plenty about Noah and his dates. A few women had come by the office, all intimidatingly beautiful. And she’d heard him talk to them, as smooth as could be. Lily would’ve done anything to have a man say one-tenth of what Noah regularly said to women he apparently hardly cared about. “I see.”

“So as I said,” Sawyer interjected. “We would need to come up with a number, but I promise we’ll make it worth your while. This isn’t normally something I’d consider, but desperate times call for creative measures.”

Lily crossed her legs, her mind mired in the business of deciding whether or not this was a good idea. She loved working for Sawyer and Noah, so it would be next to impossible to say no. It wasn’t in her DNA to let them down. But one downside of being employed by Locke and Locke was the limited opportunities for advancement. Lily had already worked her way well beyond the parameters of her title of Executive Admin. Sawyer and Noah had given her more and more responsibility, they’d even given her a few raises, but she was capable of even more. If the payoff was there. She was a hard worker, but she wasn’t an idiot. She wasn’t going to kill herself if they were just going to take advantage of her.

“If I do this, I don’t want to be compensated with cash. I want a piece of the company.” Lily was impressed with herself. She’d come out with it, no hemming or hawing. She sat straighter, fighting back any concern over how her proposal might be met. “A small piece, but a piece. I believe I’ve demonstrated that I’m a valuable asset to the company, but I want to do more.”

Sawyer nodded slowly, as if he was still taking it all in.

“This isn’t my call. I’m in on this Hannafort deal and that’s it.” Charlotte looked at her phone. “I’m also going to be late for my doctor’s appointment if I don’t leave now.” She got up from her seat and shot both of her brothers a very pointed glance. “Don’t screw this up. And Lily, don’t let them screw this up.”

Lily grinned as Charlotte excused herself and left. She did love the way Charlotte put her brothers on notice.

“What do you think?” Sawyer asked Noah.

“You’ve said it yourself a thousand times. Lily is by far the best employee we’ve had. She’s irreplaceable. If she’s willing to put up with me for a weekend, we should give her what she wants.”

Sawyer chuckled quietly, and that made Noah laugh, which filled Lily with happy flutters in her chest. She was overcome with pride, knowing that she’d been a frequent subject of conversation between the brothers and in such a positive light, no less. It reaffirmed her decision two years ago to focus on her career and let romance and her personal life take a back seat. This might actually end up paying off.

“I think one percent is fair,” Noah said.

“Agreed,” Sawyer quickly added. “It might not sound like a lot, but if the Hannafort deal goes through, it will be sizable. And it should be income that comes in for years and years. Not bad for three days’ work.”

Lily was a bit of a whiz with numbers, so she knew exactly how big 1 percent of Locke and Locke could end up being, especially after having worked on the Hannafort projections. A nest egg to last her a lifetime? All for one weekend pretending to be enamored with gorgeous, unattainable Noah? This was a no-brainer if ever there was one. Even if the part about Noah did make her stomach flip-flop. Yes, she struggled at weddings, but she’d just endured one. What difference could another one possibly make? “I’ll do it.”

“That’s great news. Thank you.” Sawyer’s eyebrows drew together. “I hope you know this is not something we would normally ask you to do.”

“I’ve been here two years. I know this is not the way things work around here. Sometimes things have to be done for appearances.”

“Exactly.”

“I should probably get back to my desk. I have lots of other stuff to do. Emails to answer.” Lily rose from her seat, but something about this was still leaving her unsettled. Was this the right thing to do? Would it ruin her working relationship with Noah? They got along so well. She didn’t want it to be awkward later. “I do want to clarify that this is for show, right? We’re pretending. That’s it.”

Noah’s eyes found hers and she felt naked, like he was looking right through her. “That goes without saying.”

She smiled and nodded, like the loyal employee she was. But inside, all she could think was of course. Noah Locke was that guy and he always would be.

* * *

Noah closed the door when Lily walked out of Sawyer’s office. “I don’t think you’ve fully thought this out.” He paced back and forth, between the chairs and the window. “We’re talking about pretending to be engaged to each other. Do you know what engaged people do?”

“Um, I’m pretty sure, but why don’t you fill me in.” Sawyer was still poring over the Hannafort reports, dismissing this conversation as if it was nothing.

“Hugging. Holding hands. Kissing.”

“Sounds about right. I know you remember how to do all of those things.” Sawyer flipped to another page.

“But am I not supposed to be staying away from Lily? You were the one who wouldn’t stop going on and on about how I needed to pretend that she was my sister. Don’t mess things up, Noah. Stop making up excuses to be around her, Noah.” He planted both hands on Sawyer’s desk and stared him down. “This could easily mess things up with her. Then what? We lose our best employee because of some stupid stunt?”