The Couple who Fooled the World

“You think I don’t?”

“I think your armor is thin, cara.”

He expected her to make some sort of snitty denial. Say she didn’t wear armor. She didn’t, and that was to her credit.

“You tell me then,” she said, slowly crossing her arms beneath her breasts, her blue eyes never wavering from his, “what do you think we need to do?”

“We need to make the world believe that all of our hostility has melted away into an attraction, an attachment, that we can’t deny. We need to make them think we’ve fallen head over heels into, if not love, bed.”

“And you think that will work?” She was blushing. He couldn’t remember ever seeing a woman blush. Or anyone for that matter. Everyone he’d ever known had seemed born jaded.

He hadn’t been. He could remember a time when he’d been young. When he’d felt hope. Optimism. Passion.

He’d learned. He’d learned that there were no bonus points for getting through life without mud on your hands. Sometimes you had to get dirty climbing out of the gutter, but at least you were out, even if the filth clung to your skin for the rest of your life. Even if it made you hard and old before your time.

“I know it will.”

“How?”

“The press, the public, are predictable. We show up at a public event, we’ll make headlines around the world. The seed will be planted, when we pitch our design to Barrows, it all suddenly makes sense.”

She flicked her hair back over her shoulder and shifted her weight, one stiletto clad foot out in front of her. “But won’t Hamlin see it coming?”

“Not necessarily. I said it would make sense. I didn’t say it would be predictable. I’m banking on his own ignorance to be his downfall in this. He would never partner with a woman. He’ll assume I won’t, either.”

She chewed her bottom lip, another show of that insecurity she kept concealed by all her hard black clothing. If this were a seduction, he would touch her face now. Just her cheek. Tell her it would be all right. She would respond to that.

He gritted his teeth. “Well? You were quick to remind me you had limited time, Julia. I am a man with many commitments and I can’t stand around waiting for you to make a decision that should be a very easy one to make.”

She extended her hand and he gripped it. She was so petite, fine-boned, her fingers long, slender and clinging to his with a firmness that surprised him. She was indeed a businesswoman.

“You have yourself a deal, Calvaresi.”

“Gratified to hear it, Anderson.”

“We work together on this project,” she said. “No touching that isn’t strictly necessary, no funny ideas about things heating up behind the scenes, and no espionage.”

The espionage happening in her company was well in place, information already being fed to him on a regular basis. And he was sure she’d done the same to him. Fair play during their normal operations.

This agreement changed things. But he imagined as long as he didn’t look at it during the duration of their agreement, it would count as him following the rules. Or maybe not. But he’d never been one for rules. “I think I can handle all of the above.”

“And when it’s over, it’s over. If I have a chance to get you in my crosshairs even thirty seconds after our work together is done, I’ll do it and I’ll pull the metaphorical trigger without hesitation.”

“Back at you,” he said, releasing his hold and dropping his hand back at his side, ignoring the slight burning sensation that skated over his skin.

“Until then, I suppose we have to play nice.”

Ferro smiled, and he watched the color in Julia’s cheeks darken again. “Now that, I can’t promise. I’m not all that nice.”

CHAPTER THREE

“ARE YOU BUSY tonight?”

Julia frowned as she heard the voice that was coming over her personal cell phone. “How did you get this—oh, never mind. Let me guess, you crawled through the ducting in the building and rappelled down over my desk and hunted until you found my phone, then you stole the number and went back the way you came.”

“No. What a waste of energy. I called and got it from your assistant.”

Julia glared daggers at Thad through the wall. “Why would he do that?”

“He assumed that a call from me would be important. And since I am now your lover—” the way he said the word made Julia’s skin feel prickly “—I will of course need to contact you day and night.”

She hated that he was right. She hated that she’d agreed to all this in the first place, but she really, really wanted the Barrows deal and if she had to make a deal with the devil to get it, well, she was willing.

Not happily willing, but willing. Once the account was landed, Ferro wouldn’t be her problem. It wasn’t as though they’d be working closely together on the creation of the navigation system, not after the initial design phase.

She could survive him. She could deal. At least in this she had control. It wasn’t like being dressed up in the world’s most horrific prom dress and being sent off with a guy who was being paid to be your date. No, she had a stake in this. She had power. This was all about the big picture and, regardless of what he thought, she understood business.

“Right, right. And why did you need to know if I was busy?”

“I was wondering if you might like to go to a movie premiere with me.”

“A premiere? For what?”

“Cold Planet is coming out tonight, and I have an invitation for Ferro Calvaresi and Guest.”

For a second, she forgot to play cool. She forgot who she was talking to. “No way! That movie looks amazing.”

“You think?”

“It’s like every sci-fi dream from my childhood come to life on the big screen!” It was too late to pull back her overenthusiastic words. She was always doing things like this to herself, even now that she’d been coached on how to behave in public by professionals.

Normal people didn’t get so excited about movies. Geeks did. It made people uncomfortable, and no one else was really that interested. That was what her mother had told her. Daily. From the time she was a five-year-old girl who talked about how she wanted to make the navigation controls on a spaceship from a futuristic movie and put them into cars someday.

She’d been embarrassing for her parents. Rattling on about strange subjects constantly, no filter for her excitement and enthusiasm. Making her normal had been her mother’s lifelong goal. She’d wanted it enough that she’d bought Julia a prom date when she’d been sixteen.

That had been the end of it. The end of trying to be normal. But she’d learned something even more important that night. There was no protection in normal. But showing who you were? Making yourself vulnerable? That was the biggest mistake of all.

She’d come out of that night, that horrible night, stronger. And when she’d taken off that ridiculous pink dress, the one she’d spent hours choosing, she’d put armor on instead. Armor she’d been wearing ever since. On that, Ferro was right. She didn’t really like that Ferro was right.

Still, even with the armor she had some rough edges to smooth out. She tried hard not to wave that geek flag too high. Not anymore. She had a public face that was so much more socially acceptable, and it helped her get by in the media without having to take too many pot shots.

Which was fine with her. She’d had quite enough growing up.

Stupid bitch, I was doing you a favor. No other guy will ever touch you.

She shook off the memory. It didn’t matter. Those words, the touch of his hands, the way they seemed to linger, didn’t matter. She’d moved on. Moved forward. She’d kept her head down and worked hard, free from caring what anyone thought, not after all that.

It was why she’d succeeded. And with all her money, she’d hired her consultants, consultants who’d helped make her look like a kick-ass video game heroine, who’d helped her learn to speak with poise and confidence.